Economy

Ghost in the Machine: Pete Peterson Haunts College Campuses

by Mary Bottari — May 13, 2013 - 5:44am

An odd couple made an appearance on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus recently: Tea Party Senator Ron Johnson and Madison's progressive Congressman Mark Pocan. The two were invited to participate in a conversation about the national debt hosted by a local student organization and a bevy of national groups, including the Comeback America Initiative, the Concord Coalition, the Can Kicks Back, and the Campaign to Fix the Debt. On the agenda: debt, deficits, and the economy.

News

Scott Walker Goes to Bat for "Legal Thievery" in Budget Bill

by Alex Oberley — May 3, 2013 - 6:44am

Topics: Corporations, Democracy, Economy, Lobbying, Real Economy Project

State Senator Glenn Grothman, Assistant Majority Leader of the Republican Caucus, is leading the charge to protect consumers from Wisconsin's rapacious rent-to-own industry. Governor Scott Walker's $68.2 billion budget bill contains provisions that would rollback common sense regulation of the industry, which has been in place since 1985.

News

Art Pope Groups Push Extreme ALEC Tax Agenda in North Carolina

by Nick Surgey — April 29, 2013 - 7:31am

Topics: ALEC Exposed, Economy

An array of right-wing organizations in North Carolina are arguing loudly for Governor Pat McCrory to radically alter how corporations and people pay taxes in the state -- and the not-so-hidden hand behind the effort is North Carolina millionaire Art Pope, a close ally of the Koch brothers, who funds the groups and has been appointed as North Carolina's Budget Director.

News

Pete Peterson Linked Economists Caught in Austerity Error

by Mary Bottari — April 18, 2013 - 10:59am

Topics: Economy, Real Economy Project

A team of economists at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at UMass Amherst broke a huge story this week that was promptly picked up by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, and newspapers around the globe. The economists proved that the essential underpinning "of the intellectual edifice of austerity economics," as Paul Krugman put it, is based on sloppy methodology and spreadsheet coding errors.

News

MacIver Institute Ideologues Manage to Turn Lemonade Into Lemons

by Mary Bottari — April 18, 2013 - 7:30am

Topics: ALEC Exposed, Right Wing, Economy, Propaganda

In 2010, Governor Scott Walker ran for office on a simple message, that he would turn Wisconsin's economy around and create 250,000 jobs. There was good news for Walker in the Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs numbers released April 2013. Although Wisconsin still ranked 44th in the country in terms of job creation, the staggering economy had created 64,500 more jobs since Walker took office than previously known. There was a large upward correction in the BLS jobs data stretching back more than a year that not only impacted Wisconsin, but many states.

News

Charlie Sykes Defends Sampling of Atrocious Video, A Fave of Neo-Nazis

by Mary Bottari — April 9, 2013 - 10:52am

Topics: Economy

Journal Communication's right-wing talker Charlie Sykes (WTMJ Radio 620), delights in stirring controversy. But last week he went too far. In a segment discussing whether food stamp recipients should be allowed to buy unhealthy food, Sykes played a clip of an incredibly offensive video that is a favorite of neo-Nazi websites.

Guest Contributor

Worms, Pond Scum and Economists

by PRW Staff — April 1, 2013 - 6:34am

Topics: Economy

-- Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research

The effort to blame the awful plight of the young on Social Security and Medicare is picking up steam.

News

Detroit's First Day under an "Emergency Financial Manager"

by Harriet Rowan — March 25, 2013 - 6:38am

Topics: Democracy, Economy, Real Economy Project

As of today, Detroit is under the control of a governor-appointed Emergency Financial Manager (EFM). The Motor City is the largest district in the nation to have its voters and elected officials sidelined by this new experiment in "crisis management."

Op-Ed

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? Fix the Debt

by Mary Bottari — March 6, 2013 - 8:30am

Topics: Corporations, Economy, Real Economy Project

As sequester cuts start to bite a little harder, the Fix the Debt gang is pushing for a "grand bargain," deep cuts to earned benefit programs like Social Security and Medicare in exchange for some vague promises about "tax reform."

News

New Report By U.S. PIRG Targets Cash Stashed Overseas

by PRW Staff — March 5, 2013 - 1:09pm

Topics: Corporate Social Responsibility, BanksterUSA, Economy, Real Economy Project

In our new report on Fix the Debt, CMD reveals that part of the Fix the Debt's hidden corporate agenda is to push for new tax loopholes that would actually add to the deficit. Specifically, many Fix the Debt firms want to exempt money made offshore from taxation in the United States. Opening this new loophole would cost the Treasury some $1 trillion over 10 years according to Citizens for Tax Justice.