Cyber risk is one of the great concerns sitting at the top of any government, as hacker attacks and other security breaches have the potential to jeopardize the global economy and other aspects of everyday life. Wide reporting indicates the proliferation of cyber attacks worldwide at a substantial and increasing…
Articles Posted in Commentary and Opinion
CBO Director: Testimony on Social Security’s Finances, July 12,2023
CBO’s Director, Phillip Swagel, testifies about the agency’s projections of Social Security’s finances before the Senate Budget Committee. Established in 1974, The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States government. It is charged with providing members of Congress objective analysis of…
SCOTUS: Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v President and Fellows of Harvard College, Remarks and Statements
On June 29,2023, the Supreme Court delivered its decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. The Court held that Harvard College’s admissions system does not comply with the principles of the equal protection clause embodied in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The decision,…
The State of the Economy of the United States: As Viewed by GAO and CBO
In an earlier posting, CBO Projections: The 2023 Budget, we provided Congressional Budget Office (CBO) documents which discuss, from a budgetary perspective, their analysis and projections of what the federal budget and economy would look like over the next 20 years, if current laws generally remain unchanged. In this posting…
CBO Projections: The 2023 Long-Term Budget Outlook
Report June 28, 2023: Introduction: The U.S. faces a challenging fiscal outlook in the coming years, according to CBO’s projections. Measured as a percentage of GDP, large and sustained deficits lead to high and rising federal debt that exceeds any previously recorded level. Summary: Each year, the Congressional Budget Office…
Congressional Budget Office: 2023 Long-Term Projections for Social Security
Established in 1974, The Congressional Budget Office is a federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States government. It is charged with providing members of Congress objective analysis of budgeting and economic issues to support the congressional budget process. Each year, CBO economists and budget analysts produce dozens…
Responding to Errors and Mistakes in ChatGPT and Other Generative AI Systems
Since Open AI released ChatGPT for public use on November 30, 2022, its rate of adoption by the public has been explosive and appears to be increasing at a near exponential rate. Within two months after its public release, it had acquired an estimated 100 million users and surpassed one…
REFLECTIONS OF A RETIRED LAW LIBRARIAN: From Mimeograph to Generative AI
Being a retired law librarian of a certain age, I am now often asked to reflect upon my 50 years serving in various capacities as a law librarian. I have noticed that most questions asked can be grouped into discrete categories. For example, people want to know what lessons I…
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Information Regarding Increased Enforcement by the IRS
This posting relates to Congressional Budget Office (CBO) correspondence dated August 25, 2022, in which the CBO answers several questions from Congressmen Kevin Brady and Jason Smith about increased enforcement by the Internal Revenue Service. It includes a brief summary of the correspondence, a direct link to the letter addressed…
Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA)
INTRODUCTION The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) HR 5376 was signed into law by President Joe Biden on August 16, 2022, after a tortuous route through the legislative process. HR 5376 grew out of the Build Back Better Act (BBB) which passed the House on September 27, 2021, but…