Category Archives: Debt and deficits

Arkansas projects get funded as debt elephant gets ignored

tax, taxes, debt, deficits, spending, trillion, State of the Union, deficit hawks, balanced budget amendment, Jonathan Bydlak, immigration, $98.8 trillion, $970 billion, debt elephantCongress has funded most but not all of the government. Four members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation secured hundreds of millions of dollars for highways and other state projects. Meanwhile, a nonpartisan group is warning of the consequences of ever-increasing government debt.

That paragraph pretty much sums up the federal budget news from the past couple of weeks, with more to come. 

As you may not have noticed, there was another government shutdown last week, though only a partial, brief one. It ended when President Trump on Feb. 3 passed the second of two bills that funded government operations through September – all except for the Department of Homeland Security, which got funding for only two weeks until Feb. 13.

Democrats balked at funding that agency because they want major reforms to its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. As of Sunday evening, the question had not been resolved. 

So we’re in another partial government shutdown. Continue reading →

A $40 trillion debt party?

By Steve Brawner

© 2025 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

The national debt reached a new milestone last month. Did anybody notice? 

Maybe a party would help.

Sam Sicard, president and CEO of First National Bank of Fort Smith, offered that suggestion in a text message Tuesday. 

The day before, the national debt had reached $37 trillion.

Sicard, who has tried to call attention to the issue for years, texted, “Let’s plan a ‘Hit $40 trillion’ party for next year.”

He was being sarcastic about planning a party, but not about the concept. 

“Bottom line is we need to find ways to grab voters’ attention, and parody of the recklessness is another approach,” he wrote. Continue reading →

Arkansas’ credit can’t escape Uncle Sam’s ills

By Steve Brawner, © 2025 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Governments want good credit ratings just like individuals and businesses do. In that respect, the U.S. government is moving in the wrong direction, and Arkansas is moving in the right one – for now.

S&P Global Ratings recently raised its long-term rating on the state of Arkansas’ general obligation bonds to AA+. It’s the state’s highest rating since 1966 and the second highest on S&P’s scale after AAA.

Meanwhile, Moody’s Ratings kept the state at Aa1, also its second highest rating, and said its outlook was “stable,” meaning it doesn’t think things will change. On May 16, it wrote, “The Aa1 issuer rating reflects the state’s strong governance practices, high reserves and low leverage. The state’s proactive and conservative budget management has driven a material increase in reserve levels while lowering tax rates.”

Sounds good to me.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders touted the state’s ratings in a press release, saying they could attract potential investors. Department of Finance and Administration Secretary Jim Hudson pointed to the $1 billion Arkansas Reserve Fund. 

The news was not so good at the national level. That’s where Moody’s downgraded the federal government’s credit rating from Aaa, the highest possible, to Aa1. Continue reading →

When will we pay back all this newly borrowed money?

By Steve Brawner
© 2021 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

As Congress and President Biden debate yet again how much to spend in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, one detail is missing: How are we going to pay all this borrowed money back?

Since the pandemic began, the federal government has provided $3.4 trillion in COVID-19 relief, which is equal to $10,300 for every American, according to the New York Times.

Biden has proposed another $1.9 trillion that, among other provisions, would send $1,400 to adults making $75,000 or less. This would follow the $600 checks many of us received in December. The package also includes unemployment benefits, rental assistance, money for state and local governments, and $170 billion for schools, colleges and universities.

Whatever the final amount is, Arkansas will get a piece of the pie. Its previous pieces, in fact, are why the state is running a budget surplus this year. Continue reading →

Time not on side of just-in-time nation

March 19, 2020

By Steve Brawner
© 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

You know how personal financial planners are always telling us to save six months of living expenses in case we face hard times?

Turns out that’s good advice for a nation as well.

No one knows what the future will hold, but a Department of Health and Human Services plan, as reported by the New York Times, anticipates an 18-month coronavirus pandemic that “could include multiple waves of illness” with “significant shortages for government, private sector, and individual U.S. consumers.” Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Republican senators the unemployment rate could reach 20%.

To cushion the blow, Congress and the Trump administration are hatching plans that would exceed the bailouts of a decade ago. The number $2 trillion is being reported. Both of Arkansas’ senators, Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton, are willing to go big. Cotton on Jan. 30 called for a “Manhattan Project-level effort” to develop a vaccine – the Manhattan Project being the World War II effort to develop the atomic bomb. He gave a chilling speech Monday urging “extraordinary measures,” saying, “(O)ur hour of great national testing has arrived.” He’s introduced four bills that would provide money to individuals and businesses, including $1,000 checks to individuals making less than $100,000 annually plus $500 for dependents.

That would pay the mortgage. Meanwhile, utilities in Arkansas are saying they won’t shut off power and water for those who can’t pay their bills. Continue reading →