Fiscal Intelligence

Most recently, the strengthening economy has improved the budgetary outlooks of most state and local governments, leading them to reduce their pace of fiscal tightening. At the same time, though, fiscal policy at the federal level has become significantly more restrictive. In particular, the expiration of the payroll tax cut, the enactment of tax increases, the effects of the budget caps on discretionary spending, the onset of the sequestration, and the declines in defense spending for overseas military operations are expected, collectively, to exert a substantial drag on the economy this year. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the deficit reduction policies in current law will slow the pace of real GDP growth by about 1-1/2 percentage points during 2013, relative to what it would have been otherwise.

<div style=”margin-bottom:5px”> <strong> <a href=”http://www.slideshare.net/LuisTaverasMBAMS/bernanke20130522a&#8221; title=”Bernanke's Testimony to Congress” target=”_blank”>Bernanke's Testimony to Congress</a> </strong> from <strong><a href=”http://www.slideshare.net/LuisTaverasMBAMS&#8221; target=”_blank”>Luis Taveras MBA, MS</a></strong> </div>