I've gotten tired of the craziness of Wordpress and have decided to move to Substack. I've already migrated all of my posts over and you can start using it now:
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If you will take a brief amble with me through some budget weeds, I assure you it will be in your interest.
Even people who pay some attention to such things don’t know that an important work-support for low-income families is scheduled to expire at the end of 2017. I’m talking about parts of the refundable portions of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) that were expanded in recent years. Without Congressional action, these improvements will go up in smoke at the end of 2017.
My parents’ closest friends had a son, Jamil, who was almost exactly my age. We were playmates during a large portion of my early childhood. While we weren’t in the same class, we attended the same school. We were together during recess and lunch. We went on vacations together and we spent our summers at the beach together. My dad and his had purchased adjoining beach bungalows. Continue reading Childhood memories… My sweet Jamil→
When our daughter was born, we had no idea what awaited us. We had no inkling what kinds of joys and anguish we would experience along the way. We also had no idea what to make of some of the cues someone more experienced would surely have picked up on. Continue reading A stroke of lightning and a gift: our #Epilepsy story→
We tend to perceive our identities as stable and largely separate from outside forces. But over decades of research and therapeutic practice, I have become convinced that economic change is having a profound effect not only on our values but also on our personalities. Thirty years of neoliberalism, free-market forces and privatisation have taken their toll, as relentless pressure to achieve has become normative. If you’re reading this sceptically, I put this simple statement to you: meritocratic neoliberalism favours certain personality traits and penalises others. Continue reading Neoliberalism has brought out the worst in us | Paul Verhaeghe | The Guardian→
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — President Barack Obama acknowledged his pivotal role in the midterm political campaign Thursday, arguing that the November congressional elections are a referendum on his economic policies and blaming Republicans for blocking his efforts to boost wages and create more jobs. Continue reading Obama Defends Economic Progress On His Watch Ahead Of Midterms→
Rape victims billed for medical expenses
In Louisiana, victims of sex crimes often are billed for forensic medical exams and related care even though state and federal guidelines require many of these services be provided at no cost to the victim. An advocate and victim spoke with the Times Picayune l NOLA.com about this issue.
Now that the dust has settled a bit on the Treasury’s exciting announcement of their new inversions rules, let’s kick back and cogitate a bit more on a few of the many remaining issues in the US corporate code.
They’re out and I’ve got an extensive analysis up at PostEverything. For here, some highlights.
–The poverty rate fell more than I expected last year–down half-a-percentage point from 15% in 2012 to 14.5% in 2013. It was fully driven by a sharp decline in child poverty rate, which fell almost two percentage points, from 21.8% to 19.9%, the largest one-year decline since 1966.
