In the Super Tuesday primary, the economy was the number one issue on voters’ minds, be they in Massachusetts, Georgia, Ohio, or Virginia. And that wasn’t because they were happy about high unemployment and slow wage growth. Yet according to President Barack Obama, “the economy is getting stronger, and the …
Ezra Klein, Mark Thoma, and Paul Krugman take issue with David Brooks for suggesting that the failure in recent years to keep budget deficits under control represents a moral issue. “Every generation has an incentive to spend on itself,” Brooks writes, “but none ran up huge deficits until the current …
In a move designed to make it easier for smaller businesses to raise money for expansion and job creation, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R–VA) has announced that he intends to package together six existing smaller bills into a bipartisan package. The combination, to be known as the Jumpstart Our …
Obamacare requires health insurance companies to produce a summary of benefits and coverage (SBC) based on a government-imposed template and glossary. Below is a sampling of the requirements (70 pages) concocted by the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury to simplify the task. The summary of …
Today, Apple announced the long awaited revamp of its blockbuster iPad tablet computing device, and experts are speculating on the impact the product will have on the “post-pc” world. One impact we know already is how Apple has generated new employment opportunities in the U.S. economy. As liberals in Washington …
President Obama has announced that he ordered the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to cut in half the fee paid by homeowners whose mortgages the agency guarantees. The good news is that this reduction will save those homeowners who are able to refinance their homes about $1,000 annually. The Administration says …
Does unprecedented deficit-spending such as on highways stimulate the economy? For the last few years, some have argued it could. Some have argued it might. Some have argued it would if done right. We have consistently argued that deficit spending on highways or anything else intended to lift aggregate demand, …
Remember when last September Senator Dick Durbin (D–IL) claimed that his contribution to the Dodd–Frank financial regulation statue—“the Durbin Amendment”—would benefit consumers? Well, more evidence has surfaced that his price-control regulation is costing consumers more and more money. According to a study by Javelin Strategy and Research reported by Bloomberg …
In a recent article titled “Hill Weighs Tax Trade-offs,” Politico reports that Congress is considering lowering the corporate tax rate and replacing the lost revenue with higher tax rates on capital gains and dividends. But the article cites no “Hill sources” considering such an ill-conceived swap. There are only vague …
