Fiscal Cliff

Budget Battles

  • Fed Launches New Round of Mortgage Bond Purchases

    By Zachary A Goldfarb, The Washington Post

    The Federal Reserve on Thursday opened a major new offensive in the battle to reduce unemployment, launching its most extensive effort to stimulate the economy in years. The Fed announced a new round...

  • Tackling the Holy Grail of Tax Reform: Loopholes

    By Merrill Goozner, The Fiscal Times

    The two political parties and their presidential standard bearers are moving inexorably toward an acrimonious public debate next month over how to pay for tax reform, which will be major issue during...

  • Billions Wasted on Approved Bogus Disability Claims

    By Josh Boak, The Fiscal Times

    Social Security disability claims are being awarded haphazardly—potentially costing taxpayers billions of dollars—as federal officials try to work through a massive backlog of cases, according to a...

  • Top 10 Tax Breaks that May Be Eliminated

    By Eric Pianin

    Which tax breaks would you eliminate? Here are the top ten in terms of cost, including the mortgage deduction, tax-free health insurance, and capital gains and dividends, which are taxed at low rates.

  • Chicago Teachers’ Strike: Last Straw for Voters?

    By Edward Morrissey

    Those who followed the political war in Wisconsin that erupted in February 2011 with a public-employee union reform bill and ended with the unsuccessful attempt to recall Governor Scott Walker might...