Abstract
This paper examines the formation and operation of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) including who its key stakeholders are, what conflicts exist between stakeholders, the power dynamics of dealing with a two party Congress, and challenges facing the first director of the CBO.

From the Paper
"The key stakeholders of the Congressional Budget Office in the broadest sense are the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. More specifically, stakeholders are the individual members of Congress who instruct the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to prepare reports or forecasts. The most important stakeholders of the CBO are the Congressional leaders of the Democratic and the Republican parties. The CBO must meet the needs of these leaders in order for Congress to view the CBO as effective.

Tags:CBO, Congressiona Budget Office, forming, first director, challenges, political differences, serving two masters, challenges to overcome, mandates, direction, guidance, funding

Abstract
This paper discusses reports by the Federal Reserve, the IMF, and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) regarding the U.S. economy in the year 2004. The paper discusses factors pertinent to the economy including the employment rate, the interest rate, inflation, the U.S. budget and trade deficit and presents opinions that the author has about the state of the U.S. economy at that time.

From the Paper
"In February 2004, the main problem of the US economy, as identified by Greenspan, was the fact that the company's increase in income and net profits were related to a better use of human resources rather than on an increase in employment. In other words, despite the fact that the economy was on the rise, it failed to produce new jobs. This was a direct consequence, in Greenspan's opinion, of the risks associated with increased employments, more notably "corporate accounting and governance scandals" , a "decline in stock prices" and the overall "geopolitical tensions" . "

Tags:unemployment, situation, monetary, policies, household, income, spending, consumer

Abstract
The economic health of the United States is measured by a variety of institutions that assign value to a number of indicators in an effort to judge and predict future activity. The paper explains that the U.S. Administration, the Mortgage Banker's Association and the Congressional Budget Office all compile data to project macroeconomic concepts such as real GDP, inflation rate, unemployment, 10-year T-notes, and 30 year fixed mortgage rates. The paper shows that economists and other professional forecasters use a number of techniques to make projections for the economy and the labor market, including reliance on equations and regressions using the relevant variables to help them forecast the future.

From the Paper
"The forecasters see little reason to change their projections for inflation or unemployment. Measured by the fourth-quarter over fourth-quarter rate of change in the consumer price index, inflation is expected to average 2.3 percent in 2005, up just a bit from the previous estimate of 2.2 percent, and hold steady at 2.3 percent in 2006. Year-over-year growth in the GDP price index will average 2.0 percent in 2005, and rise to 2.1 percent next year. The forecasters see the unemployment rate averaging 5.2 percent this year, just a bit below their previous estimate of 5.3 percent, and falling in 2006, to an annual average of 5.0 percent."

Tags:CBO, TRIA, taxation, inflation