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September 1, 2023
Despite Staggering Improper Payments, New Labor Department Report Calls for Reviving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
As America prepares to celebrate Labor Day, it’s timely to wonder what the US Department of Labor (DOL) has been up to. One noteworthy recent action was DOL’s August 21…
August 23, 2023
Labor Department Report Finds Pandemic Unemployment Program Had a Staggering 36 Percent Improper Payment Rate
On August 21, the US Department of Labor (DOL) released its long-awaited “improper payment report” on the troubled Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. PUA was an unprecedented federal unemployment benefit program that…
August 14, 2023
Tracking Plans to Make Pandemic Benefit Expansions Permanent
In 2008, former White House Chief of Staff and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel famously said what has come to be known as Rahm’s rule: “You never want a serious crisis to go to…
August 14, 2023
The Narcissism of Small Diffidences
…for it, and keep earning it. Only then will you matter in this house, at this school, in this world.” Teaching kids that they matter is hard to do in…
August 9, 2023
The CTC Work Incentive Works
…Figure 3, parents working multiple jobs is extremely rare no matter the family income, but especially uncommon among families with income below the full-CTC income threshold. The belief that many…
August 3, 2023
Does Money (and Economic Growth) Buy Happiness?
…US, well done. Time to dial things down. Less work, more leisure. But maybe not. A 2021 analysis by Matthew A. Killingsworth, a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School,…
July 28, 2023
It Really Is More Expensive to Give Everyone $1 Than to Give Some People $1
In a piece from last year, Matt Bruenig of the People’s Policy Project argues (in the title of the piece) “Universal Benefits Cost Less Than Means-Tested Benefits.” He lays out his central…
July 18, 2023
Yet More Absurdities in Biden’s Housing Policy
…make matters worse, as long as funds remain, a borrower may claim this payment supplement every five years, which means that it could be re-upped just when the prior supplement…
July 17, 2023
The Latest Extraordinary Findings on Pandemic Improper Payments
A recently released US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report benignly titled “A Framework for Managing Improper Payments in Emergency Assistance Programs” serves as a forward-looking guide for policymakers responding to future emergencies….
July 12, 2023
Employment in SNAP: Setting the Record Straight
…non-recipients report receiving it. This misreporting should give researchers caution when presenting the results of any analysis that relies on Census data alone. To make matters worse, researchers often misrepresent…