Monthly Archives: November 2010

National Fiscal Hypocrisy Week – Robert Reich   Deficit Reduction. Tax Reform, and Budget Baselines -How can it be that one commentator can blast the tax reform plan proposed a few weeks by the co-chairs of President Obama’s fiscal commission as … Continue reading →

Mortgage Buybacks May Cost Banks $106 Billion, FBR’s Miller Says – JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. are among U.S. banks that may face $54 billion to $106 billion in costs as more investors demand that issuers of mortgage-backed … Continue reading →

  Quote Suburban fire and police pensions underfunded by $5 billion – chicagotribune.comSuburbs from wealthy to working-class have combined to dig a $5 billion hole for taxpayers on the hook to pay for the pensions of police officers and firefighters. … Continue reading →

  Quote FT.com / Europe – IMF admits failings in predicting Irish crisis The International Monetary Fund has conceded it could have done better in predicting Ireland’s property and banking crash that led to in Sunday’s announcement of a €85bn … Continue reading →

Fiscal Commission Expectations Are Too High. – There’s just too much distance between Commission Republicans and Democrats on raising revenue and cutting spending. That doesn’t mean the effort will be wasted. Far from it. Starting the public debate on these issues … Continue reading →

Winners and Losers Under the Simpson-Bowles Social Security Plan – Every Social Security proposal has relatively clear winners and losers, for the reason that Social Security is a simple income transfer program. The benefits it pays must (in the long run) … Continue reading →

  Quote Four degrees and beyond: the potential for a global temperature increase of four degrees and its implications The papers in this Theme Issue were written by participants in the Four degrees conference, at the invitation of the editors. … Continue reading →

Obama proposes pay freeze for federal workers (Reuters) – President Barack Obama proposed a two-year freeze on Monday on the pay of federal workers and vowed to work with Republicans to cut the ballooning U.S. budget deficit. The pay freeze … Continue reading →

  Quote FT.com / Comment / Opinion – Spain braces itself for a crisis made in Germany – FT video – On May 9, when European Union leaders approved the rescue package embodied in the European financial stability facility, Spain saw … Continue reading →

The incomes of American households at the low end of the distribution aren’t especially high, and haven’t increased much, when compared to those of their counterparts in other rich nations. But perhaps this is an unfair comparison. After all, hasn’t … Continue reading →