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President Obama's most recent fiscal cliff offer would cut Social Security benefits by changing how that program calculates cost-of-living increases. This is a bad idea, for reasons I'll get to. But the bigger problem is that Social Security doesn't have anything to do with current budget deficits and shouldn't be part of any fiscal deal.
There is a brand new housing crisis looming on the horizon and none of the financial or foreclosure reforms being considered get anywhere close to solving it.
The Center for Responsive Politics compiles data on the 50 top interest groups giving money to Congress. Near the top of the 2012 list are the usual suspects—finance, insurance, real estate, and Big Oil. Near the bottom are casinos and the building materials industry (along with "Women's Issues.")
In a properly working economy, a booming business would be good for everyone involved in building that business: shareholders, executives, and workers.
In a broken and dysfunctional economy, the shareholders and executives would get richer and richer while the workers lived in poverty.
A few months ago, we detailed the fracked up process underway in New York State to determine the health impacts from fracking. Since the results of the health study are not ready for release, the state had to open a public commenting period to extend the rule-making process. Until January 11th at 5pm, the general public can submit their comments on the proposed regulations.
Last week, I wrote about how strong majorities of Americans not only believe the climate is changing but also that human activity is causing it. Congressional inaction, therefore, ignores the priorities and concerns of the majority. However, while the oil and gas lobby does heavily influence Congress’ actions, is its inaction also a result of the lack of climate change policy as a priority for most Americans?