The bursting of the real estate bubble and the ensuing recession have hurt jobs, home prices and now Social Security. This year, the system will pay out more in benefits than it receives in payroll taxes, an important threshold it was not expected to cross until at least 2016, according to the Congressional Budget Office….
Whether it’s a correctly called a movement, a backlash or political theater, state declarations of their rights — or in some cases denunciations of federal authority, amounting to the same thing — are on a roll. Gov. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, a Republican, signed a bill into law on Friday declaring that the federal…
Congress wants to establish a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) that will regulate everything from credit cards to mortgages. House Democrats want the CFPA to be an independent agency, but Republicans are opposed. As a result, Senators Chris Dodd and Bob Corker are thinking of making it an arm of . . . the Federal…