With the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on the horizon, the Obama administration has complicated the issue by creating a process by where states may apply for waivers for the restrictions implemented by this law. While the standards implemented by NCLB are counterproductive, the way the waivers are distributed may end up doing … Continue reading
Latest Entries
Team Romney’s misadventures through the eyes of a football fan
Are you a casual sports fan? A die-hard South Eastern Conference football fan? Maybe just someone who follows the Super Bowl once a year? If you can answer yes to any of these questions, then maybe I can help you understand the GOP primary in layman’s terms. Most of us (football fans of all intensities), … 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
House Committee on the Judiciary
Lie, Damn Lies, and Statistics This was Chairman Cobles (R, NC-6) opening statement for the House Committee on the Judiciary on February 27, 2012. He observed the Department of Labor concluded that unemployment is at 8.3% compared to 10% last October. Asserting that the federal government destroys jobs, and Congress is unable to create jobs, … 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
Olympia Snowe’s decision may be more important than last night’s GOP primary results
On Tuesday, Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) announced that she will not seek re-election this November, citing dissatisfaction with the current partisan nature of the Senate. While Wednesday’s headlines will be dominated by the battle between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum for the GOP nomination, I believe that Snowe’s decision deserves more attention than it probably … 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
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