When you have one of the best known conservative writers on economics go after the standard GOP talking points that we need more tax cuts for the rich, you know that the right is in trouble. On Bill O’Reilly, Ben Stein did just that: Dave Edwards offers this awesome outtake from this confrontation: O’Reilly went […]
With the deal announced to raise the debt ceiling and instill trillions in cuts during a recession, it is time to declare the that the right owns the economy. So just how bad is this deal? Here’s Paul Krugman’s take: For the deal itself, given the available information, is a disaster, and not just for […]
Bob Cesca has posted the following chart, showing how the share of income labor sees is at a historic low: What’s interesting is how much the share dipped during the Bush years. During Clinton’s term, the rate was on the rise, after a substantial fall during the Reagan and Bush 41 years. So what does […]
It has been a growing problem in this nation for decades and it continues to increase every year – income disparity: The income gap between the richest and poorest Americans grew last year to its widest amount on record as young adults and children in particular struggled to stay afloat in the recession. The top-earning […]
In a time where the big discussion is rather or not we should extend tax cuts to the top 2% of earners in the country, this is what’s happening: The poverty rate rose to 14.3 percent during 2009 from 13.2 percent the previous year as household income stayed flat and the number of people without […]
The wingers have been going on about a report in USA Today last week showing a record increase in the number of people receiving federal aid: Government anti-poverty programs that have grown to meet the needs of recession victims now serve a record one in six Americans and are continuing to expand. More than 50 […]
A new report out by the CBO finds that the stimulus most likely saved this country: President Obama’s much-maligned economic stimulus package added as many as 3.3 million jobs to the economy during the second quarter of this year, and may have prevented the nation from lapsing back into recession, according to a report released […]
Robert Gibbs has issued a statement trying to walk back his critique of the “professional left” in an interview with The Hill. Here’s Gibbs statement (via The Plum Line) I watch too much cable, I admit. Day after day it gets frustrating. Yesterday I watched as someone called legislation to prevent teacher layoffs a bailout […]
Following up on my earlier post about the Republicans not worrying about the deficit if it helps the rich, I decided to post this little graph. It really puts a perspective on the current budget deficit and who is ultimatley responsible for it. Fareed Zakaria, writing an article entitled “Raise My Taxes, Mr. President!” in […]
That’s what leading economists are saying (via Cesca): The recovery is shaping up to be stronger than expected and there is little risk the economy will slip back into a recession, according to USA TODAY’s quarterly survey of 46 leading economists. Yet most still say the rebound will fall short of the sharp, V-shaped upturns […]