{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Episode 156: The Government\u2019s Rosy Outlook","description":"The Congressional Budget Office is tasked with forecasting the federal budget. Over the past twenty years, the CBO has tended to over-estimate future tax revenues and under-estimate future government spending. The result is that CBO paints an unrealistically rosy picture of the government\u2019s financial future. If we take CBO\u2019s forecasts and compensate for their historically rosy biases, we find that, where the CBO predicts trillion-dollar deficits forever, the likely reality is actually worse. Show your support for Words &amp;amp; Numbers at Patreon https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/wordsandnumbers&amp;nbsp; Quick hits Europe votes for standardized phone chargers  https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/xgqwbd\/europe-just-voted-in-favor-of-making-iphone-and-android-use-the-same-charger Pledge  https:\/\/www.wgal.com\/article\/student-sues-lebanon-school-district-over-alleged-punishment-for-refusing-to-stand-for-pledge-of-allegiance\/30732086 WV Board of Education v. Barnette  https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/West_Virginia_State_Board_of_Education_v._Barnette Foolishness of the week Punxsutawney Phil and PETA  https:\/\/www.fox5ny.com\/news\/peta-calls-for-punxsutawney-phil-to-retire-be-replaced-with-ai-robot-for-groundhog-day&amp;nbsp; Topic of the week Latest CBO report  https:\/\/www.cbo.gov\/system\/files\/2019-08\/55551-CBO-outlook-update_0.pdf   https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/ajimpact\/budget-deficit-hit-1-trillion-year-cbo-200128193731479.html Join the conversation Words &amp;amp; Numbers Backstage https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/130029457649243\/ Let us know what you think mailto:wordsandnumberspodcast@gmail.com Antony Davies on Twitter https:\/\/twitter.com\/antonydavies James R. Harrigan on Twitter https:\/\/twitter.com\/JamesRHarrigan ","author_name":"Words &amp; Numbers","author_url":"http:\/\/wordsandnumbers.libsyn.com\/website","html":"<iframe title=\"Libsyn Player\" style=\"border: none\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/13022105\/height\/90\/theme\/custom\/thumbnail\/yes\/direction\/forward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/88AA3C\/\" height=\"90\" width=\"600\" scrolling=\"no\"  allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe>","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/assets.libsyn.com\/secure\/content\/64125329"}