Michael Linden
Director for Tax and Budget Policy
Michael Linden is the Director for Tax and Budget Policy at American Progress. Michael’s work focuses on the federal budget and the medium- and long-term deficits. He has co-authored numerous reports on the causes of and solutions to our fiscal challenges, including “Path to Balance,” which first proposed primary balance as an intermediate goal, and “A First Step,” which included a detailed plan for achieving that goal. Michael also coined the phrase “deficit peacock.” He is a frequent guest on CNBC, and his work has been cited by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and National Public Radio, among others.
Prior to joining CAP, he worked at First Focus, a national children's advocacy organization, serving as director and then senior director of tax and budget policy. While at First Focus, Michael authored both the inaugural and the second book in the Children's Budget series. Michael also wrote several reports on recession-induced child poverty, the last of which spurred the state legislature of Connecticut to establish a special task force on children in the recession.
Michael earned his master's degree in public policy from the University of California at Berkeley. While in the Bay Area, he consulted for a variety of clients including the Oakland Police Department, the Contra Costa Unified School District, and for then-mayor of Oakland Jerry Brown's successful campaign for state attorney general.
Michael was born and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before attending college at Brown University. In addition to his hometown, Michael has lived in Munich, Providence, Chicago, Oakland, and now resides in Washington, D.C. with his wife and daughter.
Email: mlinden /@\ americanprogress.org
Articles by Michael Linden
- What Caused This Year’s Deficit?, January 31, 2012
- Lack of Revenue Will Lead to Big Future Budget Deficits, January 31, 2012
- Super Committee Democratic Plan Nearly Identical to the Bowles-Simpson Plan, November 22, 2011
- Republicans Won’t Compromise on Taxes: A Timeline, November 21, 2011
- There’s Only One Way the Super Committee Can Fail (and It’s Not What You Think), November 18, 2011
- Regulatory Nonsense, November 18, 2011
- The Mirage of ‘Figure-It-Out-Later’ Tax Reform, November 2, 2011
- Five Canards About Job-Killing Regulations, October 21, 2011
- Going Forward Is More Important than 'Going Big', October 5, 2011
- Ronald Reagan, Father of the ‘Buffett Rule’, October 3, 2011
- Obama Deficit Plan Lighter on Taxes than Bipartisan Plans, September 26, 2011
- Fact Versus Fiction in Latest Supply-Side Debate, September 22, 2011
- President Obama’s Plan for Dealing with the Deficit, September 19, 2011
- Obama vs. Bush: Who’s the Bigger Tax Cutter?, September 13, 2011
- Recommendations for the Special Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, September 6, 2011
- A Do-Nothing Congress Would Balance the Budget (Almost), August 29, 2011
- Holtz-Eakin Joins the Recovery Act Champions, August 11, 2011
- El Acuerdo, August 3, 2011
- Whatever Else It Does, The Debt Limit Deal Reduces the Deficit, August 2, 2011
- The Deal, August 1, 2011
- Default Dangers amid Slowing Economy, July 29, 2011
- Top Ten Facts You Need to Know About Why We Need to Raise the Federal Debt Ceiling, July 29, 2011
- The Importance of Raising the Debt Ceiling, July 28, 2011
- Infographic: Obama Bends Over Backwards for Conservatives on Debt Ceiling, July 25, 2011
- Interactive Map: No Debt Limit Increase Means Big Cuts to State Services, July 20, 2011
- Gang of Six Plan Versus Insanity, July 20, 2011
- Gráfico Informativo: El Plan Presupuestario Anticuado de los Republicanos no es Apto para Hoy en Día, July 19, 2011
- Infographic: ‘60s Retro Budget Plan by Republicans Unfit for Today, July 18, 2011
- Conservative Plan to Cap Federal Spending Is Disingenuous and Dangerous, July 18, 2011
- Spending Cap Is Bad No Matter How You Slice It , July 18, 2011
- CBO’s Dire Debt Outlook Is Mainly Due to Lower Revenues, June 27, 2011
- Rich People’s Taxes Have Little to Do with Job Creation, June 27, 2011
- Good News on Deficit Reduction, June 23, 2011
- The Myth of the Lower Marginal Tax Rates, June 20, 2011
- Ten Charts that Prove the United States Is a Low-Tax Country, June 10, 2011
- The Bush Tax Cuts Are the Disaster that Keeps on Giving, June 7, 2011
- Frozen Federal Debt Could Do Serious Damage to the Recovery, June 3, 2011
- Budgeting for Growth, June 2, 2011
- CAP's Plan for Budgeting for Growth and Prosperity, May 25, 2011
- Budgeting for Growth and Prosperity, May 25, 2011
- Paul Ryan’s Hidden Middle-Class Tax Hike, April 5, 2011
- What to Look for in Rep. Ryan’s 2012 Budget, April 4, 2011
- Riders on the Budget Storm, March 31, 2011
- Assault on the Middle Class, March 30, 2011
- Interactive Quiz: Think You Know Our Nation’s Budget Problems?, March 28, 2011
- Will the Budget Process End Where the House Leadership Started?, March 23, 2011
- We’re Not Broke, March 21, 2011
- GAO Provides Valuable Addition to Waste-Cutting Efforts , March 15, 2011
- Not So Fast, Newt , March 7, 2011
- Reality Slowly Dawns on House Republicans, March 1, 2011
- Interactive: The Chopping Block, February 15, 2011
- Reality Bites, February 14, 2011
- Show Me the Money, February 10, 2011
- Fix Payroll Tax Cut for Low-Income Workers, December 9, 2010
- Tax and Unemployment Agreement Leads to Jobs Growth, December 7, 2010
- Parsing the Deficit Reduction Plans, December 6, 2010
- The First Step, December 6, 2010
- History Is a Poor Guide for Future Federal Budgets, November 1, 2010
- Taking on the Deficit, October 4, 2010
- Let’s Get Our Priorities Straight, September 30, 2010
- “Pledge to America” Not as Fiscally Responsible as It Claims, September 23, 2010
- A Thousand Cuts, September 21, 2010
- Golden Years for the Gilded, August 25, 2010
- Three Good Reasons to Let the High-End Bush Tax Cuts Disappear This Year, July 29, 2010
- The Greek Myth of Profligacy, May 14, 2010
- Let’s Tax Wall Street to Pay for Job Creation, May 12, 2010
- Ask the Expert: What Is the Deficit Commission?, April 27, 2010
- Restoring Fiscal Balance, April 26, 2010
- Where Are Your Tax Dollars Going?, April 15, 2010
- Where Does the Money Go?, April 15, 2010
- Interactive: What Is Non-Defense Discretionary Spending?, March 24, 2010
- Discretionary Spending Is Good Spending, Too, March 24, 2010
- The Math Is Clear, March 10, 2010
- The Revenue and Spending Mismatch, February 1, 2010
- CBO’s Projections Highlight Budget Challenges, January 26, 2010
- How to Spot a Deficit Peacock , January 20, 2010
- A Path to Balance, December 14, 2009
- Chipping Away at the Estate Tax, December 11, 2009
- Meeting the Jobs Challenge, December 2, 2009
- Breaking Down the Deficit, November 17, 2009
- Bush Budget Bomb About to Blow, November 16, 2009
- Ask the Expert: Health Spending Drives Deficits, November 2, 2009
- Health Care Spending Is Driving Future Deficits, October 26, 2009
- Deficits and Debt 101, September 30, 2009
- Deal with It, September 30, 2009
- Who's to Blame for the Deficit Numbers?, August 25, 2009
