University of Pennsylvania research initiative producing nonpartisan economic analyses of federal policy, including tax, spending, and tariff proposals.
CBO Director Phillip Swagel put the real growth needed to stop U.S. debt rising against GDP at 5%-6%, more than double the current pace. He told a Minneapolis Fed conference that what remains is tax and spending changes, which he called inherently political choices.
Reality
China has shipped about half the 25 million tons of soybeans it promised, and the suspension of its rare earth export controls runs out on Nov. 10. Bank of America's base case is a one-year extension.
Perspective Coverage
10 publishersReality
A 25-page OTMP report names about 40 countries and specific industrial districts as transshipment routes. The follow-through will land on documentation, not duty rates.
Perspective Coverage
5 publishersReality
The $5,000 check Trump promised at the Republican midterm convention would cost about $1.35 trillion by one Wharton estimate. It rests on tariff revenue the Supreme Court has already narrowed.
Reality
February's 6-3 Supreme Court ruling left the federal government owing importers somewhere between $166 billion and $175 billion in voided tariffs. The companies collecting it are now deciding whether the money is theirs to keep.
Reality
Kent Smetters of the Penn Wharton Budget Model puts the checks at about $1.35 trillion, or $1.15 trillion if a $400,000 income cap he supplied himself applies, against a federal deficit already running near $2 trillion a year.
Reality
Debt held by the public went from 32% of GDP to 100% in a quarter century, and the budget hawks' own decomposition says removing any one of tax cuts, new spending or crisis response would have left it near where it started.
Reality
Debt at 122% of GDP implies an economy of about $32.8 trillion. Wharton's Kent Smetters says the growth route is "pretty clearly" not feasible, which leaves the 30-year bond setting the limit.
Reality