Last September, we also put in place new rules that ensure that every single rate increase of 10 percent or more is reviewed on either the state or federal level. For the first time, we have been able to guarantee Americans that no matter what state they live in, insurers will no longer be able…
Category: Economy
GOP Nominee Ryan: I Didnt Vote For The Defense Cuts I Voted For
Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan has gotten in hot water before for criticizing President Obama for the very same defense cuts that he voted for in 2011. When confronted with this incongruity today on Face The Nation, Ryan simply denied that he ever voted for the cuts, telling an incredulous Norah O’Donnell that he didn’t actually vote…
Obama’s Rescue of the Auto Industry Starts to Pay Off
Speaking of things that President Obama doesn’t get enough credit for: Total auto sales for the month were just under 1.3 million, 19.9% higher than a year earlier. That would put the annual pace at 14.5 million vehicles, the best of any month since the federal “cash for clunkers” economic stimulus program in August 2009 and a…
Public Opinion Snapshot: Public Supports Infrastructure Spending to Create Jobs
Conservatives claim the only way to create jobs is to cut taxes and spending, which will magically induce businesses to invest at a furious rate. The public seems to understand, however, that in today’s economic climate some spending might perform a useful role. One approach that meets with considerable public approval is spending on infrastructure….
CNN Host Dismantles Grover Norquist’s Anti-Tax Argument: ‘This Is A Wish, Not A Plan’
CNN’s Fareed Zakaria challenged Grover Norquist’s opposition to tax increases during an interview on Sunday, insisting that the anti-tax zealot’s opposition to higher taxes — gospel which the GOP has adopted — could lead to financial collapse and turn the nation into “another Greece.” “In other words, I don’t like high taxes, but the question…
Massachusetts’ Clean Economy Sees Massive Growth, Now Hosts 71,000 Jobs In Cleantech
Government investment and support for clean, renewable energy development is paying off handsomely in Massachusetts, where the clean energy economy grew 11.2% between July 2011 and July 2012. The state’s fast-growing clean energy sector now employs 71,523 people at 4,995 clean energy businesses across the state, according to a Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) report released Aug….
The Networked Energy Web: How The Convergence Of IT And Energy Can Remake The U.S. For The Better
The American electric grid is the largest machine on earth, and has heroically served its purpose for many years: to deliver affordable, reliable energy with nearly universal access. One way of understanding the electrical system is as a “one-to-many” and fundamentally linear system. The electricity grid was built around large, centralized generation from power plants,…
The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era
The leading economic forecasters all believe that at its peak the stimulus added about 2-4% to GDP, the difference between contraction and growth, and saved or created about 2.5 million jobs. (“Saved or created” has become a punchline—Obama joked after his annual Thanksgiving pardon that he had just saved or created four turkeys—but it simply…
How the U.S. manages to waste $165 billion in food each year
Each year, about 40 percent of all food in the United States goes uneaten. It’s just tossed out or left to rot. And that’s a fairly large waste of resources. All that freshwater and land, all that fertilizer and energy — for nothing. By one recent estimate, Americans are squandering the equivalent of $165 billion…
First Lady Announces 125,000 Veterans and Military Spouses Hired Through Joining Forces
Earlier today, I joined with First Lady Michelle Obama at Naval Station Mayport near Jacksonville, Florida as she announced that 2,000 companies had hired or trained an amazing 125,000 veterans and military spouses in the past year through Joining Forces. This effort, combined with policies and legislation put in place by the President have resulted…
CBO: If nothing changes, we’re in for another recession
Usually the release of Congressional Budget Office economic and budget projections is as dull as that phrase makes it sound. But not these economic and budget projections, released today by the CBO. The main takeaway is that if we go over the fiscal cliff — that is, if we let the Bush tax cuts and…
Middle-Class Economic Security Declines as Wealth Concentration Increases
America’s middle class became poorer and more economically insecure during the Great Recession, as household wealth concentrated in the hands of the rich, according to new Federal Reserve data about the recession and its aftermath. The latest Survey of Consumer Finance data covering the years 2007 to 2010 are yet another reminder that addressing the…
Five Budget Questions Mitt Romney Needs To Answer Now That Paul Ryan Is On The Ticket
Now that Mitt Romney has selected Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) to be his running mate, Ryan’s budget plan moves to the center of the presidential campaign. Ryan’s budget is a near-pure distillation of right-wing economic ideology. It would slash basic economic investments, end the Medicare guarantee, decimate the social safety-net, and dramatically cut taxes for…
Timeline: Cutting Poverty and the Federal Deficit Is Possible
Our nation unequivocally boasts the resources to dramatically cut poverty while simultaneously cutting the federal government’s long-term deficit. Unfortunately, too many of our political leaders put these two goals at odds, arguing that the way to stabilize our fiscal outlook is to hand the bill to middle- and low-income Americans. The House Republican leadership, for…
Paul Ryan’s Tax Plan Would Slash Mitt Romney’s Tax Rate to 1 Percent
The tax plan proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), the newly minted GOP vice presidential candidate, would have slashed Mitt Romney’s effective tax rate to about 1 percent in 2010, based on Romney’s tax return that year, according to a Roll Call analysis. The Ryan tax cut, which would shave about 90 percent off of…
Iowa’s GOP Governor Blasts Romney Campaign On Wind Tax Credits: They Need To ‘Come Out Here To The Real World’
Now that Mitt Romney’s campaign has officially declared the candidate’s desire to kill tax credits for wind while maintaining tax credits for the mature oil and gas industries, Midwestern Republicans are not happy. Iowa Republican Representative Tom Latham said Romney’s decision “shows a lack of full understanding of how important the wind energy tax credit…
Study: Romney Plan Increases Taxes On 95% Of Americans
Mitt Romney has been on the defensive today over a new study that found his tax plan would most likely increase taxes on the middle class in order to pay for a hefty tax cut for the wealthiest Americans. The study (pdf) by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center scrutinizes Romney’s plan to pay for a…
Making Our Middle Class Stronger
The American middle class is in trouble. Incomes are stagnant or falling, while the costs of life’s necessities continue to rise, and the risks of falling behind grow. The weakness of our middle class is a problem not just for those who are struggling but also for all Americans because a strong middle class is…
CHART: How State And Local Budget Cuts Are Holding Back GDP Growth | ThinkProgress
As the Tax Policy Center noted, “in 2011, the state and local sector contracted 3.4 percent, the largest decline since World War II.” Budget cuts have actually knocked several tenths of a percentage point off of national GDP in each of the last two years and in the first half of 2012, as this chart…
Infographic: America’s High Health Care Costs
See this graphic and three more about the astounding American health care expenditure numbers. Infographic: America’s High Health Care Costs.