The economy has been humming since the election a year ago. GDP growth has hit 3 percent in back-to-back quarters, unemployment is way down, the stock market averages are at all-time highs, wages are growing, consumer confidence is up, and sales of new homes are the highest in a decade. Maybe -- just maybe -- it’s Morning in America again. But just when you think that Congress might be able to finally close the gap and get back to a balanced budget, along comes a string of natural disasters that lays waste to much of Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and California wine country, and which will cost taxpayers billions. In addition to that, we’ve just learned that for fiscal 2017 the federal deficit was $666B. That’s not only above what had been estimated, but $228B more than the 2015 deficit (Table 1.1). By 2015, Congress had made nearly a trillion dollars of progress in reducing the deficit from its record high in fiscal 2009, but now they’re going in the wrong...(Read Full Article)