News
National Journal | Food-Stamp Dilemma: Eating on $3.37 a Day
Elizabeth Webster wakes up every morning at 5:30 to get her two daughters ready for school. If there’s enough left of the $440 the family receives each month from the food-stamp program, her daughters have fruit or vegetables in their lunches.
FOX Business | Despite Recovering Economies, Consumers Still Frugal
Consumers are sticking to frugal shopping habits developed in the recession even as developed economies show signs of recovery, suggesting some behavior changes could be permanent, industry executives say.
Bloomberg | Consumer Comfort in U.S. Stabilizes After Falling for Four Weeks
Consumer confidence stabilized last week after four consecutive declines even as Americans’ views of the economy dimmed.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | A plea to Congress: Save the economy
Congress is back in town after the August recess with an agenda full of tough issues to address before year’s end. The issue that should be highest on the list — the one most Americans want to see fixed more than anything else — is the U.S. economy. As we move toward the end of the year, we need to focus on boosting our continued economic recovery by removing legal blocks to entrepreneurship, innovation and job creation.
WSJ | How to Create Another Housing Crisis
Government policies to promote homeownership should aim to decrease mortgage defaults, not increase them. They can do so by requiring the lender to bear some of the risk of loss, by requiring the borrower to make a substantial down payment, or both. Yet late last month federal regulators proposed rules that would gut both requirements.
CNN Money | Foreclosure crisis is drawing to a close
The number of new foreclosure filings in August hit its lowest level in nearly eight years, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties.
WSJ | The Vital Link of Education and Prosperity
Only 32% of U.S. high-school students are proficient in math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. When the NAEP results are put on the scale of the Program on International Student Assessment (PISA), the world's best source of information on student achievement, the comparable proficiency rates in math are 45% in Germany, 49% in Canada, and 63% in Singapore, the highest performing independent nation.
Forbes | Does America's Shrinking Private Sector Signal Capitalism's Unmaking?
After decades of stability, the private sector’s share of America’s economy has notably declined lately. In four of the last five years, it has hit, what otherwise would have been, all-time lows. Even more disturbing are projections this decline will continue, and what the ramifications this could have for U.S. prosperity.
MSN Money | Cheap money or not, the Fed can't win
Whether the Federal Reserve decides to ‘taper’ its money-printing on Sept. 18 or wait until later, the market will take a hit. It’s best to watch from the sidelines.
Blogs
Market Watch | Foreclosure filings down 34% from August 2012
The numbers of troubled U.S. homeowners plunged over the past year, with fewer in the foreclosure process as the housing market continued to rebound, according to data released Thursday by RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketplace.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Health Care
News
Politico | Reluctant states face Medicaid: Yes? No? Punt?
Obamacare sign-up starts less than a month but a few states are still answering a basic question: Are they in, or are they out of the law’s massive expansion of Medicaid?
Washington Times | Obamacare has been amended or delayed 19 times
President Obama has already signed 14 laws that amend, rescind or otherwise change parts of his health care law, and he’s taken five independent steps to delay the Affordable Care Act on his own, according to a new report from the Congressional Research Service, released Wednesday.
Econ Comments & Analysis
FOX Business | New for 2013: Additional Medicare Tax
The Additional Medicare Tax went into effect this year and will be levied on wages, other compensation, and self-employment income paid after Dec. 31, 2012. The tax applies to wages, other compensation and self-employment income above certain thresholds.
Daily Caller | Medicare Part D proves capitalism works, even in healthcare
Remember that old assignment on the first day of school, the essay, “What I learned on my summer vacation?” As Congress returns from its most recent summer recess, members have undoubtedly heard plenty from their constituents about health care.
Politico | Reluctant states face Medicaid: Yes? No? Punt?
Obamacare sign-up starts less than a month but a few states are still answering a basic question: Are they in, or are they out of the law’s massive expansion of Medicaid?
Washington Times | Obamacare has been amended or delayed 19 times
President Obama has already signed 14 laws that amend, rescind or otherwise change parts of his health care law, and he’s taken five independent steps to delay the Affordable Care Act on his own, according to a new report from the Congressional Research Service, released Wednesday.
Econ Comments & Analysis
FOX Business | New for 2013: Additional Medicare Tax
The Additional Medicare Tax went into effect this year and will be levied on wages, other compensation, and self-employment income paid after Dec. 31, 2012. The tax applies to wages, other compensation and self-employment income above certain thresholds.
Daily Caller | Medicare Part D proves capitalism works, even in healthcare
Remember that old assignment on the first day of school, the essay, “What I learned on my summer vacation?” As Congress returns from its most recent summer recess, members have undoubtedly heard plenty from their constituents about health care.
Monetary
News
WSJ | Import Prices Remain Flat
Prices of goods imported into the U.S. were flat in August, showing that weakness in the global economy is keeping inflation subdued.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Bloomberg | Five Least Bad Reasons for the Fed to Taper Now
There is no time like the present. That’s what my mother and father always told me, and that’s something the Federal Reserve should keep in mind when policy makers gather next week to consider tapering asset purchases.
Spectator | Fed Up Yet?
As Summer becomes fall, we commence the 100th anniversary of that most glorious of all the violations of the United States Constitution, the Federal Reserve. The legislation that eventually emerged as the Federal Reserve Act was introduced in the House in August 1913 and was enacted and signed in December. The Fed itself started doing business in 1914. It would seem that this is a dandy time to pause in our national rush to ruin so as to reflect on what the first century of the Fed has wrought.
Heritage Foundation | Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy and the Financial Crisis: Lessons Learned
September 15 marks the fifth anniversary of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, the supposed spark that set off the financial crisis of 2008. Conventional wisdom holds that it was the federal government’s decision against bailing out this investment bank that froze credit markets and sent the economy into the “great recession.”
WSJ | Import Prices Remain Flat
Prices of goods imported into the U.S. were flat in August, showing that weakness in the global economy is keeping inflation subdued.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Bloomberg | Five Least Bad Reasons for the Fed to Taper Now
There is no time like the present. That’s what my mother and father always told me, and that’s something the Federal Reserve should keep in mind when policy makers gather next week to consider tapering asset purchases.
Spectator | Fed Up Yet?
As Summer becomes fall, we commence the 100th anniversary of that most glorious of all the violations of the United States Constitution, the Federal Reserve. The legislation that eventually emerged as the Federal Reserve Act was introduced in the House in August 1913 and was enacted and signed in December. The Fed itself started doing business in 1914. It would seem that this is a dandy time to pause in our national rush to ruin so as to reflect on what the first century of the Fed has wrought.
Heritage Foundation | Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy and the Financial Crisis: Lessons Learned
September 15 marks the fifth anniversary of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, the supposed spark that set off the financial crisis of 2008. Conventional wisdom holds that it was the federal government’s decision against bailing out this investment bank that froze credit markets and sent the economy into the “great recession.”
Taxes
News
CNN Money | EU probes governments in corporate tax crackdown
Moves by Europe's competition watchdog signal a crackdown on corporate tax cheats could be gathering steam.
Politico | Conservative poll: Internet tax bill unpopular
A poll conducted for a pair of conservative groups finds most voters opposed to federal Internet sales tax legislation and suggests that lawmakers who vote for it could face attacks in the midterm elections.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Heritage Foundation | A Territorial Tax System Would Create Jobs and Raise Wages for U.S. Workers
An intense debate is raging over the proper way to repair the broken system the U.S. uses to tax its international businesses. There is widespread agreement that the current system destroys jobs and suppresses wages for U.S. workers.
CNN Money | EU probes governments in corporate tax crackdown
Moves by Europe's competition watchdog signal a crackdown on corporate tax cheats could be gathering steam.
Politico | Conservative poll: Internet tax bill unpopular
A poll conducted for a pair of conservative groups finds most voters opposed to federal Internet sales tax legislation and suggests that lawmakers who vote for it could face attacks in the midterm elections.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Heritage Foundation | A Territorial Tax System Would Create Jobs and Raise Wages for U.S. Workers
An intense debate is raging over the proper way to repair the broken system the U.S. uses to tax its international businesses. There is widespread agreement that the current system destroys jobs and suppresses wages for U.S. workers.
Employment
News
CNN Money | Europe's trading tax plan dealt fresh setback
A controversial plan to tax European stock trading has hit another hurdle, after EU lawyers said aspects of the proposed tax are illegal.
CNN Money | Europe's trading tax plan dealt fresh setback
A controversial plan to tax European stock trading has hit another hurdle, after EU lawyers said aspects of the proposed tax are illegal.
Budget
News
National Journal | Leaders Meet as Fiscal Fights Loom Large
With big deadlines and political hurdles looming over fights to keep the government funded and hike the nation’s borrowing limit, a meeting Thursday of the top four congressional leaders could set the tone for the autumn.
CNN Money | The never-ending charade of debt ceiling fights
Lawmakers are tied up in knots over increasing the debt ceiling this fall. But they eventually will. The only question is how messy the process will be.
Econ Comments & Analysis
NY Times | Our Debt to Society
The Daily Treasury Statement, a public accounting of what the U.S. government spends and receives each day, shows how money really works in Washington.
Mercatus | The BRAC Commission as a Model for Federal Spending Reform
As President Obama’s words suggest, in many cases spending programs exist for political reasons. Almost every federal program has a constituency that lobbies hard to keep it alive, whether it is an efficient program or not. Members of Congress are beholden to these interests, so they champion the programs and horse-trade to ensure they remain funded.
National Journal | Leaders Meet as Fiscal Fights Loom Large
With big deadlines and political hurdles looming over fights to keep the government funded and hike the nation’s borrowing limit, a meeting Thursday of the top four congressional leaders could set the tone for the autumn.
CNN Money | The never-ending charade of debt ceiling fights
Lawmakers are tied up in knots over increasing the debt ceiling this fall. But they eventually will. The only question is how messy the process will be.
Econ Comments & Analysis
NY Times | Our Debt to Society
The Daily Treasury Statement, a public accounting of what the U.S. government spends and receives each day, shows how money really works in Washington.
Mercatus | The BRAC Commission as a Model for Federal Spending Reform
As President Obama’s words suggest, in many cases spending programs exist for political reasons. Almost every federal program has a constituency that lobbies hard to keep it alive, whether it is an efficient program or not. Members of Congress are beholden to these interests, so they champion the programs and horse-trade to ensure they remain funded.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)