Daily Policy Digest
Economic Issues
| The Underworked Public Employee If public-sector employees just worked as many hours as their private counterparts, governments at all levels could save more than $100 billion in annual labor costs... |
| BRICS: The World's New Banker? Countries like the United States have a large percent of the International Monetary Fund's voting share, allowing it to veto any major decisions... |
| American Men Find Careers in Collecting Disability In 1960, the percentage of the economically active 18-to-64-year-old population receiving disability benefits was 0.65 percent; in 2011, it was 5.6 percent... |
| Cigarette Smuggling The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives estimates that illegal cigarette sales cost local, state and federal governments nearly $10 billion a year... |
| Diving Off the Fiscal Cliff Lifting marginal tax rates will cost the economy $2.20 in lost income for every $1 of new tax revenue... |
| Why Economic Backwardness Persists Many rulers around the world calculate that it is better to keep people in poverty than risk losing the privileges of political power... |
| Understanding Job Statistics Labor force participation (job seekers and the employed) has declined from 66 percent before the recession to 63.8 percent, says Robert McTeer, a distinguished fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis... |
| A "Cliff" Deal Could Still Cost Consumers Billions The impact of the scheduled tax hikes and spending cuts under the "fiscal cliff" would take more than $600 billion from the economy... |
| How the Government's Unconstitutional Actions Hurt the 99 Percent Coercive government policies threaten to limit economic freedom, thereby increasing the power of political elites and hurting the poor and working classes... |
| Federal Housing Administration Nears Need for Taxpayer Funds The Federal Housing Administration is projected to need more money to pay off its projected losses than it has in its reserves... |
