Economic Crisis

With the Occupy movement taking over more of the American dialogue, many onlookers are beginning to ask the question: what political thought drives these protests?

The OWS protesters themselves say the movement is “not political.” However, it must be derived from some governing thought paradigm. As Ecclesiastes 1:9 states, “there is nothing new under the sun,” so to find the political thought underpinnings of the current OWS movement, we must look to the past.

There has been a lot of discussion by political pundits describing the movement as either Marxist or libertarian. In reality, OWS is still in the beginning phase of a grassroots social movement. It shares broad goals with many thought paradigms but does not have one single philosophy supporting it. more >>

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) has introduced a couple pieces of legislation that would attempt to make airline travel less of a headache for passengers and lighter on their wallets, just in time for the holiday season.

One of the proposed legislation would prohibit airlines from charging passengers for the first checked bag. The other would allow the airlines to charge fees but, if the airline chooses to do that, their taxes would be hiked.

According to CNN, that added revenue from extra taxes would raise the $260 million that the Transportation Security Administration needs to handle the extra carry-on bags. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testified, according to The Washington Post, that the cost of security screening has increased as the number of checked bags has decreased by 20 percent, leading to a deficit. more >>

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or “supercommittee,” failed to agree on a bill that would reduce future budget deficits by $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years. Members of Congress were hoping that the supercommittee would solve many difficult political issues in its bill. Failure sets in motion seven issues that will set the political debate for the next year.

1. Payroll Tax Cut

The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (Tax Relief Act, hereafter) included a temporary reduction in the payroll tax for Social Security (or FICA) paid by employees, from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent. The tax cut expires at the end of 2011. more >>

After two months of occupying Wall Street, protesters across the country have begun to occupy the conversation that Americans are having regarding the current economic state of the country. However, many people are still unsure as to who the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters are, and what exactly it is they want. As the protests spread across the country, it is important for the general population to have a full understanding of this grassroots movement.

Who is protesting?

OWS is a youth-led movement, something that has not been seen in this country for decades. Noreen Malone, a 27-year-old writer for the New York Magazine recently penned a story titled “It Sucks to be Us,” about what it is like to be a twenty-something in today’s economy. Malone told Daniel Gross of The Daily Ticker that most protesters are “disappointed” because they “did all the things” that they were supposed to do, which includes going to college, but have since found that they are not reaping the benefits they were promised, like a job. more >>

The Joint-Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or “supercommittee,” appears on the verge of failure in its mission to reduce future deficits by at least $1.2 trillion. In Sunday interviews, members of the supercommittee each blamed the members of the opposing party for failures to reach an agreement, but expressed hope that a deal would yet be reached before the Wednesday deadline.

“Nobody wants to give up hope,” supercommittee co-chair Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) said on “Fox News Sunday,” but, “reality is starting to overtake hope.”

Democrats are blaming Republicans for refusing to support tax increases. Republicans are blaming Democrats for refusing to support entitlement reform without tax increases. more >>

While bipartisanship seems to be eluding the “supercommittee” as its deadline approaches, Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Christopher Coons (D-Del.) introduced a more modest bipartisan jobs bill this week. The bill weakens, however, rather than reinforces, current efforts to simplify the tax code.

The goal of the American Growth Recovery, Empowerment and Entrepreneurs (AGREE) Act is to take the parts of President Obama's jobs bill proposal and Republican ideas on job creation that both parties agree on and put them together in a bill that can gain bipartisan support.

The bill would extend many tax credits and exemptions for businesses aimed at encouraging investment. It would also provide a tax credit for veterans who start a business franchise, allow for an increase in immigration for certain types of work visas, and clarify that federal officials can share information on copyright violations with those who hold the copyrights. more >>