With the presidential election heating up there is one soundbite we hear from both sides on a regular basis – unemployment. Although each side will lay out persuasive stories to drive awareness to their positions, unemployment is an elusive number driven by multiple levers. Using only one measure to judge economic health is not only… Continue reading What is Driving Unemployment?
Category: Economy
How I Benefited from the Obama Housing Policy
I am someone who has personally benefited from some of President Obama’s economic policies. In addition to getting the temporary payroll (Social Security) tax break, I am now refinancing my underwater home through President Obama’s Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). My home is now worth about $25K less than I owe due to the collapse… Continue reading How I Benefited from the Obama Housing Policy
A Minimum Living Standard in the World’s Wealthiest Country
In the last post, I illustrated how the positive right to an education is essential to a modern economy. Most Americans do not question the right to a public education, perhaps because it has been a fact of American life for over a century. Other positive rights adopted to some extent by American society, which… Continue reading A Minimum Living Standard in the World’s Wealthiest Country
The Right to a Public Education
In my last post, I mentioned certain “positive rights” that Americans have come to assume are part of the social contract. Public education is perhaps the least controversial example of a positive right in America. As a society, we generally believe that every child has a right to a high school education, regardless of his… Continue reading The Right to a Public Education
Defending a Century of American Progress
Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, in an oft-seen video clip, describes how a thriving industrialized economy is dependent on government taxation and redistribution for the creation of key institutions, infrastructure, and social programs: She notes, “there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own.” She mentions factory owners who “move [their] goods… Continue reading Defending a Century of American Progress
No More Oil Subsidies!
I smile every time a pundit tries to link escalating gas prices to our president. Not because I am satisfied with the erroneous connection, but out of amused exasperation at the hypocrisy that continually plagues polarizing talking heads. Gas pricing is a function of market dynamics, meaning that it is driven by supply, demand, and speculation. Any action… Continue reading No More Oil Subsidies!
Republicans are Closet Socialists
Over the last several debates, GOP contenders use the word socialist to describe their warped view of what the Democratic Party stands for. They have leveled such attacks on “socialist” president Barack Obama, and have regularly used “socialist” in a derogatory tone against anything Democratic. Redistribution of wealth is also married to the socialist label,… Continue reading Republicans are Closet Socialists
Did President Obama Double Our National Debt?
Who is the bigger fool….President Obama for doubling our national debt?…or the individual who believes such a canard? Like all political claims, the devil is in the details. More has been added to our national debt under President Obama than all the other presidents combined. Partially true. However, of the $5.1 trillion added to the… Continue reading Did President Obama Double Our National Debt?
Thank Romney for Underscoring Need for “Buffet Rule”
After losing the South Carolina Primary to Newt Gingrich, possibly in part due to his waffling at the pre-Primary debates about releasing his tax returns, Mitt Romney released his tax returns for the past two years, which show that he paid about 14% in federal taxes on income of nearly $43 million. The timing of… Continue reading Thank Romney for Underscoring Need for “Buffet Rule”
A Pivotal Moment for President Obama and America
President Barack Obama visited Osawatomie, Kansas last week to speak about the danger of the growing economic inequality in America and the threat this currently poses to the middle class and our country as a whole. I thought this was the most important speech of his Presidency thus far because it clearly illustrated the monumental… Continue reading A Pivotal Moment for President Obama and America
Communists Like Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith
Conservatives often invoke our country’s Founding Fathers as well as prominent historical figures like economist Adam Smith, whose ideas about the “invisible hand” of free markets helped form the theoretical foundation of modern capitalism, when they advocate far-right economic policies. Lately, there has been a lot of talk by GOP presidential candidates about creating a… Continue reading Communists Like Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith
WhichMitt.com
WhichMitt.com is a hilarious website put out by the DNC. Take the quiz! Mitt Romney’s constantly changing opinions make him a really easy target. This highlights his contradictions on abortion, the need for an economic stimulus plan during the current recession, health care, and more. Romney’s penchant for flip-flopping makes John Kerry look like an… Continue reading WhichMitt.com
Taxes and Used Car Dealers
To support their argument against President Obama’s calls additional revenue to solve the budget deficit, Republicans have argued that the U.S. has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. Democrats, on the other hand, have pointed out that companies and wealthy Americans are paying historically low levels of taxes. Paradoxically, both parties… Continue reading Taxes and Used Car Dealers
Where Did All That Debt Come From?
I’ve intended since the spring to write about our country’s current fiscal situation and how we arrived here. For months, Congressional Republicans have been asserting that our federal government does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem, and have argued for draconian spending cuts largely aimed at programs that benefit the middle… Continue reading Where Did All That Debt Come From?
Warren Buffet Paid a Lower Tax Rate Than His Secretary in 2010
In today’s New York Times, billionaire investor Warren Buffett pointed out that he pays a lower federal income tax rate than his staff. His effective tax rate last year? 17.4 percent! His is not a unique case. Our tax code is written so that the wealthiest have the best tax breaks. As the President has… Continue reading Warren Buffet Paid a Lower Tax Rate Than His Secretary in 2010
In accordance with current events…
A couple comments on this chart I created: – All years beyond 2011 are estimates. The dramatic drop in 2013 is due to the reckless Bush tax cuts expiring. The deficit would be closer to 1.3 trillion in 2011 had the Bush tax cuts not been extended. – The trajectory that occurred from 2007 on was… Continue reading In accordance with current events…
The Stimulus Act Bargain
A point was made a few months ago about the Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (a.k.a. Obama’s economic stimulus plan) that really made a lot of sense to me. Most of us probably recall the tragic I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis in 2007. The cause of the bridge was due to a faulty design–… Continue reading The Stimulus Act Bargain
Morality and the Health Care Crisis in America
I’ve been meaning to do a post about health care ever since the health care reform bill was debated and passed last year. I’ll approach health care in two posts, first by discussing American health care (pre-reform) and the immorality of the status quo. In my next post, I’ll compare the varying types of universal… Continue reading Morality and the Health Care Crisis in America
An Act with a Vision for the Future
Even prior to its enactment, there has been much heated opposition to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a.k.a. President Obama’s economic stimulus plan. Opponents have tried to smear it as a bill laden with earmarks (which is not true) that wasted money on pointless projects. Opponents have also (correctly) pointed out that… Continue reading An Act with a Vision for the Future
Illegals Offer Their Jobs Back to Real Americans
I’m sure we’ve all heard conservatives lament about how illegal immigrants are stealing American jobs. Well here is an incredible opportunity for real Americans to take back the jobs illegals have taken from us. According to United Farm Workers, a labor union for agricultural laborers, over 50% of farm laborers in the US are undocumented… Continue reading Illegals Offer Their Jobs Back to Real Americans