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
Category Archives: U.S. Domestic Policy
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
For Hispanic-Americans, Education a Top Priority
Recent reports suggest that Hispanic-Americans, in contrast to Non-Hispanics, list education as a major policy concern when ranking the issues. Right behind jobs and the economy, most Hispanic-Americans indicate that they are concerned about the state and quality of their children’s education. This should not be surprising, as various studies illustrate that a rather large … Continue reading
The Private Life of Public Policy
Politicians love politics, but they don’t always love business. They come to D.C. high on the ideological hog, but when it comes time to solve the pressing economic issues of the day, they employ the brightest minds that never worked in the industries they cover. I mostly associate with academics, and there is a similar … Continue reading
How Technology Strengthens the Argument for Liberty
By Logan Albright The first century after the founding of the United States of America is remembered as one of the greatest success stories of all time. By laying down a simple set of rules limiting the role of government to protecting property rights and allowing citizens to conduct business as they saw fit, we … Continue reading
Oversight Committee Markup
After three and a half hours of what seemed to be another episode of Desperate Housewives of Washington D.C., the House of Oversight passed several amendments to Taxpayers Right to Know Act, and the Regulatory Freeze for Jobs Act of 2012. Additionally the Oversight Committee authorized the Administrator of General Services to convey a parcel … 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
Commodity Futures Trading Commission Meets AGAIN About the Dodd-Frank Act
From This Day Forth… “Today we will consider a rule that helps broaden market access and promotes competition in the swaps market,” proclaimed Chairman Gensler. Emphasizing one of the important goals of the Dodd-Frank Act is to prevent risks in the financial sector from affecting the overall American economy in a negative manner. The intent … Continue reading
Communications / Culture / Economy / Fiscal policy / Politics / Tax / U.S. Domestic Policy
Weekly Graphic: Annual Expenditure Between Income Groups
As the debate over income equality in the US continues to build, economists and policy makers are focusing on the large amount of new and old studies that attempt to quantify the rising disparage of incomes. However, many of these studies and statistics can be misleading because they do not take several important factors into … Continue reading
America / Economy / Fiscal policy / Politics / Tax / U.S. Domestic Policy
Weekly Graphic: The Tax Burden
The fight over income inequality and a fair tax code has dominated the recent political debate. The White House, along with all the GOP presidential candidates, and every think tank in Washington has submitted their blueprint of what a reformed tax code should look like. Obama’s tax plan focuses on eliminating distortions and loopholes and … Continue reading
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