Daily Policy Digest
Economic Issues
| How the Federal Housing Administration Hurts Working-Class Families and Communities An estimated 40 percent of the Federal Housing Administration's business consists of loans with either one or two subprime attributes -- a FICO score below 660 or a debt ratio equal to or greater than 50 percent... |
| Gauging the Guidance that Models Give the Fed The computer-modeling programs the Federal Reserve uses have overestimated the strength of the economy for several years... |
| The Risky Mortgage Business: The Problem with the 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage Because the government protects large financial institutions that provide mortgages, there is less regulation, which allows lenders to make risker decisions that often end up hurting the taxpayer... |
| Another Ho-Hum Year for the Economy Likely in 2013 The Federal Reserve expected growth between 2.3 percent to 3 percent; however, it now expects 2012 to close with annual growth no better than 1.8 percent... |
| India and the United States: How Individuals and Corporations Have Driven Indo-U.S. Relations Whereas most foreign policy discussions focus on government policies and diplomatic initiatives, relations between India and the United States have been driven substantially by corporations and individuals... |
| For Federal Workers, the Grass Isn't Greener in the Private Sector According to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation, public workers make comparable salaries to private sector workers... |
| The Fiscal Cliff and the Next Recession If action is taken to avert the fiscal cliff, real gross domestic product would increase by 1.4 percent and full-time employment would increase by 1.8 million jobs by the end of next year, says Peter Ferrara, a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis... |
| An Economic Guide to Cliff-Diving Because markets can respond instantaneously, the mere perception that the government is going over the fiscal cliff can set off a chain of events... |
| With Election Over, Administration Unleashes New Rules New Environmental Protection Agency rules could cost manufacturers hundreds of billions of dollars -- up to $111 billion by government estimates and $138 billion by industry estimates... |
| Leave the Consumer Price Index and Cost-of-Living Adjustment Out of the Budget Talks House Republican hope that switching to a chained consumer price index would slow adjustment of income tax brackets for inflation and reduce annual cost of living increases for Social Security retirees... |
