Over the weekend I stumbled on this great video that explains what’s actually happening in the economy. Then the Treasury Secretary announces his revised plan, which sounds conceptually like the initial TARP money plan. And like Brad DeLong, I happen to feel that this is the best way forward.
The official jobless rate is 8.1%, which sounds bad. Until you realize that it doesn’t include folks who’ve stopped looking or those who have only found part-time work but want full-time work. Then it’s 14.8%, which gives you an idea of how ugly things are really getting.
Seriously, how low can you go? Collecting money that might not even be legally owed from the next of kin of someone deceased? Even in death we can’t escape our debts anymore. Or at least our families can’t.
Ok, I’ll bite. What’s wrong with some of the earmarks in the spending bill?
For instance, there is $950,000 for the College Ave redesign in New Brunswick. Why is that an issue? Isn’t it the government’s job to spend money on certain public initiatives?
How would you have the government divy up the money that is spent? Instead of politicians, would you have an unelected set of technocrats make the spending decisions deep in government agencies? What should the policy be?
I was sick last week, hence the lack of blogging. I’ll be trying to post a few tidbits here and there this week as I have time.
One item I found fascinating in the wake of the Pentagon’s review of the ban on media access for repatriated soldiers – Britain has a more open, public method you can read about here.
The NY Times has a great online summary of the key provisions in the stimulus bill. I recommend perusing it, since there are some changes that you might find useful. The highlights I saw are below:
Incentive for car buyers
Allow those who buy a new vehicle in 2009 — with a price tag of up to $49,500 — to deduct state, local and excise taxes as well as interest on their car loan. The tax break is an above-the-line deduction, which means that it can be taken even by those who do not itemize other deductions on their tax returns. The deduction begins to phase out for single tax filers with adjusted gross income of more than $125,000, or $250,000 for married couples filing jointly.
Increase tax credits for residential energy efficiency improvements
Increase tax credits for purchases to make homes energy efficient, such as new furnaces or insulation, to 30 percent through 2010, for up to $1,500.
Provide coupon to convert to digital televisions
Continue the coupon program to enable households to convert from analog television transmission to digital transmission.
Provide consumers rebates for energy-efficient appliances
Expand tax incentives for residential renewable energy properties
Remove dollar caps on the 30 percent residential credit for solar thermal, geothermal and small wind property.
Equalize mass transit and parking benefits
Equalize tax-free commuter benefits provided by employers for transit and parking at $230 per month for 2009 and index both benefits to inflation. Under current rules, only $120 of the mass transit benefit and $230 of the parking benefit is tax-free.
So, if you’re looking to build a windmill or solar farm in your back yard, use public transit to get to / from work, or buy a car, this is your year.
I’ve only got two words to say to the coterie of Bushies who are off in the media defending their legacy of corruption, incompetence, and fear: shut up!
Thankfully CB and I are within the 100 mile radius “Date Local” outlines. Too bad, I wanted to be a “locasexual”.
Slate has an article outlining several points for forgetting about private accounts for Social Security once and for all. My main reason for supporting Social Security in its current form – it’s a great form of risk mitigation against negative economic circumstances for individuals, either through entrepenurial risk taking or just lousy stock market returns like today. It guarantees everyone a baseline level of economic security in old age, so if you do better, great, and if you don’t, you at least have something.
I read this article last week on the NY Times website with some amusement. Here’s my question: is money fungible?
These lines are what I’m referring to:
Mr. DiNapoli said in an interview with Mr. White that it was unclear if banks had used taxpayer money for the bonuses, a possibility that strikes corporate governance experts, and indeed many ordinary Americans, as outrageous. “The issue of transparency is a significant one, and there needs to be an accounting about whether there was any taxpayer money used to pay bonuses or to pay for corporate jets or dividends or anything else,” Mr. DiNapoli said in the interview.
If money is fungible (which basically means that any item of the type in question can be substitued for any other), then by definition taxpayer money was used for bonuses. Even if it came from a separate line item in a “budget”, that’s just an artificial boundary.