WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's Treasury secretary says the administration will unveil a series of rules and measures in the coming months to limit the ability of international companies to avoid U.S. taxes.
The following table details how the U.S. government has pledged more than $11.6 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers over the past 19 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Changes from the previous table, published Feb. 9, include a $787 billion economic stimulus package. The Federal Reserve has new lending commitments totaling $1.8 trillion. It expanded the Term Asset-Backed Lending Facility, or TALF, by $800 billion to $1 trillion and announced a $1 trillion Public-Private Investment Fund to buy troubled assets from banks.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the stimulus package will cost $787 billion, rather than $789 billion lawmakers estimated earlier this week.That is what passes as fiscal responsibility on Capitol Hill.
“The jobs the American people care about most -- their own -- will be dramatically safer the day that President Obama signs this plan into law,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat.
The biggest force behind the bond-market shock is the onslaught of new issuance as the government seeks to finance the gaping budget deficit, Fed liquidity programmes, mortgage purchases and bank bail-outs. Yields moved still higher this week partly on the Treasury’s
Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Fannie Mae, the mortgage-finance company under government control, will loosen rules for homeowners seeking to lower their loan payments by refinancing.
The chart is a little fuzzy, but the blue bubble represents Q2'07 and the green bubble represents Q1'09 YTD. The giant bubble with the tiny inset bubble that looks like the earth against the sun is Citigroup.IN FACT, HALF A LOAF COULD BE BETTER FOR the economy, and better for Obama's ultimate treatment in the history books, not to mention his re-election odds. A $500 billion package -- say, 60% tax cuts and 40% increased spending -- could realize his stated aim of spending money wisely, while providing significant fiscal stimulus.One reason for caution is that priming the pump never quite works the way the textbooks say it should. The economy's lifeblood isn't consumer demand, but rather credit, both for the financing of business investment and the purchase of consumer durables like cars. No amount of fiscal stimulus will make much difference if credit is constricted. If credit is available, jobs and higher incomes will follow.
“Never confuse motion with action.” --Ben FranklinThis simple wisdom is apparently beyond the understanding of our elected leaders as demonstrated by the following headline:
Obama Warns of Irreversible Decline Without Action
Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama warned that without immediate steps by the government to revive the economy, family incomes will drop, the unemployment rate could reach “double digits” and the U.S. risks losing a “generation of potential and promise.”
Daniel Mitchell, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, said the government should have no role in helping the (auto) industry, except to provide positive economic conditions -- "a lower corporate tax rate, less red tape and things like that," he said.
Mitchell added that if the government takes control of the auto industry, it will be a recipe for disaster.
"The free markets allocate resources and reward people for doing good things and punish them for doing dumb things," he said. "Government misallocates resources and rewards people for doing dumb things and punishing them for doing good things.
