On December 12, the Council on Competitiveness issued a report on the American manufacturing movement.
A December 8 Gallup poll found that Americans generally see an annual income of $150,000 per year or a net worth of $1 million as the thresholds for being “rich.”
On December 7, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing to examine recent shortages of certain drugs, what caused it and what to do about it.
In a December 5 blog post, Treasury assistant secretary for economic policy Jan Eberly argued that economic conditions justify further fiscal stimulus.
In a December 5 commentary, University of California, Berkeley, economist Sylvia Allegretto calculated that the heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune alone have a net worth equal to the bottom 30 percent of the U.S. population.
On November 30, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia published a working paper examining optimal labor policy over the business cycle. It proposes a hiring subsidy, layoff tax, and a higher level of unemployment compensation during downturns financed by a production tax.
On November 30, the Census Bureau published an issue brief on growth of the over age-65 population. Between 2000 and 2010, it grew 50 percent faster than the total population.
On November 23, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development published a new report on health indicators in its member countries.
On November 17, the Commonwealth Fund published a report on state health insurance trends.
Also on November 17, economists Jeffrey Brown and Amy Finkelstein published an article on insuring long-term care in the U.S.
Bruce Bartlett is an American historian and columnist who focuses on the intersection between politics and economics. He
blogs daily
and writes a
weekly column
for The Fiscal Times. Bartlett has written for Forbes Magazine and Creators Syndicate, and his work is informed by many years in government, including as a senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House. He is the author of seven books including his new book:
The Benefit and the Burden
.