Reason Foundation

Recent Research and Commentary

Taxpayer's Guide to the Stimulus

Where is all that stimulus money going?
Policy Brief 80

June 17, 2009

Anthony Randazzo

Reason Foundation’s Taxpayer’s Guide to the Stimulus breaks down each section of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to explain just how all that money is being spent, who is spending it, and what the whole stimulus means in layman's terms.

The Federal Deficit Grows and Grows

President Obama's first budget promises "fiscal responsibility"—and delivers the opposite.

June 1, 2009

Veronique de Rugy

Beware when politicians promise “fiscal responsibility.” It’s pretty much a guarantee that every word that follows the phrase will be a lie. President Barack Obama’s first budget, entitled An Era of New Responsibility: Renewing America's Promises, is no exception to this rule. Every page comes with a promise to end budget tricks and save money by reforming procurement and cutting various types of waste, but the actual plan boosts spending and deploys gimmicks galore. If this is a new era, it’s one made of debt.

State Governments Face Deficits and Fiscal Trouble Because of Spending

From 2002 to 2007, state spending rose 50 percent faster than inflation

April 9, 2009

Adam Summers, Michael Flynn

From 2002 to 2007, overall spending rose 50 percent faster than inflation. Education spending increased almost 70 percent faster than inflation, even though the relative school-age population was falling. Medicaid and salaries for state workers rose almost twice as fast as inflation.

Avoiding an American Lost Decade

Lessons from Japan's Bubble and Recession

February 20, 2009

Anthony Randazzo, Michael Flynn, Adam Summers

The current economic uncertainty in the United States, and the government’s response to it, is eerily similar to that of Japan’s “Lost Decade” according to a new Reason Foundation report.  President Barack Obama recently signed a $787 stimulus package that includes over $60 billion for infrastructure and transportation projects. Japan passed 10 stimulus packages in the 1990s that would equal $1.4 trillion in today’s dollars. From 1992 to 1999, Japan spent over $500 billion (in today’s dollars) on public works projects.  Despite this infrastructure spending, Japan’s unemployment rate more than doubled and the economy remained stagnant.

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