I am sending to the Congress this detailed plan to pay for this jobs bill and realize more than $3 trillion in net deficit reduction over the next 10 years. Combined with the approximately $1 trillion in savings from the first part of the Budget Control Act, this would generate more than $4 trillion in deficit…
Category: Economy
August Unemployment Rates Fall in All of Michigan’s Regional Labor Markets
From August 2010 to August 2011, unemployment rates fell in all of the state’s 17 regions. Rate drops ranged from a half percentage point to 1.8 percentage points and were significant in a number of regions over the year. The median reduction since August 2010 was 1.2 percentage points. The largest declines over this period were posted in…
Most States Experience Significant Rise In Levels Of ‘Deep Poverty’
The closer one looks at the Census data on American poverty, the more discouraging it becomes. It was already known that the national poverty rate climbed to 15.1 percent last year, the greatest percentage since 1993, and that the actual number of Americans living in poverty had hit 46.2 million, the highest number…
10 Suburbs With The Highest Poverty Rates: Census
Suburbs have long been associated with white picket fences and manicured lawns. But for many living in suburbia today, the reality is much bleaker. This month, it was reported that 15.1 percent of Americans live below the poverty line last year, the high level since 1993. And while the majority of the 46.2…
Poverty an invisible issue in GOP race
When the U.S. Census Bureau reported last week that a record number of people were living in poverty, Republicans were quick to attach the figures to President Barack Obama, desperately trying to lay them at his feet. But anyone with common sense knows that someone doesn’t just fall into poverty overnight. The deplorable…
Infrastructure Funds Benefit More Than The Economy[audio]
A number of U.S. mayors have been in Washington this week for meetings at the White House and on Capitol Hill. Their message: We need help. Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett was in the group from the U.S. Conference of Mayors. And he was the sole Republican. Cornett talks to David Greene about the needs…
The insurance industry gets bullish on health-care reform
As the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, individual policies make up only 1 to 2 percent of CIGNA’s current revenue; most profits come from employer-based insurance. But the health reform law makes the individual market newly lucrative: The CBO projects that, by 2019, the number of Americans buying their own insurance will double. So Tuesday,…
Contrary To GOP Claims, Research Shows Environmental Regulation Actually Spurs Economic Growth
Environmental regulations and the agency that enforces them, the EPA, have been singled out for particularly rough treatment. Republicans have scheduled a series of votes starting this week aimed at repealing or halting them. But two reports highlighted today by Politico — one by the Economic Policy Institute, the other by Public Citizen…
GOP mayors like Obama’s jobs plan. GOP governors don’t.
Republicans in Washington have little love for President Obama’s jobs plan and his proposal to pay for it. But the president may find a warmer reception from Republicans governing on the local level. The U.S. Conference of Mayors–a bipartisan national group for mayors of major cities–has openly embraced the American Jobs Act, with key Republican…
EIA: China and India rule our energy world
On Monday, the Energy Information Administration released its International Energy Outlook 2011 report. The chart on the right shows the projections for global energy consumption from 1990 to 2035. Notice that energy use in the OECD countries — North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia — stays nearly flat during that period. It’s the…
Wonkbook: No compromise from Obama
Now let’s look at what’s not in President Obama’s deficit plan: There are no cuts to Social Security. There’s no rise in the Medicare retirement age. Instead, the headline policy is so-called the “Buffett rule,” a tax reform principle that holds that millionaires should not pay lower tax rates than their secretaries. Moreover,…
Google chairman on economy: ‘The current strategy is ludicrous’[video]
Christiane Amanpour’s Sunday interview with Google chairman Eric Schmidt is attracting an unusual amount of notice. Mike Allen excerpted it in Playbook, and Kevin Drum asked, “Why don’t more CEOs talk like this?” If you watch the clip, you’ll see why: it’s a refreshingly clear and analytical take on what’s holding back American business. via…
White House Senior Advisor Talks Debt : NPR[audio,10min]
Valerie Jarrett discusses the viability of President Obama’s new debt plan, including cuts to entitlement spending and proposed tax increases to Americans who make more than $1 million. She speaks with host Michel Martin. via White House Senior Advisor Talks Debt : NPR.
Paul Ryan, Herman Cain Push For Tax Increases On Middle Class
Ryan, while backing a payroll tax hike, nevertheless said that tax hikes cannot be part of the deficit-cutting proposal that the super committee comes up with. As part of his explanation, Ryan made it clear that he sees no difference between raising taxes proactively and allowing tax breaks to expire. “You already have…
Andy Ostroy: You Bet It’s Class Warfare
Its called the “Millionaire’s Tax”, and it’s pure genius. Finally, President Obama and Democrats have caught on to the power and importance of branding. My God, it’s almost Rovian in its sheer simplicity and potential impact. The tax is a brilliant scheme by the president to achieve his goal of taxing the rich and creating…
DNC Pushes Obama Jobs Plan in Video Ads
The Democratic National Committee is pushing Barack Obamas jobs plan with eye-catching online video ads, as the Obama campaign targets marriage equality voters on Facebook. Both efforts display the reelection campaigns use of issue-themed ads online to build their supporter lists.Expandable ads spotted on LATimes.com yesterday from the DNC lead to a website…
House GOP Rejects Tax Cuts For Middle Class
House Republicans rejected President Obama’s week-old jobs plan, including about $240 billion in payroll tax cuts. In a memo to their caucus, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), and other leaders dismissed the bill’s largest spending and tax cutting portions, leaving little of the bill intact. via House GOP Rejects…
Study: Privatizing government doesn’t actually save money
The theory that the federal government should outsource its operations to private firms usually rests on a simple premise: It saves money. But why should we believe it saves money? Often the argument is made by pointing to salaries for public- and private-sector employees in comparable jobs and noting that the private-sector employees make less….
Why Americans stopped relocating, in one graph
Migration from state to state increased sharply in the wake of World War II. It continued to creep up through the 1960s and 1970s, too. But moving started slowing down in the 1980s — and never stopped. “By most measures, internal migration in the United States is at a 30-year low,” the NBER authors Raven…
A Potential Superhero For The Supercommittee
At one point, Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl suggested that the government might raise money by tackling Medicare fraud or by selling public lands. “I’m not against our working with you on any issue that you want us to work with you on,” Elmendorf said. “But there’s no evidence that suggests that this…