Daily Policy Digest
| Recourse Mortgages Will Fix the Housing Market In recourse mortgages, which are common in Canada, lenders can continue to seek restitution even after all collateral against a loan has been seized... |
| Not All Economic Commentators Believe the Worst Is Behind Us The year 2013 will be challenging for the large, developed and ailing nations suffering stagflation and the burdens of enormous public debt... |
| Housing Market without Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Ending new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac activity in the housing market would reduce gross domestic product an estimated 0.0037 percent, while employment would decrease an estimated 14,000 jobs or just 0.01 percent... |
| Amtrak: The Bottomless Pit Amtrak posted a $361 million operating loss in 2012, its smallest operating loss since 1975... |
| Americans Are Raiding Their 401(k)s in Record Numbers Twenty-five percent of workers dip into their nest egg to pay mortgages, credit card debt and other bills, with 33 percent of those in their 40s raiding their savings... |
| Cigarette Smugglers Profit from Disparity in State Cigarette Taxes With a state cigarette tax of $4.35 per pack, the highest in the country, New York's increase in cigarette smuggling since 2006, 170 percent, has mirrored the 190 percent rise in its tax rate... |
| The Fiscal Cliff Deal Does Not Limit Itemized Deductions Under the new fiscal cliff deal, the incentive for high-income earners to donate to charity will increase as the tax reward rises from 35 percent to 39.6 percent on each dollar... |
| Our Cars' Weight Problem Crash tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety indicate that smaller cars are virtually obliterated in 40 mile per hour crashes when compared with their heavier counterparts... |
| Three Myths about Government Default Congress has no legal or constitutional responsibility to cover the bill for entitlements... |
| Low-Income Workers Suffer High Effective Marginal Tax Rates Each additional dollar low-income workers earn between $5,000 and $20,000 brings only an additional $0.15 in disposable income, which amounts to a marginal tax rate of 85 percent... |
