Economy News
The Daily Signal reports on economy news with analysis and commentary on growth, recession risks, employment, and financial trends.
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- Opinion
9 Key Takeaways From the House Budget Proposal
After months of delays, the House Budget Committee has released its fiscal year 2018 budget resolution. The plan makes progress in some areas, such as prioritizing national defense, reforming Medicare, implementing mandatory reforms through reconciliation, repealing Obamacare, and beginning to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs. However, the budget falls short in others. It busts…Justin Bogie -
- Opinion
House Spending Bill Takes a Small Step Toward Reforming ‘Buy America’ Policy
The House Appropriations Committee is set to mark up its interior appropriations bill for fiscal year 2018. This markup could lead to a slight revision of the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Buy America” provision. While the bill should just repeal Buy America regulations for the EPA altogether, it does take a small step in the right…Tori K. Smith -
- Opinion
CBO Analysis of Trump Budget Shows Need for Entitlement Reform, Pro-Growth Tax Policies
The Congressional Budget Office released its analysis of President Donald Trump’s budget request last week, and it wasn’t good news. The report paints a stark picture of the proposal compared to the administration’s findings, showing that the president’s budget would never reach balance. In the report, the CBO uses different criteria and assumptions than the…Justin Bogie -
- Opinion
We Hear You: The Minimum Wage, Welfare, Medicaid … and Walling Off the Eiffel Tower
Editor's note: Jarrett Stepman's commentaries for The Daily Signal ring bells with readers. See for yourself in this selection of responses.—Ken McIntyre Dear Daily Signal: Jarrett Stepman writes in opposition to Seattle's having raised the minimum wage: "Lincoln saw the ‘opportunity society’ and reaping the fruits of one’s labor as fundamental to the growth and…Ken McIntyre -
- Opinion
Minimum Wage Hikes Are an Act of Cruelty
There are political movements to push the federal minimum hourly wage to $15. Raising the minimum wage has popular support among Americans. Their reasons include fighting poverty, preventing worker exploitation, and providing a living wage. For the most part, the intentions behind the support for raising the minimum wage are decent. But when we evaluate…Walter E. Williams -
- Opinion
Brexit Means More Economic Freedom and International Prosperity. It Should Not Be Derailed.
The United Kingdom’s government triggered a two-year period of negotiations to exit the European Union in March. This “Brexit” process will offer the U.K. the opportunity to forge new trade relationships with nations around the world, including—importantly—the United States, as Heritage Foundation scholars have explained. Unfortunately, recent press reports indicate that the loss of Prime…Alden Abbott -
- Opinion
Jobs Report Stronger Than Expected, but More Must Be Done to Boost the Economy
Despite the low rumble of an economic slowdown on the horizon from various experts predicting the worst is to come, the Trump administration will no doubt be happy to say the experts were wrong with the July jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday. It reports the economy added 222,000 jobs, which…Timothy Doescher -
- Opinion
Why the Left Is Wrong About Welfare Reform
Welfare reform is becoming an issue again and the left isn’t happy about it. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, recently proposed a bill, backed by the conservative House Freedom Caucus, that would increase work requirements for those on welfare, as well as create billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers. This would be the most significant…Jarrett Stepman -
- Opinion
Don’t Believe the Data Saying Women Have Lacked Substantial Economic Gains
According to widely reported survey data, women’s substantial gains in education, labor force participation, and earnings haven’t made them better off during retirement. But that outcome makes little sense, and it is in fact based on incomplete data. According to data from the Current Population Survey’s Annual Social and Economic Supplement, older women are no more likely…Rachel Greszler -
- Opinion
How to Restore Optimism and Verve to the US Economy
America’s entrepreneurial dynamism has been falling, and the cost of inaction grows daily. According to a recent study by the Economic Innovation Group, America “suffers from a problem of too little creation—not too much destruction—perhaps for the first time in its history.” Over the past decade, our economic and job creation engine has run out…Patrick Tyrrell -
- Opinion
Seattle Hiked Its Minimum Wage. Here’s How It’s Impacting Low-Income Workers.
Helping the “forgotten man” was an important and successful message for President Donald Trump in his election campaign. He tapped into the anxieties of many Americans who are struggling to find work and are watching as traditional industries disappear or are gobbled up by automation. While some of this development has been natural, much has…Jarrett Stepman -
- News
How Many Lawmakers Advocating $15 Minimum Wage Hire Unpaid Interns
Almost all of the lawmakers who co-sponsored a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour also hired unpaid interns to supplement their staffs, a survey shows. A report from the Employment Policies Institute reveals that 174 of the bill’s 184 co-sponsors, or 95 percent, hire interns who are paid nothing. “It’s hypocritical…Christine Roe -
- Opinion
How Hip-Hop Is Teaching High Schoolers About the Free Market
Greg Caskey is a 27-year-old Abington, Pennsylvania, native who is a social sciences teacher at Delaware Military Academy. The academy is a thriving charter high school in Wilmington, Delaware, that was founded in 2003 by two retired military officers, Charles Baldwin and Jack Wintermantel. Students from all socio-economic backgrounds attend the school, which is doing…Walter E. Williams -
- Opinion
Welfare Currently Punishes Work and Marriage. This Bill Would End That.
There is much to celebrate in America today. Americans are, on average, wealthier, healthier, and better educated than we ever have been. We’ve made huge strides in civil rights and racial equality. And we have access to technology that would have awed past generations. But fundamentally, our culture and way of life has undergone some…Sen. Mike Lee -
- Opinion
What the Treasury’s New Recommendations Would Mean for Financial Reform
This week, in response to President Donald Trump’s February executive order, the U.S. Treasury released the first in a series of reports examining the U.S. financial regulatory system. The report identifies policies that would improve federal financial regulation in a manner consistent with the Trump administration’s seven core principles. Treasury incorporated a wide range of…Norbert Michel -
- Opinion
Why Economic Freedom and Peace Go Hand in Hand
It’s natural to think that economic freedom and peace should go together. Vindicating that idea, new empirical evidence shows that economically freer countries tend to be more peaceful and stable, while less economically free countries tend to be riddled with violence. The standings of more than 150 countries in two independent indexes, The Heritage Foundation’s…Patrick Tyrrell -
- Opinion
New Study Finds Americans Don’t Mind Lower Government Spending Due to Tax Cuts
America’s tax code is horribly out of date. Thankfully, Congress and the president have outlined plans for updating the tax code and cutting Americans’ taxes. The public strongly supports this agenda. A recent study by The Heritage Foundation’s American Perceptions Initiative into American attitudes toward tax reform found that almost two-thirds (64 percent) of Americans…Elizabeth Fender -
- News
House Conservatives Ready to ‘Go Big’ on Tax Reform That Includes Welfare Reform
The House Freedom Caucus wants to “go big” on a tax reform package to include welfare reforms, but likely wouldn’t include a tax on imports, or a border adjustment tax. “There is not consensus for the border adjustment tax,” Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said Friday during a panel of four House Freedom Caucus members at…Fred Lucas -
- News
House Conservatives Float Ideas for Tax Overhaul, Welfare Reform
Members of the most conservative caucus in the House of Representatives are ready to share their vision for a tax overhaul, welfare reform, and other legislative priorities. Tax reform is overdue, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said in a statement provided to The Daily Signal. “American voters have demanded a…Rachel del Guidice -
- Opinion
Trump’s Labor Secretary Is About to Violate the President’s Agenda. Why He Should Delay This Obama-Era Rule.
A costly and burdensome rule issued by the Obama administration is set to go into effect Friday, barring action from the Department of Labor to delay it. Unfortunately, the new secretary of labor isn’t acting. Instead, he is tacitly undermining the president’s agenda on financial regulation. The rule at hand is the fiduciary rule. President…Norbert Michel