Budget

Super Congress Failure Could Mean 'The Worst Of All Worlds'

AP | By ANDREW TAYLOR | Posted 11.20.2011

Read More: Super Congress, Deficit, Debt, Video, Super Committee, Debt Ceiling, John Boehner, Budget Cuts, Budget, Gop, Democrats, Republican Party, Barack Obama, Federal Budget, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- If the deficit-cutting supercommittee fails, Congress will face a crummy choice. Lawmakers can allow payroll tax cuts and jobless aid fo...

Read Whole Story

The Super Committee's Big Lie

Jeffrey Sachs | Posted 01.20.2012

Read More: Taxes, Super Committee, Budget, Reducing the Deficit, Government Spending, Deficit Reduction, Deficit, Politics News
Jeffrey Sachs

As the Super Committee threatens this week to gut the government on the basis of a big lie, it's more important than ever that we fight back with systematic data. With truth on our side, the new progressive movement will prevail.

Read Post

Arms and the Super Committee

William Hartung | Posted 01.18.2012

Read More: Defense Spending, Department of Defense, Military, Federal Budget Deficit, Budget, Lobby Super Committee, Congress Super Committee Lobby, Congress Super Committee, Politics News
William Hartung

As the Congressional super committee moves towards its deadline for developing a deficit reduction plan, we need to make sure that its decisions reflect the national interest, not special interests.

Read Post

Cuts in Education: A Failing Choice

Marian Wright Edelman | Posted 01.18.2012

Read More: Education, Budget Cuts, Budget, Budget Deficit, Public Education, Budget Crisis, Summer Learning, Education Cuts, Summer Learning Loss, Learning Loss, Learning, Politics News
Marian Wright Edelman

We still talk about public education as the great equalizer and pathway out of poverty, but continue to fall far short in assuring millions of poor children upward mobility.

Read Post

Michael McAuliff

Balanced Budget Amendment Fails In House Vote

HuffingtonPost.com | Michael McAuliff | Posted 11.18.2011

Read More: Balanced Budget, Super Congress, House of Representatives, Video, House Balanced Budget Vote, Super Committee, Budget, Balanced Budget Amendment, Fiscal Policy, Fiscal Responsibility, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- The latest Republican push for a balanced budget amendment that would force massive spending cuts to the country's social safety net die...

Read Whole Story

House Set To Take Major Vote

AP | JIM ABRAMS | Posted 01.18.2012

Read More: House, Balanced Budget, House of Representatives, Senate, Congress, Video, Super Committee, National Debt, Debt Ceiling, Republicans Balanced Budget Amendment, Budget, Debt Deal, 112th Congress, Balanced Budget Amendment, Robert Goodlatte, Politics News

WASHINGTON — Rejecting the idea Congress can't control its spending impulses, the House turned back a Republican proposal Friday to amend the Co...

Read Whole Story

Please, No Gimmicks -- A Letter to the Super Committee

Jonathan Cowan | Posted 01.17.2012

Read More: Deficit, Super Committee, Third Way, Budget, Solutions, Open Letters, Politics News
Jonathan Cowan

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction must approve a credible agreement that at minimum meets the committee's mission to achieve $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction without resorting to gimmicks or budgetary sleights of hand.

Read Post

Winners, Losers and the Beauty of Impact Analysis

Marcelo Giugale | Posted 01.16.2012

Read More: Foreign Aid, Developing Countries, Africa, Equity, Gasoline Prices, Budget, World Bank, Reform, Latin-America, Subsidies, Development, Inequality, Fiscal, Impact, World News
Marcelo Giugale

Whether reforms follow or not, the uncovering the true meaning of what our leaders do, has irresistible appeal in-and-of itself. No wonder impact analysis has become almost an academic obsession to the new generation of economists.

Read Post

Jason Linkins

Thomas Friedman Needs Someone To Help Him Access Widely Available Facts About Politics

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 01.16.2012

Read More: Eat the Press, Thomas Friedman, Thomas Friedman New York Times, Super Committee, Budget, Media Criticism, Thomas Friedman Column, Thomas Friedman Who's the Decider, Media News

Would it be too much to ask for someone -- perhaps one of his New York Times colleagues -- to give famously airheaded columnist Thomas Friedman a bit of an explanation of what is actually going on in the world of politics?

Read Whole Story

Government Funding Measure To Avoid Shutdown Announced

AP | ANDREW TAYLOR | Posted 01.15.2012

Read More: Nasa, Congress, Video, Budget Cuts, Budget, Spending Measures, Congress Budget, Spending Bills, Government Funding, Congress Spending Bills, Nasa Cuts, Congress Spending, Politics News

WASHINGTON — House and Senate negotiators have agreed on a bundle of spending measures for the ongoing budget year, blending cuts to NASA and co...

Read Whole Story

The Myth of the Wealthy Elderly

Dean Baker | Posted 01.15.2012

Read More: Taxes, Medicare, Social Security, Federal Budget Deficit, Budget, Business News
Dean Baker

While Very Serious People debate whether people who earn $250,000 a year are rich when it comes to restoring the 1990s tax rates, they somehow think that seniors with incomes under $30,000 a year must make sacrifices. There is a logic here, but it ain't pretty.

Read Post

Message to Congress: Healthy Lands and Waters Support a Healthy Economy

Mark Tercek | Posted 01.11.2012

Read More: The Nature Conservancy, Farm Bill, Congress, Federal Budget Deficit, Budget, Green News, Government Spending, Conservation, Mark Tercek, Green News
Mark Tercek

As federal budget deadlines loom, I hope that Congress recognizes the immense value of programs that sustain our country's irreplaceable natural resources. Healthy natural systems are the foundation for a healthy economy.

Read Post

Trigger Happy: Why Deficit Cuts Should Be Triggered Only When Unemployment Drops to 5 Percent

Robert Reich | Posted 01.10.2012

Read More: U.S. Economy, Deficit, Federal Deficit, Federal Budget Deficit, Economy, Budget, Economic Crisis, Politics News
Robert Reich

On planet Washington, where reducing the deficit is still more important than creating jobs, no one is talking about the most obvious policy trigger of all -- no budget cuts until the official level of unemployment falls to 5 percent, its level before the Great Recession.

Read Post

Defense Spending and the Deficit Debate

Jonathan Masters | Posted 01.10.2012

Read More: Pentagon, Deficit, Super Committee, Department of Defense, Budget, Super Committee Members, Super Committee Deadlines, Super Committee Defense Cuts, Defense Spending, Politics News
Jonathan Masters

Most experts believe reducing the defense budget is sensible fiscal policy, but they disagree over the extent of the cuts, and how they should fit into a comprehensive deficit-reduction package.

Read Post

Finally, Someone Talks About Another Hidden Cost At Work

Jessica Pearce Rotondi | Posted 01.10.2012

Read More: Budgeting, Style Advice, Spending Habits, Office Wardrobe, Budget, Slidepollajax, Office Style, Women and Work, Women News
Jessica Pearce Rotondi

We're all painfully aware of how much we spend on our commute and the health costs of working long hours at the office. But is there another hidden cost at work that no one is talking about?

Read Post

Ohio's Collective Bargaining Key to Becoming America's Heartland Again

Michael Shank | Posted 01.09.2012

Read More: Violence, Jared Bernstein, Institute for Economics and Peace, Income Inequality, Education, US Peace Index, Occupy Wall Street, Healthcare, Budget, Columbus, Collective Bargaining, Governor Kasich, Michael Shank, Unions, Ohio, Homicide, Global Peace Index, Poverty, Politics News
Michael Shank

Thanks to the U.S. tax, trade and labor policies of the last 30 years, the American heartland has suffered tremendously. Only now is Washington realizing how those policies have made it very difficult for most of America to simply "get by".

Read Post

Best Credit Cards for Holiday Shopping

Curtis Arnold | Posted 01.09.2012

Read More: Citi, American Express, Bank of America, Chase, Retail Sales, Capital One, Holiday Shopping, Budget, Black Friday, Thanksgiving, Credit Card, Penfed, Upromise, Business News
Curtis Arnold

This time of year, retail stores want to encourage new account signups at checkout. If you make too many new applications, you can put a temporary ding in your credit report that can disqualify you from the best credit card deals.

Read Post

A Way-Out for the Super Committee... and the Country

Paul Abrams | Posted 01.08.2012

Read More: Referendum, Fat Tax, Congress, Budget, Ryan Budget, Deficit, Supercommittee, 2012, Super Committee, Politics News
Paul Abrams

Each side wants the most it can get, but it must consider that the other side may decide to relinquish some of what it wants to get closer to what it estimates the American people want.

Read Post

Why Reciprocity in Chile is Bad for My Pocketbook

Oneika Raymond | Posted 01.07.2012

Read More: Chile, Black Voices, Black Voices Life, Latin America, Budget, Santiago Chile, Travel, Budget Travel, Bv-Life, Black Voices News
Oneika Raymond

As my plane started its descent into Santiago, Chile, I felt the excitement build within my chest. After my 10-hour night flight from Dallas, I was feeling worse for wear but highly anticipated what would await me in Chile's capital.

Read Post

Corporate Loopholes: The Tip of the Iceberg

Marian Wright Edelman | Posted 01.04.2012

Read More: CEO Pay, Corporate Excess, Economy, Deficit Reduction, Corporate Taxes, Wealth Gap, Early Childhood Development, CEO Compensation, Corporate Tax Loopholes, Budget Cuts, Budget, Corporate Greed, Early Childhood Education, Super Committee, Politics News
Marian Wright Edelman

Some days it feels like America may be speeding towards a proverbial iceberg. The tip of the iceberg is the budget deficit; and the failure to invest in our human capital is the rest of the iceberg that will sink America's ship of state. But as the super committee struggles to make difficult decisions in the coming weeks to reduce the budget deficit, one of the proposals it is considering is reducing the corporate tax rate. This would be a step away from investing in human capital, and a step towards balancing the budget on the backs of our youth, who need health care and nutrition, quality education and good jobs to build a strong America. Children did not cause the budget deficit and they must not be sacrificed to help solve it.

Read Post

California Budget Gap Could Be More Than Governor's Projections

Posted 01.04.2012

Read More: State Budgets, Video, Governor Jerry Brown, California, Budget Gaps, Budget, Economic Uncertainty, Public Programs, California Legislature, Business News

California's government could face a budget gap of up to $8 billion in its next fiscal year, substantially more than the $3.1 billion shortfall pr...

Read Whole Story

Super Committee Cuts to Social Security to Divert From Real Issues

Jeff Madrick | Posted 01.01.2012

Read More: Deficit, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Super Committee, Health Care, Budget, Social Programs, Business News
Jeff Madrick

We have plenty of taxing capacity to take care of our needs. We simply refuse to act as a modern nation, driven by myths that we can somehow return to the simplicity of colonial America.

Read Post

Notes From Washington

Jared Bernstein | Posted 01.01.2012

Read More: U.S. Economy, Economic Recovery, Economy, Economic Crisis, Taxes, Budget, Rick Perry, Politics News
Jared Bernstein

If you hold or are running for political office and you don't have a credible, understandable, plausible plan for addressing the serious problems that plague our country, you don't belong in the picture. Do us all a big favor and go home.

Read Post

Republican Leaders Spin Funding Tall Tales

AP | JOAN LOWY | Posted 12.30.2011

Read More: Politics, Republican Party, Video, Republican Lies, Gop Lies, Budget, Economy, Gop, Funding, Republicans, Politics News

WASHINGTON — It's an outrageous tale: The federal government spends one out of every $10 in transportation aid on wasteful projects such as refu...

Read Whole Story

The Only Job a War Industry CEO Cares About: His Own

Robert Greenwald and Derrick Crowe | Posted 12.25.2011

Read More: Aerospace Industries Association, Profiteering, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Deficit, Debt, Military, Lockheed Martin, Budget, War Costs, Research and Development, Second to None, Robert Greenwald, Derrick Crowe, Brave New Foundation, Politics News
Robert Greenwald and Derrick Crowe

CEOs of the biggest military contracting corporations published a report today that has absolutely no use in predicting the actual economic effects of cuts to the military budget.

Read Post