Apr 20 What Happens to Us Codgers if the Debt Limit Isn't Raised? By Paul Solman We reported last week on the fear and trembling of bond vigilantism, real or imagined -- that the bond market would punish the country for profligacy by raising the interest it demanded to lend us money, thus making everything… Continue reading
Apr 20 Polls Show Support for Fixing Federal Deficit, but Not for Proposed Remedies According to polls, the public supports efforts to fix spending but disagrees on how. Photo by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images. The storyline after November's midterm elections was that voters had sent a clear message to lawmakers in… Continue reading
Apr 19 Watch Declining Polls, Negative Treasury Rating Cast Shadow Over Obama Budget Message President Obama traveled to northern Virginia on Tuesday for the first of a weeklong series of town-hall meetings aimed at building support for his budget plan. The stop comes as two new polls revealed declining support for his presidency and… Continue watching
Apr 19 As the GOP Chases Public Sector Unions, Small Towns Feel a Pinch From Wisconsin to Ohio to Indiana, the new Republican powers in statehouses have made clear that one of their chief targets is public sector unions. In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker fought for and eventually won passage of a… Continue reading
Apr 19 Watch Louisianans Still Struggling One Year After the Gulf Oil Spill Hari Sreenivasan talks to Shauna Sanford and Charlie Whinham of LPB about the oil spill. Continue watching
Apr 19 S&P's Dire Warning: Of Any Significance At All? Call me a contrarian -- or just your garden-variety journalist/skeptic -- but when I read the much-ballyhooed Standard & Poor's announcement yesterday, I shook my shiny head. "Because the U.S. has, relative to its AAA peers, what we consider… Continue reading
Apr 18 Watch In Downgrading U.S. Rating, Standard & Poor's Fires 'Warning Shot' Jitters in Markets After Ratings Agency Downgrades U.S. Debt… Continue watching
Apr 18 Making Sen$e: How Much Did President Obama Make in 2010? By Paul Solman Editor's Note: The First Family's 2010 tax return was released today. We've pulled out some of the more interesting numbers in a graphic. Here's the snapshot: the Obamas reported an adjusted gross income of $1,728,096, about $3.78… Continue reading
Apr 18 How Much Did President Obama Make in 2010? By Elizabeth Shell Editor's Note: The First Family's 2010 tax return was released today and we've pulled out some of the more interesting numbers in a graphic for you. Here's the snapshot: the Obamas reported an adjusted gross income of $1,728,096, about… Continue reading
Apr 15 House Passes Ryan 2012 Budget Proposal A united House Republican conference voted overwhelmingly to pass budget Chairman Paul Ryan's sweeping budget plan that would cut $5.8 trillion in spending over the next ten years, lowering corporate tax rates and transforming Medicare into a voucher system for… Continue reading