Economy

(AP) – Obama suggests value-added tax may be an option

President Barack Obama suggested Wednesday that a new value-added tax on Americans is still on the table, seeming to show more openness to the idea than his aides have expressed in recent days. Read More Here

(AP) – Millions face tax increases under Dems budget plan

President Barack Obama’s Democratic allies in the Senate promise to cut the deficit by almost two-thirds over the next five years, but their budget plan could threaten about 30 million people with tax increases averaging $3,700 in 2012 and after because of the alternative minimum tax. Read More Here

(GlobeAndMail) – Canada rejects IMF bank tax plan

‘Canada will not go down the path of excessive, arbitrary or punitive regulation of the financial sector,’ Finance Minister Flaherty says – Read More Here

(DailyMail) – Cameron in benefits threat to the workshy as he declares: ‘The free ride is over’

The message was carried on the first of a new series of posters, featuring the slogan: ‘Let’s cut benefits for those who refuse work.’ Read More Here

(TheEconomicCollapse) – America’s Crumbling Infrastructure

One of the key signs that we are in the early stages of an economic collapse and that we are heading towards another Great Depression is America’s crumbling infrastructure. The truth is that our infrastructure is literally falling apart all around us. Read More Here

(BusinessInsider) – Forget 10% Unemployment, The Real Job Loss Pain Number Is 54%

A March survey from Pew shows just how broad the unemployment pain has been felt. When you hear of 10% unemployment, you might imagine 1/10th of Americans experiencing extreme financial stress from the recent recession.

Yet given the unemployment rate’s odd methodology whereby it drops people who stop looking for work out of the data, and the fact that American households usually have more than one person, the real ‘pain’ number is 54% — over half of American households felt the direct impact of job losses: Read More Here