John T. Harvey — Five Reasons Why A National Balanced Budget Amendment Is Lunacy

A constitutional amendment to require a balanced federal budget is once again in the news:

Constitutional convention sparking buzz, but odds still long

As an economist, the only thing I find slightly encouraging about this is the part of the title that reads, “odds still long.” Requiring a balanced federal budget is sheer lunacy and a recipe for disaster. We must do everything in our power to stop these well-intentioned but ill-informed individuals from pushing us down this road to ruin.

There are so many reasons why this is a bad idea, but I’ll limit myself to five. Here’s a summary of why we don’t need a balanced-budget amendment….

John knocks it out of the park. Let's see what the comments look like over there.

Forbes — Pragmatic Economics

Five Reasons Why A National Balanced Budget Amendment Is Lunacy
John T. Harvey | Professor of Economics, Texas Christian University