Conor Clarke

Plenty of people are getting worked up over the idea of local, state, and even national governments considering taxing soda to make up for budget deficits. If Americans are comfortable with taxes on alcohol and cigarettes, why don't they want them on sugary soft drinks?… More »

Nice little scoop from Bob Williams of the Tax Policy Center, who wades into the weeds of the Obama administration's tax plans and returns alive, bearing news that the administration actually cutting taxes for some high-income earners:The administration's tax proposals call for hiking the top two tax rates from 33 and 35 percent to 36 and 39.6 percent and raising the threshold to get into the new 36 percent bracket. For couples, that bracket would start at $231,300…… More »

Nice little scoop from Bob Williams of the Tax Policy Center, who wades into the weeds of the Obama administration's tax plans and returns alive, bearing news that the administration actually cutting taxes for some high-income earners:The administration's tax proposals call for hiking the top two tax rates from 33 and 35 percent to 36 and 39.6 percent and raising the threshold to get into the new 36 percent bracket. For couples, that bracket would start at $231,300…… More »

Yoo has written columns for the Inquirer on a freelance basis, but the arrangement now seems to have become more formal. … More »

It's great that Citigroup is lending again, but it's strange to see headlines like, "Citigroup Lends Nearly $45 Billion in TARP Funds." Money is fungible! Citigroup received $45 billion in TARP funds, but the money it lends can come from any corner of its coffers -- each dollar is equally effective.This is really a minor point. But I thought it was annoying when banking executives claimed that their bonus payments "would come out of operating revenue, not…… More »

You're forgiven if you think the Chrysler Bailout is a hot new car that competes with another model called the GM Rescue. Then there is the Ford Forgo, brought to us by the only Detroit auto maker to forgo government assistance, at least so far.That's good for the taxpayers and for Ford, right? Well, maybe not. While General Motors and Chrysler will emerge from the government restructuring wringer with significantly reduced debt, Ford will still likely be obliged…… More »

New tax targets traders like Santelli and friends from the Chicago Tea Party.… More »

But I see, via David Wiegel, that 29% of the American public thinks "cap and trade" does, in fact, have something to do with regulating Wall Street. Meanwhile 24% of the public correctly identifies it as having something to do with the environment and 17% incorrectly identifies it as having something to do with health care. A slight plurality pleads ignorance. Hmmm.… More »

There is much that I find agreeable in Robert Samuelson's column on the corporate tax, but I don't understand the upshot of this paragraph: Most countries don't tax the foreign profits of their multinational firms at all. Take a Swiss multinational with operations in South Korea. It pays a 27.5 percent Korean corporate tax on its profits and can bring home the rest tax-free. By contrast, a U.S. firm in Korea pays the Korean tax and, if it returns the profits to…… More »

The future of local reporting is going to look like the Wall Street Journal.… More »

True to its word, the administration released a huge number of tedious-sounding budget documents this morning (eg, "Dimensions of the Budget"). Run, don't walk, to find them here. As Tim Fernholz says, the newsiest non-healthcare item in the document dump is probably the the revised deficit estimate -- it's going to be about $90 billion higher this year than in February. But the budget release is also of full of nice raw data about the economy. I've slogged through…… More »

To build a new foundation for economic growth and change for the future, we can't afford to waste taxpayer dollars. That's why the president is taking on the No. 1 driver of our deficit, spiraling health care costs, this year. Make no mistake: Getting health care costs under control is the key to our fiscal future. And we need to reform health care in a way that will slow cost growth both for the federal government and for families.But the centrality of health care…… More »

Later this morning the White House is releasing new details on the budget, which will include new details on its plan to reform the manner in which foreign corporate income is taxed. I got the sense last week that the proposed changes were party of a larger scheme to overhaul the corporate tax. Deputy National Economics Council Director Jason Furman wrote that the "administration's plan is intended as a major, first step" in addressing problems with the tax, and…… More »

It's kind of irresistible that McDonald's has a training facility called Hamburger University that, according to this old MarketWatch article, actually seems to offer a degree in "Hamburgerology." Ha ha ha. But according to the Financial Times McDonald's is getting slightly serious about this education stuff and now has hopes to offer a full-blown phD. The FT reports:… More »

Later this morning the White House is releasing new details on the budget, which will include new details on its plan to reform the manner in which foreign corporate income is taxed. I got the sense last week that the proposed changes were party of a larger scheme to overhaul the corporate tax. Deputy National Economics Council Director Jason Furman wrote that the "administration's plan is intended as a major, first step" in addressing problems with the tax, and…… More »

Americans haven't rediscovered thrift in the recession. They never had it.… More »

How much crime should we expect the financial crisis to create?… More »

It looks like Obama will win in Bankruptcy court:The small but staunch lenders group that stood against the government-orchestrated sale of Chrysler said today it will withdraw its public opposition after two of its largest remaining members dropped out.The decision came after OppenheimerFunds, the New York-based asset manager, and Stairway Capital, a hedge fund on Long Island, who were leading the effort, determined that the group was no longer large enough to be…… More »

Ezra Klein says read Moe Tkacik's big takedown of CNBC, so I read it. And it's worth it. I'm not sure the piece has a tight theory for why the network is so profoundly annoying to watch, but it's full of grating television anecdotes. And some of that makes me wonder if CNBC -- tedious cheerleader for the stock market -- need to have a little more faith in it. … More »

A couple of weeks ago there was some debate over whether it was legal for the FDIC to start doing things beyond guaranteeing deposits -- like, say, guaranteeing billions of dollars in non-recourse loans used to purchase toxic assets. But I think William Seidman makes a good point about the FDIC, which is that giving it all these new tasks will, not surprisingly, require hiring thousands of new FDIC employees: … More »