While the Senate Finance Committee's effort to craft a bipartisan health reform bill has gotten considerable media attention, a troublesome piece of the bill that the Finance Committee's bipartisan negotiators are developing has gone almost unnoticed. The provision -- the so-called "free-rider" requirement -- would effectively discourage employers from...

Sixteen months into the recession, the pace of job losses is worse than in the deep 1981-82 recession, a growing number of families are making excruciating choices with their shrinking pocketbooks, and the federal government is facing stunning budget deficits as far as the eye can see.

So, is...

Some of my fellow progressives have expressed disappointment with the economic recovery package that President Obama just signed into law. Forgive me, but I don't share it. I view the package as an outstanding piece of legislation - all the more remarkable when you consider that it came less than...

The first rule of holes is this: If you're in one, stop digging. New government estimates released last week show that the federal government will be in a big hole in fiscal 2009: a $546 billion deficit. They also help show how we got into this hole -- and

Does Jason Furman, the Obama campaign's new economic policy coordinator, really favor privatizing Social Security and cutting corporate taxes?

Nonsense.

But these are just some of the inaccurate impressions left by last week's news and blog coverage of Furman's appointment.

The accounts portrayed Furman as a pro-Wall Street economist who...

It's time for a reality check in the debate over putting the government's long-term finances back in order.

Last week the trustees who oversee Social Security issued their annual report, showing that the program faces a funding shortfall over the next 75 years totaling 0.56 percent of Gross Domestic...

With Congress drafting its 2009 budget blueprint and President Bush already promising to veto appropriations bills that exceed his tight funding levels for domestic programs, you might think that domestic discretionary programs -- what Congress funds through the annual appropriations process, such as education, biomedical research, and transportation -- have...