Progressives need to make monetary policy something politicians have to answer for. The Fed’s policy is set by the 12 voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee FOMC, seven of whom are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. This process, and the views on monetary policy of the people who…
Category: Economy
If Corporations Don’t Pay Taxes, Why Should You?
Go offshore young man and avoid paying taxes. Plunder at will in those foreign lands, and if you get in trouble, Uncle Sam will come rushing to your assistance, diplomatically, financially and militarily, even if you have managed to avoid paying for those government services. Just pretend you’re a multinational corporation. That’s the honest instruction…
Ryan in Fantasyland
Voters might not have focused on the fact that Ryan’s original plan wouldn’t have produced a balanced budget until today’s high-school students reached middle age, but the true deficit hawks in the House Republican caucus certainly noticed. They demanded a budget that reached balance much sooner. Hence Ryan’s revised plan, which claims to accomplish this…
ADP National Employment Report: Private Sector Employment Increased by 198,000 Jobs In February
Private sector employment increased by 198,000 jobs from January to February, according to the February ADP National Employment Report®, which is produced by ADP®, a leading provider of human capital management solutions, in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics. The report, which is derived from ADP’s actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment…
New Poll Finds Overwhelming Support For A Carbon Tax Over Spending Cuts For Deficit Reduction
A recent poll found Americans would prefer a carbon tax to cutting spending for deficit reduction by a huge margin. Commissioned by Friends of the Earth and conducted by the Mellman Group in December, the poll is the latest evidence that actions on climate change — and efforts to tax or cap carbon emissions specifically — are…
President’s Weekly Address: A Balanced Approach to Growing the Economy in 2013
In this week’s address, President Obama calls on Congress to work together on a balanced approach to reduce our deficit and promote economic growth and job creation.
Obama: more tax revenue needed to address deficit
President Barack Obama said on Sunday more tax revenue would be needed to reduce the U.S. deficit and signaled he would push hard to get rid of loopholes such as the “carried interest” tax break enjoyed by private equity and hedge fund managers. Obama, who won re-election in November largely on his promise to raise…
Think Obama’s a huge spender? Then you need to see these two charts.
The takeaway, Drum says, is that “total government spending didn’t go up much during the Clinton era, and it’s actually declined during under President Obama. In the last two decades, it’s only gone up significantly during the Bush era, the same era in which taxes were cut dramatically.” But some said Drum’s chart was a…
Corporate Profits Have Grown By 171 Percent Under ‘Anti-Business’ Obama
Business executives like to portray the Obama administration as the “most anti-business” in history, creating an “increasingly hostile environment for investment and job creation.” However, the data tells a far different story. According to a Bloomberg News analysis, corporate profits have grown by 171 percent under Obama, the most in the post-war era: U.S. corporations’…
U.S. oil imports are falling to their lowest level since 1987
The United States isn’t nearly as reliant on foreign oil as it used to be. Imports of crude oil and other petroleum products are on pace to drop to 6 million barrels per day by 2014, according to new forecasts by the Energy Information Administration. That’s the lowest level since 1987. It’s also just half…
AIG considers suing government for bailing it out, world implodes in on itself
Fresh from launching a branding campaign to try to rechristen itself as a paragon of patriotism, the giant insurer American International Group is reportedly weighing a step that would remind America just why everyone got so darn mad in the first place. The board of AIG, according to the New York Times, is weighing whether…
Report: U.S. Health Spending Grew At Record Slow Pace For Third Consecutive Year
The country’s health care bill tallied $2.7 trillion, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Some indicators, though, suggest the slowed growth may not last. The New York Times: Growth Of Health Spending Stays Low National health spending climbed to $2.7 trillion in 2011, or an average of $8,700 for every person in…
Obama signs bill warding off fiscal cliff
President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill to avert the fiscal cliff, a day after the House and Senate approved the much-debated legislation. Obama, who returned to his family vacation in Hawaii after Tuesday’s House vote, signed the bill via autopen on Wednesday. But new battles over taxes and spending await Washington in…
An amazing mea culpa from the IMF’s chief economist on austerity
Consider it a mea culpa submerged in a deep pool of calculus and regression analysis: The International Monetary Fund’s top economist today acknowledged that the fund blew its forecasts for Greece and other European economies because it did not fully understand how government austerity efforts would undermine economic growth. The new and highly technical paper…
Happy New Year! We gained 215,000 jobs in December.
Collected by the payroll processing firm ADP, the report has offered a more accurate first guess of the actual, final job numbers during the current economic crisis than has the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ initial release for the month. ADP has since switched its methodology a bit, but it’s definitely worth paying attention to. The…
Expanding Medicaid Would Save Florida $100 Million Per Year
Obama has won re-election and the health law’s implementation is marching forward, Scott has showed some signs that he may consider softening his stance. And a new report from Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute could give him even more reason to do, since it concludes that Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion would save Florida about $100 million…
No More Twinkies – Hostess Brands Shuts Down, Blames Unions
The howling has already begun from the mad partisans on the right. Cries of ‘union thuggery’ are ringing out in the blogosphere, certainly to reverberate out into the mainstream conservative media. For those who like a few facts before passing judgment, it seemed like a good idea to put together a few highlights from…
John Metz, Dennys Franchisee And Hurricane Grill & Wings Owner, Imposes Surcharge For Obamacare
Metz said he will hold meetings at all his restaurants starting in December to discuss the surcharge and to tell employees “that because of Obamacare, we are going to be cutting front-of-the-house employees to under 30 hours, effective immediately.” Metz said he hopes the post-election meetings will inspire employees rather than alienate them. “What…
Jobs Report: U.S. Economy Adds 114,000 Jobs In September; Jobless Rate Down To 7.8 Percent
The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent last month, dropping below 8 percent for the first time in nearly four years. The rate fell because more people found work, a trend that could impact the presidential election. The Labor Department says employers added 114,000 jobs in September. The economy also created 86,000 more jobs…
Record Number Of Americans Now Have Student Loan Debt
Nearly one-in-five American households now have student loan debt, according to a study released by the Pew Research Center. Overall, 19 percent of households carried some amount of student debt in 2010, up from just 15 percent in 2007. Borrowers on average owed more than $26,000, double what they owed in 1995. Student loan debt…