Blog: The Fine Print / Open, Accountable Government

Deservingness and Distributive Policy

Aug 30, 2007 by Matt Lewis

It's a slow August day in DC. So here's a case for why a conception of deservingness based on work, contribution, and family ought to be at the center of arguments challenging inequality.

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UFE and IPS: CEOs Make Too Much Money, Workers Make Too Little

Aug 30, 2007 by Matt Lewis

United for a Fair Economy and the Institute for Policy Studies just released a report on CEO pay. The average CEO of a Fortune 500 company makes more in a day than the average worker does in a year. Are CEOs really worth 364 times as much as workers? CEO-WORKER PAY GAP: CEOs of large U.S. companies last year averaged $10.8 million in total compensation, over 364 times the pay of the average U.S. worker, a calculation based on data from an Associated Press survey of 386 Fortune 500 companies.

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Extending the Bush Tax Cuts -- the Fiscal Future

Aug 29, 2007 by Craig Jennings

An "Economic Snapshot" offered today by Max Sawicky of the Economic Policy Institute brings home the sobering cost of extending the Bush tax cuts of earlier this decade, measured two ways. It shows that, all other things being equal, despite "out of control" projected growth in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid spending, the cost of these benefits in 2017 will be dwarfed by the cost of Bush tax cuts and related revenue policies, excluding interest costs associated with debt payments.

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George Lakoff: No Fun At All

Aug 28, 2007 by Matt Lewis

One of the great projects undertaken during the Bush political era has been to tune up liberalism. By no means is this a new project, but people have recently been working on it with renewed vigor.

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Poverty and Income Numbers in Context

Aug 28, 2007 by Craig Jennings

While it is good news that the poverty rate declined and median household income increased compared to last year, when these numbers are compared to the bottom of the 2001 recession, the joy is somewhat tempered. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has released a statement on the 2006 Poverty, Income, and Health Insurance figures highlighting the uneven distribution of gains of the current economic recovery.

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Census Releases Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Numbers

Aug 28, 2007 by Craig Jennings

Income, Poverty, Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2006
  • The poverty rate declined from 12.6% in 2005 to 12.3% in 2006. The number of people living in poverty has remained constant at 36.5 million
  • Household median income in 2006 increased 0.7% to $48,200 from $47,845 in 2005
  • The number and percent of those without health insurance increased to 47.0 million, or 15.8% from 44.8 million, or 15.3%
Slides from the Census's presentation can be found here, and speaker's remarks from the presentation can be found here

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The Real Liberal-Conservative Divide

Aug 27, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Paul Krugman's good column on SCHIP today has a paragraph that is worth examining.

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Take Action on the SCHIP Regulatory Changes

Aug 24, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Interested in protesting the CMS decision to limit SCHIP eligibility? Get your Senator to sign this letter, addressed to President Bush, denouncing these changes. The letter is being circulated by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR).

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Speaking of Bush's Revenue Reduction Program

Aug 24, 2007 by Craig Jennings

I would also like to point out how Bush's revenue slashing affects the AMT's reach into the middle class. The Bush tax regime depends on over 13 million taxpayers to subsidize tax cuts for the wealthy. Granted some of those 13 million are wealthy, but many are not. The chart below shows how AMT liability per income group changes because of the 2001-2003 tax cuts Percent of taxpayers that are AMT liable in 2017 Income (thousands of dollars) Tax Cuts Expire Tax Cuts Extended 100-200 61.7 92.3 75-100 53.7 67.2 50-75 30.1 38.8 30-50 12.2 13.0

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