The prez covers a lot of ground in Living Within Our Means and Investing in the Future, his plan for creating jobs and eventually reducing the deficit. But because the 80-page document also calls for tax increase and new taxes, it doesn't have a chance of being approved as is. Still, people are curious. So I talked with some tax and financial folks and put together a look for Bankrate at individual taxpayer winners and losers in the Obama plan. At least it gives us a few more things to argue about as we await deficit reduction action (or lack... Read more →
Debt
How to avoid federal budget catastrophe
Friday, September 23, 2011
I just spent the last hour and a half listening to a group of fiscal and political experts discuss ways to avoid a federal budget catastrophe. The bottom line: These folks, not Congress, need to be dealing with our financial troubles. Members of the Tax Policy Center panel included: Leonard Burman, Daniel Patrick Moynihan Professor of Public Affairs at Syracuse University and Affiliated Scholar with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center; Michael Ettlinger, Vice President for Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress; Alan Viard, Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute; and David Wessel, Economics Editor at the Wall... Read more →
Top 10 highlights of Obama's deficit reduction plan
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Thanks, Dave, for getting political last night. In addition to having Dr. Jill Biden, the vice president's wife, as a guest on his CBS Late Show, David Letterman's Top 10 list focused on the president's latest fiscal proposals. If you don't have time to watch the video, here are the Top 10 Highlights Of Barack Obama's Deficit Plan: 10. Pay everything off with a giant bake sale on the White House lawn, 9. New 10,000 percent tax on waffles -- no way people are giving up their waffles! 8. Congressional Super Committee now reports to even more powerful Super Duper... Read more →
Popular, and costly, tax breaks that could be trimmed to help reduce the deficit
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Congress returns to Washington, D.C., next week -- consider this fair warning! -- and lawmakers have their plates full. In addition to the jobs agenda that Obama wants them to address, there are 11 appropriations bills that need to be dealt with so federal agencies can continue to operate when the new fiscal year kicks in on Oct. 1. And we can't forget the Super Congress committee, officially named the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, that was created as part of the debt ceiling increase law and which is charged with finding ways to cut federal spending. While the... Read more →
Some words of, er, wisdom(?) from Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling: "It's always a net positive to let taxpayers keep more of what they earn, but not all tax relief is created equal for the purposes of helping to get the economy moving again." Or, as Going Concern noted, All Tax Cuts Are Good But Some Are Gooder Than Others. Remember, Hensarling is the House Republican co-chair of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, aka the Super Congress or super committee. Hensarling and his Senate Democrat counterpart Patty Murray of Washington issued a joint statement last week announcing that they... Read more →
Super committee co-chairs are laying deficit reduction groundwork
Thursday, August 25, 2011
You thought members of Congress were just screwing around on their August recess district work session recess, didn't you? It's a common assumption, since lawmakers always seem to futz around when they are ostensibly officially at work on Capitol Hill. Well, some Representatives and Senators might indeed be keeping their heads down and trying to decompress after the debt ceiling debacle. But the co-chairs of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, aka the Super Congress or super committee, swear they and their colleagues have been working on their appointed task since they left D.C. earlier this month. Sen. Patty... Read more →
Pelosi names House Democrats to deficit super committee; compromise hope dim
Thursday, August 11, 2011
And then there were 12. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi today completed the new Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, aka the Super Congress, by appointing Democratic Reps. Xavier Becerra of California, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and James Clyburn of South Carolina. All three men are current or former members of Pelosi's leadership team. They also have a history of protecting entitlement programs. Clyburn is the Assistant Democratic Leader, making him the third-ranking member of House Democratic Leadership. He was part of Vice President Biden's deficit commission and has years of experience on the House Appropriations Committee. Becerra is... Read more →
GOP side set on deficit super committee
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
The special Congressional deficit panel dominoes are falling. The Republican members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, aka the Super Congress panel of 12 that is tasked with coming up with at least $1.2 trillion to reduce Uncle Sam's debt, have been announced. House Speaker John Boehner has tapped Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling of Texas as co-chair of the committee. Michigan gets the other two House Republican slots: Dave Camp, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton. On the Senate side, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has named Jon Kyl of... Read more →
Senate Democrats named to deficit-reduction 'Super Congress' committee
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington will be co-chair of the Congressional super committee charged with coming up with longer-term debt solutions later this year. Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Max Baucus of Montana are the other Democrats selected by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The Democratic trio is the first group named to the 12-member special panel created as part of the debt ceiling agreement. The so-called Super Congress is charged with coming up a plan to cut an additional $1.2 from the federal deficit over the next 10 years. In addition to the Senate Democrats, the special committee... Read more →
This is a tax blog and when I talk about investing, it's usually from a tax angle. But given yesterday's horrendous stock market plunge, I think some investing information is warranted. There's an old saying that by the time John and Jane Public react to the market, it's too late. Sadly, that's usually true. We tend to be reactive and when other people start selling, often we do, too, just because, well, because we panic. I touched on the topic of how to handle your money during an time of extreme financial fear a couple of weeks ago. At that... Read more →
Geithner discusses S&P downgrade, economic outlook and why he's staying
Monday, August 08, 2011
Turn off CNBC and Fox Business for a minute. Trust me, you'll benefit from taking a break from rubbernecking at the financial wreck brought about by the debt ceiling head-on collision last week on Capitol Hill. OK. You're still peeking through your fingers? Then at least get away from the specifics on how big a hit your portfolio is taking today and check out what Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has to say about Standard and Poor's decision. Key takeaway: "I'm very confident in this country and the capacity of this country and even this political system, damaged as it looks,... Read more →
West Wing cast explains the debt ceiling
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Kristin Chenoweth has shown up on TV most recently as a Broadway-bound Glee alum with a bit of a drinking problem. But back in 2004, as media consultant Annabeth Schott in The West Wing, she was as baffled by the debt ceiling as many folks have been these last few weeks. Although we're about to dodge this latest default bullet, I thought you might enjoy the debt ceiling explanation that Annabeth got from C.J., Charlie and Toby. Under the debt ceiling measure approved by the House Monday evening and headed to the Senate for its expected OK this afternoon, Uncle... Read more →
It's become painfully clear this Congress just how far apart the Democrats and Republicans are when it comes to, well, just about everything. Nate Silver, who does what he calls political calculus at the New York Times' FiveThirtyEight blog, takes a look today at the spending cuts in the debt ceiling bill that's awaiting official Congressional approval. As part of the discussion of the political semantics in the debt proposal, Silver offers a table detailing the views of Democratic and Republican adults toward spending cuts in 18 areas of federal spending as derived from the 2010 General Social Survey. The... Read more →
Debt ceiling deal is done, sort of, maybe
Monday, August 01, 2011
You were up late last night, right, waiting for Congress to reach a debt limit deal? Sure you were. You were smart to go to bed on time. Yes, there's a deal. And yes, the global stock markets (and my portfolio!) are glad the Republicans and Democrats decided to play sort of nice for a little while. But there's still much left to do. First, we need to know exactly what's in the bill. The White House has posted a debt deal fact sheet on its website. But as is usually the case in political poker games, everyone is playing... Read more →
I've resisted posting a debt ceiling countdown clock for several reasons. First, it's cliche and a bit lazy. Second, I don't want to stoop to financial fear mongering. And third, I really, truly believed Congress and the president would have reached a debt deal by now. Silly, naive me. Well, with the deadline for increasing the United States' borrowing authority just days away, to heck with it. I'm putting up a clock. In searching for a debt ceiling countdown clock to use, I also ran across some other fun debt and deficit stuff. The New York Times has charted the... Read more →
Debt ceiling money (and tax) moves
Thursday, July 28, 2011
I cannot believe we're still waiting for a debt ceiling resolution. Really? You people on Capitol Hill are convinced that it's a good idea to play this poker game with our money? We'll remember. And your political future might be a bigger gamble than you expect. As the debt drop dead date nears, folks are getting antsy about what to do with their money. Reuters Money blog comes at the issue from the other side, suggesting 10 reasons not to move your money out of the market now. Good points all, including the probability of government default remains low; we've... Read more →
Some people are taking America's federal debt personally. They've contributed money to help reduce it. There's a problem, though. The money that taxpayers give directly to help chip away at the federal debt doesn't specifically go to pay off what Uncle Sam owes. Instead, the contributions are deposited in the Treasury Department's general fund. That's basically the government's main checking account. Hmmm. It looks like the federal government needs to rewrite its public announcement about the debt donation program: I don't know about you, but that section from page 15 of IRS Publication 17 sure makes it seem like any... Read more →
'Super Congress' to work out debt deal
Monday, July 25, 2011
Super Congress. To some it's an oxymoron. To others it's a punch line. To still more it's a terryfying image. The bottom line is that most people don't think the concept of yet another group of lawmakers, albeit representing both major parties, will work as a way to solve the impending debt ceiling crisis. It seems at best another effort to distance most of the House and Senate from their sworn duties. The Super Congress idea, however, is part of the debt ceiling plan proposed today by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). A similar 12-member bipartisan panel also is part... Read more →
Things always seem to even out. We've had a nonexistent Atlantic hurricane season so far. But that doesn't mean America has been spared a serious summer disaster watch. In exchange for no 'canes, we're anxiously waiting to see how much damage the impending debt ceiling storm will cause. This current economic-political catastrophe brings back some not so good memories of the six hurricane seasons the hubby and I spent in Florida. We witnessed a couple of major storm near misses. We endured several tropical storms. And during a chaotic three-week span in 2004, we were in the bulls-eye of two... Read more →
"It's not going to get easier," President Obama said during his July 10 press conference about the country's debt trouble. "It's going to get harder. So we might as well do it now: pull off the Band-Aid, eat our peas." And with that last phrase, food politics blew up again. The prez's political adversaries jumped on him not only for his proposals, but for what they viewed as simplistic references to major policy issues. The pea people, however, saw the mention of their product as an opportunity. "We take President Obama's comment on the need to 'eat our peas' as... Read more →