Description: Discussions and conversations about the U.S. federal budget are commonplace, filling living rooms, coffeeshops, and talk radio. But how much do people really know about the intricacies of the budget, its history, and the institutional details that create it? Red Ink: The Budget, Deficit, and Debt of the U.S. Government offers an insightful, non-partisan explanation of the budget as a political document. The book examines the budget as a reflection of the distribution of economic power as well as discussing the current structure of the Federal government.

This descriptive, nonpartisan, and ideologically neutral approach to the U.S. federal budget provides a clear and detailed explanation of the intricacies of the budget, its history, and the institutional details that create it. Red Ink offers a complete guide to the federal governments budget, its deficit, and its debt. Clear and practical discussions of taxes, entitlements, welfare, Social Security, Medicare, agricultural subsidies, trust funds, budget enforcement, and the politics of the deficit and deficit-reduction are all included.

This is the first book to offer a complete survey from the history of the deficit to modern budget enforcement. It discusses topical issues, such as welfare and Medicare reform, and the controversies of the future, including the projected depletion of the Social Security trust funds. The actual line-item budget, including tax sources, is listed to demonstrate where federal money is spent and where it comes from. The book traces how spending and tax bills originate and follows them as they make their way through a maze of Congressional procedures, regulations, and protocols. In addition to students ofpublic finance and macroeconomics, Red Ink will be useful to anyone with an interest in the machinations of the federal budget.
-- Includes over 120 tables and illustrations
-- Features an extensive glossary of budget terms
-- Contains a practical "nuts and bolts" approach to the U.S. federal budget
-- Provides an annotated reading list for further research
-- Uses a WWW link for budget updates and new data

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