ScottBittle's blog

Vast amounts of analysis are pouring out across the Internet today about President Obama's new budget, so much that it's hard for anyone not versed in the issue to keep up.

In a torrent of budget news, the Wall Street Journal's interactive graphic of the federal budget process is something to make you laugh or cry, as you prefer.

The idea of a bipartisan commission to draft a plan to get the federal budget on a sound footing has been embraced by President Obama and Congressional leaders, and will likely be a major point in next week's State of the Union speech.

One of the biggest problems in getting Americans engaged on the nation's fiscal challenges is that the problem is so hard for most people to get their arms around. The numbers are so huge, the issues so arcane and the problems so daunting that people may get angry about it, but have no idea how to grab onto it.

Here's a measure of both how important Social Security is and the problems it faces: the program will actually run a deficit over the next two years because fewer people are paying in and more are applying for benefits.

With the latest grim set of federal deficit numbers out, critics are arguing that the government doesn't have the money to reform health care, and may have to put off the idea.

As expected, the White House and the Congressional Budget Office are out with new projections showing the annual deficit soaring to nearly $1.6 trillion and the