Help The Middle ClassNews and Information For The Heart Of America
Obama Still Plans On ‘Redistribution Of Wealth’ To Pay For Deficit (Los Angeles Times)
Reporting from Washington
With enactment of his signature healthcare law, President Obama has also made good on another major campaign promise: to ease the tax burden on middle-class Americans and pay for his domestic agenda by raising taxes on the wealthy. And for upper-income taxpayers, the tab for healthcare is just the beginning.
Families earning more than [...]
ECONOMY RECOVERY? Blockbuster, Borders & Rite Aid ‘On The Edge Of Bankruptcy’ (Investopedia.com)
Many major companies like Circuit City and Linens ‘n Things went bankrupt during the economic crisis of 2008-2009. These companies folded under high debt levels and a decline in sales. Just because some companies were able to survive the economic downturn of the past few years doesn’t mean they are out of the woods yet. [...]
NOW THEY TELL US: Nonpartisan CBO Reports Deficit Will Be Much Worse Than Obama Says (MONEYNEWS.COM)
A new congressional report released Friday says the United States’ long-term fiscal woes are even worse than predicted by President Barack Obama’s grim budget submission last month.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts that Obama’s budget plans would generate deficits over the upcoming decade that would total $9.8 trillion. That’s $1.2 trillion more than predicted by [...]
Jobs Bill Signed, But Job-Creation Advocates Say Obama Just Doesn’t Get It (Huffington Post)
This morning in Washington, President Obama was in the Rose Garden trying to make the jobs bill he was signing sound like a big success, chief economic adviser Larry Summers was at the National Press Club trying to make the administration sound tough on financial regulatory reform — and a critical bunch of economists, policymakers [...]
Senate Passes $140 Billion Bill Extending Jobless Claims (CNN)
The Senate on Wednesday approved a wide-ranging bill that would push back the deadline to file for extended unemployment insurance until year-end and extends dozens of expired tax breaks.
The bill, passed by a 62-36 vote, is the latest job creation effort to go before lawmakers, though it contains virtually no new initiatives to boost employment. [...]
FACT CHECKING THE STIMULUS ACT: JOBLESS RATE HIGH, GROWTH SLOW (AP/YAHOO!)
Did the stimulus work or not? A year after Congress passed President Barack Obama’s huge economic revival plan, the results are mixed — and hardly final.
Despite Obama’s bold promises, unemployment remains stubbornly high. But job losses have slowed dramatically.
And the nation’s recent economic growth is real, even though the government has spent just one-third of [...]
Obama Declares Stimulus A Success (Yahoo!/AP)
President Barack Obama hailed Wednesday’s one-year-old economic stimulus law as an accomplishment that staved off another Great Depression and kept up to 2 million people on the job.
Still, with millions still out of work and losing patience, Obama acknowledged that to them, “It doesn’t yet feel like much of a recovery.”
Marking the anniversary of the [...]
New Wave Of Foreclosures By The End of 2010 is Predicted (Los Angeles Times)
About 4 million U.S. homeowners are 90 days or more delinquent on their loans or in foreclosure proceedings, Moody’s Economy.com says. A federal loan modification program is helping a relative few.
Reporting from Washington – [...]
JOBS UPDATE: Temp Jobs No Longer Lead To Permanent Hirings (Yahoo!/AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s not the signal it used to be.
When employers hire temporary staff after a recession, it’s long been seen as a sign they’ll soon hire permanent workers.
Not these days.
Companies have hired more temps for four straight months. Yet they remain reluctant to make permanent hires because of doubts about the recovery’s durability.
Even [...]
House Allows Debt to Rise $1.9 Trillion (New York Times)
The House voted Thursday to allow the government to go $1.9 trillion deeper in debt, an increase of about $6,000 for every United States resident.
The accumulated debt already amounts to roughly $40,000 per person.
The debt increase, approved 217 to 212, is only enough to keep the government afloat for about another year as it borrows [...]
