We have posted many times (here, for instance) that, despite contrary political rhetoric about high taxes, taxes in the U.S. are at historic lows. Eduardo Porter has now published this essay explaining that the supposed connection between low taxes and economic growth — a basic premise of conservative U.S. thought for many years now — […]
According to this AP article, the FDA is having trouble finalizing the rules for menu labeling required by the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Here's an excerpt: Diners will have to wait a little longer to find calorie counts on most restaurant chain menus, in supermarkets and on vending machines. Writing a new menu labeling law […]
Here. One concern is that fees are not described uniformly, and apparently that makes it hard to comparison shop for such cards. Excerpt: “It’s like the Wild West in terms of the different fees and policies,” said Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO of CardHub.com. “The card issuers have a million different fees and everyone calls it something […]
From the program's website: The Women and the Law Program’s new Student Debt and Education Justice Project will address the causes and consequences of student debt, particularly for low-income students by engaging in legal and policy advocacy and research. Promised activities include a clinical program, research, public education, and policy recommendations. See here for more […]
by Brian Wolfman We told you yesterday about a New York trial court decision invalidating New York City's ban on the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces. Now, go here or click on the embedded video below to see Mayor Bloomberg's remarkable press conference reacting to the ruling. In case you had any doubt: […]
As explained here, "[a] New York state [trial] judge on Monday [March 11, 2013] threw out a ban on large sugary drinks set to go into effect in New York City on Tuesday, calling the new regulation 'arbitrary and capricious.'” The decision is here. We have posted about the ban many times, including here, here, here, […]
Phil Izzo explains here that "[a]ccording to the [Labor Department's] household survey, which is where the unemployment rate comes from, there are nearly 950,000 fewer people employed by the government than there were when the recovery started in mid-2009. If none of those people were counted as unemployed, the jobless rate would be 7.1%, compared […]
In time for Sunshine Week, the Center for Effective Government has issued this report on how the Obama Adminsitration is doing in meeting its pledge to be "the most transparent administration in history." According to the Center, there's good and bad. Here's a synopsis: The Obama administration has dedicated more effort to strengthening government transparency […]
by Brian Wolfman Federal prescription drug oversight was significantly deregulated by the Food and Drug Modernization Act of 1997 (FDAMA), which was signed by President Clinton on November 21, 1997. Among other things, section 127 of FDAMA eliminated FDA authority over drug compounding companies, leaving regulatory oversight to state law. In theory, compounding involves only the […]