John Makin, Conservative Scholar, Argues Against More Deficit Reduction
Ruh roh.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/25/john-makin_n_3153842.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037
John Makin, Conservative Scholar, Argues Against More Deficit Reduction
The Huffington Post | By Luke Johnson Posted: 04/25/2013 10:29 am EDT | Updated: 04/25/2013
John Makin, a conservative scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote in a paper released Wednesday that Congress has enacted enough deficit reduction, and warned against plans to achieve a balanced budget within 10 years.
He noted that the United States made "substantial progress" towards deficit reduction. "The result is that, by the 2014 fiscal year, the fully phased-in sequester, along with the January 2013 tax increases, will cut the U.S. deficitalready on a downward pathfrom $1,089 billion in 2012 to $845 billion in 2013, and then further to $615 billion in 2014," he wrote.
"In terms of the deficit-to-GDP ratio, that is 7 percent in 2012, down to 5 percent in 2013, and down further to 3.7 percent in 2014," says Makin's paper, which was published on the AEI website.
Makin's writing flies in the face of Washington conventional wisdom that further deficit reduction is necessary. President Barack Obama has called for $1.8 trillion in deficit reduction, House Republicans led by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) have called for $5 trillion, and the bipartisan team of former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) and former Bill Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles have called for $2.5 trillion.
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His article came after a University of Massachusetts analysis discovered coding errors in a paper by Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard arguing that high debt loads lead to slow economic growth. The Reinhart and Rogoff paper has been praised by politicians including Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.