What does economic growth mean for Americans by Uwe E. Reihnhart Suppose we placed a carefully selected sample of men on a hot stove and another sample of men on dry ice. Could we reasonably conclude that, on average, they were comfortable? As a nation we worship a deity called economic growth… The rich get richer […]

  I received the following email from Dan Crawford last evening: Fwd: Blog Post Idea: SCOTUS Must Protect Free Speech in Ohio and Beyond Is this interesting? ———- Forwarded message ———- From: Kristen Thomaselli <[email protected]> Date: Wed, Sep 11, 2013 at 6:25 PM Subject: Blog Post Idea: SCOTUS Must Protect Free Speech in Ohio and Beyond To: [email protected] […]

I have written before how state and local subsidies are more out of control than ever, and more recently how the number and size of megadeals has increased substantially since the Great Recession. Now a new study from Governing magazine (h/t to Al at LinkedIn group Economic Development 2.0) exhaustively analyzes New Jersey’s five largest […]

by Linda Beale How should underpayment of employees affect tax policy? In a pre-Labor Day blogposting, Robert Reich wrote about the brute capitalism results for many employees today–a full-time job that doesn’t play a living wage.  Walmart was his example–“America’s biggest employer” where a “typical employee is still paid less than $9 an hour.”  See […]

Since I have worked with students filling out FAFSA forms for grant, subsidized and unsubsidized loan eligibility, etc. ; I have an interest in how the interest rate debate shook out. As you know, the Senate reached a bi-partisan agreement in the smoked filled backrooms to which the House agreed to in a follow-up vote. […]

by Linda Beale Time to get God out of taxes Chris Bergin over at Tax Analysts has a good point about the exclusion from income for the rental value of the minister’s residence–it makes no sense and has no place in the tax code.  See Bergin, What we need is a Godless tax code, Tax […]

by Linda Beale Swiss and US Apparently Reach Deal on Bank Disclosures related to Tax Evasion Bloomberg reports (in a minimal news story at this point based on an anonymous tip prior to the settlement being officially released) that the United States and Switzerland have reached an agreement that settles the dispute about Americans’ use […]

by Linda Beale Same-Sex Married Couples Will be Recognized for Federal Tax Purposes Even When Moving to Nonrecognition State The Treasury issued a Revenue Ruling today that sets out the rules that will guide the government in handling interpretation of the tax code regarding “marriage” and “husband” or “wife” or “spouse” in respect of same-sex […]

Most of our unemployment problem stems from overregulation, over-taxation and the Obama economy. — Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH), Monday Which is why we should deregulate the financial-services industry and reduce income taxes to resemble the good ole days of the George W. Bush administration. Let’s restore the economy to its glory days: say, 2008-09.  And […]

Salon offers an article on expectations for public sector pensions. Given the demise of many private pension plans and the lackluster performance of 401ks for many people, what’s next?