LyrArc Article Gist
Krauthammer cites Congressional Budget Office numbers that show the Obama U.S. health care law continues the spiralling costs of health care with new government mandates at a time of severe budget cuts in education and other areas- for 2013-2022 the costs come to $1.76 trillion. The initial Obama administration figures of 10 year costs of $938 billion announced in 2010 reflected the fact that the new U.S. health care law would take 4 years to fully go into effect. Costs after 2021 are shown to be $250 billion each year in the CBO figures. The law is now before the Supreme Court in 2012, which has to decide on the basis of the limits of the Commerce Clause.

LyrArc Article Gist
Eric Cantor is the senior Republican leader in the House of Representatives. He is a key figure in the negotiations with the Obama White House over the budget, deficit reduction, and raising the debt ceiling. Cantor and House Speaker Boehner are leading the negotiations on the Republican side. Cantor rejects any compromise on tax increases. He told reporters: "I think behind this notion of 'We want shared sacrifice' that they continue to say means 'We want to raise taxes,' and we don't accept that we raise taxes in an economy like this." Cantor is a lawyer and a former state legislator from a district that covers the Richmond, Virginia, suburbs. He was elected in 2000. Through his "Young Guns" program Cantor recruited many of the 87 new Republicans who were elected in 2010. It is this support from rank and file Congressman that has propelled Cantor into a leadership position for the deficit talks. Responding to critics that say a compromise is needed from both sides in the talks, Cantor says- "I don't think the White House understands how difficult it is for fiscal conservatives to say they are going to vote for a debt-ceiling increase." On June 23, Cantor pulled out of talks with the White House. In the current round of negotiations Boehner pulled back from "a grand bargain" which included tax increases, after consulting with Cantor....

LyrArc Article Gist
Rep. Paul Ryan tells Bill Keller that his ideas on Medicare and Social Security are not "the last word" but a way to start an "adult conversation." Keller describes what a Romney administration might look like with Ryan, Dan Senor, and Glenn Hubbard.

LyrArc Article Gist
This New York Times editorial describes the impact on lower income Americans of spending cuts that are part of the Romney-Ryan plan.

LyrArc Article Gist
Is Summers too confident that things will return to the way things were, so that eventually jobs losses will dissipate, and the business cycle will return, so that preventing the economy from becoming bubble dependent for growth is the serious concern. How long will these job losses like the one in March of 663,000 last, WSJ reporter Wessel asks Summers. His response is essentially no one can forecast this. But he thinks these losses will dissipate, because production is running well below capacity, and eventually inventories will fall to the point at which they will need to be replenished. But what is cause for concern is the example he gives. He says next, that in the auto industry sales have normally run at 14 million, now they are down to 9 million. As they return back up to that level or a similiar level he says, and similiarly for other industries with underutilized capacity, the economic cycle will kick in. This depends on what is happening in the market . It is worth asking are there deeper and lasting changes ocurring in the American automobile market that Summers may be missing? See the links for Japan car market, and German car market for information on the changes that ocurred in these highly developed markets. Is a fundamental change ocurring in the American car market which this crisis brings to the forefront, that leads to a long term change to a smaller market closer to what sales are now? Is Summers too sanguine and complacent or is he simply hoping for the best. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Simpson and Bowles travel around the U.S. to sell their plan for U.S. debt reduction. Bowles is the numbers guy and Simpson adds color and conviction to the conversation. The duo is famously bipartisan. Bowles a chief of staff to a Democratic party president, former U.S. president Clinton. Alan Simpson, is a former senior Republican senator from Wyoming. Both are highly committed to the cause and highly regarded.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Labor Department's rate of labor underutilization is 14.8% of thepotential workforce, much higher than the 8.1% unemployment rate. Which means that a lot of workers are not able to make the fullest use of their skills. If unemployment stays high for a very long period some workers lose their skills and become less employable. THat could leave the floor for unemployment at amuch higher level. Something like this is happening now and stay with us as the unemployment rate grows and the underutilization of labor rate with it. Physiscists call it "hysteresis"., a kind of laggard impact of some sustained force. An example is if you squeeze a nerf ball for so long that it doesn't bounce back when you release it. Higher underutilization of labor which could hit 20% by 2010 at the rate at which job losses are ocurring of half a million a month, would mean pressure on wages and fears of deflation, lower tax revenues and fears of persistent deficits, less cash to invest and companies having less capital to invest leading to lower earnings. And falling behind the curve is what Krugman fears could be happening now, even with the large stimulus and budget of the new President, because of a series of problems ocurring at the same time and reinforcing each other. And the efforts of the government still not large or effective to meet the scale of the challenge. See the link to this. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
U.S. presidential candidate Romney's plan to limit deductions to $25,000 leaves the taxes deductions of middle and lower income earners intact and hits high income earners with large deductions hardest.

LyrArc Article Gist
Bank of England governor Mervyn King's speech at the Economc Club of New York in Dec. 2012. About incoming governor Mark Carney, King says "I think he'll do a great job and they won't miss me at all." He says one way or another the U.S. will find a way to avoid the fiscal cliff. He sees a tension between short and long term policy goals such as recapitalizing banks and having governments reduce their debt.