Despite the hoopla over recent jobs numbers and the June 5 long-term fiscal outlook from the Congressional Budget Office, the underlying reality of the U.S. economy hasn’t changed all that much lately. We are still in the midst of the hard slog following the financial crisis, and we still face a massive long-term, government budget deficit. more

A “moral hazard” is defined as a lack of incentive to guard against risk where one is protected from its consequences. more

On April 5, at a signing ceremony attended by a bipartisan group of lawmakers and entrepreneurs from around the country, President Barack Obama signed into law the Jumpstart Our Business Startups – or Jobs – Act. In his remarks prior to the ceremony, President Obama described the act as “a potential game-changer” for startups and small businesses. more

Through April of this year, Rhode Island continued to have the second-highest unemployment rate in the United States, leaving the state with 62,178 people unemployed. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April was 11.2 percent, a one-tenth of a percentage point increase from the March rate. In fact, a double-digit unemployment rate is forecast for Rhode Island through the end of 2013. more

The most recent state-level employment figures remind us that this economic recovery, like the recession that preceded it, is astonishingly uneven across the United States. more

From 65 to 67. Only two years. What’s the big deal? Candidate Romney, who just turned 65, has proposed upping the age of Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67 – a “cut-federal-spending” initiative that reflects his business savvy. more