Among the best known of Wall Street yarns is the one about economic expansions rarely dying on their own accord, but rather falling victim to an inflation-hunting Federal Reserve. The historical record lends credence to that view. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, likened its execution to "landing in the fog on an aircraft carrier that's in the…
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With inflation surging, unemployment falling and wages rising, some economists are warning that the Federal Reserve may have waited too long to reverse its ultralow-rate policies- a delay that could put the economy at heightened risk.
Today, Women Impacting Public Policy released a new survey conducted by Morning Consult that revealed a disconnect between what is happening on Capitol Hill and what women actually want Congress to prioritize. These increased burdens have impacted women’ s priorities for and perceptions of Congress. Today’ s survey shines a critical light on how women want…
After the turbulence and chaos of his predecessor, Donald Trump, Biden was seen by voters as one who could restore a sense of normalcy and a reassuring tone to the White House. Takeaways from The Associated Press' White House team on Biden's first year as president:. After some tortuous negotiations, he got a version of his infrastructure plan passed and even got…
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President and CEO Thomas Barkin said he could visualize another round of the "roaring' 20 s," he said Thursday during the Virginia Bankers Association/ Virginia Chamber 2022 Financial Forecast event. Driven by investment and real estate appreciation, the nation has seen a 28% boost in household net worth over the past two years, a…
Lael Brainard, President Joe Biden’s nominee for the Federal Reserve’s No. 2 spot, said Thursday that combating high inflation is the central bank’s top priority and said she believed the Fed could reduce it without sacrificing economic growth.
WASHINGTON— Inflation jumped at its fastest pace in nearly 40 years last month, a 7% spike from a year earlier that is increasing household expenses, eating into wage gains and heaping pressure on President Joe Biden and the Federal Reserve to address what has become the biggest threat to the U.S. economy. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that a measure of…
Now, inflation is flashing red for the Federal Reserve's policymakers— and delivering sticker shock to Americans at the used car lot, the supermarket, the gas station, the rental office. On Wednesday, the Labor Department reported that consumer prices jumped 7% in December compared with 12 months earlier— the hottest year-over-year inflation since June 1982.
The IRS announced Monday that it will begin accepting and processing 2021 tax year returns on Jan. 24, 17 days earlier than last year. "The speed at which the IRS is filing taxes is going to be determined by not only workload volume, but COVID has been playing a nasty, nasty game," said Tom Elder, vice president of financial planning for Compass Retirement Solutions.
Starting Saturday, private health insurers will be required to cover up to eight home COVID-19 tests per month for people on their plans. The Biden administration announced the change Monday as it looks to lower costs.
From control of Congress and the strength of the Biden presidency to potential Jan. 6 committee revelations and the future of abortion rights, there's a lot at stake in 2022.. President Joe Biden ended 2021 with the lowest approval ratings of his presidency in the NPR/ PBS NewsHour/ Marist poll. Other presidents have hit lows and turned it around— Ronald Reagan was…
Facing surging inflation and a Democratic Congress hell-bent for leather on deficit spending, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell offers the weakest possible response to pressures for action.
First American Financial Corporation, a leading global provider of title insurance, settlement services and risk solutions for real estate transactions, today released the October 2021 First American Real House Price Index. The RHPI measures the price changes of single-family properties throughout the U.S. adjusted for the impact of income and interest…
The Federal Reserve has recognized an important reality: Sometime soon, it might actually have to raise interest rates significantly to curb inflation. Officials are right to put themselves in a position to act if necessary, even if markets might not like it. By doubling the pace at which it will taper its monthly purchases of Treasury and mortgage securities, it…
Keith M. Ramsey and T. Ryan Gallaher, infectious disease experts with Vidant Health and ECU's Brody School of Medicine, echoed persistent calls from the state and national levels in response to omicron: Get vaccinated. The doctors suggested receiving an mRNA vaccine, like Pfizer or Moderna. At the White House on Tuesday, Biden detailed major changes to his…
If Democrats want to stave off the red wave that cometh their way in the midterms next year, they need a hard pivot to the political middle. This means every day we're still forced to wear masks and be subjected to other endless COVID-19 restrictions is a reminder that oh-so-smart Democrats are no better at managing the pandemic than the former Republican…
The plan updates Social Security for the digital age, making it easier for 54 million seniors to claim Social Security and health benefits online. The plan also makes it easier to renew a passport online without having to go to the post office, according to the White House. “Whether searching for vaccine safety information, claiming retirement benefits,…
Employers and consumers are struggling with health care costs. A panel of experts discussed some ways the Build Back Better Act would address those concerns.
Start with those who would have the Federal Reserve immediately slam down on the economic brakes by raising interest rates. Similarly, those who blame inflation on the economic rescue package President Joe Biden and the Democrats pushed through in March choose to ignore how much that package did to improve the standard of living of so many Americans,…
The Federal Reserve is in a fix— inflation is hardly temporary, transitory or going away anytime soon. Either Chairman Jerome Powell’ s economists have been consistently wrong about inflation, or Mr. Powell and Sec. Janet Yellen have consistently made bad calls on their own for nearly eight years.
Dec. 5— A wave of retirements is sweeping over the Buffalo Niagara region— and it's one of the big reasons why "Help Wanted" signs are almost as common as holiday light displays. Those retirements mean experienced workers are leaving the workforce at a time when thousands of other local workers are sidelined because of factors ranging from child care issues and…
Biden's Build Back Better bill was just rammed through the House of Representative without a single Republican voting for it. The U.S. taxpayers are going to be paying for the bill, which also increases the deduction for state and local taxes, which only benefits the wealthy. China, India, and Russia, account for 40% of the world's CO2 emissions, while the U.S….
Manasquan, NJ: – During the recently concluded 2021 National Council of Insurance Legislators Annual National Meeting in Scottsdale, AZ, NCOIL adopted…
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was signed into law on Nov. 5, without much fanfare amongst financial planners or tax consultants. However, the strategy that allows high-income earners to sweep up to $58,000, or up to $64,500 for 50 and older, into a retirement account that grows tax-free by taking advantage of a "loophole" in the Roth conversion rules…
"Sooner or later, we're going to see cases of this new variant here in the United States," Biden said in a White House news briefing. The president's remarks came as travel restrictions he had called for on Friday were to take effect for non-citizens entering the United States from South Africa, where the omicron variant was first detected, as well as the African…
Elizabeth Warren, the liberal Democrat from Massachusetts, described him as a“ dangerous man” who“ failed as a leader” at the U.S. Federal Reserve. Donald Trump called him“ clueless” and an“ enemy” of the U.S. when he refused to cave into the then-president’ s self-serving demands to overheat the economy. No wonder we like him, and no wonder we support President Joe Biden’ s…
The findings are part of new research released this month by the Frank Church Institute at Boise State University. The report says that 20% of people surveyed this fall in Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming and Montana said they believe political violence is justified when things have gotten to the point that the government is not acting in the best interest of the…
But when it comes to settling down in another party's territory, a report by apartment-listing site Zumper shows registered Republicans are more liberal about living among Democrats than the other way around- with one caveat. Democrats were less inclined than Republicans to lay down roots among people on the other end of the politician spectrum, as 40 percent…
Lambda Legal announced on November 1 that the Justice Department has dismissed two appeals pending at the San Francisco- based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, opening the way for enforcement of orders by federal courts in Washington State and Arizona in favor of Lambda's claim that surviving same-sex partners who would have married their spouses prior to…
RUSSELLVILLE U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R- Ky., will never be mistaken for a big spender, but Tuesday he sang the praises of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that has passed both houses of Congress and is awaiting President Joe Biden's signature to become law. He said Kentucky should receive more than $5 billion from the…
WASHINGTON, Nov. 6– The Insured Retirement Institute issued the following news release:. The Registration for Index-Linked Annuities Act directs the SEC to devise a new form for annuity issuers to use when filing registered index-linked annuities. Under current SEC rules, these and other innovative new products must be registered using forms designed…
To help pay for his big economic and social agenda, President Joe Biden is looking to go where the big money is: billionaires. Biden has vowed that his programs will not add a penny to the deficit, which means selling to Congress and voters a tax on the wealthiest. 0005% of Americans. This new tax would apply solely to people with at least $1 billion in assets or $100…
Joe Manchin would like his colleagues to end the nearly universal child tax credit and replace it with a pared-down alternative, according to a report in Axios. In something of a throwback to the days of "welfare reform," Manchin wants Democrats to add work requirements and tight income-based limits on eligibility. None of this would actually improve the program- "…
WASHINGTON- Democrats have proposed taxing billionaires to help pay for the president's Build Back Better plan, which would invest in social programs and safety nets. California Congressman Pete Aguilar said the taxes raised would help pay for measures like free universal pre-school, child tax credits and about $500 billion to fight climate change.
Those getting covered would include about one-third of uninsured Black Americans, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute and the Commonwealth Fund, nonpartisan research groups that support the goal of expanding health insurance.
—The Federal Reserve reports that the economy faced a number of headwinds at the start of this month, ranging from supply chain disruptions and labor shortages to uncertainty about the delta variant of COVID. The Fed is widely expected to announce at that meeting that it will begin to reduce, or taper, its $120 billion in monthly bond purchases starting either in…
Senator McConnell must have been trolling Facebook and picked up a fake headline posted from Alex Jones' Info Wars when he wrote his recent op-ed. President Joe Biden and the Treasury Department proposed to increase the capability of the IRS to detect tax cheaters and collect many billions per year in taxes owed but not paid. If approved by Congress as written– a…
The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment, sometimes called a COLA, came out Wednesday. This month, Mary Johnson will start collecting Social Security payments. Johnson is grateful to still be working as a policy analyst for the Senior Citizens League.
A default could be devastating to the American economy, which is still struggling from the pandemic shutdowns, and trigger a recession.
Oct. 8— A recent concession by President Joe Biden to lower the cost of his 10- year $3.5 trillion plan to bolster the middle class to around $2.3 trillion is more reasonable given the federal debt, yearly deficits and the reality of Washington politics. The deal-making experience of Biden's near 50 years in Congress seems to be paying off. We just hope it isn't too…
As Congress continues to flirt with the idea of not raising or suspending the nation's debt limit, economists and scholars once again are considering whether creative escape hatches such as a trillion-dollar coin or the invocation of the 14th Amendment might help the United States avoid a self-inflicted economic calamity.¶ Republicans and Democrats are at…
Republican senators blocked a bill that would have kept the government operating and allow more federal borrowing. Democrats aiming to avoid a shutdown pledged to try again this week.
In the chart below, the red bar in the middle is the current U.S. top rate of 29.2 percent, which is much higher than the OECD average of 19.1 percent. With state taxes on top, that would push the U.S. rate up to the highest in the OECD at 48.4 percent. The House Democratic plan would push the U.S. rate up to 37 percent, or the third highest in the OECD.
President Biden is leaning into his push to increase taxes on the rich as he seeks to unify Democrats in the House and Senate behind a $3.5 trillion bill that would expand federal efforts to fight climate change, reduce the cost of child care, expand educational access, reduce poverty, and more.
The Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday that it may start raising its benchmark interest rate sometime next year, earlier than it envisioned three months ago and a sign that it’s concerned that high inflation pressures may persist.
2021 SEP 21– By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Education Daily Report– Republicans who buy individual health plans may be less likely to shop through marketplaces created under the federal Affordable Care Act, leading to them to forgo subsidies provided by the federal government, according to a new study. Examining the behavior of enrollees of a large…
If Congress passes the vast reconciliation bill, voters will like what’s in it. That’s the Obamacare-like line some Democrats are taking as President Joe Biden steps up his campaign to pull the sprawling spending package across the finish line.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that, beginning this year, consumers will have an extra 30 days to…
The current age to qualify for Medicare is 65, but researchers say that shaving off one or two years could save people in their early 60s who spend a majority of their “disposable income on health care costs” a lot of money.
The U.S. Census Bureau issued the following news release on Sept. 14, 2021:. The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that median household income in 2020 decreased 2.9% between 2019 and 2020, and the official poverty rate increased 1.0 percentage point. Median household income was ,521 in 2020, a decrease of 2.9% from the 2019 median of ,560.
The proposed top tax rate would revert to 39.6% on individuals earning more than $400,000, or $450,000 for couples, and there would be a 3% tax on wealthier Americans with adjusted income beyond $5 million a year.
That's according to a new report from University of Wisconsin-Madison. The report from COWS, formerly the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, indicates Wisconsin still has 114,000 fewer jobs available as of July than it did before the onset of COVID-19. Laura Dresser, the associate director of COWS, said the problems in Wisconsin's job market came about well before…
In March 2021, the Department of the Treasury published the 2020 Financial Report of the United States Government. In the initial message, Secretary Janet L. Yellen writes:“ This Financial Report discusses not only current financial results but also important, long-term trends affecting our critical social insurance programs and fiscal health.” The report not…
WASHINGTON- With more than 1 million customers in Louisiana and Mississippi having lost power, Hurricane Ida is sure to take a toll on the energy, chemical and shipping industries that have major hubs along the Gulf Coast. But the impact on the overall U.S. economy will likely be modest so long as damage estimates don't rise sharply and refinery shutdowns are not…
Castle Brook Academy, one of the longest-running preschools in St. Augustine, has a capacity for 225 students. Today, there are nearly 250,000 fewer people in Florida's labor pool- the total of those employed and those looking for work- than there were when the pandemic struck in March 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. While the construction…
You can find the hiring signs everywhere. The current jobs opening rate is at its highest in more than 20 years, but there are still seven million fewer people employed now than before the pandemic, Tom Barkin, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, told members of the North Carolina Economic Development Association on Wednesday.
Republican campaign officials are licking their chops over Democrats voting for the package next week, which they say exposes vulnerable incumbents to charges of backing socialist policies and runaway spending that fuels inflation. Democrats also want to include a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, including Dreamers who were brought…
—Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the U.S. economy has been permanently changed by the COVID pandemic and it is important that the central bank adapt to those changes.
—Prices for U.S. consumers rose last month but at the slowest pace since February, a sign that Americans may gain some relief after four months of sharp increases that have imposed a financial burden on the nation's households. Wednesday’ s report from the Labor Department showed that consumer prices jumped 0.5% from June to July, down from the previous monthly…
Last week's monthly jobs report demonstrated the ongoing strength of the U.S. economy and underscored the need for the Federal Reserve to rein in its stimulus efforts, a Fed official said Tuesday. St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said that Friday's report, which showed a healthy gain of 943,000 jobs last month, means the economy is making…
