What We Don’t Know About America’s Most Famous Secretary

January 31, 2012

Warren Buffett wants critics to focus on facts about his secretary, but facts are not forthcoming. Are her taxes typically middle class?

Republicans Limp Out Of The Gate

January 4, 2012

Republicans started the 2012 presidential race by shooting themselves in the foot. Adopting bad arguments as party orthodoxy won’t win.

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Do Black Friday Shoppers Have FICA On Their Minds?

November 25, 2011

Did this year’s Social Security tax cut produce enough bang for its $110 billion bucks to justify an extension? Get ready for another fight.

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The President’s Plan Of Inaction

September 20, 2011

The president does not actually plan to raise taxes on the wealthy, which he could do with ease. He merely plans to talk about it.

On Social Security, A Nixon-To-China Moment

September 12, 2011

Obama has his “Nixon to China” moment, taking the Social Security debate to a place George W. Bush only dreamed of going.

Treasury Downgrade: A Shock But No Surprise

August 8, 2011

S&P’s downgrade of Treasury debt was a shock but not a surprise. The move may be a step toward fixing Washington’s finances.

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Five Lasting Lessons From The Debt Ceiling Debate

August 2, 2011

Headlines from the debt debate will fade, but what we learned will linger. The financial world is riskier than we realized.

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Expecting The Impossible And Denying The Inevitable

July 1, 2011

At lunch the other day, a friend who recently returned to New York after living abroad for many years asked me what will happen if the federal debt ceiling is not raised before the official drop-dead date of Aug. 2. I said pretty much what President Obama said at Wednesday’s news conference, when he declared that the fallout from missing the deadline, and any resulting default on Treasury debt, would …

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Disabled By The Economy?

June 1, 2011

A lot of people are sick of bad economic news, but can a bad economy make people so sick they are actually unable to work? Like many politicians and executives, I tend to be cynical when I search for a link between rising unemployment rates and rising disability claims. Yet there certainly is some sort of connection. The Social Security Administration received 1.8 million more new claims in 2009 than …

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The 2 Percent Solution

December 14, 2010

It is no surprise that President Obama’s fellow “progressives” were dismayed at his agreement to continue the Bush-era income tax rates for everyone, including high earners. But their reaction to his deal with Republicans on Social Security taxes is revealing. The president was very pleased that Republicans agreed to reduce workers’ Social Security taxes by two percentage points next year. This break, which replaces the “Making Work Pay” credit that …

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