Harry Reid: ‘Foolish’ for Democrats to offer budget plan – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said it would be “foolish” for Democrats to propose their own federal budget for 2012, despite continued attacks from Republicans that the party is ducking its responsibility to put forward a solution to the nation’s deficit problems.
Medicare Trust Funding Accounting: Double Your Fiscal Trouble – Anyone who is still uncertain about whether the Obama administration is double counting when it claims that ObamaCare both funds new insurance benefits and extends the life of Medicare should check out video of the Medicare panel held at the American Enterprise Institute earlier this week.
IRS snafu leaves taxpayers, refunds in limbo for months – It’s perhaps the very definition of Red Tape. Four years ago, Congress decided that the IRS should get into the banking business, authorizing it to give out no-interest loans to first-time homebuyers. That put the agency in the position of both collecting loan payments and issuing tax refunds to the roughly 1 million taxpayers who took advantage of the program.
Economic Slowdown Is Already Here - Today’s somewhat weak economic releases add to a pattern of recent tepid results from a number of economic indicators, and suggest that an economic slowdown is gathering steam even before the end of QE2. We cite the following as evidence….
Consumer spending expected to slow down – Despite persistent unease over their personal finances, consumers remain the backbone of the economy, and data to be released this week will show the state of their spending.
Stock investors worry: Is ride getting rougher? - U.S. stock investors, coming off their third week of losses, will look to home sales, GDP and handful of earnings in the coming week for clarity on whether the economy and stocks are in for a rougher ride.
Rules For Reforming Our Bloated Welfare State – Any short-run budget strategy that does not focus exclusively on discretionary spending—including the military-security-industrial complex—is not serious, not properly aligned, and scaled to the parameters of the current political struggle.
Pricier bread and cereal coming soon? – Surging wheat and corn prices could hit the items in your grocery basket by mid-summer if planting conditions across the country don’t improve
Beefy burger - BRITAIN’S burgers are 3½ times bigger than those launched in the 1950s, a study shows
Veterans return to high unemployment, tight job market – Unemployment among these recent veterans is higher than among the rest of the population and among military veterans overall, according to the latest U.S. Labor Department data. In April, as the country continued its slow recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s, the jobless rate among Iraq and Afghanistan vets was nearly 11 percent, compared with 8.5 percent for nonveterans and 7.7 percent for veterans overall.
Capitalists Who Fear Free Markets – In Tokyo this week, corporate executives were outraged when a Japanese government official suggested that banks might have to take losses on loans to the company that produced a nuclear catastrophe.
Profit Margin Squeeze Continues to Grip the Economy – A major risk factor for margin squeeze is the increase in commodity prices over the past several months with the price of oil and gasoline as the dominant factor
Two top Fed officials say easy money still needed – The U.S. labor market is improving, but not at a fast enough pace to require the Federal Reserve to reverse its super-easy money any time soon, two top Fed officials said on Thursday.
A fundamental flaw with majoritarian democracy is that politicians get votes by promising their constituents benefits, particularly when they can promise those benefits will be paid by others or future generations. As the old line has it, “Any politician who promises Peter benefits to be paid by Paul will always have the vote of Peter.” The inherent problem with this model is that as the number of Peters who must be satisfied grows, more and more costs are shifted to the Pauls, who eventually rebel by not working or leaving. The United States may have reached the tipping point, where half of the population pays almost no income tax and the top 1 percent of taxpayers pay almost 40 percent of the tax revenue. The nation already has about the most progressive tax system in the world, so it is doubtful that the remaining taxpayers can be squeezed much further.
Fed’s Bullard Says U.S. Must Fix Deficit Before Crisis Strikes – “When markets lose confidence in the U.S. and say that they don’t trust us anymore, rates will skyrocket and the crisis will be upon you, all the debt and deficit figures will look all that much worse, and you won’t be able to do anything about it because these are problems that take a long time to fix.”
5 Ugly Truths About the Debt-Ceiling Battle – How likely is it that politicians will agree to a long-term budget plan in the next few weeks? Not very. Any long-term blueprint for bringing down the deficit must include: …..
Where Have All The Bulls Gone? – People like to say that the individual investor is always the last to get in and the first to get out. This time at least, the individual is making a quick exit. Will they be too early?
The individual stories are familiar. The chemistry major tending bar. The classics major answering phones. The Italian studies major sweeping aisles at Wal-Mart.
Now evidence is emerging that the damage wrought by the sour economy is more widespread than just a few careers led astray or postponed. Even for college graduates — the people who were most protected from the slings and arrows of recession — the outlook is rather bleak.
A Shovel-Empty Waste Of $787 Billion – On top of the other failures of President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus plan you can now add this: It didn’t even fulfill the simple promise of creating more highway jobs and improving roadways
New, federally-mandated light bulbs will cost $50 each… – To encourage energy efficiency, Congress passed a law in 2007 mandating that bulbs producing 100 watts worth of light meet certain efficiency goals, starting in 2012. Conventional light bulbs don’t meet those goals, so the law will prohibit making or importing them. The same rule will start apply to remaining bulbs 40 watts and above in 2014. Who could have thought they are going to be so expensive? GEE…Someone will profit on our backs (again), with the help of the politicians!
SAP Cornering $11 Billion ‘Green’ Software to Take On IBM – SAP AG (SAP), the world’s largest maker of business management software, is cornering a 7.5 billion-euro ($11 billion) market for products that help companies increase productivity while limiting the effect on the environment. These days “green” can bring companies greenbacks, you know…
US outlines global plan for cyberspace – The Obama administration laid out plans Monday to work aggressively with other nations to make the Internet more secure, enable law enforcement to work closely on cybercrime and ensure that citizens everywhere have the freedom to express themselves online. Uh-oh! What happened when the government created the TSA to make the airports and flights more secure? Do you feel more secure or more violated?
Michigan man still on food stamps despite winning $2M - The Department of Human Services told him he could continue to use the card, which is paid with tax dollars. That’s right! As long as the money are flowing in from the federal and the state coffers and somehow excuse the existence of the public-service-blood-sucking-worthless piece of $hit-bureaucrats, none of them will give a damn where and how the money are spend… Stop the presses! Stop the pumps! The people of this country and the future generations are drawning in a sea of debt!
Senator questions benefits to ‘adult baby’ -Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican and the Senate’s top waste-watcher, asked the agency’s inspector general to look into 30-year-oldStanley Thornton Jr. and his roommate, Sandra Dias, who acts as his “mother,” saying it’s not clear why they are collecting Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits instead of working. Answer: See the post above…
The End of an Idea — Why Affirmative Action Should Stop – Ending affirmative action will be acrimonious. The demagoguery will be unmatched, as millions who benefit from it will cite all sorts of reasons why it must continue.
GM sponsors and celebrates soon to be released Chi-Com propaganda film – China was GM’s solution to help the car-maker recover from bankruptcy, so the company “is only expected to widen as an increasing number of Chinese grow rich enough to purchase their first car.” New GM sales slogan for the China’s market: “Buy our cars, we bend over for you”.
US casino mogul says Wynn now ‘Chinese company’ – American casino mogul Steve Wynn said Tuesday that his US-based gaming firm has become a “Chinese company” as it held its first annual meeting in Macau, now the world’s biggest gaming hub. Another ex-US company, another wynning move…
White House Budget Staffers Seek to Join Union – Staffers at the White House budget office filed a petition Monday to join a labor union, seeking to gain more input over their working conditions. WTF? Can you imagine how horrible must their working conditions be? Browsing porn on their computers all day long, while guestimating how long it will take to spend the country into the oblivion…
Slaves to Words - “Millionaires and billionaires” aren’t the source of our troubles.
Philly housing agency overpaid for shoddy work – The latest examination of the troubled Philadelphia Housing Authority suggests the agency overpaid for shoddy work, which federal auditors said raises questions about the city agency’s use of $127 million in federal economic stimulus funds.
Signs of slowing economy spooking investors – Hewlett-Packard, Home Depot, Wal-Mart report cautious spending by consumers. They only can lie for the economy recovering for as long as someone believed them
Managers’ confidence in global economy fades – Fund managers are losing confidence in the outlook for the global economy and see the European sovereign debt crisis as the biggest risk to growth, according to a survey released Tuesday. Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate….
The Hidden State Financial Crisis – My latest research into opaque state financial statements suggests taxpayers will be surprised by how much pensions are underfunded. I am not surprised at all
On the Floor Laughing: Traders Are Having a New Kind of Fun – The modern trader is playing the most sophisticated, dynamic, immersive game in the world. Here’s how it works — and why your job might be the next to turn into a massively multiplayer experience.
For teen job-seekers, summer again offers dismal prospects - The number of teens holding summer jobs in Massachusetts and across the country is expected to match or be even less than last year’s record lows, with only about 1 in 4 teens finding work, according to research by Northeastern University.
The Great Recession’s lost generation - 18% of recent grads have been forced to turn to full-time jobs outside their field of study, often jobs for which a college degree is not required. Many others are underemployed, or working part-time or temporary jobs and internships.
Massachusetts’ AG probing University of Phoenix for alleged deceptive tactics – Massachusetts’ attorney general is investigating whether University of Phoenix used unfair or deceptive tactics to recruit students or in connection with student financial aid, the school’s parent company disclosed in a regulatory filing on Monday.
For teen job-seekers, summer again offers dismal prospects - Just 26 percent of US teens held jobs last summer, the lowest youth employment rate since World War II, and this year youth advocates are scrambling to fund job opportunities amid federal cutbacks and a shaky private-sector recovery.
Governments Are The Primary Creators Of Systemic Risk – The greatest lesson of the still young 21st century is proving to be that governments are the primary source of systemic risk to the economy, our standard of living, and our liberty.
Evaluating ARRA - Our benchmark results suggest that the ARRA created/saved approximately 450 thousand state and local government jobs and destroyed/forestalled roughly one million private sector jobs…
What If Oil Producers Actually Received Subsidies Like Wind Energy Producers? – Deepwater drilling rigs can cost over $400,000 per day. With other costs, a rough per-well figure would be $100,000,000 per well. If an oil company could get the same 30 percent investment tax credit as wind producers, the government would write the company a $30,000,000 check for each well completed.
Hotel California: Million Dollar Sheets on the Taxpayer’s Dime - The California hotel workers union is pushing a bill that requires all hotel mattresses to have flat sheets instead of fitted sheets. They argue that the heavy lifting required for fitted sheets is causing back injuries for workers. The problem is, the regulation comes with a price tag of $30-$50 million dollars charged to the taxpayers
Our Peculiar State of Suspended Animation – Nothing is actually moving, we’re all frozen in an extended moment of disbelief, denial and crisis, waiting for something to finally break loose.
Slow Growth, Inflation Make US Bonds Bad Buy: Gross – The US economy is headed for a period of higher inflation and lower growth that makes the nation’s debt unappealing when measured against its global competitors
McDonald’s to shake up food ordering system – McDonald’s is to change the way customers order its meals in Europe, partly replacing cashiers and the use of banknotes at its 7,000 fast-food restaurants in the region with touch screen terminals and swipe cards. Here goes the recovery in jobs…down the drain.
Intelligence Community Fears U.S. Manufacturing Decline – Over the last ten years, China has mounted the biggest challenge to the U.S. manufacturing sector ever seen, threatening producers of steel, chemicals, glass, paper, drugs and any number of other items with prices they cannot match. Not coincidentally, the United States has lost an average of 50,000 manufacturing jobs every month during the same period.
US hits debt ceiling - The U.S. government is expected to hit the $14.294 trillion debt ceiling Monday, setting in motion an uncertain, 11-week political scramble to avoid a default.
Treasury to tap pensions to help fund government – The Obama administration will begin to tap federal retiree programs to help fund operations after the government loses its ability Monday to borrow more money from the public, adding urgency to efforts in Washington to fashion a compromise over the debt.
Medicare, Social Security Funds Expiring Sooner, U.S. Says – Medicare, the U.S. health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, and the Social Security trust for the disabled and retirees are running out of money sooner than the government had projected.
California makes huge payouts for some workers’ unused time off – Managers in California’s government routinely ignore official limits on the number of vacation days their employees can save, compelling the state to cut huge checks — many worth six figures — for unused time off when workers retire.
NYC staff cashing in - If they pooled their annual paychecks, they’d have $13.7 billion — equal to the gross domestic product of Jamaica and a little more than Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth ($13.5 billion).
