The 2014 Social Security Trustees Report says that after we deplete the remains of the program’s trust funds in 2033, payroll taxes will not provide all promised benefits.
Asked to define a recession, you can give the mechanical answer. It is 2 or more adjacent quarters of a real GDP decline. So, if Q1 GDP grows by 3%, Q2 by 2% and then Q3 by 1%, is that…
Having heard Janet Yellen’s press conference yesterday, I learned that the Federal Reserve expects that the economy will improve, their bond buying will diminish and, during the foreseeable future, interest rates will start to ascend. And yes, she spoke about unemployment and…
Is $1 a day for someone else’s pill too much to pay with your tax dollars? $10? $100? $1,000? Kaiser Health News recently reported that a new treatment for hepatitis C with a 90% success rate will cost $1,000 a pill. Lasting 12 weeks, the treatment…
Hoping to diminish their country’s deficit, last year, Malta’s President and Parliament decided to sell citizenship. The price tag is $891,000 and the perk is that Malta is in the EU. Consequently, you get an island home with a back…
There is probably a tradeoff between health insurance and the demand for jobs. During 2005 in Tennessee, the demand for jobs increased when 170,000 people lost their Medicaid health insurance coverage. Researchers call that jobs/health insurance tie, the “employment lock.” Looking at…
By Madeleine Vance, guest blogger and student at Kent Place School. As of late, younger Japanese citizens are choosing to live the single life rather than get married. But why? Seven years ago, Japan’s population climaxed at 128 million, but…
I’ve been wondering about the impact of France’s “millionaires tax.” At first a 75% tax on individual incomes above €1 million ($1.37 million), the proposal had to be tweaked when France’s Constitutional Council said it was unfair. Returning to the…
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