Update 763 — 2024 Prices’ Holding PatternCPI Pause to Beget Another Fed Rate Pause The most critical economic variable in the minds of voters today is probably the cost of living — everyday expenses and purchasing power. Over the coming months, Americans will make choices about whether to vote and how with these in mind. …
Update 762 — Menu for the Next Trifecta:Biden’s Budget Details Economic Goals President Biden submitted his FY25 budget proposal to Congress on Monday, not a program anyone expects to see this Congress enact, but a set of policy aspirations and a full-blown vision of a progressive agenda for the campaign ahead and a menu of …
Update 761 — Biden’s SOTU: Opening SalvoOffers Contrast on Economic Policy Priorities In last night’s State of the Union, President Biden delivered a forceful reprisal of the powerful American economic recovery and proposed measures to build on it — cutting costs, protecting and expanding programs, and making the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes. …
Update 760 — Setting the SOTU Stage:(How) Can Biden Make Economic Case? Tomorrow night, a likely prime-time audience of 30 to 40 million Americans will tune in to watch President Biden’s third State of the Union (SOTU) address. The state of the nation’s economy is strong, by almost any measure, and Biden will no doubt …
Update 759 — Not Quite Done Yet:Progress Report on FY24, Inflation This week saw incremental progress on two of the most vexing economic policy challenges of recent times. Yesterday, Congress averted the latest shutdown threat, passing another Continuing Resolution (CR) keeping the government open but setting deadlines for later this month to finish appropriations measures …
Update 758 — Capital One/Discover:Major Test of US Bank Merger Policy Last week, Capital One, the nation’s ninth-biggest bank, announced an agreement to purchase Discover Financial, the fifth-largest credit card issuer and fourth-largest payment network in the country. The merger would create a financial institution with $620 billion in consolidated assets and the sixth-largest bank …
Capital One-Discover, Major Test of US Bank Merger Policy Read More »
Update 757 — The Economics of Immigration:Contributions of Foreign-Born Residents Practically all of the debate this Congress on immigration reform has focused on border security. While problems with the inflow and processing of those seeking to immigrate from the southern border demand attention, less has been paid to the important economic contributions made to the …
Update 756 — Week of Holding Patterns: CPI, Emergency Supplementals, Budget The January CPI report out this week showed prices barely budged from December, disappointing investors and others who had hoped to see the Fed start to ease interest rates this quarter. The Senate passed a $95 billion supplemental package on Tuesday that excluded border …
Update 755 — Focus on Entitlements:Proper Scope of a Fiscal Commission For the first time since World War II, the U.S. federal debt held by the public, about $27 trillion, is approaching the nation’s gross domestic product of a single year. Furthermore, on current trends, the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds are headed to …
Update 754 — Econ. Policy Weekly Roundup:Foreign Assistance, CBO on Debt, Bank Junk None of the disparate panoply of major developments this week points clearly to the resolution of long-festering issues, but each deserves attention. The Senate is coming to grips with a bill providing “emergency” supplemental foreign assistance requests originally submitted by the President …
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