In his State of the Union Address, President Obama promised that this year, for the first time ever, American taxpayers would be able to go online and see exactly how their federal tax dollars are spent. Just enter a few pieces of information about your taxes, and the taxpayer receipt will give . . . → Read More: The Federal Taxpayer Receipt Calculator Has a Problem]]> From whitehouse.gov:

In his State of the Union Address, President Obama promised that this year, for the first time ever, American taxpayers would be able to go online and see exactly how their federal tax dollars are spent. Just enter a few pieces of information about your taxes, and the taxpayer receipt will give you a breakdown of how your tax dollars are spent on priorities like education, veterans benefits, or health care.

I think this is a great idea, since it will clearly show the priorities of our federal government, so I went to the site and entered my information.  Once I had done that, I entered information for several other common scenarios, and found a problem:

Oops!  Given that over 40% of American households pay negative income tax, it seems unfair that they wouldn’t be able to use this calculator.  Someone should tell the White House about this accessibility error, since I am sure they would like every person in the nation to be able to use this handy tool, and not only those with a positive income tax bill.

On Monday, the National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales jumped 7.6% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.77 million units, up from . . . → Read More: Tax Credit A Strong Stimulant For Exisiting Home Buyers In April]]> Existing home sales soared in April as existing home buyers rushed to take advantage of the tax credit that expired at the end of the month.

On Monday, the National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales jumped 7.6% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.77 million units, up from a rate of 5.36 million in March. Sales year-over-year were up 22.8%.

Even though the jump was widely anticipated, it still beat forecasts. The consensus among economists was that resales in April would only rise at an annual rate of 5.65 million units.

The median price of all existing homes also rose in April. Existing home sales tally the number of previously constructed homes, condominium and co-ops in which a sale closed during the month.

Details of the report show comparable gains for both single-family homes, up 7.4%, and condos, up 9.1%. The Northeast led the regional breakdown of gains.

The median price for single-family home resales was up from a year earlier in over 44% of the areas included . . . → Read More: 44% of Major Metros See Home Prices Up]]> Home prices rose in 67 of 151 U.S. metropolitan areas in Q4, said the National Association of Realtors (NAR) on Thursday. Furthermore the association pointed to a “broad stabilization” of values across the country.

The median price for single-family home resales was up from a year earlier in over 44% of the areas included in the trade group’s quarterly survey.

Some of the metro areas showing the biggest gains from a year earlier were Cleveland (25%), Akron, Ohio, (23%) and San Francisco (13%).

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of previously occupied homes sold jumped 13.9% from the third quarter. The national median price rose 2.9%.

Existing-home sales in the West jumped 16.2% in the fourth quarter to an annual rate of 1.38 million and are 18.2% above a year ago. The median existing single-family home price in the West was $227,200 in the fourth quarter, which is 8.9% below the fourth quarter of 2008, but with many areas showing notable gains.

“Markets in the West such as San Francisco, San Jose and Denver are showing double-digit price increases, and other markets like San Diego and Anaheim have begun to firm up,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR.

“The surge in home sales was driven by buyers responding strongly to the tax credit combined with record-low mortgage interest rates,” said Yun, “With inventory levels trending down over the past 18 months, we expect broadly balanced housing market conditions in much of the country by late spring with more areas showing higher prices.”

“Targeted tax credits” aren’t “incremental moves toward liberty,” they’re just social engineering — shifting the tax burden from those who spend their money the way bureaucrats decide they should spend it, and onto those who . . . → Read More: Credit Where Credits Aren’t Due]]> Ilana Mercer concisely and elegantly makes a point that I’ve been harping on among big-L Libertarians for some time.

“Targeted tax credits” aren’t “incremental moves toward liberty,” they’re just social engineering — shifting the tax burden from those who spend their money the way bureaucrats decide they should spend it, and onto those who spend their money however they damn well please.

Thus far the existing stimulus efforts have taken an abysmal rate of . . . → Read More: Obama Jobs Plan Advances]]> President Barack Obama pressed forward with his job-creation proposals on Tuesday. Specifics included a hiring tax credit to businesses and other stimulus components. Further, those stimulus programs that he believes have worked best thus far, he would like to extend or amplify.

Thus far the existing stimulus efforts have taken an abysmal rate of 700,000 jobs lost a month earlier in the year and reduced that to a loss rate of almost zero. Obama asserts that in the months to come additional proposals can begin accelerate that improving net rate.

President Obama, at the Brookings Institution in DC on Tuesday.
Source: Associated Press

Specifically Obama would like to put an additional $50 billion toward infrastructure spending, ramp up Treasury Department lending to small businesses, extend tax credits for business investment, and offer state/local governments additional funding to help meet strained budgetary obligations.

A new infrastructure boost would further enhance programs that fund roads, bridges, airports, and water system improvements. The implication (as we’ve stated here many times) is that federal stimulus spending could stretch well into (and beyond) 2010. The White House continues to underscored that much of the $700B of the initial catalyst has not yet been spent and that by enhancing the most effective programs, jobs growth will accelerate in 2010.

Obama’s focus on jobs is politically timed well. At a loss rate of 700,000 jobs per month (that were a projected loss for April 2009 and beyond), the economy would have lost over 5M jobs since the time that the initial $700B stimulus measure was passed. Instead the net losses were trimmed to just over 2M in the same time period. (See Job Loss Chart for monthly details)

In addition to Obama’s initiatives, lawmakers are also working to continue relief to those effected by those losses. Democrats on the hill are looking to extend unemployment insurance, temporary food-stamp payment increases and subsidies for health-care purchases by the unemployed.

Following Obama’s job summit last week, the President has now invited congressional delegates to the White House on Wednesday to discuss the specifics of what he’d like to see produced by those legislative leaders.

Obama is likely to assert to his guests that lower-than-expected losses from the TARP should give room to spend more on job creation programs. Republicans of course are demanding that all $200 billion in TARP savings be immediately devoted to reducing the deficit.

With the shift to net jobs growth in coming months, the political climate to accelerate jobs growth will no doubt become more accommodating.

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts