America Blew Almost $2 Trillion. Make It Stop: Kathryn Edwards

The US federal budget seems out of control. Funding spats and debt-ceiling standoffs routinely threaten to force defaults and shutdowns. America’s once-unassailable credit rating keeps slipping. Has the government simply become too big to manage?

No, but it has been so poorly managed that one could be forgiven for reaching that conclusion. Congress must do better, and next year it will have a rare opportunity.

In 2017, Congress passed a law commonly known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Its authors sold it as a fiscal miracle drug: It would simplify taxes, make businesses more competitive, increase ...