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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news
Why Alan Greenspan Says the US Economy Is Still ‘Sluggish’
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned Americans that despite recent good news, the U.S. economy remains “sluggish.” Greenspan attributes the slow growth to the continued weakness in the capital goods market, saying this sector has been nearly cut in half since the 2008 financial crash. “The United States is doing better than anybody else,… -
news
This College Will Pay Student Loans of Alums Making Less than $37K a Year
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com For many college students (and their parents), there’s a lot of concern that future salaries won’t be enough to cover the huge student loans many students today take on. In Michigan, Adrian College is tackling that fear head on: they’re offering to pay all to some of student loan… -
opinion
How India Can Unleash Its Economic Potential
“The hope for India lies not in the exceptional Tatas or similar giants, but precisely in the hole-in-the-wall firms, in the small- and medium-size enterprises, in Ludhiana, not Jamshedpur; in the millions of small entrepreneurs who line the streets of every city with their sometimes minuscule shops and workshops. If the tendencies so evident in… -
opinion
The Economy Just Had the Strongest Growth in a Quarter Since 2009
There is no doubt that the economy has languished in its recovery from the Great Recession, which ended more than five years ago. But signs are emerging that it is finally shaking free the weight of President Obama’s anti-growth policies. The latest bit of good news is that the economy grew at 5 percent in the third… -
news
Government Audit Finds Welfare Fraud, Lack of Oversight
LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska’s state auditor has unearthed a variety of problems with the way Nebraska doles out welfare and monitors the program, including $11,000 in payments for six months’ worth of cab rides, even though the welfare recipient owned a car. Even though the problems were found during audits that are still in progress,… -
opinion
The IRS May Be Underfunded But It Still Deserved to Have Its Budget Cut
IRS Commissioner Josh Koskinen complained recently about Congress cutting the agency’s budget by $350 million in the recent budget deal. Koskinen warns that taxpayer service will be hurt because the IRS will have to furlough employees and make other adjustments because of the reduction of funding. The IRS has an impossible job. It is tasked… -
opinion
Why Are We Spending a Billion Dollars on Government Preschool?
President Obama’s administration just announced a $1 billion initiative ($750 million in federal grants and the remainder from private funding) to enroll more children in government preschool programs. The new measure was announced formally at the White House Summit on Early Education last week. The push comes on the heels of President Obama’s speech on… -
opinion
What Happened in the Last Economic Slump the Government Didn’t Try to Fix
James Grant’s excellent new book, The Forgotten Depression: 1921: The Crash That Cured Itself, tells the story of “America’s last governmentally untreated depression.” Just prior to the Roaring Twenties, the U.S. went into a deep economic slump but soon recovered—despite no active government stimulus policies. That sort of government inaction, of course, is very different… -
news
Six-Figure State Economic Deal May Net ‘One New Job’ for Virginia County
KING GEORGE, Va. — Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe boasts that his administration has closed a record 228 economic-development deals since the Democrat took office last January. But instead of generating new jobs, an agreement the governor announced last week will merely shift workers between two Virginia counties and pit one state-subsidized company against another. Commercial Metals Co…. -
opinion
The Fed’s Attempt to Kickstart the Economy Simply Isn’t Working
The Federal Reserve should stop trying to stimulate the economy for two reasons. First, the policies it has enacted so far have contributed very little to the economic recovery. Second, it likely has reached the limits of what monetary policy can do to boost the economy. The Fed’s unconventional “quantitative easing” programs have filled the… -
news
House Narrowly OKs Government Spending Bill as Wrangling Goes Down to the Wire
With a midnight deadline looming, the House of Representatives tonight voted 219-206 to pass a $1.1 trillion spending bill to keep the government running. “My job tonight is to say thank you and Merry Christmas,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told lawmakers at the conclusion of the vote. Conservatives were unhappy that the spending measure… -
opinion
Omnibus Bill Keeps Welfare Spending at Massive Levels
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty. Since that time, annual means-tested welfare spending has increased by 16-fold, now costing taxpayers nearly $1 trillion a year. And the omnibus bill keeps spending at this sky-high level. The means-tested welfare system is massive and is the fastest growing part of government spending. The… -
opinion
Spending Bill: House Caves to Senate on Transportation Funding
In last minute, high pressure negotiations over spending bills on Capitol Hill, the House often caves to the Senate’s higher, irresponsible levels of spending. On Tuesday, they did it again. This time, they caved with the omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2015 spending. Higher spending levels emerged on a variety of programs that merit… -
news
Government Spending Bill Faces Uncertain Fate
With a deadline looming to avoid another partial shutdown of government, members of Congress, staffers and interest groups are gearing up for a House vote Thursday on a long-awaited spending bill, which arrived at the 11th hour. Republicans and Democrats released the text of the massive government-funding bill late Tuesday night. Dubbed the “CRomnibus” for its marriage of… -
opinion
Bad News for Kids: Huge New Spending Bill Doesn’t Include Much of a Reprieve From Harsh School Lunch Rules
The new spending bill, or as it’s been dubbed on Twitter, the #CRomnibus, doesn’t include even a temporary waiver provision to give some schools a reprieve from new and problematic federal school meal standards. The USDA’s new school lunch and breakfast requirements, implementing the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, have been a disaster. The overly prescriptive… -
opinion
Omnibus Prolongs Corporate Welfare for Travel Industry
The omnibus appropriations bill the House will take up Thursday includes a measure to reauthorize Brand USA, the troubled corporation created by Congress to promote international visits to the U.S. The charter for Brand USA is due to expire at the end of 2015, but the House has proposed reauthorizing it through 2020 and adding… -
news
38 Tweets About #CRomnibus, the Government Spending Bill Inspiring Bipartisan Opposition
Last night, House Republicans released a massive $1.1 trillion spending bill that would fund most of the government through Sept. 30, 2015. Here’s how you’re reacting to the news on Twitter. Brace yourselves. The $1 trillion pork-stuffed #cromnibus has landed. Thud: http://t.co/2q8dH6I8kz — Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) December 10, 2014 Rank-and-file split on #cromnibus funding bill:… -
opinion
Education Spending Spree Continues Apace in Omnibus
The omnibus bill was released Tuesday night. Here are some key details about what it does regarding education spending. Maintains historically high levels of federal education spending. At all levels, the spending measure maintains elevated levels of federal spending and intervention in education. Maintains high levels of funding for Head Start. The spending bill increases… -
opinion
No Excuses for ‘CRomnibus’ Spending Bill
At more than 1,600 pages, Congress’s $1.1 trillion behemoth spending bill funding almost all government agencies through September 2015 has arrived. For those keeping track, Congress had ample time to debate its 12 spending bills and give lawmakers a real opportunity to address out-of-control federal spending. But it was not to be. The “CRomnibus” spending bill… -
opinion
Average Federal Spending Per Household Nearly $30K
Did you know that the National Institutes of Health spent $374,000 to find out if a puppet show would convince preschoolers to eat more vegetables? Or that the Department of Agriculture gave $50,000 to a business that packs and sells alpaca manure? Your tax dollars paid for it–and much more. In 2014, federal spending per…