Rachel Greszler is a senior research fellow in workforce and public finance in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for economic policy studies at The Heritage Foundation. Read her research.
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A federal judge has ruled that a law enacted by Puerto Rico’s government to charge Wal-Mart more than three times the rate it charges other companies… Read More
EconomyCommentary
In addition to Puerto Rico’s $72 billion in public debt, the U.S. territory owes another $44 billion in unfunded public employee pension benefits. This mountain… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Finally, support from Congress for something other than a federal bailout for Puerto Rico or letting the commonwealth break its contracts and constitutional obligations. The… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Spending in Washington is out of control. Accountability has disappeared. Federal programs run on autopilot. Policymakers identify endless new spending “needs” without ever evaluating the… Read More
EconomyCommentary
President Obama is submitting his final budget to Congress this week. Regardless of the contents of this budget, the president’s fiscal legacy is largely already… Read More
EconomyCommentary
After two decades of ignoring blatant inefficiencies, widespread abuses, and outright fraud, Congress has used Social Security’s retirement program to bail out the Social Security… Read More
EconomyCommentary
With over $42 billion in debt, a five-percent decline in population over just five years, and only half of all working-age residents actually working, Puerto… Read More
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)—the government entity that insures private pension plans—released its 2015 annual report, showing a $14.6 billion jump in PBGC’s deficit,… Read More
EconomyAnalysis
The 2016 tax brackets just announced by the Internal Revenue Service don’t include dramatic changes, largely because of low inflation last year. The brackets will… Read More
PoliticsCommentary
The budget deal reached last night attempts to stave off depletion of the Disability Insurance (DI) trust fund at the end of 2016 by “reallocating”… Read More
EconomyCommentary
The trust fund that helps pay for disability insurance under Social Security is on track to run out of money next year, a shortfall that… Read More
EconomyCommentary
California’s attempt to reduce the so-called pay gap through its recently passed Fair Pay Act will hurt women. Women should be paid the same amount… Read More
EconomyCommentary
The Social Security Advisory Board’s Technical Panel concluded that the Social Security Trustees’ “assumptions and methodologies are basically sound.” But these “basically sound” assumptions understate… Read More
EconomyCommentary
The findings of Puerto Rico’s Fiscal and Economic Recovery Working Group should serve as a warning sign to the U.S. Government that putting off economic… Read More
EconomyCommentary
After Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla announced in June that the island cannot pay its $72 billion debt, there has been an effort to… Read More
EconomyCommentary
The Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program has many problems. For starters, it will run out of money next year, which could mean 20-percent benefit… Read More
EconomyCommentary
It’s not easy to live on $944 per month, especially if you are disabled. But $944—less than the federal poverty level—is what the average disabled… Read More
InternationalCommentary
Puerto Rico is in the midst of a severe economic and financial crisis and is looking for a way out—or in other words—a change in… Read More
EconomyCommentary
The Congressional Budget Office released its annual 2015 Long Term Budget Outlook today, including the economic assumptions on which that outlook relies. Setting aside the… Read More
EconomyCommentary
The Supreme Court of New Jersey ruled in a 5-2 decision today in favor of the Chris Christie administration, reversing a lower court’s ruling that… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Facebook recently announced plans to require its vendors to pay workers at least $15 per hour, offer at least 15 days of paid vacation and… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Lawmakers rely on projections from federal agencies, such as the Social Security Administration, the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation to assess… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Editor’s note: Democrats’ so-called Inflation Reduction Act, passed by the Senate this weekend, would allow the IRS to hire 87,000 new agents. There aren’t many… Read More
EconomyCommentary
It’s tax day—time to send those income tax payments to your federal and state governments. While tax withholding throughout the year means that many individuals… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Today is apparently “equal pay day”—the alleged day of a new year through which a woman must work in order to earn the same pay… Read More
EconomyCommentary
States across the U.S. share the common goal of economic prosperity, but they differ vastly in how they set out to achieve it. The latest… Read More
EconomyCommentary
It’s true, economic projections are just that—projections. But overly optimistic economic projections, such as those contained in the president’s recently released 2016 budget proposal, can… Read More
EconomyCommentary
The recent decline in gas prices has not only left a little more cash in Americans’ pockets, it has contributed to a sizeable increase in… Read More
Economy Commentary
A last-minute deal on pension reforms thrown into the $1.1 trillion CRomnibus passed by Congress over the weekend has some unions up in arms, while others had… Read More
EconomyCommentary
If you’re a worker and you have a pension, there’s a government agency that will pay that pension if your company is unable to fulfill… Read More
