Jed Graham in Investor’s Business Daily reports that a new study of the financial condition of Social Security and Medicare indicate that with baby boomer retirements, rising health costs, and the ongoing economic malaise, these federal entitlement programs are producing massive deficits in perpetuity unless major changes are made to cut these unsustainable liabilities….
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Independent Institute Research Fellow Emily Skarbek is interviewed here by Nick Gillespie of Reason TV regarding the Institute�s very timely and far-reaching Government Cost Calculator. The Calculator enables any American to clearly understand three aspects of federal government spending. First, the Calculator helps you determine how much a person will pay for various federal…
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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…
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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…
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Edward P. Lazear (former Chairman, President’s Council of Economic Advisors; Jack Steele Parker Professor of Human Resources Management and Economics, Stanford University; Morris Arnold Cox Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution) proposes significant spending cuts, no tax increases, and most importantly�adoption of rule-based constraints on future government spending. What do you think�is limiting growth in government…
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John Stossel at Fox Business recently hosted a superb one-hour program, “Freeloaders,” that brings up to date another program he did on the same subject at ABC’s “20/20” in 2006. In the new program, he critiques the welfare state in America and takes on major corporations, millionaire entertainers, panhandlers, Indian Reservations, and anyone on…
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The Associated Press reports that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) questions the claims of the Obama administration regarding projected budget deficits over the next ten years in which the White House overestimates tax revenues and savings from Medicare payments to doctors. A new assessment of President Barack Obama’s budget released Friday says the White…
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In “Is the U.S. Becoming a Welfare State?”, Daniel Indiviglio reports in The Atlantic that U.S. government entitlement programs now account for a whopping 35% of wages, up from 26% in 2008. Uncle Sam has been aggressively increasing Americans’ allowance recently. Government entitlement programs have grown to account for 35% of wages, according to…
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Matt Cover at CNSNews.com writes that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has just issued a new report, “Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output from October 2010 Through December 2010,” that indicates that: The jobs created and saved by the economic stimulus law that President Barack Obama…
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