by Richard Eskow | Dec 14, 2009 | Blog
The $149 billion number - the amount of revenue the CBO estimates the excise tax will bring in - has becoming gospel in Washington. But there's a very good chance the number is overstated, possibly by tens of billions of dollars, and the mistake seems to have been...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 14, 2009 | Blog
The battle to resist the excise tax continue, with a front line of resistance forming in the House and Senate. Efforts include the movement to drum up support for the Sanders-Franken-Brown Amendment, which replaces it with a high-earner tax similar to that contained...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 14, 2009 | Blog
Kirsten Powers has an editorial at the New York Post attacking the excise tax. "(N)no topic has gotten more ink during the health-care debate than cost," she observes. "This question has become the obsession distracting us from the moral imperative to provide health...
by Roger Hickey | Dec 13, 2009 | Blog
On Monday morning, wealthy hedge fund mogul Peter Peterson and his Commission on Budget Reform will hold a press conference to issue a "Call to Action to Stem the Mounting Federal Debt." Their scary promotional material declares, "The ever-growing federal debt is...
by Sam Pizzigati | Dec 13, 2009 | Blog, Economy
AOL and Time Warner split, Comcast and NBC join. The merger merry-go-round continues to spin. Investment bankers and corporate execs get the brass ring. The rest of us get pink slips and higher prices. What may be the dumbest corporate merger of all time — the...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 12, 2009 | Blog
Recently the Senate passed Sen. Barbara Mikulski's Women's Health Amendment, which requires health insurance companies to provide free mammograms and other preventive health services for women. This was lauded by many, since women's health needs have traditionally...