Slashing the Deficit without Massive Tax Hikes – BusinessWeek
President Obama has asked a high-level commission to come up with ways to shrink the shortfall drastically by 2015. Doing so won’t be painless…but it’s possible
Most Regions Added Jobs in January – The Wall Street Journal
Thirty states and the District of Columbia recorded unemployment rate increases in January from a month earlier, while states registered rate decreases, the Labor Department said. But in a sign the job market is inching toward recovery 31 states added jobs in the first month of the year.
Principal Writedowns and the Fake Stress Test – Mike Konczal
I want to connect these three things around a simple premise: writing down those second liens, which would allow principal writedowns of underwater mortgages, would expose the stress tests of last year as a lie.
The Jobs are Always Greener . . . – The Atlantic, Megan McArdle
But green jobs have become the ginseng of progressive politics: a sort of broad-spectrum snake oil that cures whatever happens to ail you. They are the antidote to economic malaise, an underskilled labor force, the inherent unwillingness of the public to suffer any significant economic and personal dislocation in order to save the environment.
Unemployment tops 20% in eight California counties – The Los Angeles Times
New county-by-county figures released by the state Wednesday showed that in eight counties, more than 1 in 5 people were out of work. Moreover, revised numbers for last year show that fewer people were employed than was previously believed.
Mortgage Principal Writedown Won’t Save Housing – CNBC, Diana Olick
That’s why the Obama Administration has created this kind of shell game in the first place.
