Fred Siegmund

The Right Way to Pay for Health Care

The health care bill that finally passed the U.S. Senate has many differences from the bill that passed the House of Representatives, but both bills have additional taxes designed to close certain revenue shortages. In the House bill, some of the finance for expanding coverage to the millions without health care comes from an income […]

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Which College Degrees Have the Best Job Opportunities?

There were 1,524,092 BA degree graduates for the year ending June 2007 — the last year of complete data. Graduates with a BA degree show a nearly unbroken increase since the 1960’s. A total of 22.5 million people received BA degrees in the United States between 1990 and the year ending June 2007. During the […]

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Not All Jobs Are Created Equal

Is employment looking up? In Newsweek, Daniel Gross says that “Jobs Are on the Way!,” noting that even though employment is still off 11,000 jobs, the all-important service sector has added 58,000 jobs. He cites the 0.2% drop in the unemployment rate and a few other markers of improvement, concluding America’s job market is turning […]

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Should the Estate Tax Be Permanently Eliminated?

The Estate tax, a tax on the value of assets at death before ownership is transferred to heirs, has been subject to many pressures and changes over the years. Up until 1981, estate tax rates up to 70 percent were applied to the entire value of an estate with only a $50,000 exemption. Since the […]

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How National Health Care Will Improve Your Salary

The latest turn in the health care debate drops the public option but would extend Medicare eligibility downward to begin at 55 years old. Since the words “public option” bring automatic opposition, health care reform supporters in Congress apparently decided to address the politics with some new words even though Medicare is already a public […]

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We Can’t Buy Our Way Out of a Recession

Black Friday is over. This year, there were many news stories of hope and optimism that consumers would rush out and buy, buy, buy. The broadcast news stations sent their local correspondents to talk with mall owners and department store managers to get their forecast. The ones I saw used their interviews to plug discounts, […]

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Why the Health Care Reform Bill Won’t Control Costs

For the first time, all but the smallest employers will be required to provide health insurance coverage to the workers, thanks to a bill passed in the House of Representatives (“House Democrats promise health-care victory as Republicans remain opposed to bill,” Washington Post, Nov. 8, 2009). The requirement is new, but the bill perpetuates the […]

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Does Congress Really Want to Regulate Wall Street?

More than one year after the financial collapse, Senate Banking Chair Christopher Dodd formally released a proposed financial reform bill, entitled “Restoring American Financial Stability.” The bill intends to create three new independent agencies: the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, the Agency for Financial Stability and the Financial Institutions Regulatory Administration. It intends to create a […]

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Why Economists Are Wrong About Job Numbers

President Obama is hoping to signal his concern about the growing ranks of the unemployed and focus on longer term strategies to improve the job market by holding a job summit, according to the Washington Post (“Obama calls for White House summit on job creation“). It is a worthy goal, but reducing the unemployment rate […]

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It’s Time to Stop Paying Attention to Inflation

The October report of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed an increase of one tenth of one percent in the general price level from August to September. Publishing a monthly index provides several ways to look at price changes and inflation. The monthly CPI can be compared with […]

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For Highly Skilled Positions, High Wages Are Needed

I have heard people say that the director/general manager/CEO/boss should have a higher salary than the people he or she manages. It may not be a universal thought, but in America, high wages carry prestige, which many agree brings authority. Economists commonly reject any idea that your wage depends on prestige or confers authority. In […]

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How the Minimum Wage Increase Really Affects Job Numbers

The minimum wage went up to $7.25 an hour on July 24th, a 10.7% increase over last year, as the last of a three-year planned increase passed by Congress. Since inflation is reported at 3.8% for the year the real wage — actual buying power of the minimum wage — went up for 2009. The […]

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The Recovery Can’t Come Without Job Creation

Recently, the Wall Street Journal ran a story titled “More Signs Point to Economic Recovery” where it reported that “[an] expansion of manufacturing growth in consumer spending and improved home sales indicated Thursday that the U.S. economy is on the mend.” While spending is up, the claim that the economy is on the mend ignores […]

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Fred Siegmund

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