While it may not seem like the most enthralling piece of reading, the recently released proposed budget of the United States government for the fiscal year 2005 is an important document. As presented here, visitors may download the entire budget (but it should be noted that it is 63 MB), or elect to view specific sections dealing with various agencies, such as the Department of Agriculture, the...

As part of its mandate under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the US Congressional Budget Office issues "a series of reports on the state of the economy and the budget." The latest report, released September 2, 1997 concludes that "the federal budget will come close to balance this year and will move into surplus by 2002... [and] is projected to be in virtual balance through 2007." The report...

Authored by Alice M. Rivlin and Isabel V. Sawhill, this 114-page report from The Brookings Institution offers an assessment of the federal budget outlook over the coming decade. In summary, the report projects "large and persistent deficits," and discusses why these deficits may be of grave concern to the fiscal security and stability of the United States and its economy. Throughout its pages, the...

State budgets are a serious problem for most states, and the states in the Mountain West area are no exception. This 26-page brief was created by staff members at The Brookings Institution and the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University and released in January 2011. The brief takes a close look at the fiscal situation in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Nevada and...

This week's In the News discusses the recent announcement that the US government has effectively balanced the budget for the first time in 30 years. The eleven resources discussed offer a variety of information on this topic. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently issued revised projections showing that the federal budget is effectively in the black and should remain that way in the coming...