| Superstorm Sandy weighs on November retail sales Nov 30th 2012, 01:05 Weak sales at leading U.S. retailers in early November dragged down their results for the month as the effects of major Northeast storms offset brisk activity over the long Thanksgiving weekend. Retailers on average reported a 1.6 percent increase in sales at stores open at least a year, about half the 3.3 percent rise that analysts had forecast and less than last year's gain of 3.5 percent, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Read full article >>   |  | Obama to GOP: I'm done negotiating with myself Nov 29th 2012, 23:31 Republican aides are circulating their summary of the White House's opening bid on the fiscal cliff. They're circulating it because they believe it fleshes out Speaker John Boehner's complaint that "the White House has to get serious." Above all, they're circulating it because the president isn't offering them anything in his opening bid. Read full article >>   | | READ: The White House's fiscal cliff proposal Nov 29th 2012, 22:59 Republican aides are circulating what they say is the White House's opening bid on the fiscal cliff. Here's a summary of the main components: STAGE ONE Taxes - Immediate increase in both top marginal rates, as well as capital gains and dividends: +$960 Billion
- Additional taxes: +$600 Billion
- 2009-level estate tax
- AMT and business tax extenders: -$236 Billion
- Payroll tax extension or alternative policy: -$110B
- Bonus depreciation extension
Read full article >>   | | Obama makes fresh demands on fiscal cliff Nov 29th 2012, 22:15 President Obama demanded Thursday that Congress relinquish control over federal debt levels and approve at least $50 billion in fresh spending to boost the economy next year as part of a deal to avert the year-end fiscal cliff, senior Republican aides said. Read full article >>   | | The White House reveals their tax math Nov 29th 2012, 21:32 A funny thing happened on the way to the tax debate: We started talking about "math," rather than policy. And just because something works on a calculator doesn't mean it will work as law. The White House has been saying that "the math" precludes replacing the revenue from the Bush tax cuts for the rich with tax reform that holds rates steady. As we've pointed out, that's not technically true: You could raise as much as $1.2 trillion from people making more than $200,000 by eliminating all their deductions. Read full article >>   | | Why economists love Intrade and why the government hates it Nov 29th 2012, 20:40 Economists love prediction markets like Intrade. But the U.S. government has long been skeptical of such sites. Is it time for that change? That question popped up again this week after federal regulators filed a lawsuit against Intrade, a popular Web site that allows people to wager on the outcome of elections and other political events. In response, Intrade announced that it would close its doors to all American customers (the site is based in Ireland). That will almost certainly put a damper on Intrade's much-watched U.S. election markets when 2016 rolls around. Read full article >>   | | Graph of the Day: Our long-run growth problem Nov 29th 2012, 17:30 Wonkblog is starting a daily feature highlighting a graph that catches our attention. During recessions and recoveries, economists are obsessed with the "output gap," or the discrepancy between what the economy actually is producing (that is, gross domestic product) and what it could be producing if it were putting all available resources to good use. The latter figure is called "potential GDP," and the United States has been running well below potential since 2007. Read full article >>   | | The GOP's Medicare confusion Nov 29th 2012, 15:45 The austerity crisis talks have hit a peculiar impasse. The problem isn't, as most analysts expected, taxes, where Republicans seem increasingly resigned to new revenue. It's Medicare. And the particular Medicare problem isn't that Democrats are refusing the GOP's proposed Medicare cuts. It's that Republicans are refusing to name their Medicare cuts. Read full article >>   | | Powerball, fiscal cliff and family finances Nov 29th 2012, 15:21 Powerball Players Did you play? As you know, the odds were not in your favor. The Powerball jackpot jumped to $579.9 million by the time of the drawing on Wednesday, making the cash option $379.8 million, according to the Associated Press. The pot, won by two ticketholders, still wasn't big enough to surpass March's $656 million Mega Millions prize, the largest lottery jackpot in history. Read full article >>   | | Mortgage rates edge up slightly Nov 29th 2012, 15:00 Mortgage rates edged up slightly this week, according to the latest data released by Freddie Mac. After falling to a historic low last week, the 30-year fixed-rate average crept up to 3.32 percent with an average 0.8 point. The 30-year average, which was 3.31 percent a week ago and 4 percent a year ago at this time, has been below 3.5 percent the past 10 weeks. Read full article >> | |
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