In demonizing Bain for outsourcing, President Obama is implicitly criticizing the act of outsourcing itself without the facts to back himself up. Of the 598 American companies on Forbes world’s largest firms list, only 15 percent publically report their foreign employment numbers. While President Obama’s blind attacks on this legal right are clearly groundless, the … Continue reading
Category Archives: Fiscal policy
Economy / Fiscal policy / Foreign Policy / Gov. Officials / Politics / Presidency / U.S. Domestic Policy
Overseas Employment: Increasing Jobs at Home by Investing Abroad
Obama’s fundamentally flawed attacks on Bain Capital’s outsourcing history seem both hypocritical and highly ignorant of the global economy considering that major companies present in his own jobs council have been “pioneering” outsourcing themselves. GE, American Express, Intel, and UBS are all present on the President’s Council of Jobs and Competitiveness and all have increased … Continue reading
The Sequester: Why Lawmakers Need to Act Now
Remember that debt limit fiasco last summer? Its repercussions still haunt us today. In order to motivate congress to come up with a cohesive debt reduction plan, the law passed to increase the debt limit stipulated that if the “super committee” failed to pass a plan by November 2011, across the board cuts (referred to … Continue reading
Higher Education and Consumerism
According to the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEF), since 2006, the average enrolment in public higher education institutions has increased by 16.9%, with some states, such as Oregon, seeing spikes in enrolment as high as 33.6%. However, these rises in enrolment have been coupled with relatively stagnant state and local higher education appropriations. In … Continue reading
Economy / Fiscal policy / Politics / Tax
Avoiding the end-of-year “fiscal cliff”
By Will Portman The U.S. needs deficit reduction, but there’s such thing as too much of a good thing — or, in the case of the end-of-year “fiscal cliff” the country is approaching, implementing too much of a good thing much too quickly. In the absence of congressional action, a slew of tax increases and spending … Continue reading
Swiss-tested, Keynes-approved: Switzerland’s debt brake as a model for the U.S.
By Will Portman Critics of a balanced budget amendment (BBA), such as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), argue that a BBA would “mandate perverse actions in the face of recessions” and thus “aggravate recessions.” And they’ve got a point — at least about a BBA that would mandate that the budget be balanced … Continue reading
Weekly Graphic: Government Spending – 40 Year Comparison
Data from CBO 2012. All numbers are in FY 2005 dollars adjusted for inflation. © Joseph Chrisman Continue reading
Economy / Fiscal policy / Healthcare / Politics / Tax
Occupy entitlements! And the tax code!
By Will Portman The Occupy movement has brought income inequality to the forefront of the national political discussion over the past year, even if both the movement and the issue have faded in recent months. Occupy protestors are concerned about the growing wealth gap in the U.S., pointing to studies like the recent Congressional Budget Office … Continue reading
Vicious circles and the national debt
By Will Portman Due to vicious circle effects, it becomes more and more expensive to pay off the national debt the more and more debt we accumulate, beyond the obvious fact that it’s a greater burden to pay back a greater sum of money. With each new dollar of deficit spending, we’re not merely digging … Continue reading
Economy / Fiscal policy / Healthcare / Politics / Tax
The Ryan budget vs. the Obama budget
By Will Portman Winston Churchill once said, “Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing… after they have exhausted all other possibilities.” House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) cited the late British Prime Minister’s famous quote this week as he unveiled The Path to Prosperity, his budget for fiscal year 2013, arguing … Continue reading
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