In “Irish Bombshell: Government Raids PRIVATE Pensions to Pay for Spending,” in the Business Insider, Joe Weisenthal and Gregory White report on what some people consider might be an ominous sign for future policies in the U.S. and other countries to address the gigantic spending and debt crisis. The Irish government plans to institute…
Read More »
Bill Gross, the manager of the world’s largest bond fund at PIMCO, increased the size of his bet against U.S. government issued debt on Monday, May 9, 2011: (Reuters) – PIMCO’s Bill Gross, the manager of the world’s largest bond fund, raised his bet against U.S. government-related debt in April to 4 percent from…
Read More »
The Christian Science Monitor reports that “Counting underutilized and marginally attached workers, the unemployment rate rose in April, according to the new jobs report”, to 15.9% for “total unemployment” and 9% for the standard rate of joblessness. And according to CNNMoney.com’s “Bailout Tracker”, this increase in joblessness has occurred despite the staggering commitment to…
Read More »
Corbett Daly at Reuters reports that having lost another $8.7 billion in the first quarter of 2011, Fannie Mae is now seeking another $8.5 billion in bailout funding from taxpayers, in addition to the $100 billion already received since Barack Obama became president. Mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae on Friday said it would ask…
Read More »
In The Hill, Pete Kasperowicz reports in “Obama administration floats draft plan to tax cars by the mile” that: The Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive. The plan is a part…
Read More »
In the following video, Independent Institute Research Fellow Jeffery Miron discusses why federal entitlement spending (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security) is growing to unprecedented levels and must be cut and cut and cut some more if the U.S.’s fiscal spending and debt crisis is to be resolved. HT: Mike Munger
Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss at Reuters reports in “Dollar tumbles to 3-yr low; data underpins rate view” that: The dollar slumped to a three-year low against major currencies on Wednesday and its outlook darkened further as surprisingly soft economic data underpinned expectations that U.S. interest rates will remain low this year. The greenback also fell to…
Read More »
Back on 3 February 2011, a number of Republican Senators introduced Senate Joint Resolution 5, which proposes to amend the U.S. Constitution to require the U.S. Congress to balance the annual budget of the U.S. federal government. It’s a good sentiment, and it has some points to recommend it, however it’s got some real…
Read More »