For the last three decades, the national poverty rate has fluctuated between about 12 and 15 percent percent of the population, peaking in the wake of recessions and then rapidly falling as the economy recovered. In the aftermath of the most recent recession, however, the poverty rate remained elevated at 15 percent for three years in a row (2010 through 2012), diverging from the historical norm in its stability. read more...
In financial statements released this week, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced that they will be paying a combined $14.6 billion in dividends to the Treasury Department in September, based on their second quarter performance. read more...
Over the past 30 years, Congress has passed and the president signed 37 laws that raised the ceiling on the amount of money the federal government is permitted to borrow. With the federal government again due to reach its borrowing ceiling as early as mid-Febuary, President Obama has said he will not negotiate with Congressional Republicans over the debt limit, which allows the government to pay its bills and avoid defaulting on its obligations. In response, Republicans scaled back their expectations, abandoning their insistence on dollar-for-dollar spending cuts and instead trying to force the Senate to pass a budget. read more...
Tax cuts originally enacted in 2001, 2003, 2009 and 2010 are all set to expire on Jan. 1, at the same time that new taxes enacted in the health care law of 2010 take effect. If Congress does not act to avert any of these scheduled changes, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that households in the middle income quintile, making between about $40,000 and $65,000, would see their federal taxes increase by nearly $2,000 in 2013. read more...
As required by Congress, the Obama administration submitted a report today on the across-the-board cuts scheduled to take effect in January. read more...
The housing market went into freefall in 2007 with the crisis in subprime mortgages and hit bottom in mid-2009. Long after the recession formally ended, key indicators continued to show tepid to nonexistent growth, but there have been strong signs this year that the market has started to turn. read more...
Revisions show that during the recession, real GDP did not contract as much as was thought, declining by only 3.1 percent in 2009 rather than the previously reported 3.5 percent. But the post-recession expansion was also weaker than expected; real GDP growth in 2010 was revised down from 3.0 percent to 2.4 percent. read more...
Revisions to economic indicators are commonplace, but the direction they take can be revealing. The graph above shows four indicators from the last half of 2011 through the most current release. In every case, figures that showed promise for a stronger recovery have been scaled back through revisions. read more...
Under current law, a wide range of temporary tax and spending provisions are set to expire at the end of 2012, cutting the yearly budget deficit almost in half and as a result imposing considerable fiscal policy restraint on the U.S. economy. A recent report by the Congressional Budget Office suggests that the short-term economic consequences of letting that happen might be severe. read more...
Since 2005, the yuan has been allowed to appreciate more than 30 percent against the dollar to its current rate of 15.9 cents per yuan. read more...
After dominating the world manufacturing economy for decades, the United States slipped to second place behind China in 2010. read more...
The Energy Department’s projections show the monthly retail price of gasoline peaking next month at $4 a gallon before declining to $3.67 by the November election. read more...
In the fourth quarter, real gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.0 percent, and for the entire year, growth was up 1.7 percent compared to 2010. Real GDP has now been on the rise for ten straight quarters, following record dips in 2008 and 2009. read more...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced this morning that the national unemployment rate held steady in February at 8.3 percent of the labor force. Breaking down that number by demographic group reveals some interesting trends. read more...
Unemployment among men finally dropped to the same level as unemployment among women last month, part of a broadly positive jobs report. read more...
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The Data Mine, CQ Roll Call's multimedia blog, features interactive visualizations of government and congressional data along with in-depth, policy-oriented analysis of the latest facts and figures.
