Economy

Abstract: Despite decades of repeated failure, President Obama and Congress continue to promote the myth that government can spend its way out of recession. Heritage Foundation economic policy expert Brian Riedl dispels the stimulus myth, lays out the evidence that government spending does not end recessions--and… Read more

Get Ready for More New Taxes January 2011: President Obama wants to drastically raise taxes in January 2011 over the current… Read more

A few Members of Congress, motivated by American combat in the Middle East, have called for the reinstatement of a compulsory military draft. The case for coercing young citizens to join the military is supposedly based on social jus­tice?that all should serve?and… Read more

The collapse of the subprime mortgage market in late 2006 set in motion a chain reaction of economic and financial adversity that has spread to global financial markets, created depression-like conditions in the housing market, and pushed the U.S. economy to the brink of recession. In response, many in Congress and the executive branch have… Read more

The global economy is in a deep, synchronized recession, and governments around the world are moving mountains to stop job losses and wealth destruction. Monetary authorities are pumping massive liquidity into credit markets and working with finance ministries to prop up, sustain, and nationalize major financial institutions. Nearly every government in Asia, Europe, and… Read more

Revised and updated January 26, 2009 The economy has been in recession for over a year, contracted rapidly toward the end of 2008, and is likely to continue to contract through the first half of 2009 and possibly beyond. The new Administration and new… Read more

Initial estimates from the Department of Labor (DOL) suggest the U.S. economy lost 125,000 jobs in June while the unemployment rate declined by 0.4 percent from May’s highly elevated 9.9 percent.[1] Over the last two months the economy averaged only 58,000 private sector jobs created, suggesting a faltering… Read more

After weeks of negotiations, a congressional conference committee has finally come to an agreement on a financial regulation bill. Weighing in at close to 2,000 pages, the legislation represents the largest expansion of Washington’s role in the financial industry since the Great Depression. Final votes are expected in the House… Read more

Abstract: Year after year, The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Dependence on Government documents the ever-growing number of federal aid programs and the ever-growing number of Americans who rely on government subsidies for their existence. The number… Read more

Abstract: Long-run federal spending is wildly unsustainable, as almost everyone from right to left agrees. Under President Obama, this long-run problem has been married to an almost equally unsustainable short-run problem of deficit spending. Thus, to watch developments… Read more

The latest employment report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reveals that the labor market may have turned a corner. While the unemployment rate climbed to 9.9 percent, the increase is due to more people re-entering the labor force in an effort to find work. Employers created 231,000 private… Read more

Initial estimates from the Department of Labor (DOL) suggest that the unemployment rate increased in April to 9.9 percent, while the U.S. economy created on net 290,000 jobs.[1] While the figures are artificially elevated by the temporary surge of federal government hiring due to the decennial census, they… Read more

Senator Byron Dorgan’s (D–ND) proposal to ban what he calls “gambling” with “naked” swaps is deliberately calculated to evoke images of a wild weekend playing strip poker in Las Vegas. Regrettably it is Dorgan’s policy proposal that is bereft of intellectual or empirical cover. Dorgan’s game of politics on… Read more

In March, employers added 162,000 jobs while the unemployment rate remained constant at 9.7 percent. The report contains some good news for the labor market, as hiring kept pace with an increase in the overall labor force. Hours of work were also up, indicating that the labor market has bottomed… Read more

Eighteen months after the financial crisis, Senator Chris Dodd (D–CT) and the Obama Administration are suddenly in a hurry to pass financial reform legislation, including blanket regulation of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives.… Read more

Abstract: While layoffs increased during this recession, they are not the primary cause of the nearly 10 percent unemployment rate. The main factor driving the unem­ployment rate so high during this recession was, and con­tinues to… Read more