|
Improving budget forecast
spreads holiday cheer
|
Fiscal policy
The Denver Post: Colorado's improving budget forecast spreads holiday cheer
Still, the head of the legislature's money- minding Joint Budget Committee stopped short of endorsing the plan to boost education dollars based on budget predictions.
Also: Pueblo Chieftain: Rosier revenue forecast to change state budget plans
Also: The Colorado Independent: Improving economy may make more state money available for schools
Also: Colorado News Agency: Pols eye uptick in fiscal forecast with caution
The Denver Post: Days before payroll tax cut expires, the fighting continues
Colorado's Republican congressmen continued an all-out attack on the U.S. Senate Tuesday, calling for the 100 members to return to Washington and work out a deal for a year-long extension of the payroll taxcut and unemployment insurance.
Also: KUNC-radio: Colorado Republicans Rally for 12-Month Payroll Tax Extension
Boulder Daily Camera editorial: Taxing the (not) rich
Well thank goodness a certain number of House members who have drawn so many lines in the sand over "no new taxes" have, for once, stopped complaining that the Obama administration is creating class warfare by suggesting that millionaires can afford to pay more in taxes. Crediting the tea party movement for sweeping them into power -- or at least, the power to block new taxes and retiring any tax cuts -- the group was mum about class on Wednesday.
Also: Pueblo Chieftain editorial: Consequences
Education News Colorado: Lobato day
The State Board of Education meets at noon today to discuss and vote on whether to appeal a district judge's recent ruling against the state in the Lobato school funding case.
Jobs and economic security
The Denver Post: Colorado's unemployment rate drops slightly to 8.0 percent
Colorado's unemployment rate fell one-tenth of a percentage point to 8.0 percent in November, the state's labor department reported Tuesday. The rate has fallen nearly 1 percentage point from 8.9 percent a year ago.
Also: Denver Business Journal: Colorado unemployment dips to 8%; conflicting data on job trends
Colorado Springs Business Journal: Personal income rises above 2008 peak
Personal income in Colorado hit a peak of $225 billion in the third quarter, up 3.28 percent over the previous $218.1 billion record set in the third quarter of 2008. Colorado personal income rose 4.8 percent year-over-year.
Health care
Health Policy Solutions: If Obamacare is to be overturned, somebody needs to find a better idea
Health care has been a failed market ever since the end of World War II. Most medical research has been government sponsored and the insurance companies long ago let it be known that the elderly, poor, uninsured and disabled were not market segments they sought to serve. As health care has become sophisticated it is not financially attainable without financing using social insurance.
Family economic security
Summit Daily News editorial: Child care assistance makes sense in Breckenridge
Until local employers pay more of a living wage, Summit County's towns must continue to address the yawning gap between what things cost around here and what people are paid. It's simple math, and it's the difference between building a community of workers or a workforce comprised of commuters, transients - or people barely scraping by, always with an eye on the door.
The national scene
The Washington Post: Congress leaves town with an uneasy stalemate and looming payroll tax hike
The House is gone, mostly. The Senate vows not to return. And President Obama is home in Washington while his family vacations in Hawaii, hoping for some kind of agreement between the two that he can sign.
Los Angeles Times: 'Obamacare' to the rescue
A woman who felt President Obama had let the middle class down has changed her mind.
Think tanks
The Commonwealth Fund: Essential Health Benefits: Balancing State Flexibility with Consumer Protections
It will be critical that HHS balances the desire of states and health insurers to determine what benefits are included with the law's intended goal of providing consumers and employers in every state with comprehensive and clearly defined health insurance coverage options.
Brookings Institution: 2011: The Year that Income Inequality Captured the Public's Attention
The year 2011 will be remembered as the year when the idea of income inequality migrated from seminar rooms in colleges and think tanks to Zuccotti Park and main streets across America. According to a CBS/New York Times poll, at the end of 2011, two thirds of Americans agreed the nation had too much inequality. The Congressional Budget Office reported that after-tax income for the top 1 percent had more than tripled since 1979 while that of the bottom 80 percent increased by only one-third.
|
