Wall Street never believed the U.S. would default; Congress isn’t that crazy. But somebody could miscalculate. The 2023 debt ceiling crisis will be a squeaker. The House passed the compromise that Speaker McCarthy and President Biden spent weeks negotiating; the Senate still must do so. It pr[...]
Archive for the ‘Economics’ Category
What’s wrong with work requirements?
As part of their debt ceiling demands, Republicans are demanding expanded work requirements for food stamps and Medicaid. On Tuesday, May 16, 2023, GOP House Speaker McCarthy seemed to enlarge that to all safety net programs (read story here). It looks reasonable on its face. But as with many things[...]
If you saw a car barreling at you, would you get out of the way?
A U.S. debt default is no joke. Federal employees and military personnel wouldn’t be paid, Social Security checks would be late, and up to 8 million workers could lose their jobs. But a crisis-weary American public isn’t paying much attention. NBC News describes (here) the recent drumbea[...]
The many complex nuances of the debt ceiling fight
The debt ceiling has a long history (read about it here). It’s a gimmick enacted by Congress to restrain its own spending. It’s not a budget, it’s a borrowing limit, and potentially could prevent Treasury from paying expenses previously approved by Congress, as the U.S. has run bud[...]
Don’t believe what politicians say about the debt ceiling
If you follow news, which you should, you’ve probably heard about the debt ceiling fight in Congress. Simply described, the federal government spends more than it takes in, and borrows the difference. But Congress, beginning in 1939, has capped the amount the Treasury can borrow, although it [...]
April 21st, 2023 - 12:32 am § in Economics
Wages haven’t gone up enough
First, let’s get a couple of things straight. Workers aren’t causing inflation; real wages are falling, and corporate profits are fatter. In Britain, Treasury officials claimed “there was an inflationary risk from workers expecting wages to keep up with price rises,” and Bank[...]
April 18th, 2023 - 6:05 pm § in Economics
Are you middle class?
How much income that requires depends on where you live. In Seattle, as of April 2023, it takes at least $82,000 a year of household income to be middle class (read story here), but Seattle is one of America’s most expensive cities. In Cleveland the threshold of middle-class is only $24,000, b[...]
The GOP and the Budget
House Republicans are trying to force Democrats to accept steep spending cuts by threatening a Treasury default that would crash financial markets and push the economy into a deep recession. They claim there’s “waste” in the federal budget, but haven’t identified it, nor have[...]
Why are banks failing again?
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) failed on Friday, March 10, 2023. Government officials scrambled to reassure the public their deposits aren’t in danger. Are they? At the larger banks, at least, probably not. To begin with, the FDIC insures individual depositors against up to $250,000 of losses. This[...]
March 5th, 2023 - 5:51 pm § in America, Biden, China, Democrats, Donald Trump, Economics, Europe, Foreign Affairs, Hypocrisy, News Media, Politics, Republicans, Russia
Fact-checking Trump’s CPAC lies
Journalist, pesky creatures they are, like to fact-check political speeches. CNN says Trump delivered a “doozy” at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington D.C. on Saturday, March 4, 2023 (see story here). By now, his M.O. is familiar: Portray America as a post-a[...]