Think Progress offers a note of caution when we think we have reality nailed for government spending and results. And how ‘public displays’ by our politicians offer up little information: During the 2012 fiscal year, the federal government spent more on immigration enforcement — $18 billion — than on every other federal law enforcement agencies […]
This shift from wages to profits is called redistribution. It is the central fact of American economic life. And it is the primary reason that economic inequality in the United States has skyrocketed. Yet wages, which are descending, are taxed at a higher rate than income derived from corporate profits — capital gains and dividends. […]
While not a macro issue, there is room for thought. Via The Weaker Party blog comes this tidbit on specific inflation indicators from The Dailey Beast:
by run75411 Update: Besides not prosecuting particulars who promulgated much of 2008, what makes this settlement bad is letting banks off the hook: “In the settlement announced Monday between the Federal Reserve, the Comptroller of the Currency and ten of the largest banks and other mortgage providers, the government gives up the right to prosecute banks […]
Via Market Watch 666, reader rjs points us to this piece of history: Ronald Reagan: “Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit.”
I’m actually agnostic on this choice. The always excellent Charles Pierce makes a good case for Hagel, but why should Obama go for any Republican? This just continues to promote the canard that Republicans are somehow stronger or more capable on defense issues than Democrats. The irony here is that the greatest opposition is coming […]
It’s already clear that Republican congressional leaders now recognize that the Republicans actually have no leverage at all on the debt ceiling matter; they’re not going to pull that trigger, and everyone knows it. But Obama (or other prominent Dems) still really, really need to explain to the public that the debt ceiling concerns authorization […]
by Linda Beale Social Security/Medicare vs Corporate Welfare The denouement of the fiscal cliff debate behind us (and not, I regret, with the best results–more on that later) we now face the next stage, in which we can expect the right-side extremists to threaten to hold the government hostage unless spending is cut (meaning, to […]
Now the old world can address the fiscal imbalance of the new. It seems that some of the best minds in the USA are trying to figure out how the US Treasury can disburse money without issuing debt. Finally a topic I know something about. There are many ways. 1) Paul Krugman proposes Moral Obligation […]
In the wake of the fiscal deal raising taxes only on income over $450,000, Republicans are declaring that the debate over taxes is finished. The next fiscal deal will contain nothing in new revenues. Yesterday, Mitch McConnell said: “The tax issue is finished. Over. Completed. That’s behind us. Now the question is what are we […]