I know that Chris Edwards and the Cato Institute are hardly unfamiliar names in these parts, but I’d like to urge every Corner reader who hasn’t already done so to visit Chris’s website DownsizingGovernment.org. It is a fabulous resource for learning about the fiscal challenge facing America and formulating plans for addressing it.
Chris and his colleagues have fashioned their own proposal to balance the budget by 2020 — a feat that would bring federal spending down to 18.5 percent of GDP, a reasonable projection of what federal revenues will be if the Bush tax cuts and AMT adjustments are extended forward and the economy returns to normal output. They offer a second, less aggressive plan that would at least stabilize federal debt by cutting federal spending down to 21.5 percent of GDP. (Yeah, these libertarian folks at Cato are always a little too squishy for my tastes, but you take what you can get.)
The cool thing is that you can look at the specifics by department and get a lot of other information by browsing the site. There are many interesting graphs, blog posts, and video content as well. Highly recommended to policy nerds, stat geeks, and all Americans who care about the future of freedom and prosperity in their country.