Why the Argument for Austerity Took a Big Hit Yesterday
In the years following the financial crisis, America has been obsessed with debt. Hurting from the crisis, consumers and businesses have been busy paying off debt, while the federal government has ramped up its borrowing through a combination of stimulus spending and lower tax revenue. And of course all this new government debt — which has reached 73% of GDP and is expected to remain roughly at that level for the next decade — has many policy makers and citizens deeply concerned, to say the least. But exactly how concerned we ought to be over that debt level — and how radically we need to act to reduce it — remains hotly debated. Governments obviously need to be able to borrow, and nearly every government does so. But experts have reached no clear consensus over how much (relative to the size of its economy) a nation can safely borrow. That is, no consensus had begun to emerge until the appearance in 2010 of a paper, by economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, called “Growth ...
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Why Mark Zuckerberg Is Pushing for Immigration Reform
America has always been a nation of immigrants, but today, there is general agreement that the U.S. immigration system is broken. The southern border remains porous, there are 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the shadows, and tens of thousands of the most promising immigrants are forced to leave the country thanks to outdated visa rules. Now, some of the wealthiest and most successful tech executives and investors in the country — led by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg — are calling for immigration reform. “We have a strange immigration policy for a nation of immigrants,” Zuckerberg wrote Thursday in the Washington Post. “And it’s a policy unfit for today’s world.” Zuckerberg has joined forces with top executives and founders from Google, Yahoo and LinkedIn to launch a new organization called FWD.us, with the goal of influencing the current debate. Several top venture capitalists are also participating. “To lead the world in this new economy, we need the most ...
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Why Mark Zuckerberg Is Pushing For Immigration Reform
America has always been a nation of immigrants, but today, there is general agreement that the U.S. immigration system is broken. The southern border remains porous, there are 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the shadows, and tens of thousands of the most promising immigrants are forced to leave the country thanks to outdated visa rules. Now, some of the wealthiest and most successful tech executives and investors in the country — led by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg – are calling for immigration reform. “We have a strange immigration policy for a nation of immigrants,” Zuckerberg wrote Thursday in The Washington Post. “And it’s a policy unfit for today’s world.” Zuckerberg has joined forces with top executives and founders from Google, Yahoo, and LinkedIn to launch a new organization called FWD.us, with the goal of influencing the current debate. Several top venture capitalists are also participating. “To lead the world in this new economy, we need the ...
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Southwest Airlines: We’re Not Really About Cheap Flights Anymore
The nation’s biggest “low-fare” airline appears to be experiencing an identity crisis. In Southwest’s new ad campaign, there’s no silly humor, and no mention of “Bags Fly Free” or cheap flight prices. The message is that this is a different airline—one that long-time customers may feel, is hard to recognize or even like. “The campaign is a departure in tonality for Southwest, and we hope it inspires our Customers,” Southwest executive Bob Jordan explained in a press release announcing its new commercial, which debuted during the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament. “Southwest has changed a lot over the years, we keep getting better, and we want Customers to see us in a new light.” The ad will come as “a shock” to TV viewers, according to the Chicago Business Journal, due to the disappearance of “all the silly, cartoonish aspects of its advertising” in the past. The ad features no goofball humor, nor any messages about Southwest’s low fares or its value-laden ...
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Why Are So Many Public Officials Calling for This Man’s Job?
Ed DeMarco may not strike you as the kind of man who is capable of fanning the outrage of broad swaths of the American public. But in the past year, this bespectacled economist and lifelong civil servant has endured protesters picketing outside his home, journalists labeling him “America’s most dangerous man,” and now 45 members of the House of Representatives and nine state attorneys general are petitioning the President of the United States for his dismissal. So what has the acting head of the Federal Housing Finance Administration — the federal agency in charge of housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — in so much hot water? It’s his continued unwillingness to experiment with principal reduction for underwater homes. Proponents of this policy argue that reducing the amount owed on mortgages where the homeowner owes more than the home is worth is a win-win, because it greatly reduces the chance that the home will end up in foreclosure. And foreclosures are such a costly ...
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