Z
    Zachary Roth

    Zachary Roth

    Senior National Affairs Reporter

  • Obama, Romney release dueling tax plans

    President Obama and Mitt Romney released dueling tax plans Wednesday, and helped define some key differences between the two candidates in this election year. Obama 's proposal would overhaul the corporate tax code with the goal of encouraging job creation and investment in the U.S., and reducing tax incentives for shifting operations overseas. "We want [...]

  • Heartland Institute activist on climate-change curriculum: Teach the ‘controversy’

    Last week, documents said to come from a conservative think tank, Heartland Institute, shed light on its strategy to cast doubt on the science of climate change. Part of its tactic: a strategy memo mentioning plans to develop a school curriculum aimed at countering "the alarmist perspective" on the issue. The group, the Chicago-based Heartland [...]

  • Which U.S. counties rely most on government benefits?

    It's not news that reliance on government benefits is on the rise -- not just since the economic downturn of recent years, but over the last few decades. In 1969, 8 percent of Americans' income came from benefits programs. By 2009, that figure had more than doubled to 18 percent. But which parts of the [...]

  • Jobless claims fall to lowest level since before financial crisis

    First-time claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to their lowest level in four years -- another sign that the economy is picking up steam. Three hundred and forty-eight thousand people made initial claims for jobless benefits, the Labor Department said, down from 361,000 the previous week. The figure is now at its lowest mark [...]

  • Congress reaches deal on payroll tax cut and jobless benefits

    The economy looks to be improving, but it's still far from healthy. So it's good news that Congress has come to a deal to make sure it doesn't suffer a hit it can't afford. Lawmakers signed off Thursday morning on a $150 billion  agreement that would leave in place through the end of 2012 the [...]

  • Can Obama’s plan for ‘insourcing’ help revive U.S. manufacturing?

    President Obama toured a Master Lock factory in Milwaukee on Wednesday to urge manufacturers to return jobs to the United States-- part of a wider plan by his administration to increase the number of domestic manufacturing jobs. "Right now we have an excellent opportunity to bring manufacturing back -- but we have to seize it," [...]

  • How Santorum, unafraid to talk about poverty, differs from GOP on economic policy

    As he's shot to the top of national polls of the Republican presidential race lately, Rick Santorum's stance on social issues has garnered most of the attention, while his economic policies have taken a backseat. But with the former Pennsylvania senator set to give a speech on the economy Thursday in Detroit, let's look at [...]

  • Bachus probed for insider trading, but will Congress reforms go far enough?

    How serious is Congress about ending insider trading among members? On Thursday, the House passed legislation intended to crack down on the practice. And that turned out to be the very day the congressman in charge of regulating the nation's banking and financial-services industries acknowledged he's being investigated for possible insider trading. Since late last [...]

  • Homeowner settlement still may not turn housing market around, experts say

    Federal and state officials announced Thursday the largest agreement yet to address the effects of the housing crisis, in which five of the nation's largest banks will pay $26 billion to help current and former homeowners. The deal aims to hold banks accountable for abusive foreclosure practices and to give a boost to the still-struggling housing [...]

  • Will the Supreme Court intervene over Proposition 8?

    A panel of federal judges has ruled California's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. But that's hardly the end of the story. Supporters of the marriage ban -- passed by voters as Proposition 8 in 2008 -- will almost certainly appeal the ruling, which was made by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of [...]

  • Romney’s minimum wage proposal sparks conservative backlash — Steve Forbes: ‘He’s still very defensive about his own wealth’

    Mitt Romney's position on the minimum wage has some on the right sounding the alarm about his candidacy--and it could expose a dangerous fault line between Romney and some of the Republican Party's most reliable backers. Romney said last week that he supports regular increases in the minimum wage to keep pace with inflation, a [...]

  • Eva Longoria raises more than $200,000 for President Obama

    President Obama's no fan of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians." But he just might have a soft spot for "Desperate Housewives," because one of the ABC show's stars has raised major bucks for his re-election bid. Eva Longoria raised between $200,000 and $500,000 for the Obama campaign, according to records released Tuesday by the campaign [...]

  • Paulonomics: Ron Paul’s plans for taxes, spending and Social Security

    If you know anything about Ron Paul's economic views, it's probably that he's not a big fan of the Federal Reserve system, or that he loves the gold standard. But those are hardly the only noteworthy planks in his platform. The Republican congressman from Texas, who now looks to have a real chance of winning [...]

  • D’oh! Oil industry lobbyists punked by enviro activist (AUDIO)

    The oil industry spends millions each year to shape its image and shift the public debate in its favor. But amid growing concern over climate change -- and over the industry's clout in Washington -- it can sometimes find itself losing control of its message pretty quickly. That's what happened earlier this month, when the [...]

  • Unlike rivals, Romney wouldn’t scrap tax hitting private-equity managers

    Over a decade after leaving Bain Capital, the private equity firm he helped start, Mitt Romney continues to receive millions of dollars from the company, thanks to a retirement deal he negotiated, the New York Times reported Monday. The paper also notes that much of this income likely is taxed at a much lower rate [...]

  • Study: Jobless benefit recipients spend more time looking for work

    As Congress continues to mull whether to extend unemployment benefits, a new government study bolsters the case for doing so. Jobless Americans who receive benefits spend more time looking for work than those who don't receive them (pdf), according to a new study by Congress's non-partisan Joint Economic Committee. The finding undercuts the claim, advanced [...]

  • CEO pay shoots back up

    It had been a rough few years for CEOs--at least by their customary pay standards. But not to worry: Good times appear to be here again for the denizens of the executive suite. In news that will likely add to the debate over widening inequality, CEO pay shot up by 27 percent last year, according [...]

  • Millions set to lose jobless benefits — “I’m very scared,” one tells Yahoo News

    For Dawn Deane, the difference between just keeping her head above water and falling under is the unemployment insurance check she receives each week. In June, Deane, who is 49, was laid off from her human-resources job at a Philadelphia nonprofit, where she made over $50,000 a year. Since then, jobless benefits have allowed her, [...]

  • Gingrich would end Fed’s emphasis on jobs, focus only on inflation

    If Newt Gingrich were president--something that has recently at least entered the realm of plausibility--the Federal Reserve would no longer worry about trying to create jobs, and would focus instead only on controlling inflation. And wealthy financial industry tycoons like Warren Buffett would likely get a big tax cut. When Gingrich released his economic plan [...]

  • JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon doesn’t know his tax rate

    When you make as much money as Jamie Dimon, you don't need to know what tax rate you pay. The JPMorgan Chase CEO -- a recent target of Occupy Wall Street protesters -- was asked at an investor conference today about what some see as a hostile political environment toward banks. "Acting like everyone who's [...]