One of the main provisions of the 2012 Farm Bill is a “shallow-loss” program. This program is being portrayed as a safety net, but there are significant questions that must be examined before the program is enacted. At this event, Vince Smith and Barry Goodwin will discuss these questions and will release new research and analysis on the cost of shallow-loss programs.

It's tempting to call the shameful taxpayer subsidy for electric cars - vehicles that are unaffordable for all but a small number of wealthy Americans - this nation's costly little secret.

Considering the size of the exposure that might arise from IMF lending to the European periphery, the administration owes it to the U.S. public to be up front about the potential cost to the U.S. taxpayer of such lending.

As Congress looks for ways to balance the budget and reduce the national debt, large cuts to their own compensation should be given serious consideration.

In 2011, the Government Mortgage Complex accounted for 88 percent of all first-mortgage originations in the United States, with the government also controlling an estimated 90 percent of the student loan market. The government’s growing dominance in the home mortgage and student loan categories is cause for concern, posing a threat to private investors, borrowers, and taxpayers.

With the recent publication of its final rule, the federal government's Financial Stability Oversight Council is now in position to designate certain nonbank firms as "systemically important financial institutions" (SIFIs). There is probably no aspect of the Dodd-Frank Act that will have more damaging effects on competition in the U.S. financial system.

Consider an ambitious United Nations effort that, while not widely known in the U.S., has implications for developing world economic growth and for American taxpayers.

The dramatic fluctuations in world commodity markets in recent years caused an extended period of deep financial distress for US dairy farms, leading dairy farmers and other dairy interests to ask how dairy policy failed and how it can be fixed.