As of this past week, our federal government has managed to clear the hurdle of fully funding the Department of Homeland Security. Unfortunately, this is only one of the many vitally important budget issues on the horizon, including Medicare payments to doctors, funding for the Highway Trust Fund and our crumbling infrastructure, and the prospect … Continue reading
Category Archives: Economy
Let the Spectrum Market Work
In modern America the airwaves are continuously flooded with waves that we cannot see. Radio waves carry signals for everything from smartphones to televisions using bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. The use of spectrum for communication has a long and thorny history going back to the first radio broadcasters. Like any form of communication, the … Continue reading
A Federal Balanced Budget: Not a Cure-All, but Definitely Not a Bad Idea
To all the people who believe that a constitutional requirement forcing Congress to pass a balanced budget every year will make the federal debt (and yes, there is a difference between a debt and a deficit: deficit being how much money we have to borrow per year, debt being how much money we have borrowed … Continue reading
There Are Two Sides to Every Story: The Minimum Wage Dilemma
In his State of the Union Address, President Obama requested that Congress raise the minimum wage and challenged his opponents within Congress to live off $15,000 a year. The current Federal minimum wage stands at $7.25 an hour, and the president is asking that it be increased to $10.10 an hour as a way to … Continue reading
In Sickness and in Health?
It’s the middle of the workweek and you wake up to prepare for work only to find you have the flu. Some Americans are then faced with the question of, “Should I stay home and lose a day’s pay, or should I tough it out and head to the office?” President Obama wants to make … Continue reading
America’s Employment Status: Where are the Hours Going?
When asked about how an industry is recovering from a recession, you would probably point to wages or the number of newly hired employees. Would you think to look at the number of hours employees are working? The average weekly hours across industries has varied widely since the Great Recession. Let’s first look at the … Continue reading
Retirement Age and the Social Security Dilemma
Ever since the members of the U.S Business Roundtable presented their plan to gradually raise the retirement age to seventy last year, the political and economic realm has been on fire with both support and recrimination. This fervor has only intensified after a recently released report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) which stated that, holding … Continue reading
A Fishy Situation: Asian Carp and U.S. Infrastructure
For those of you who consider yourselves the fishing type, imagine going bass fishing with your son in one of the many beautiful rivers in the Midwest. As you cast the line, a large silver fish jumps out of the water and smacks you in the face, only to be followed by a dozen more … Continue reading
Hatch Contends Dynamic Scoring no Magic Elixir
The GOP’s brawl against Obama’s executive actions persists with new postulations made by a Republican leader on Sunday pushing for a government shutdown to prevent Obama from addressing immigration policy with executive order. Despite this individual’s propping open the idea, numerous other Republicans objected to a government shutdown. Oklahoma GOP Representative Tom Cole raised concerns … Continue reading
MetLife Disavows “Systemically Important” Proposal
MetLife, a nonbank financial company (NFC) and the largest insurer in the U.S., called for a hearing Monday to oppose being labeled “systemically important.” After the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), a major financial watchdog, voted in favor of adding MetLife to the list of systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) in September, the firm hustled … Continue reading
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