TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012 ECONOMICS: Obama holding full news conference; housing, politics, gas prices, foreign tests on tap http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-to-hold-news-conference-amid-international-challenges-improved-standing-at-home/2012/03/06/gIQAMTi7tR_story.html President Barack Obama is aiming mortgage relief at members of the military as well as homeowners with government-insured loans, the administration’s latest efforts to address a persistent housing crisis. In his first full news conference … Continue reading
Category Archives: Economy
Economic Daily Outlook
MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2012 ECONOMICS: Fed Takes a Break to Weigh Outlook http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204276304577261462731503918.html The Federal Reserve is pausing after a six-month campaign to boost growth, while policy makers assess a puzzling economic outlook. Fed officials meeting next week are unlikely to take any new actions to spur the recovery, and they are likely to … Continue reading
Post Office Cuts a Double Edged Sword
By Logan Albright Last week, the U.S. Postal Service announced plans to close facilities, lay off workers and generally reduce the quality of service in order to cut costs. For advocates of limited government, this is both good and bad news. The Post Office has long drawn scorn and ridicule for its reputation as embodying … Continue reading
Economic Daily Outlook
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 ECONOMICS: American earning more, but spending still in question http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/americans-earning-more-but-spending-still-in-question/2012/03/01/gIQAtxLXlR_story.html Americans are earning more money amid the strengthening job market, but economists say the arc of the recovery largely hinges on what consumers do with the extra cash. Government data released Thursday showed wages and salaries rose 0.4 percent in … Continue reading
America / Culture / Economy / Gov. Officials / Healthcare / Other / Politics / Presidency / Regulation / Tax
“Right of Conscience” Amendment: Blatant Misrepresentation of Constitution, Republicanism
The US Senate, today, March 1st, plans to vote on a Republican-sponsored amendment that would restore “the right of conscience” to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare). The Senate’s bill, which would hope to reverse the Sebelius/Obama Contraception regulation without any actual reference to ‘contraception’ or the regulation they hope to reverse. … Continue reading
Economy / Fiscal policy / Politics / Tax
The “Millionaire’s Tax” and the need for more serious reform
By Will Portman Yesterday I attended a panel entitled “A Millionaire’s Tax and the Economy” at the Center for American Progress. One of the panelists, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), discussed his bill, the Paying a Fair Share Act, which would mandate that individuals earning above $2 million a year pay at least 30 percent federal … Continue reading
Economic Daily Outlook
THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012 ECONOMICS: OPINION: Republicans and Fiscal Responsibility (Simon Johnson) http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/republicans-and-fiscal-responsibility/ The United States has a great deal of public debt outstanding – and a future trajectory that is sobering (see this recent presentation by Doug Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office). Yet the four remaining contenders for the Republican nomination are competing … Continue reading
Economic Daily Outlook
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 ECONOMICS: Housing prices fell in December, continue to hurt economic recovery http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/housing-prices-fell-in-december-continue-to-hurt-economic-recovery/2012/02/28/gIQAwnK3gR_story.html The nation’s home prices have fallen to their lowest level since 2002, according to a private report, casting a troubling shadow over what has otherwise been a brightening economic recovery. Although analysts have been nervously eyeing rising oil … Continue reading
Senate Banking Committee proves Congress “feckless?”
The Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), designated to the position by President Obama in 2009, rebuffed attacks made by Democratic senators on the issue of mortgage principal reduction in a hearing today focused on barriers to a recovery in the housing market. Without an avenue in Congress to pass the necessary … Continue reading
EPA Budget Hearing: More Theatrics than the Academy Awards
The Oscars happened Sunday. I say the event “happened” as the actual event was quite underwhelming, with a group of artists patting each other on the back at artistically expressing the views they saw pertinent, while the true underlying issues of society were poked, joked, and unfocused. Very similarly, representative members of the Energy and … Continue reading
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