The food-stamp program spending grew primarily because of new program rules, and going back to 2007 program rules would yield significant savings for taxpayers.

A map illustrating combined state and local sales tax rates by state. Which states have the highest, lowest rates?

Insurers of municipal bonds, a market that has shrunk drastically since the fiscal crash of 2008, stand to lose big in the Detroit bankruptcy.

Soaring disability payments bring the Social Security disability trust fund nearer to insolvency.

Despite still being the world’s premiere destination for foreign direct investment, the U.S. share of the global stock of direct investment fell from 39% in 1999 to 17% today, in part thanks to U.S. government policies that discourage investment.

A majority of firms expect Obamacare to cut into profit growth.

In 2013, federal spending approached $3.5 trillion and the deficit dropped to “only” $642 billion. Some are using this small improvement in the nation’s fiscal situation to avoid further budget tightening. But as the figures and graphics in this report show, this is the wrong conclusion to draw.

Since mid-June 2013, when Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke first floated the idea that the Fed might soon start tapering its quantitative easing program, there has been a substantial withdrawal of foreign capital from the emerging market economies.

Total student debt nearly doubled from 2007 to 2012 and now exceeds $1 trillion. Moreover, as recent reports have illustrated, this generation of college students now believes that assuming large student debt loads is simply part of the undergraduate experience.

The Federal Reserve's share of the total public debt outstanding of the United States has increased from 10.8% to 12.0%, as the share held in the U.S. Civil Service Retirement Trust Fund has declined from 5.6% to 4.4%.

Like the federal government, states saw tax revenues spike last year thanks to taxpayers taking income in 2012 to avoid federal tax increases in 2013. But the one-time gain from taxpayers taking capital gains early is likely to steal income, and hence tax revenue, from fiscal 2014, putting a new squeeze on spending.

Florida has benefited the most from the movement of people and their income among states, followed by Arizona and Texas. New York, on the other hand, lost the most income followed by California.

Two independent pension studies appear to back Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr’s position that the city’s retirement funds are seriously underfunded and based on optimistic assumptions — major reasons Orr has given for pushing the city into bankruptcy.

The current welfare system provides such a high level of benefits that it acts as a disincentive for work. Welfare currently pays more than a minimum-wage job in 35 states, even after accounting for the Earned Income Tax Credit, and in 13 states it pays more than $15 per hour.

Even as the government worries about reduced competition from a proposed merger of American Air and US Airways, air fares are lower today than 10 years ago, when adjusted for average miles flown.

Data on pay increases from about 370 U.S. colleges and universities, drawn from tax returns and school filings with the department of education, and adjusted for inflation. 

What if state and local government deficits doubled over night and nobody noticed? That’s what happened last Wednesday when the Bureau of Economic Analysis released its comprehensive revision of the National Income and Product Accounts.

At present, the rolling twelve month average of Chevy Volt sales is nearly 80% below President Obama's planned average figure of 10,000 per month.

Prices are rising and sales are increasing, but home ownership is at nearly a 20-year low.