The blog Kids Prefer Cheese is one of the real gems in the world of blogs dealing with economic topics. It’s primarily written by a pair of economists writing under the pseudonyms “Angus” and “Mungowitz” (in reality, “Kevin Grier” and “Michael Munger“), and what makes the blog so good is the authors’ use of…
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In a new report from the Washington Post, “The Influence Industry: Obama gives administration jobs to some big fundraisers,” T.W. Farnam reports that while Obama campaigned on “the most sweeping ethics reform in history” and has criticized money in politics: More than half of Obama’s 47 biggest fundraisers, those who collected at least $500,000…
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If you were a CEO of one of America’s largest companies, what message would you want to deliver to the President and to members of the U.S. Congress? Would you believe it’s “balance the federal budget, lower business taxes, and reform regulation?” Roll Call‘s Kate Ackley reports: Fresh out of a meeting with members…
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A few weeks ago, the New York Times posted a nice info-graphic on the dispersion of government transfers over time. The report show that American’s income that comes from government transfer programs has more than doubled over the last 40 years, rising from 8 percent in 1969 to 18 percent in 2009. The info-graphic…
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CNN Money offers a clear cut break down of what each candidate’s budget plan would do for the deficit: Newt Gingrich’s plan Debt over next decade: Adds $7 trillion, increasing debt to GDP to 114%. Costliest proposal: Create an alternative flat tax of 15%, which would increase debt by $3.4 trillion. Biggest cost saver: Turn means-tested federal programs…
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CNN reports the monstrosity of a bill that our interest alone will be handing the U.S. in the coming future. Uncle Sam will shell out more than $5 trillion in interest payments over the next decade, according to the latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office. That’s more than half of the projected $11 trillion…
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Last week, Moody’s cut Greece’s credit rating to the lowest level on its scale, citing risk of default despite the recent write-off deal. Moody’s said the rating decision was “prompted by the recently announced debt exchange proposals for Greece, which imply expected losses to investors in excess of 70%.” The sovereign debt crisis in…
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There’s a great story that broke over the past weekend from the floor of the senate in Washington state that certain Senators in Washington D.C. can afford to learn: how to pass a budget! To set the stage, here are the remarkable similarities between the between the two legislative bodies: Both legislative bodies are…
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On February 28, 2012, the United States Government Accountability Office issued its second-ever report on duplicative or poorly-controlled spending by various departments of the federal government. Or in other words, taxpayer money that is being wasted every day because too many government departments are spending way too much money trying to do either the…
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Remind me to take Uncle Sam on my next shopping spree because it seems like he’s up for purchasing anything! Here are more glorious examples him wasting taxpayer money courtesy billshrink.com. The $725,000 Pizza Machine One all too common consequence of spending other people’s money is failure to think ahead. A telling example can…
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