The Politics Of Budgetary Surplus

This book probes the hollow rhetoric of debt, deficits and austerity. It explores the decisions of parties of the left which have attempted to deflect criticisms of economic mismanagement and gain trust by depoliticising the budget process and financial management with various rules, albeit with elements of discretion. The book argues that this is a perverse form of trust as it is premised on the belief that political leaders and the public sector cannot be trusted to make appropriate decisions given the economic circumstances of the time and need rules, but at the same time that they can be trusted to follow the rules. The book also explores parties of the right, which often advocate stricter rules and which tend to be the least effective. The book describes how few conservative governments have admirable records on sustained surpluses, given a propensity for unsustainable tax cuts, and the future opportunities this provides to advance a political program of deeper spending cuts.

Foreword p. xi Preface to the Fifth Edition p. xix Preface to the First Edition p. xxvii Biographical Note p. xxxiii Chapter 1 Budgeting as Conflicting Promises p. 1 Budgets Are Conflicting Commitments p. 7 Tax Preferences p. 11 Appropriations: The Power of Congress and Power Within Congress p. 13 The President Is Both Rival and Partner of Congress p. 16 Conflicting Promises: The Multiple Meanings of Budgetary Control p. 19 Chapter 2 Budgets as Struggles for Power: A Historical Perspective p. 25 Colonial Origins p. 26 Turning Points: Civil War through World War I p. 30 The Executive Budget Movement p. 33 Dislocation and Continuity: Depression and War p. 40 Chapter 3 The Dance of the Dollars: Classical Budgeting p. 42 Calculations p. 44 Complexity p. 44 Aids to Calculation p. 45 Incremental Budgeting p. 46 Roles and Perspectives p. 50 The Agency p. 50 The Bureau of the Budget p. 54 The Appropriations Committees p. 56 Strategies p. 57 Be a Good Politician p. 58 Clientele p. 58 Confidence p. 60 Congressional Committee Hearings p. 62 Strategies Designed to Capitalize on the Fragmentation of Power in National Politics p. 62 Chapter 4 The Collapse of Consensus p. 68 The Growth of Entitlements p. 69 Economic Activism p. 70 Federal Credit p. 71 Priorities p. 72 Impoundment p. 73 The Budget Act: More Checks, More Balances, but Not More Control p. 75 Impoundment Again p. 75 Congressional Budget Office p. 76 Senate Budget Committee and House Budget Committee p. 76 Scheduling p. 76 Resolutions p. 77 Reconciliation p. 78 Complexity p. 78 A Congressional Budget, or Merely More Budgeting? p. 78 The Budget Process, 1975--1979: Making Totals Stick p. 79 Classical Budgeting Withers Without Quite Disappearing p. 81 Chapter 5 The Politics of Dissensus p. 83 Why Budget Decisions Became So Difficult p. 84 The Focus on Totals p. 84 The End of Economic Management p. 85 Dominance of the Deficit p. 86 Polarization of the Parties p. 87 The Congressional Budget Act in the 1980s p. 88 R and R: Resolution and Reconciliation p. 88 Deferral and Rescission Redux p. 90 The Shifting Budgetary Base p. 91 Continuing Omnibus Resolutions p. 92 OMB in an Era of Perennial Budgeting p. 93 Top-Down Policy Making p. 94 Continuous Budgeting p. 94 Negotiating with Congress p. 95 Implications for OMB p. 96 Dissensus in Congress p. 97 Role Reversal p. 97 Rolled on the Floor p. 98 Budgeting Penetrates Congress p. 100 Gimmicks p. 100 Chapter 6 The Politics of Balancing Budgets p. 103 Gramm-Rudman-Hollings p. 105 The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 p. 106 The Clinton Budget of 1993 p. 108 The Politics of Radical Reversal 1995 p. 111 Prologue: Constitutional Amendment and Rescission p. 112 Budgets and Counterbudgets: The President's Budget and the Congressional Resolution p. 113 Incrementalism in Mirror Image: Appropriations p. 114 Confrontation: Continuing Resolutions and the Debt Limit p. 115 Reconciliation and Intransigence p. 118 The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 p. 120 Chapter 7 Entitlements p. 123 The "Ought" and "Is" of Entitlements p. 124 Entitlements and Budgeting p. 129 How Do Entitlements Start? p. 132 Why Do Entitlements Grow? p. 135 Maintaining Commitment: Social Security p. 136 Escalating Costs: Medicare p. 138 Expanding Eligibility: Medicaid p. 140 Provider Pressures: End-Stage Renal Disease p. 142 How Have Entitlements Been Controlled? p. 144 Declining Need: Black Lung Disease p. 145 Ending an Entitlement: Welfare p. 146 Entitlements and Others p. 148 Appropriations: Head Start and WIC p. 148 Tax Expenditures: Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) p. 149 Formula Grants to States: Adoption Assistance Program, Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, and the Ryan White Care Act p. 149 Chapter 8 Budgeting for Defense p. 152 Dimensions of Defense p. 153 Defense Strategy and Funding p. 155 The Internal Budget Process p. 161 Planning, Programming, Budgeting p. 161 Acquisitions p. 165 The Congressional Budget Process p. 170 Reprogramming p. 173 Secrecy p. 175 Cuts p. 176 Contingencies p. 179 Chapter 9 Reform p. 181 Norms of Budgetary Behavior p. 181 Forms of Budgeting p. 184 Reform Without Conflict p. 184 The Politics in Budget Reform p. 186 Unit of Measurement: Cash or Volume p. 187 Time Span: Months, One Year, Many Years p. 188 Calculation: Incremental or Comprehensive p. 189 Management Reforms p. 191 Performance and Budgeting p. 191 Centralization and Decentralization: The Role of OMB p. 193 Credit Reform p. 195 Financial Management p. 196 Capital Budgeting p. 197 Limits p. 198 The Line-Item Veto p. 200 Chapter 10 From Surplus to Deficit p. 205 The Disappearing Deficit p. 205 The Politics of Budget Surplus p. 208 The End of the Surplus p. 212 Afterword p. 219 Characteristics of the Budget Process p. 219 The Budgetary Process Is Powerful Yet Impotent p. 220 The Budgetary Process Is Structured Yet Formalistic p. 220 The Budgetary Process Is Complex Yet Segmented p. 221 Budgetary Politics Are Polarized but Moderated p. 223 Glossary p. 225 Guide to Acronyms p. 230 Select Bibliography p. 231 Credits p. 245 Index.

The federal budget impacts American policies both at home and abroad, and recent concern over the exploding budgetary deficit has experts calling our nation's policies "unsustainable" and "system-dooming." As the deficit continues to grow, will America be fully able to fund its priorities, such as an effective military and looking after its aging population? In this third edition of his classic book The Federal Budget, Allen Schick examines how surpluses projected during the final years of the Clinton presidency turned into oversized deficits under George W. Bush. In his detailed analysis of the politics and practices surrounding the federal budget, Schick addresses issues such as the collapse of the congressional budgetary process and the threat posed by the termination of discretionary spending caps. This edition updates and expands his assessment of the long-term budgetary outlook, and it concludes with a look at how the nation's deficit will affect America now and in the future. "A clear explanation of the federal budget... [Allen Schick] has captured the politics of federal budgeting from the original lofty goals to the stark realities of today."—Pete V. Domenici, U.S. Senate

The Routledge Handbook of Comparative Territorial Autonomies affords a comprehensive, pioneering and interdisciplinary survey of this emerging field. Moving beyond traditionally narrower engagements with the subject, it combines approaches to comparative law and comparative politics to provide an authoritative guide to the principal theoretical and empirical topics in the area. Bringing together a team of cutting-edge scholars from different disciplines and continents, the volume illuminates the latest thinking and scholarship on comparative territorial autonomies. This Handbook is an authoritative, essential reference text for students, academics and researchers in its field. It will also be of key interest to those in the fields of comparative politics, comparative law, local/regional government, federalism, decentralisation and nationalism, as well as practitioners in think tanks, NGOs and international governmental organisations.

This analysis of budgetary systems and policies across the world examines how politics, culture, and economics influence public finance.

A New York Times Bestseller The leading thinker and most visible public advocate of modern monetary theory -- the freshest and most important idea about economics in decades -- delivers a radically different, bold, new understanding for how to build a just and prosperous society. Stephanie Kelton's brilliant exploration of modern monetary theory (MMT) dramatically changes our understanding of how we can best deal with crucial issues ranging from poverty and inequality to creating jobs, expanding health care coverage, climate change, and building resilient infrastructure. Any ambitious proposal, however, inevitably runs into the buzz saw of how to find the money to pay for it, rooted in myths about deficits that are hobbling us as a country. Kelton busts through the myths that prevent us from taking action: that the federal government should budget like a household, that deficits will harm the next generation, crowd out private investment, and undermine long-term growth, and that entitlements are propelling us toward a grave fiscal crisis. MMT, as Kelton shows, shifts the terrain from narrow budgetary questions to one of broader economic and social benefits. With its important new ways of understanding money, taxes, and the critical role of deficit spending, MMT redefines how to responsibly use our resources so that we can maximize our potential as a society. MMT gives us the power to imagine a new politics and a new economy and move from a narrative of scarcity to one of opportunity.

This book is the first comprehensive, full-scale treatment of the law, politics and economics with regard to the policies and policy instruments for budget stabilization at the state level. Covering the period from 1946 through 2008 in the United States, it provides details on the methods and results of empirical tests of the effects of budget stabilization instruments on government operations, public service provision, and some other aspects of social and economic life. With the lingering effects of the most recent financial crisis and economic downturn, and the subsequent Tea Party movement advocating smaller government and deficit reduction, this book carries timely and important theoretical as well as practical implications, particularly in regard to the potential for counter-cyclical fiscal policy in mitigating negative impacts during a recession. The first contribution of the book is in public finance theory: it provides insights into the applications of the stabilization function in the context of strong government, thereby refining Keynesianism. The second aspect is in Public Choice: the creation and functioning of budget stabilization funds offer extra evidence to demonstrate that the general public provides input and voice in more than the conventional ways when it comes to policy making, even in an area dominated by strong government. The third aspect is in policy making, exploring the opportunities for refining policy tools in preparation for future downturns.