Obama on the Economy

This morning, President Barack Obama held a press conference, the eighth of his tenure, and focused mostly on the economy. Here’s a rundown of what he had to say.

Why No Payroll Tax Cut?

Tax cuts are generally less stimulative than spending measures, but among tax cuts, a holiday or slashing of the payroll tax is one of the best options, the Congressional Budget Office reports. So why did President Obama suggest cutting investment and research and development taxes for businesses, rather than More…

Dueling Opinions on the End of the Bush Tax Cuts

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, in a New York Times opinion piece, suggests holding off on letting tax rates rise for wealthy Americans:

Cantor Agrees with Principles of Basic Addition, Admits Bush Tax Cuts Add to Deficits

Last month, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made a rather remarkable statement about the trillion-dollar Bush tax cuts, arguing, “[T]here’s no evidence whatsoever that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue, because of the vibrancy of these tax cuts in the economy.”

That is demonstrably false, a More…

Democrats Will Run Against Bush During Midterms

Greenspan on the Two Americas

Appearing on Meet the Press this weekend, Alan Greenspan, the former head of the Federal Reserve, sounded an awful lot like John Edwards for a central banker with a strong libertarian streak:

On Bush Tax Cuts, an Impending Battle Between Congress and Administration

This weekend, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appeared on two Sunday news programs to make the case for the expiry of the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest earners and to argue for a strong recovery. The backdrop for the appearances is the looming fight over how to extend the 2001 More…

McConnell: Bush Tax Cuts Paid for Themselves

A few days ago, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) termed unemployment benefits — a federal insurance system paid for by employers — a “necessary evil” and said that tax cuts should not need to be offset, but benefits extensions should.

Today, speaking with Talking Points Memo’s Brian Beutler, Sen. Mitch More…

Returning to the Bush Tax Cuts

Former President George W. Bush’s tax cuts expire in January, and Democrats and Republicans both have committed to extending some, if not all, of the cuts. Obama and the Democrats are behind keeping cuts that benefit middle class families — they want to reduce taxes for families making less More…

Hawaii’s 2007 Tax Cut Turned Into a 600 Percent Increase in 2010

In 2007, under the stewardship of Republican Gov. Linda Lingle, Hawaii reduced the unemployment tax rate on employers under the guise of encouraging job growth — despite the fact that, at the time, Hawaii’s unemployment rate was 3.1 percent.

Now that the unemployment rate is 6.9 percent, and More…