Blog: The Fine Print / Revenue & Spending

Out of Crisis, Opportunity

Nov 4, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Writing in The New Yorker, Steve Coll meditates on the significance of the reactions certain political élites who are now lining up in favor using the government to better the economy. The country is fortunate in one respect: the sudden buckling of financial safeguards has put just about everyone in touch with his inner New Dealer. Even Alan Greenspan recently confessed to Congress a crisis of faith in self-regulation. Meanwhile, former free-market true believers in the Bush Administration have tossed out money from the public vault like looters... [...]

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Economic Stimulus Update

Oct 31, 2008 by Craig Jennings

  • CongressDaily reported ($) yesterday that "House Democratic leaders appear to be moving toward bringing a $100 billion economic stimulus package to the floor during a lame-duck session the week of Nov.

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Inconsistency at the IRS

Oct 31, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The USA Today reports today that the IRS sent out $1.6 billion in incorrect tax refunds during the 2006 and 2007 tax filing season. The information was released in a recent report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The TIGTA investigation found that the IRS has low-balled their initial estimate of the fraudulent tax refunds in 2006 and 2007 and that the agency has insufficient resources to adequately detect and stop these refunds from being dispersed.

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Not Everyone Is Hurting

Oct 30, 2008 by Craig Jennings

At least one company remains untouched by the nation's financial collapse. Exxon Mobil Corp. smashed its own record for quarterly profits today, ringing up $14.8 billion in net income in the third quarter powered by soaring summertime crude oil prices. Exxon Mobil's earnings, at $2.86 a share, are up 58 percent from the same period in 2007 and higher than what analysts expected, capping a week of strong profit numbers from the world's biggest oil companies, all of whom benefited from the spike in oil prices in July.

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Notes from the Economy: It's Not a Recession...Yet

Oct 30, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has released GDP figures for the third quarter. This "advance" number indicates that the economy contracted in the past three months at annual rate of 0.3 percent.

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The Alternate Universe of John Boehner

Oct 29, 2008 by Craig Jennings

In a world in which House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and his follower Republicans (correctly) recognize the need for an economic stimulus package yet control the content of the legislation that gets enacted into law, he would reduce capital gains taxes to zero

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Hiding Under the TARP

Oct 29, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The Treasury Department has been writing checks to banks for a couple weeks now.

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Consensus on Corporate Tax Reform?

Oct 29, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a new report on Monday that examines U.S. corporate tax rates in comparison to other countries with developed economies. The report finds that although the statutory tax rate on corporations in the U.S. is high (35 percent), the actual percentage of taxes paid (their effective tax rate) is well below the average of other similar countries.

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Notes from the Economy: Getting Worse Before it Gets Better

Oct 27, 2008 by Craig Jennings

An article in the Wall Street Journal brings us another reason Congress should pass an effective stimulus package during a possible lame-duck session in November. One of the starkest indicators is that the number of people who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more reached two million in September. That's 21% of the total unemployed, and approaching the prior peaks of about 23% in 2003 and 1992. [...]

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Silver Lining to the Financial Crisis

Oct 24, 2008 by Craig Jennings

If anything, the collapse of the nation's financial markets has forced even the staunchest of believers in the Free Market® to consider the possibility that sometimes the "market" doesn't know best.

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