New York Times (July 7)
The U.S. risks default unless the debt ceiling is raised by early August. Negotiations leave the Times feeling “profoundly uneasy” because “vast changes are being discussed behind closed doors…and on a very tight deadline.” The vast changes include spending cuts for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, as well as overhauling the tax code.
Tags: Debt ceiling, Medicaid, Medicare, Social security, Spending, Taxes, U.S.
The Economist (July 7)
“Deleveraging will dominate the rich world’s economies for years. Done badly, it could wreck them.” The countries that most ballooned their debt are now struggling to reduce it. This is having a major impact on spending and economies. Moreover, citing analysis by the McKinsey Global Institute, attempts to reduce debt have only just begun. For example, “the ratio of total debt to GDP in both America and Britain has fallen by just over ten percentage points from its peak—a fraction of the scale of debt reduction in a typical deleveraging period.”
Tags: Debt, Deleveraging, McKinsey, U.S., UK
Washington Post (July 6)
While universities in the U.S. may be among the world’s best, 57% of Americans feel they do not provide good value. The Post believes universities should condense the study period and offer three-year degrees to make college more affordable. “Today’s students have the capability to acquire and distribute knowledge faster than any previous generation, thanks to technology. Higher education needs to catch up.”
Tags: Affordability, Education, U.S., University, Value
Financial Times (July 4)
Americans and Europeans look at each other and see differences. Others see similarities. “Both the US and the European Union have public finances that are out of control and political systems that are too dysfunctional to fix the problem. America and Europe are in the same sinking boat.”
Tags: Europe, Public finance, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (July 1)
Summer jobs have long been a rite of passage for teenagers, but the percentage of 16-19 year-olds working has dropped to the lowest level since records began in 1948. “Only 24% of teens, one in four, have jobs, compared to 42% as recently as the summer of 2001.” This is due to partly to recession, partly to changing parent expectations, but the Wall Street Journal lays most of the blame on the minimum wage which Congress raised to “$7.25 an hour in 2009 from $5.15 in 2007.” As a result, “millions of kids will spend the summer playing computer games or hanging out” instead of “learning valuable job skills.”
Tags: Job skills, Minimum wage, Summer, Teenagers, Unemployment
The Economist (June 30)
Markets breathed a sigh of relief when Greece passed recent austerity measures, but the “new plan to cut Greece’s debt looks doomed to fail.” The plan is both too draconian and too light on real reform. “It does too little to prevent the epic folly of Greece’s railways and other ruinous schemes. It will screw down too hard on ordinary Greeks, with new taxes, spending cuts and a rushed privatisation scheme. And it will almost certainly condemn Greece to recession, strife and an eventual debt default.”
