Biden Promises No More Drilling for Oil, in Last-Minute Attempt to Turn Out Progressive Base cnsnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cnsnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Despite stimulus checks being part of the reason inflation is so high, many Americans are eager for another round of payments as they continue to struggle with higher prices.
Some increase in unemployment insurance benefits beyond the normal six months in a recession makes sense, but the current length of 99 weeks (just under two years) is excessive. Moreover, any extension comes with a real economic cost and should be paid for with spending reductions. No one suggests eating a large Thanksgiving dinner to help lose weight, but some in Congress do suggest spending more on unemployment insurance to boost the economy. Both proposals would backfire and miss the point.
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the “Great Recession” officially ended four years ago. Nonetheless, job growth remains anemic. Many economists have struggled to explain its prolonged weakness.[1] Neither weak demand nor mismatches between workers’ skills and job requirements can fully account for it. An overlooked cause may contribute to the problem: reduced labor supply.
A number of U.S. legislators want to give the Obama Administration the power to impose tariffs on imports from countries that manipulate their currencies. Such a policy could boomerang on U.S. exporters if other governments follow suit, since reductions in the value of the dollar in recent years could be used to justify new foreign tariffs on U.S.