As AB readers know, I’ve written quite a number of in-depth posts on the ACA litigation—on the individual-mandate provision and on other issues as well.  (The number, by my count, is at least 11,** including the one I posted yesterday, titled “Showtime At The Supreme Court”).  And for your reading enjoyment, and in honor the […]

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt  While We Were Busy Discussing Other Things….  …. the first major rewrite of regulations for the Americans with Disabilities Act went into effect March 15th. Good news and bad news for workers and employers.  Overall, what I read looks achievable from an employer viewpoint, and the Obama administration has shown […]

Dan emailed me several days ago asking whether I thought I should write a preshow (my word, not his) post about next week’s marathon Supreme Court oral arguments on the constitutionality of Obamacare, a.k.a., the Affordable Care Act.  Six hours of argument, two each day, Monday through Wednesday, in which the Court will hear argument, first, […]

Mark J. Perry reports on the latest world trade data from The CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.  He presents a graph from 2000 on showing that the levels of world trade and world industrial output have both reached new post-recovery highs. He takes this to be very good news, and draws some broad […]

Dan here…. Jonathon Chait writes in the NYT Paul Ryan: Obama Refuses to Endorse Tax Fairy. Lifted from Robert’s Stochastic Thoughts on journalistic rhetorical language and consensus: on Chait there’s not really a growing consensus that tax reform is good. The consensus has existed among economists forever where he defines tax reform as closing tax […]

Peter Dorman at Econospeak comments:  Bankrupt Rhetoric  I woke up this morning to Paul Ryan, describing his budget proposal, as quoted in the New York Times: “This is about putting an end to empty promises from a bankrupt government.” Bankrupt government? Let’s consider this more closely. The normal meaning of bankrupt is negative net worth, […]

Simon Johnson points us to more information on the JOBS bill (see link) and a Senate vote today: As it currently stands, the “JOBS” bill now before the Senate would gut investor protection in the United States. The title of the bill is a complete misnomer – anything that weakens investor protection makes it more […]

by Linda Beale Is Congress drinking Grover Norquist koolaid? (or will it fund IRS appropriately) IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman testified before the House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee on President Obama’s proposed 2013 budget for the IRS. Shulman wants Congress to provide adequate funding to the IRS to support its enforcement function. The […]

Given Ryan’s release of his new plan calling for territorial taxation of corporations comes this example of Apple from Kenneth Thomas, Middle class political economist econoblog: Apple Whines About Having to Pay Taxesby Kenneth Thomas   On Monday, Apple announced that it was going to start paying dividends to shareholders, and buy back $10 billion worth of […]