This chart, which plots consumer confidence against incidences of news stories about the fiscal slope, finally shows the consumer affected by the uncertainty and fear from Congressional action (or lack thereof) tanking the economy. Since the summer, the consumer has been buoyed by a number of factors, including a recovery in housing prices and incremental [...]

Jenni LeCompte at the Treasury Department fleshes out the permanent debt limit de-fanging proposal that Tim Geithner offered as part of the initial White House term sheet on the fiscal slope. She adds the nice touch of calling it the McConnell proposal, since the Republican Senate leader offered a version of it, which actually went [...]

In trying to make a quick understanding of the Boehner counter-offer on the fiscal slope yesterday, I knew that his reference to the “Bowles plan” was not a reference to Bowles-Simpson but rather something Bowles wrote or said in November 2011. It turns out that it came from testimony before the failed Super Committee, where [...]

Zach Carter has a nice list of strategies that would save money for the government’s bottom line without having to either raise taxes or reduce social insurance benefits. They all have a degree of positive benefits to them, from prison reform to ending the drug war (those two are related) to cracking down on offshore [...]

If John Boehner put the Senate’s tax bill on the House floor for an up-or-down vote, it’s overwhelmingly likely it will pass. Members of Congress like Tim Scott have said as much. Another conservative House Republican, Representative Tim Scott, a first-term congressman, said that such a measure “could pass the House,” according to Scott’s spokesman. [...]

You wouldn’t know this from the coverage, as the press has moved on to deficits and grand bargains. But we still have a public health disaster in the middle of the heavily populated Eastern seaboard as a result of Superstorm Sandy and its aftermath. The New York City Health Department is warning medical providers that [...]

In the context of doing a deficit reduction deal at all, this is an extremely strong bid that Tim Geithner delivered to John Boehner today. Now we know why Boehner whined and cried all afternoon. Let’s walk through it. House Republicans said on Thursday that Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner presented the House speaker, John [...]

John Boehner emerged from a meeting with White House negotiators on finding a solution to the fiscal slope expressing “disappointment” with the proceedings. It sounds like Boehner wants the White House to propose both sides of the deal and let him sit on high and vote thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Boehner, addressing reporters after a meeting [...]

Politico’s VanDeAllen team have a exclusive inside must-credit-Politico rundown of the fiscal cliff talks that merely recycles known information and makes a bunch of guesses. Cut through the fog, and here’s what to expect: Taxes will go up just shy of $1.2 trillion — the middle ground of what President Barack Obama wants and what [...]

The Commerce Department revised its estimate of GDP in the third quarter up to 2.7%, a substantial gain from the initial estimate and an indication that the economy grew at a solid clip in the months leading up to the Presidential election, putting wind at the back of President Obama. This represents the fastest economic [...]

I guess worker-led revolts are catching. After a successful set of Black Friday protests at Walmart stores nationwide, New York City will see walkouts at dozens of fast-food restaurants today, part of a more explicit effort to unionize the sector with the slogan Fast Food Forward. After three years of working at the McDonald’s restaurant [...]