Headlines
Why Spending Is Back in Season in Washington
America’s partisan divisions are so familiar it sometimes seems the fight never changes. But on the federal budget, the battlefield has been transformed. Four years ago, when budget deficits topped $1 trillion, congressional Republicans turned their midterm election triumph into…
Congress torn over depleted disability fund
A Social Security fund that provides benefits to nearly nine million disabled people is projected to run out by the end of 2016, and a new House rule could cause headaches for majority Republicans during the upcoming push to shore…
New Report: Deficit Will Exceed $1 Trillion Before Decade’s End
The new Congressional Budget Office report released today shows deficits and debt rising over the next decade, despite a short-term improvement in the 2015 budget year. The report contains several pertinent facts concerning spending, taxes, deficits, and debt, including these…
How Obama’s New Tax Plan Discriminates Against Stay-at-Home Parents
President Obama’s new tax plan, which he discussed in part in the State of the Union, lays out new proposals that he claims would help low- and middle-income families. These included a new tax credit program for dual-earner families and…
This Medicare Mess Could Delay Your Retirement
Healthcare costs are one of the biggest threats to your finances after you retire, and retirees rely on the Medicare program to help them cover the bulk of those costs. Yet Medicare has a huge financial time bomb that constantly…
Why the Real Social Security Crisis Will Start in 2020
Social Security has a substantial funding gap. According to its trustees’ best projections. its Disability Insurance Trust Fund will run out of money next year. Its Old-Age and Survivors Trust Fund will empty in 2034. If those two trust funds are…
Uncle Sam Is Coming After Your Savings
Earlier in the week, I discussed the Obama administration’s proposal to tax earnings on so-called 529 college savings plans, part of a package of tax hikes that will pay for new programs such as his proposal to make the first…
These taxes are going up, sooner or later
Budget softies argue there’s no need to worry about a federal money crunch now, since Washington’s annual deficit is falling, the economy’s picking up, and the Treasury can still borrow at remarkably low rates. All true. But barring an economic…
Don’t Tax The Rich To Benefit The Middle Class, Help The Poor Instead
In his State of the Union Speech, President Obama called for tax increases on the rich in order to pass out goodies to the middle class. In particular, he wants to raise capital gains taxes on the rich and use…
Overlooked in Obama’s State of the Union: We’re Broke
Last night’s State of the Union address was a repeat of what we have experienced many times in the last six years: The president thinks of himself as a reasonable compromiser, he calls for bipartisanship and working together with Congress and…