Oh so quietly, the Obama Administration has removed embarrassing data from the public eye. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) no longer provides information on tax migration within the U.S. There was no announcement from either the IRS or the Census Bureau, which co-operates in compiling data. The reports have simply ceased.
Gas in Vegas is a dollar cheaper a gallon than in the Golden State, or so a friend and recent LA transplant tells me. He went on to say the top tax rate in California is over 13%, while, of course, Nevada has no state income tax.
Over dinner at Del Frisco’s, he explained how industries are being ruined by runaway government in his old home state. Nevada would surely benefit from businesses making their escape. Plenty of people are leaving California — nearly 700,000, I... (more)
What a year 2012 has been! The mainstream media continues to tell us what a "great job" the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve are doing of managing the economy, but meanwhile things just continue to get even worse for the poor and the middle class. It is imperative that we educate the American people about the true condition of our economy and about why all of this is happening. If nothing is done, our debt problems will continue to get worse, millions of jobs will c... (more)
Dairy products in Canada cost roughly two to three times more than in the U.S. This has the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA) feeling cheesed.
In an open letter to the Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC), the CRFA decried the current state of affairs:
Canada's restaurant industry purchases $2.5 billion a
By upping the ante once again in its gamble to revive the lethargic economy through monetary action, the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee is now compelling the rest of us to buy into a game that we may not be able to afford. At his press conference this week, Fed Chairman Bernanke explained how the easiest policy stance in Fed history has just gotten that much easier. First it gave us zero interest rates, then QEs I and II, Operation Twist, and finally "unlimited" QE3.
Times are tough on Main Street. Still, cheap money flows to the top 1%, wherever they live. For example, the fall season for the art market has been solid. Foreign buyers can’t get enough unique pieces for their collections. The auction house Sotheby’s had its best night ever on Nov. 14, racking up $375 million in contemporary art sales.
While not to the level of contemporary sales, the impressionist market had sales of $244.5 million at Christie’s and $203 milli... (more)
The cultural elite routinely disdain reality TV as voyeuristic garbage being churned out for the unwashed masses. But this unwashed woman is a fan of a new subgenre of the category that has become a sensation: reality capitalism. That’s not what the subgenre calls itself, of course, but that’s what it amounts to.
A flood of reality shows now demonstrate the daily operation of capitalism through humor, personal interaction, down-to-earth explanations, and likeable peopl... (more)
I love these shows, I call them "Recession TV" because they all involve people selling all their stuff. I guarantee no one would watch any of these shows (despite their merits) if we were experiencing an economic boom. - Chris
Under a little-known loophole in current law, the U.S. Treasury could solve the annual budget crisis by minting two one-trillion-dollar platinum coins for deposit at the Federal Reserve.
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Residents in one Queens neighborhood are crying foul after they were written up for failing to clean up the city’s own mess. It is yet another new complication in life after Superstorm Sandy.
Rosanne and Joe Cavaliere are still trying to clean up from the hurricane.
They have branches through their roof, busted front windows, and, to add insult to injury, they recently received a citation notice from the city.
... (more)
SPRINGFIELD, MASS., December 5, 2012—Merriam-Webster Inc., America's leading dictionary publisher, has announced the Top Ten Words of the Year. Based on the volume of user lookups at Merriam-Webster.com, this list sheds light on topics and ideas that sparked the nation's interest in 2012.
Two words, socialism and capitalism, share the top spot due to discussion and debate around the presidential election. Socialism saw its largest lookup spikes during coverage of healthcare ... (more)
A Holiday Special from http://econstories.tv
If you've already saved for the future and are craving some consumption today, visit the EconStore: http://store.econstories.tv
CREDITS:
Executive Produced and Directed by John Papola
Produced by Lisa Versaci and Debra Davis
Written by John Papola, Adam Albright-Hanna and Jason Rink... (more)
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made news last week by proposing to transfer the Congressional prerogative to raise the debt ceiling to the President. The change would essentially do away with the meaningless debt ceiling debates that have become ritual kabuki in Washington over the past few generations. Most Republicans have dismissed the proposal as a blatant executive power grab that will significantly weaken both the Congress and the minority party. While this is certainly true, Congress... (more)
When financial markets in the United States crash, so does the U.S. economy. Just remember what happened back in 2008. The financial markets crashed, the credit markets froze up, and suddenly the economy went into cardiac arrest. Well, there are very few things that could cause the financial markets to crash harder or farther than a derivatives panic. Sadly, most Americans don't even understand what derivatives are. Unlike stocks and bonds, a derivative is not an in... (more)
Continuing our series of posts concerning the Republican Study Committee report on the problems of the copyright system and how to fix them (which it quickly retracted under industry pressure), today we're going to explore the second "myth" that author Derek Khanna helped debunk: that "copyright is free market capitalism at work." We've already cove... (more)
Few have an understanding of economics quite like Robert Reich. One would have to sift through the furthest regions of stupidity to find a consistent stream of falsehoods to match his publishing record. Recently, the public policy professor has unleashed a tirade of economic sophisms that, like a majority of modern day economic reasoning, appear to be correct on the first glance but are dreadfully wrong with each returning inspection.
In carrying on with his unrelenting soak-the-r... (more)
