Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Budget Control Act: Military Cuts Will Cover the Social Security Shortfall

Robert Naiman | Posted 04.25.2012

Read More: Social Security, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Military Spending, Robert Greenstein, Military Budget Cuts, Budget Cuts, Obama Social Security, Military Budget, Politics News
Robert Naiman

A key reason that it's relatively easy to scaremonger about predictions regarding Social Security's finances decades in the future is that the language often used to talk about Social Security's finances isn't immediately comparable to anything else that most people can relate to.

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The 10 States Taxing The Poor Most

24/7 Wall St. | Charles B. Stockdale | Posted 04.14.2012

Read More: Taxes, State Income, Poverty, Poverty Line, State Taxes, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, u.s. Census Bureau, Bipartisanship, 24/7 Wall St, Tax Revenue, Business News

24/7 Wall St.: In an effort to help families work their way out of poverty, most of the United States do not tax the incomes of working-poor families....

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Makers, Takers and $2-a-Dayers

Michelle Chen | Posted 05.20.2012

Read More: Taxes, Elections, Gop, Bill Clinton, Welfare, Poverty, Conservatives, US Poverty, Budget, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Global Poverty, Capitalism, Republicans, Politics News
Michelle Chen

The right pushes a delusional narrative of a country divided between "makers and takers" -- productive go-getters versus welfare-hungry sloths. But it's all too clear who the real takers are: the ones who make it harder for everyone else to make a living.

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Mother America Always Loved Manufacturing Most

Leo W. Gerard | Posted 04.28.2012

Read More: Big Three, Chrysler, Hacker Space, Alexander Hamilton, Jared Bernstein, President Obama, Gm, Wall Street, Rosie the Riveter, Master Lock, Boeing, Abraham Lincoln, Manufacturing, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Brookings Institution, 787 Dreamliner, Barack Obama, Jobs, American Manufacturing, Made in America, Business News
Leo W. Gerard

It's illogical, even unpatriotic to use tax dollars to subsidize companies that send jobs overseas, transferring America's manufacturing power to foreign countries like China.

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Repairing the Safety Net

Bob Greenstein | Posted 04.10.2012

Read More: Mitt Romney, Unemployment Benefits, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Poor, Medicaid, Safety Net, Unemployment, Social Security, Tanf, Medicare, Politics News
Bob Greenstein

The positive news is that the safety net, bolstered by temporary expansions enacted during the recession, has helped hold the line against poverty and hardship in the past few years. But the safety net also has significant holes.

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Will the Real Mitt Romney Please Stand Up?

Bob Greenstein | Posted 04.04.2012

Read More: Mitt Romney, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Poor, Food Stamps, Safety Net, Mitt Romney Health Care, Mitt Romney Social Security, Social Security, Medicare, Politics News
Bob Greenstein

We're glad the governor is expressing support for a safety net and for fixing it if it needs repair. Yet his own budget proposals would tear gaping holes in the safety net and damage it severely.

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In Over Half Of U.S. States, Spending To Exceed Revenues

Reuters | Posted 03.10.2012

Read More: Taxes, Video, Budget Gaps, Federal Government, Standard and Poor's, National Conference of State Legislatures, Reuters, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Municipal Defaults, Budget Deficits, Medicaid Healthcare Program, Municipal Debt, Business News

By Lisa Lambert Jan 9 (Reuters) - More than half the U.S. states will not have enough revenues to cover spending demands in the fiscal...

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Arrow to the Heart of Inequality

Chad Stone | Posted 01.31.2012

Read More: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, American Middle Class, Income Inequality, Occupy Wall Street, Politics News
Chad Stone

Our series of posts this week describing trends in income inequality has prompted a natural question: what has caused the sharp rise in inequality over the past three decades or so?

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Exploring Income Inequality, Part 1: Overview

Chad Stone | Posted 01.29.2012

Read More: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Income Inequality, Politics News
Chad Stone

To provide some historical context to the current public discussion of income inequality, we're releasing a series of posts this week that examine trends in income inequality in recent decades and outline different data sources to examine the issue.

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50/50 Split on Defense/Non-Defense Cuts the Result of GOP's No-Tax Position

Bob Greenstein | Posted 01.23.2012

Read More: Deficit, Department of Defense, President Barack Obama, Supercommittee, Speaker John Boehner, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Defense Cuts, Budget Control Act, Sequestration, Federal Budget, Politics News
Bob Greenstein

If Congress backs away from the automatic cuts in defense that the Budget Control Act calls for, the GOP will have little incentive to negotiate a balanced deficit-reduction deal. Their top priorities, tax cuts and defense programs, will both be protected

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Hardship in America, Part 1: Majority of Poor Children Live in Households With Major Hardships

Arloc Sherman | Posted 01.22.2012

Read More: American Families, Child Poverty, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Hardships, Poverty Rate, U.S. Child Poverty, Poverty in America, US Poverty, Politics News
Arloc Sherman

Poverty rates rose in 2010 under a variety of poverty measures, as the economic downturn continued and long-term unemployment hit record highs.

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A Vital Tax Table of the Holiday Season

Chuck Marr | Posted 01.22.2012

Read More: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Payroll Tax Holiday, Off the Charts Blog, Payroll Tax, Taxes, Holidays, Holiday Season, Politics News
Chuck Marr

Every paycheck in America will shrink unless Congress acts to extend, and preferably expand, the payroll tax holiday by the end of the year.

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Orszag Is Right: Locking in Bush Tax Cuts Not Worth a $1.2 Trillion Super Committee Deal

Bob Greenstein | Posted 01.22.2012

Read More: Taxes, Deficit, Congress, Supercommittee, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Peter Orszag, Pat Toomey, Bush Tax Cuts, Federal Budget, Super Committee, Politics News
Bob Greenstein

A super committee agreement that locked in unaffordably low tax rates and made it more difficult to raise additional revenues in the future would set back the cause of deficit reduction.

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Education Funding In Most States Below Pre-Recession Levels

The Huffington Post | Emmeline Zhao | Posted 02.14.2012

Read More: K-12 Education Funding, Video, Education, Funding Cuts, State Funding, Education Budgets, American Jobs Act, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Education Reform, School Budget Cuts, Education Funding, School Budgets, State Funding for Education, Education Funding Cuts, Education News

Most states have cut state funding for schools this year, and a majority of states are funding K-12 education at levels lower than before the recessio...

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School: It's Way More Boring Than When You Were There

Salon | Daniel Denvir | Posted 11.15.2011

Read More: Common Core State Standards, Public Schools, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, School Cheating Scandals, Common Core, No Child Left Behind, Center on Education Policy, American Enterprise Institute, Education Funding, School, Education Funding Cuts, National Endowment for the Humanities, School Funding Cuts, Cheating Scandals, Boring School, Diane Ravitch, Schools More Boring, School Budget Cuts, Teachers Cheating, Education News

New studies show that the disappearance of art, music and even recess is having a devastating effect on kids Forty-nine million or so American chil...

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Promises Made and Promises Broken

Max Richtman | Posted 10.08.2011

Read More: Debt, Social Security, John Boehner, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, Paul Ryan Medicare, Medicare, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Max Richtman, Fiscal Policy, Politics News
Max Richtman

D.C.'s "fiscal hawks" tell the average American that we can't afford to keep our promises of income security for the middle class while signing pledges promising protection for tax loopholes for corporations collecting billions in profits.

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The Most Terrifying Result of the Debt Ceiling Crisis

Bob Greenstein | Posted 10.02.2011

Read More: Taxes, Deficit, Budget, Debt Limit, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Federal Budget Deficit, Economy, Politics News
Bob Greenstein

The most terrifying result of the debt ceiling crisis is not is not the deal itself, but the precedent that Republican congressional leaders say the crisis has established.

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10 Years Later, How Bush-Era Tax Cuts Changed America [CHARTS]

The Huffington Post | Harry Bradford | Posted 08.08.2011

Read More: Economic Policy Institute, Roger Hickey, Unemployment Rate, Budget Gaps, Great Recession, Economy, President Obama, Government Spending, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, President George W. Bush, Bush Tax Cuts, Business News

A decade has now passed since the Bush-era tax cuts were signed into law, and the topic remains as divisive as ever. To mark the ten-year annivers...

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President Obama Offers Moral Vision, Faith Leaders Must Press For More

Rev. Chuck Currie | Posted 06.13.2011

Read More: Barack Obama Debt, Obama Budget, Barack Obama Deficit, Barack Obama Debt Speech, Barack Obama, Obama Budget Cuts, Barack Obama Budget, Barack Obama Budget Deal, United Church of Christ, Paul Ryan, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Bowles-Simpson Plan, Budget Cuts, Poverty in America, Religion News
Rev. Chuck Currie

Faith leaders in the United States should applaud President Obama for offering a moral vision for the nation while carefully monitoring how the White House and Congress proceed.

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From Wisconsin to Washington, Budget Cuts Draw Battle Lines

Michelle Chen | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Women, Family Planning, Wisconsin, Congress, Public Housing, John Boehner, Budget, Economic Crisis, Fiscal Crisis, Jobs, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Democrats, Labor Unions, Housing Crisis, Barack Obama, Recession, Labor, Education, Economic Stimulus Package, Federal Budget Deficit, Gop, Head Start, Health Care, Paul Ryan, Title X, Republicans, Politics News
Michelle Chen

It's remarkable how little the demonstrations in Wisconsin have to do with the budget battle that initially sparked it. The budget process turns out to not really be about cutting spending.

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For the Children?

Marielena Hincapié | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Latinos, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Politics, National Debt, Unemployment, Blacks, John Boehner, fy2012, Poverty Rate, Politics News
Marielena Hincapié

Let's address our deficit problems and even balance the budget, if that's what makes sense. But let's not do it at the expense of the health and well-being of our nation's children.

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Paul Ryan's Budget: Unnecessary Pain With No Long-Term Gain

Andrew Fieldhouse | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Obama Budget, Discretionary Spending, Paul Ryan, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Cbo, Homeland Security, National Science Foundation, Nonsecurity Discretionary Spending, House Budget Committee, Politics News
Andrew Fieldhouse

It's not the non-security discretionary budget that is the culprit of today's deficit. But if enacted, Paul Ryan's proposed budget would have devastating consequences in those key public investments.

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Welcome to Paul Ryan's House - and budget

Andrew Fieldhouse | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Deficit, Discretionary Spending, National Debt, Social Security, Paul Ryan Roadmap, John Boehner, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Medicare, State of the Union, Paul Ryan, Bush Tax Cuts, Politics News
Andrew Fieldhouse

Not until recently, though, was Ryan's "Roadmap" paid much heed, but new rules passed at the beginning of the 112th Congress substantially empowered him as role as House Budget Committee Chairman.

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Arthur Delaney

State, Local Governments To Fire 481,000 Workers: Report

HuffingtonPost.com | Arthur Delaney | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Fresno, Portland Oregon, State Jobs, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, City Layoffs, State Layoffs, Cities, Dallas, Politics News

To cover for lost tax revenues, local governments will fire nearly 500,000 workers in the coming year, according to a national survey of counties and ...

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Laura Bassett

Income Gap Between Rich and Poor Is Highest in Decades, Data Show

HuffingtonPost.com | Laura Bassett | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Rich People, Income Gap, Class Warfare, Third World America, Wealth Disparity, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Business News

The gap between the wealthiest Americans and middle- and working-class Americans has more than tripled in the past three decades, according to a June ...

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