Chavez fights for re-election in Venezuela
Thursday, October 4, 2012 - 08:19 LUIS ACOSTA/AFP/Getty Images Supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez cheer during a campaign rally in Valencia, Carabobo state, Venezuela on October 3, 2012. The latest opinion poll gives incumbent president Chavez a 10-point advantage over rival Henrique Capriles. Venezuelans will be going to the polls this weekend to elect their president. Unlike any election in recent memory there, it's looking close for Hugo Chavez, who has been in power since 1998. Since then, Chavez has steered Venezuela toward what he calls a "socialism for the 21st century." He has kicked out foreign firms and nationalized the oil industry -- in the country with the biggest oil reserves in the world. The challenger Henrique Capriles, a lawyer with a long political resume, "recognizes private intellectual property and offers to discontinue government takeover of important sectors of the economy, such as food companies, services and banks," says Cristina Soriano, professor ...
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Economy Gains Steam Adding 236,000 Jobs; Unemployment Rate Falls to 7.7%
For some time time now, the American economy has been a strange dichotomy. On the one hand, we’re in the midst of an historically strong four-year bull market, yet the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high. The real estate market is showing impressive strength, yet GDP growth is sluggish. The result is a situation where consumers, businesses, and even the government have become overly cautious, each waiting for the other to make the first move before they start behaving like we’re in a real recovery. Last month, however, the situation began to look a bit brighter. The Labor Department announced that the economy added 157,000 jobs in January, but revised its previous estimates to show that job growth in the later half of 2012 was much better than expected. And this morning’s report — which shows that the economy added 236,000 jobs in February, and that the unemployment rate fell to 7.7% — is more evidence that the thawing of the labor market has picked up speed of late. Looking ...
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Should Credit Unions Have to Pay Income Tax?
The American Bankers Association, the lobbying group that represents America’s banking industry, has recently launched an ad campaign across Washington D.C. aimed directly at the nation’s credit unions. The print version of the campaign is to the point, reading simply: “Today credit unions are a $1 trillion industry that pays no income tax. That’s nearly $2 BILLION every year that could help shrink the federal deficit. Now, credit unions want even more perks. It’s time to end credit unions’ indefensible and outdated special treatment. Enough is enough.” I think it’s worth noting the irony in such a campaign, given that the for-profit banking sector has recently benefitted from unprecedented amounts of government support. Then again, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to find lobbying groups seeking advantages for its members — it’s kind of their job. (Also it should be remembered that the ABA represents banks of every type and size, not just those that have benefitted ...
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Why Can’t People with Student Loans Refinance at Better Rates?
One of the few silver linings of the Great Recession has been a precipitous drop in interest rates that has lowered the cost of borrowing for millions of consumers. The historic decline in rates, however, has done almost nothing for folks with a student loan. Those with college debt have largely missed the refinance boom. Why? Congress—not the free market—sets the interest rate on the vast majority of student debt, and because these loans are not secured by collateral, private lenders are loath to step in and undercut the federal government’s terms. Borrowers with decent credit have gotten relief in virtually every other sphere. By one estimate, low rates are saving the typical household $3,100 a year. Americans now spend 5.8% of after-tax income on consumer interest, the smallest share in 34 years and a sharp drop from 9.1% before the recession. Mortgage interest payments alone are down 30%. Corporations and government have benefited from the refi boom as well. Companies with a stellar ...
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Obama’s Proposal to Boost the Minimum Wage: Will It Help or Hurt Workers?
Of the proposals in President Obama’s State of the Union address, the one that’s perhaps getting the most attention is his push to have the federal minimum wage raised from $7.25 to $9.00 per hour. There are many reasons for this. First, it was one of the few concrete proposals to come out of the speech; and unlike many of the President’s industrial and tax policy ideas, it is easy to understand: Pass a law saying businesses can’t pay workers less than $9 per hour. But does the law make sense for the low-income workers it aims to help? For years the conventional wisdom among many economists was that higher minimum wages actually reduced employment — for the simple reason that if you make something like labor more expensive, firms will purchase less of it. But research in the 1990s, specifically a study authored by economists David Carr and Alan Kreuger, seemed to prove otherwise, or at least to poke holes in this theory. Carr and Kreuger studied the effect of an increase in the ...
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