In Case You Missed It...

This week on Off the Charts, we discussed the federal budget, federal taxes, the economy, state budgets, Social Security, and housing policy.

• On the federal budget, we excerpted our analysis of the budget proposal from Republicans on Congress’ deficit-reduction “supercommittee,” and Robert Greenstein examined a recent proposal to the committee from Erskine Bowles, co-chair of the President’s fiscal commission.

• On federal taxes, Chuck Marr noted a new Joint Tax Committee study that raises red flags about House Republicans’ effort to craft a corporate tax reform plan.  Chye-Ching Huang outlined several reasons why the federal tax system has become less effective in offsetting income inequality in recent decades.  Kathy Ruffing showed that government in the United States collects less revenue than most other developed countries.

• On the economy, Chad Stone highlighted our statement and graphics on the October jobs report, and we featured Jared Bernstein’s recent New York Times op-ed on myths about small business and job creation.

• On state budgets, Michael Leachman pointed out that states and localities are still cutting jobs in order to help balance their budgets, and Phil Oliff explained that some school districts’ adoption of a four-day school week would hurt education and, ultimately, the economy.

• On Social Security, Kathy Ruffing clarified why a recent claim that Social Security will add to the deficit in 2011 is misguided.

• On housing policy, Barbara Sard warned against a proposal to raise rents for the poorest families receiving housing assistance, and Doug Rice explained that proposed cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development budget are especially unwise given the recent increase in homelessness.

In other news, we released Chad Stone’s statement on the October 2011 jobs report, as well as reports on the latest deficit-reduction plans from several Democrats and Republicans on the supercommittee, and on the proposed rent increase for many poor families.