“The Congress faces an array of policy choices as it confronts the prospect of large annual budget deficits and further increases in the already-large government debt that are projected to occur in coming decades under current law. To help inform lawmakers about the budgetary implications of changing federal policies, CBO periodically issues volumes of policy… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: November 2014
Urban Water Blueprint
Mapping conservation solutions to the global water challenge – The Nature Conservancy “This report addresses a critical issue facing mayors in cities around the world: access to clean and adequate water supplies. The growth of urban populations, coupled with incidences of sudden climate stress and long-term land degradation of drinking watersheds, pose increasing risks to… Continue Reading
FTC Issues FY 2014 National Do Not Call Registry Data Book
“The Federal Trade Commission today issued the National Do Not Call Registry Data Book for Fiscal Year 2014. The FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry lets consumers choose not to receive telemarketing calls. Now in its sixth year of publication, the Data Book contains a wealth of information about the Registry for FY 2014 (from… Continue Reading
Immigration Court Filings Rise12 Percent; Backlog Continues to Climb
“During FY 2014, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) filed 222,956 applications for removal orders in Immigration Court, up 12.2 percent from the previous year. Despite an overall increase, there was a substantial drop in the number of applications that were based on allegations of criminal activity by the individual. In fact, only 20,217 out… Continue Reading
Lessons From Fair Lending Law For Fair Marketing and Big Data
Lessons From Fair Lending Law For Fair Marketing and Big Data. Peter Swire, Nancy J. & Lawrence P. Huang Professor of Law and Ethics, Georgia Institute of Technology. Senior Fellow, Future of Privacy Forum. September 11, 2014. “This White Paper is submitted in connection with Peter Swire’s participation at the Federal Trade Commission’s September 15, 2014 event on… Continue Reading
Revenue Increased in All Service Sectors in 2013, Census Bureau Reports
“Revenue increased in all of the nation’s 11 service sectors for employer firms, according to 2013 Service Annual Survey statistics released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Within the utilities sector, natural gas distribution showed a revenue increase of 15.7 percent, from $82.2 billion in 2012 to $95.1 billion in 2013. The Service Annual Survey… Continue Reading
Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee, October 28-29, 2014
“The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday released the attached minutes of the Committee meeting held on October 28-29, 2014. The minutes for each regularly scheduled meeting of the Committee ordinarily are made available three weeks after the day of the policy decision and subsequently are published in the Board’s Annual… Continue Reading
How Many Americans Could Lose Subsidies If the Supreme Court Rules for the Plaintiffs in King vs. Burwell?
Kaiser Family Foundation: “This map based on Foundation analysis of Congressional Budget Office estimates of Marketplace enrollment provides a state-level breakdown of the number of Americans who in 2016 could be denied financial assistance to help pay insurance premiums for plans purchased in the Affordable Care Act’s federally operated insurance exchanges. In a related column in The Wall… Continue Reading
Multiemployer Plans – A Proposal to Spread the Pain
Multiemployer Plans – A Proposal to Spread the Pain by Alicia H. Munnell, Jean-Pierre Aubry, Wenliang Houand, Anthony Webb, Center for Retirement Research of Boston College. “The brief’s key findings are: A small, but significant, number of multiemployer pension plans face insolvency in the next 20 years – despite actions to reduce benefits and raise contributions. To avoid insolvency, a… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Consumer Product Safety, Defense Contractors, FOIA, IRAs, Intellectual Property, VA Benefits
CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY OVERSIGHT: Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Coordination and Increase Efficiencies and Effectiveness, GAO-15-52: Published: Nov 19, 2014. Publicly Released: Nov 19, 2014. DEFENSE CONTRACTORS: Additional Actions Needed to Facilitate the Use of DOD’s Inventory of Contracted Services, GAO-15-88: Published: Nov 19, 2014. Publicly Released: Nov 19, 2014. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT: DHS Should Take Steps to Improve Cost Reporting and… Continue Reading
ACSI: Rising Fees Hurt Bank Customer Satisfaction; Consumers Dissatisfied with Health Insurance Plans
“Customer satisfaction with banks is down as fees reach new heights, according to a report released today by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The decline nearly reverses two years of ACSI improvement for retail banks. Credit unions, however, continue to rank best among financial services with an ACSI score of 85 on a 100-point… Continue Reading
Demystifying Dodd-Frank: 12 Ways it Reforms the Financial System
Lauren Oppenheimer and Jim Kessler – Third Way: “Four years after its passage, Dodd-Frank remains one of the most important yet least understood laws passed in recent decades. It was designed to reduce the frequency and severity of future financial crises. It sought to overhaul the regulatory structure of Wall Street and the banking industry—from the issuing… Continue Reading
