In Case You Missed It...

This week on Off the Charts, we talked about the federal budget, the economy, taxes, state budgets, and health care.

• On the federal budget, Robert Greenstein explained the history of negotiations between the parties over funding the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year.
• On the economy, Chad Stone discussed the implications of the March jobs report, and explained why recent proposals to sharply cut government spending would slow economic growth. Mike Leachman also detailed the recession’s continuing impact on the state and local workforce.
• On taxes, we explained why the Tax Foundation’s “Tax Freedom Day” report overstates the typical household’s taxes.
• On state budgets, Mike Leachman outlined Michigan’s problematic approach to fixing its Unemployment Insurance system and Nick Johnson debunked an overly simplistic analysis of the effect of the progressive income tax on state finances.
• On health care, Judy Solomon elaborated on why Rhode Island’s global Medicaid waiver is not a model for how states would fare under a Medicaid block grant.

In other news, we released Robert Greenstein’s statement on Senate Republican leaders’ proposed balanced budget amendment and Chad Stone’s statement on the March employment report.