by Linda Beale Cruz, Tea Party, Hostage-Taking Budget Tactics (and the IRS) The House, dominated by Tea Party/GOP politicians (or those fearful of their impact on upcoming primaries) passed a bill that attempted to tie the continuing operations of the government to compliance with Tea Party ideas about getting rid of the health reform legislation […]

by Dale Coberly SOCIAL SECURITY AND INNUMERACY MATH HELP FOR K*ASTINGS In the open thread section last night constant reader B*uce K*asting reported: “CBO changed some variables, the result was an increase in the unfunded numbers. In 2012 CBO concluded that the shortfall was 1.9% of payrolls. In 2013 they increased that to 3.4% – […]

This is pure political fantasy. I will pretend to take Republicans seriously. They claim that Obamacare is unpopular (true) and tha the people want them to defund Obamacare. It is clear that the most unpopular part of Obamacare is the mandate (the Medicare entitlement reform which is included in House budget resolutions and of which […]

Were Lawrence Summers what his critics say he is—a political hack with an inflated sense of his own skills that is matched only by his sense of entitlement, accompanied by a grotesquely non-realistic view of his accomplishments—this is precisely the letter he would write. Felix, who was The Voice of Reason on this  before and […]

In case you missed it, Panera Bread CEO Ron Shaich (founder) is taking the SNAP Challenge. “in an effort to find out how the other half lives by limiting grocery purchases to the average benefit amount shelled out by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It’s not much. A typical food stamp recipient receives just $4.50 […]

Moody’s economist Marisa DiNatali discusses the idea of part timers and current times: Though some businesses are claiming that they are hiring more part-time workers to avoid the Affordable Care Act’s employer responsibility requirements, which apply to companies with more than 50 full-time employees, that incentive is limited and research from Moody’s economist Marisa DiNatale […]

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 […]