Dec 11 Watch 6:06 Is economic reality wiping out the American dream? By PBS News Hour The U.S. economy has been showing signs of more robust recovery, but many Americans say they're not feeling it. A new poll by The New York Times found the public is more pessimistic than it was right after the financial… Continue watching
Dec 11 How Social Security still discriminates against same-sex couples By Laurence Kotlikoff Even if a same-sex couple is married in a state where same-sex marriage is legal, if they live in a state where it's not, and one spouse tries to collect spousal or survivor benefits, he or she will not be… Continue reading
Dec 11 Twitter chat: Are U.S. overtime standards fair? By Nora Daly Why are workers putting in longer hours when overtime pay is not guaranteed? Join the discussion on Twitter today at 1 p.m. EST. Continue reading
Dec 10 The Social Security and Medicare gotcha that makes contributing to your HSA illegal By Philip Moeller Philip Moeller considers a question from a reader who's old enough to collect maximum benefits from Social Security. When he files, though, he'll also get Medicare. And because he's still working, that'll spell trouble for his Health Savings Account. Continue reading
Dec 10 A food stamps success story By Miles Corak A yawning gap has opened up between market income poverty rates and total income poverty rates, which can only be heralded as a major success story for out-of-work assistance, particularly those components under federal control, argues economist Miles Corak. Continue reading
Dec 08 Good news for the Affordable Care Act in jobs reports By Dean Baker In the wake of November's jobs report, Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, argues that the Affordable Care Act is allowing more young parents to choose to stay at home with their kids. Continue reading
Dec 06 Watch 8:21 A distant dream? Crowdfunding still beyond reach for many entrepreneurs By PBS News Hour Raising a large pool of money from many small contributions online, known as crowdfunding, was supposed to be an option for startup business to raise money when President Obama signed the 2012 JOBS Act into law. But today, that method… Continue watching
Dec 05 Watch 4:55 Revved up employment growth offers ‘meat-on-the-bone’ jobs, but mostly more minimum wage By PBS News Hour Job growth surged last month, with more than 300,000 new positions added. Hourly wages increased, too. Is there a catch? Diane Swonk of Mesirow Financial joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss how the economy took a step in the right direction… Continue watching
Dec 05 What’s the most reliable indicator of monthly job gains? By Simone Pathe Friday's jobs report showed a surprisingly high 321,000 jobs were added in November. Inspiring even more good cheer, however, average hourly earnings for private nonfarm payrolls actually rose 9 cents last month. Continue reading
Dec 04 Why college education isn’t a bubble By Vivek Wadhwa PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel has argued that college is overvalued in this country and that not everyone should go. He's even called it a bubble -- like housing. But entrepreneur and academic Vivek Wadhwa defends higher education, calling Thiel's ideas… Continue reading