Featured Stories
Star’s Headline Writing Team can’t resist
September 14, 2011
by David Safier Obama is pushing his jobs plan at stops around the country, as he promised in his speech to Congress. He's using every trick in the book, as can be expected. And he has his eye on the presidential race, obviously. But mostly, he's trying to get this bill through. Republicans want to
Arizona Daily Star’s creative headline writer strikes again
September 14, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: I am trained in economics. I read economic data and reports all the time. So imagine my surprise when I opened my copy of the Arizona Daily Star this morning to see this headline below-the-fold: Way to put a happy face on what was a dismal economic report. I suppose Howard Fischer is
Why Republicans are favoring abstract terms
September 14, 2011
by David Safier Just a thought. Democrats are the ones accused of using fancy words and higher level abstractions, while Republicans are plain speakers, like real people. Think Al Gore and John Kerry vs. George Bush and Rick Perry. But while Obama is talking about building roads and bridges, fixing schools and hiring teachers —
Student loan defaults are up. AZ leads the nation.
September 13, 2011
by David Safier More students are defaulting on loans across the country. For-profit colleges lead all others in the percentage of students defaulting. And Arizona leads the nation in defaults, probably because we're the home of for-profit giant, University of Phoenix. I've read three articles in the past few days, each of which adds something
Screw ‘austerity,’ what the economy needs is stimulus
September 13, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Two economic reports today demonstrate that GOP economic policy is always wrong, always. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports that the European "austerity" that Tea-Publicans point to for massive budget cuts here in the U.S. increases unemployment and reduces paychecks — something that GOP economic policy has been doing for years. IMF:
AZ’s proposed revenue-neutral flat tax shifts tax burden from rich to the rest of us
September 13, 2011
by David Safier About 200 people attended the very informative Flat Tax Forum Monday night, hosted by Sen. Paula Aboud. It's possible to get deep in the weeds in discussing the flat tax legislation proposed by Rep. Steve Court last session which is likely to resurface in 2012, but here some of the important points.
New Census Data on the Bush Great Recession
September 13, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: H/T Ezra Klein's Wonkblog. Suzy Khimm posts The Great Recession in five charts: How brutal has the recession been to U.S. households? Americans are earning even less than they did 13 years ago. That’s according to new Census data released Tuesday, which found that real median income fell to $49,445 in 2010,
Dr. Seuss explains the health care cost ‘arms race’
September 13, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: H/T Ezra Klein's Wonkblog. Sarah Kliff posts Dr. Seuss explains health policy: I’ve written a decent amount on the complex impact of the growing health care sector, which has included both more jobs (good) and higher costs (bad). Gregory Warner at Marketplace, however, has done me one better: he’s turned that story into
