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    Lessons from the Political Gridlock of 1842

    Feb 28, 2013 02:45 PM EDT

    ... leaders was rising. Read More: Obama Says We Must Never Default, But Would It Really Hurt Us If We Did? Merle Hazard Hurtles Over the Fiscal Cliff Are Strategic Defaults the Housing Crisis' Culprit? A Baltimore newspaper asked whether members of Congress "can really possess American hearts -- there being so ...

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    Why the Sequester Won't Solve America's Debt Problems

    Feb 27, 2013 02:58 PM EDT

    ... Another Victory in the War on Our Children 'Red Ink': Understanding Why the U.S. Has So Much Debt The hue and cry about the fiscal cliff is, in fact, a side show for yet more fiscal child abuse. Like all budget "fights" over the last 40 years in which ...

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    For Obama, Public Opinion on Sequester May Not Be Enough

    Feb 21, 2013 02:41 PM EDT

    ... more firmly against tax hikes now in part because they fractured over ending the George W. Bush-era tax breaks to avoid going over the fiscal cliff. That showdown over the New Year holiday pitted House Speaker John Boehner against some conservative congressional Republicans who nearly killed a compromise despite ...

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    President Obama Challenges Congress to Help Middle Class

    Feb 13, 2013 02:33 PM EDT

    ... holds his seat in Illinois. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R., Ky., doesn't seem interested in a repeat of last year's last-minute fiscal cliff showdown when it comes to averting the sequester. "Read my lips: I am not interested in an eleventh-hour negotiation," he said. The ...

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    What Flew and What Flopped Among Obama's 2012 SOTU Proposals?

    Feb 12, 2013 10:24 PM EDT

    ... said would keep that dream a reality, while pushing for investigations into banks' risky lending practices. Ahead of the long campaign -- and the even longer "fiscal cliff" debates -- he sought to appeal to the interests of the middle class, invoking concerns about outsourcing, job creation and college affordability. But with ...

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    White House Report: Maneuvers Ahead of Sequester Deadline

    Feb 09, 2013 12:39 AM EDT

    ... wants any agreement that avoids the sequester to include tax increases. Republicans, however, say no more on raising taxes, after agreeing to the so-called "fiscal cliff" settlement at the New Year on a $600 billion, 10-year hike in the top income tax rate paid by high earners. They ...

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    Cantor to Present Way Forward for GOP

    Feb 05, 2013 02:17 PM EDT

    House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. Photo by Tom Williams/Roll Call. In the aftermath of the 2012 campaign, which saw President Obama re-elected by a wide electoral margin and Democrats add to their numbers on Capitol Hill, there has been a fair amount said and written about the Republican Party's soul searching. On Tuesday, House...

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    U.S. Economy Adds 157,000 New Jobs, Unemployment Ticks Up Slightly

    Feb 01, 2013 06:31 PM EDT

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the jobs numbers for January reporting that the official unemployment rate rose slightly to 7.9 percent, while 157,000 new jobs were added. Paul Solman breaks the numbers down, including his more inclusive "Solman Scale."

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    U.S. Economy Adds 157,000 New Jobs in January, Unemployment Ticks Up Slightly

    Feb 01, 2013 03:02 PM EDT

    Photo by Nick M. Do via Getty Images. By Paul Solman and Elizabeth Shell The U.S. economy added 157,000 new jobs in January while the unemployment rate climbed slightly to 7.9 percent, new Labor Department figures show. December unemployment was 7.8 percent. Also ticking up was the U-7 figure, our more inclusive estimate of the...

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    Boehner Gets Conservative Support for Debt Ceiling Plan

    Jan 23, 2013 01:55 PM EDT

    House Speaker John Boehner is joined by other Republican Party members at a news conference on Tuesday. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images. A debt ceiling vote with little tension. A sign off from the White House. Welcome to Bizarro Washington. House Republicans will move forward with a vote Wednesday on a plan that would suspend...