We The People of Longview, TX » Economy/Budget

FEDERAL DEFICITS AND DEBT WILL SOAR, SAYS CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE

Cindy — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:33:41 +0000

The federal government will face crushing budget deficits and a rapidly soaring national debt unless there is a drastic change in policy over the next few decades, according to an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Other findings:

Federal spending will climb to 26 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) within the next decade and reach highs [...]

Economy caught in depression, not recession: Rosenberg

Cindy — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 02:55:22 +0000

Positive gross domestic product readings and other mildly hopeful signs are masking an ugly truth: The US economy is in a 1930s-style Depression, Gluskin Sheff economist David Rosenberg said Tuesday.

Writing in his daily briefing to investors, Rosenberg said the Great Depression also had its high points, with a series of positive GDP reports and sharp stock [...]

The Dodd-Frank Bailout is Already Here

Cindy — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 01:13:34 +0000

On July 21, when President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, he promised: “There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts. Period.” How long will this Obama promise last? Well, The New York Times reports today that “the Obama administration on Wednesday pumped $3 billion into programs intended to stop the unemployed from [...]

Federal workers earning double their private counterparts

Cindy — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 02:42:25 +0000

At a time when workers’ pay and benefits have stagnated, federal employees’ average compensation has grown to more than double what private sector workers earn, a USA TODAY analysis finds.Federal workers have been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private employees for nine years in a row. The compensation gap between federal and private [...]

Freddie Mac requests $1.8B more in aid after 2Q loss

Cindy — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 01:42:56 +0000

WASHINGTON — Government-controlled mortgage buyer Freddie Mac is asking for $1.8 billion in additional federal aid after posting a larger loss in the second quarter.Freddie Mac (FMCC) said Monday it lost $6 billion, or $1.85 a r share, in the April-to-June period. The company is required to pay [...]

IS A VALUE-ADDED TAX THE ANSWER?

Cindy — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:09:30 +0000

All over the developed world, countries are facing an extremely unpleasant budgetary reality: Per capita health care spending is growing at twice the rate of growth of per capita income. The Obama administration has made it about as clear as it is going to get that after the fall election its solution to trillion dollar deficits [...]

THE BIGGEST TAX INCREASE IN U.S. HISTORY?

Cindy — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 14:37:20 +0000

President Obama has repeatedly asserted that the new health care reform’s individual mandate requiring everyone to have qualified health insurance coverage or pay a penalty is not a tax. And yet the Department of Justice (DOJ) now claims the mandate is a tax, but not because the legislation refers to the mandate as a tax — [...]

An Admission of Failure

Cindy — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:36:41 +0000

It is established practice in Washington that if you have to release bad news, it is best to do it on a Friday … the later in the day the better. So not only did the White House schedule the publication of the “Mid-Session Budget Review” for last Friday, but they then released it three [...]

The Lawyers and Lobbyists Full Employment Act

Cindy — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 02:52:24 +0000

Without spending a single dime, the Obama administration did more yesterday to create jobs for the U.S. economy than it has throughout its entire existence. With the single stroke of a pen, President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill that set in motion 243 new formal rule-makings by 11 different federal agencies.

Continue reading [...]

THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE — II

Cindy — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 02:49:24 +0000

The Dodd-Frank financial reform bill passed by the Senate yesterday promises to generate historic levels of red tape. But apparently the 2,300 pages are so complicated that a debate has broken out over precisely how many new regulatory rule-makings it will require, says the Wall Street Journal.

According to an analysis by the Davis Polk & Wardwell [...]