South By North Strategies, Ltd.

Around The Dial – December 6, 2011

Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:

• Working Economics notes the consequences of letting the payroll tax cut lapse.
• The NY Times reports that few job losers have recovered.
• The Brookings Institution looks at the situation facing less-skilled workers.
• The Center for American Progress looks at the state-by-state impact of the payroll tax cut.
• Brad DeLong has a “70% solution.”

Technical Fix Or benefit Cut

Ross Eisenbrey of the Economic Policy Institute explains why switching to a chained measure of consumer prices for the purposes of determining cost of living adjustments to Social Security benefits is unfair to seniors.

No supercommittee member should be allowed to pretend that using the chained CPI to determine Social Security COLAs is a ‘technical’ change to increase their accuracy. It is a benefit cut, pure and simple, and it will do the greatest harm to the oldest of the elderly. Under the proposed COLA, an average-wage worker retiring this year would, in 2031, receive $1,754 less in annual benefits.

Unemployment Insurance Extensions

Heather Boushey of the Center for American Progress maps the state-by-state consequences of a failure  to extend emergency unemployment insurance benefits.  If Congress fails to renew the program, 2.2 million unemployed workers will lose their benefits by February 20102.

Around The Dial – December 5, 2011

Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:

• Off the Charts explains how extending the payroll tax cut helps firms.
• Naked Capitalism shreds “the greedy borrower” theory of the mortgage crisis.
• Fed Watch remains afflicted by “Europessimisim.”
• TaxVox tracks changes in the top marginal income tax rate.
• Paul Krugman asks how things went so wrong for the Eurozone.

SBN In the News: December 2011

South by North Strategies’ analyses of economic issues appeared in several media stories during the first part of December.

• The Charlotte Observer: “Charlotte region’s jobless rate falls in October”
• The News & Observer: “Triangle gains few net jobs”
• The Durham Herald-Sun: “Unemployment rate dips slightly in October”
• The Winston-Salem Journal: “Triad’s jobless rate fell in October”