Budget Battles

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis gestures to the media at the Pentagon in Washington, U.S., April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

What Will a Divided Congress Do About the Defense Budget?

Number of the Day: $456 million

Buyers Of Short-Term Health Plans: Wise Or Shortsighted?

Chart of the Day: Is Demand for US Debt Drying Up?

Newsletter

  • Medicare Improper Payments Fall to Lowest Since 2010

    Improper payments by Medicare in fiscal 2018 dropped to their lowest rate since 2010, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said Friday in a report flagged by Modern Healthcare . CMS...

  • Goldman Sachs Sees Sharp Economic Slowdown Ahead

    Goldman Sachs is sticking to its forecast of a significant economic slowdown over the next several quarters, driven in part by the waning effects from both the tax cuts and the recent increase in...

  • FILE PHOTO: The Pfizer logo is seen at their world headquarters in New York April 28, 2014. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

    Pfizer Says It Will Raise Prices on 41 Drugs

    When drug giant Pfizer announced in July that it would roll back price hikes on its drugs, it made clear that the change was temporary . Facing intense pressure from President Donald Trump, the...

  • U.S. Army troops listen as President Trump speaks before signing the National Defense Authorization Act at Fort Drum, New York

    The Problem with Our $6 Trillion War Tab

    We told you last week that the total long-term cost of post-9/11 wars is approaching $6 trillion , according to a report by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown...

  • Poor Health of Workers Costs Employers an Extra $530 Billion: Report

    U.S. employers spend about $880 billion on health care benefits for employees and their dependents, but poor health among workers costs them another $530 billion — or about 60 cents for every dollar...

  • Obama administration proposes new limits on tax-exempt political groups

    New Tax Brackets for 2019

    The IRS released its inflation adjustments for the 2019 tax year this week, which include new brackets and limits on deductions and exemptions. A few highlights: The standard deduction for single...

  • Krugman: Why the Tax Cuts Fizzled

    A long-time critic of Republican fiscal policies, economist Paul Krugman takes on the GOP tax overhaul in Friday’s New York Times, asking, “Why Was Trump’s Tax Cut a Fizzle?” Krugman notes that the...