This week I spoke with Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Josh Barro on the recent debt ceiling negotiations and what the agreement means for the next 10 years of fiscal policy. Josh explains what parts of the deal are credible, what parts we should be skeptical of what parts are simply not realistic. We certainly won’t enact a balanced balanced budget amendment. Or a balanced budget for that matter. There will be a vote on the balanced budget amendment. It will not get sent to the states for ratification because enough Democrats will oppose it to keep it from being sent. Even if it were sent for ratification, 38 states would not ratify it, because among the entities that would be most damaged by a federal balanced budget amaendment would be state governments, which depend on federal transfer payments to tide them over as they try to balance their own budgets. Read more from Josh on the debt ceiling and budget reform at National Review Online.
