Good idea?
WSJ-Huge Breaks for Firms, Individuals Are Aimed at Winning GOP Support for Stimulus
President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are crafting a plan to offer about $300 billion of tax cuts to individuals and businesses, a move aimed at attracting Republican support for an economic-stimulus package and prodding companies to create jobs.
The size of the […]

Does anyone buy this?
AP-A top adviser to President-elect Barack Obama said Sunday that the country’s slowing economy won’t keep the new administration from fulfilling its plans for a middle-class tax cut.
“We feel it’s important that middle-class people get some relief now,” Obama adviser David Axelrod said.
Middle-class tax cuts will be part of the new administration’s […]

Bad news!
WP-Homeowners whose property values have plummeted as much as 40 percent are unlikely to see a corresponding drop in their real estate taxes next year, and some might face a tax increase as the counties surrounding the District struggle with huge budget shortfalls.
Nearly every county in the region is deep in red […]

HUH?

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Who will bail them out?
AP-California’s chief financial officer warned Monday that the state would run out of money in about two months as hopes of a Christmas budget compromise melted into political finger-pointing by the end of the day.
Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger began the day on a cheerful note, suggesting that negotiations with Democratic leaders […]

How does this look?
THEHILL-A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay.
Instead, they will get a $4,700 pay increase, amounting to an additional $2.5 million that taxpayers will spend on congressional […]

Good sign!
THEHILL-Armed with a new Treasury Department report, conservative Democrats on Monday said they want the economic stimulus package to call for the creation of a new commission on the nation’s long-term fiscal health.
Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) a leader of the Blue Dog Coalition, and Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), the vice chairman of New Democrats […]

I guess debt does matter Dick!
Politico-Senate Republicans’ dramatic revolt against a White House-backed auto industry rescue plan is fraught with political risk.
While the high-stakes gambit places them squarely within the mainstream of anti-bailout public sentiment, at the same time it exposes the party to potentially devastating criticism that its failure to compromise doomed the […]

Who does Bush work for?
(Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve refused a request by Bloomberg News to disclose the recipients of more than $2 trillion of emergency loans from U.S. taxpayers and the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.
Bloomberg filed suit Nov. 7 under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act requesting details about […]

Brother can you spare a dime?
NPR-The federal government registered a record budget deficit for the month of November, reflecting the impact of a recession on tax receipts and the mounting costs of the $700 billion financial rescue program.
The Treasury Department says the gap between the government’s revenue collections and what it paid out last month […]

Will this work?

I think both sides are wrong. Debt should be a tool to drive wealth. As long as national debt is increasing jobs, wages and savings rates, then it is positive, otherwise it will catch up with you. That is why financing tax cuts or spending without creating enough revenue to drive down the debt is […]

How much has Iraq hurt the economy?
Politico-I do not understand why some people are opposed to a $25 billion government bailout of the U.S. auto industry.
The price is cheap. That $25 billion represents less than three months of the cost of the Iraq war.
To put it another way: If Barack Obama would end the Iraq […]

Do we need tough love to flush out the problems?
WP-Today Economist Is Credited With Defeating Inflation
President-elect Obama named the 81-year-old Volcker yesterday to head a new economic advisory panel, citing “his sound and independent judgment.” But nearly three decades ago — when Obama was still a college student — the towering 6-foot-7-inch Volcker was one […]

Good idea?
NPR-An economic crisis, rising joblessness and a credit squeeze can make a president-elect refine his words. Today’s word is “repeal.” During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to repeal President George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy ahead of their scheduled expiration in 2011.
It was part of how Obama would pay for an […]