News -03-01-05 Americans Unhappy With Jobs (CBS News) "U.S. workers, pushed to produce more and uneasy about new technology and other changes, are markedly less satisfied with their jobs than a decade ago, a new survey says." 3-05 -03-04-05 Greenspan Touts Sales Tax (CBS News) "Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Thursday embraced the notion of overhauling the tax system in the United States and said that some form of a consumption tax — such as a national sales tax — could spur greater economic growth." "Bush's advisers have spoken favorably of the economic benefits that could be achieved by moving from a system that taxes income to one that taxes consumption. However, Democratic critics contend such a consumption tax would hit low-income Americans the hardest." 3-05 -06-07-05 GM to Cut 25,000 Jobs (CBS News) "General Motors Corp. plans to eliminate 25,000 jobs in the United States in the next few years by closing additional assembly and components plants, part of a plan to revive its struggling North American operations." 6-05 -08-15-05 Gas Prices at Record High (ABC News) "Retail gas prices hit another record high over the past three weeks, mirroring a rapid increase in the cost of crude oil, according to a nationwide survey released Sunday." "The average price for all three grades rose nearly 20 cents to $2.53 in the three weeks ending Aug. 12, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semimonthly Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gas stations around the country. The figures were not adjusted for inflation." 8-05 01-12-05 U.S. Trade Deficit Jumps (USA Today) "The trade deficit unexpectedly surged 7.7% to a record in November, as oil imports jumped and exports dropped despite a weaker dollar, which makes American goods cheaper overseas." 1-05 1-4-03 Bush Administration Proposes Economic Stimulus (CNN - Loughlin) "Aides said tax cuts would be a large part of the mix" in the President's economic stimulus proposal. "Administration and congressional sources say components of the president's plan that are under consideration include:" "Cuts in taxes on stock dividends, which aides say could help promote investment and spur growth." "Acceleration of some of the personal tax cuts enacted in 2001 but not set to take hold until 2004." "Tax deductions for businesses, likely to include a break for investments on new equipment." "An extension of unemployment benefits." 1-03 1-4-03 Democrats Propose Economic Stimulus (CNN - Loughlin) " 'Democrats know the key to restarting economic growth: tax relief for middle class families, business incentives to create new jobs, and investments in human talent,' Daschle said, according to a transcript of his comments released by his office." " 'Unfortunately, recent reports suggest that the president's first proposal this new year will do none of those things. Instead, the president's idea of helping the economy seems to have centered around writing a special tax break for corporate dividends.' " 1-03 1-7-03 Comparison of Proposals for Economic Stimulus (MSNBC - Curry) "A Congressional Budget Office analysis last year concluded that “tax cuts that are targeted toward lower-income households are likely to generate more stimulus dollar for dollar of revenue loss — that is, be more cost-effective and have more bang for the buck — than those concentrated among higher-income households.” "Wyss [chief economist of Standard & Poor’s] agrees with this view, saying that in the short run, a payroll tax holiday would be more stimulative than a dividend tax cut." 1-03 Papers -02-06-05 Bush 2006 Budget Includes Deep Cuts (ABC News) "President Bush's budget will propose slashing grants to local law enforcement agencies and cutting spending for environmental protection, American Indian schools and home-heating aid for the poor, The Associated Press learned Saturday." "According to figures obtained by the AP, Bush would slice a $600 million grant program for local police agencies to $60 million next year. Grants to local firefighters, for which Congress provided $715 million this year, would fall to $500 million." "The Coast Guard now part of the Homeland Security Department will get $8.1 billion, $600 million over this year. Included will be a healthy increase for its plans to buy more oceangoing vessels, a boon to the new chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., in whose state many of the ships are built." "Community health centers would grow to over $2 billion, an increase of $304 million, or almost 18 percent, over this year. Bush said he wants to every poor county to have one of the centers, which are used heavily by the poor." 1-05  Alternative Proposals for Economic Stimulus (CNN - Jackson) Five key proposals to stimulate the economy include the following:  1. "Speed up tax cuts. The idea is to move up to 2003 some of the federal income tax cuts already on the books, possibly the across-the-board rate cut now set for 2004...." "But it would benefit upper-income taxpayers most. Taxpayers making $1 million a year would get an average reduction of $19,557" while "taxpayers making between $30,000 and $40,000 a year would get only $146." 2. "Cut taxes on dividends." "Making corporate dividends tax-free to individuals would pump billions into the economy, and also make it easier for corporations to raise funds to invest and create jobs in the future, experts say." "Taxpayers making $1 million or more would get $27,097, while those making $30,000 to $40,000 would get $42." 3. "Extend unemployment insurance benefits. At the end of December, the struggling economy suffered another setback when almost 800,000 people lost the extended unemployment insurance benefits that Congress had provided as a counter-recession measure." "Renewing those benefits would be -- dollar for dollar -- an even more effective stimulus measure than tax cuts, according to many economists. The reason is that jobless workers tend to spend every dollar of their benefits." 4. "Payroll tax cut. "As an alternative to speeding up cuts for upper-income taxpayers, some have proposed a cut in payroll taxes, which are paid by every worker starting on the first dollar earned. A temporary payroll tax cut could provide a big economic stimulus: just exempting workers from payroll taxes on the first $10,000 of income for one year could pump $100 billion into the economy. For taxpayers making $1 million it would produce a cut of $1,137, while for those making between $30,000 and $40,000 a year it would bring a cut of $788." 5. "Fiscal aid to states. A fiscal crisis at the state level is threatening to drag the economy down." "Economists estimate the combined budget gap of all the states as high as $70 billion. The National Governors Association calls it the worst fiscal crunch since World War II." "Some states are laying off workers, adding to unemployment. Some are raising taxes, partially offsetting the economic benefit of cuts in federal taxes." In summary, the first and second proposals will mainly help the wealthy. The third proposal will mainly help the poor. The fourth proposal will help wealthy, middle-class, and poor in almost equal amounts. The fourth proposal, a payroll tax cut, will also be a strong stimulus to the economy. 1-03 Bush 2006 Budget Cuts Education and Programs for the Poor (CNN News) "About one-third of the programs subject to elimination are in the Education Department, including federal grant programs for local schools in such areas as vocational education, anti-drug efforts and Even Start, a $225 million literacy program." "In all, the president proposed $137 billion less over the next 10 years than previously forecast for mandatory programs with much of that occurring in reductions in Medicaid, the big federal-state program that provides health care for the poor, and in payments the Veterans Administration makes for health care." "Many of the spending cuts in the plan are repeats of efforts the administration has proposed and Congress has rejected previously." "Democrats complained that Bush was resorting to draconian cuts that would hurt the needy in order to protect his first term tax cuts that primarily benefited the wealthy." 1-05 Tax Cut Will Help Some (MSNBC News) "That tax-cut measure passed by Congress this week will boost the nation’s gross domestic product by about 1 percent over the next year, welcome news for an economy that has been bumping along at a sluggish growth rate of less than 2 percent in recent months. But economists are divided on whether the $350 billion fiscal stimulus program will be sufficient to get the economy growing fast enough to reverse rising unemployment." 5-03

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