CORRESPONDENTS

Tony Pugh

This Labor Day, America's losing patience with jobless

As the nation celebrates U.S. workers this Labor Day weekend, many jobless Americans say they sense a growing indifference to their plight, and even a certain level of demonization. | 09/01/11 13:09:00 By - Tony Pugh

Poll: Americans are feeling worse about their economy

Continued high unemployment, the recent debt-ceiling circus and the stock-market swoon have left Americans more pessimistic about the economy than at any other time this year, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll. | 08/11/11 17:39:00 By - Tony Pugh

Does debt deal put mortgage-interest deduction in play?

Just as Social Security and Medicare benefits were dangled above the shredder in the debt ceiling debate, another of Washington's sacred cows could end up on the chopping block soon as well. | 08/02/11 17:16:00 By - Tony Pugh

Hypocrisy reigns on all sides in debt ceiling showdown

In the battle to raise the debt ceiling, politics usually trumps principle. How else to explain the 180-degree turns that lawmakers of both parties have made in congressional debt-ceiling votes since 2002? | 07/25/11 16:33:00 By - Tony Pugh

Consumer watchdog agency to officially open for business

The most tangible government reform to grow out of the Great Recession officially goes live this week when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau assumes its regulatory authority on Thursday. The bureau will serve as America's "beat cop" against deceptive, abusive and predatory loan products in the financial marketplace. | 07/19/11 15:18:00 By - Tony Pugh

Debt limit stalemate forces new look at tax hike debate

While the walkouts, finger-pointing and ideological lines in the sand are nothing new to Washington politics, the current debt-ceiling stalemate has opened a dangerous new chapter in economic and political brinkmanship. | 07/14/11 16:21:00 By - Tony Pugh

Bad jobs report sparks more debate over government's role

With June unemployment rising to 9.2 percent and employers creating only 18,000 new jobs, liberals used the dismal report to make their case for more government spending to stimulate the economy. Conservatives, eager to tame runaway deficits, argued that the nation’s overwhelming debt was curbing job creation. | 07/08/11 19:42:31 By - Tony Pugh

Proposals to cut Social Security under scrutiny

Suddenly changes to Social Security may be on the table as President Barack Obama and congressional leaders negotiate a deal to raise the national debt ceiling and trim future budget deficits. | 07/07/11 17:16:00 By - Tony Pugh

Here's a debt reduction plan: Get billions in uncollected taxes

At a time when higher taxes or deeper government spending cuts seem to be the only options available to close the gaping federal deficit, going after more $400 billion a year in uncollected taxes should be a no-brainer. | 06/30/11 15:32:00 By - Tony Pugh

Guess where the jobs are coming back? The Rust Belt

The economic recovery may have stalled in parts of the South and West hit hard by the housing bubble, but Rust Belt states, buoyed by a manufacturing comeback, have seen a steady decline in their jobless rates over the last year. | 06/20/11 18:39:00 By - Tony Pugh

U.S. homeless total holds steady in 2010, but ranks grow outside cities

Despite high unemployment and a stalled economy, the nation's homeless population grew only slightly in 2010 as stimulus-funded initiatives helped to take or keep nearly 700,000 people off the streets, according to a federal report released Tuesday. | 06/14/11 18:50:00 By - Tony Pugh

School lunch prices will rise this fall for some

School cafeteria lunch prices will rise modestly this year in districts that pad their food-service budgets with federal money designed to feed low-income children, under new federal rules posted Monday, | 06/13/11 15:53:00 By - Tony Pugh

AIDS at 30: Killer has been tamed, but not conquered

On June 5, 1981, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning shot to the world when they reported the first known cases of what would soon be called AIDS. | 06/01/11 17:16:00 By - Tony Pugh

Would ending corporate tax breaks make dent in deficit?

As the Obama administration readies a proposal to overhaul the nation's corporate tax structure for the first time in 25 years, Robert McIntyre is again agitating for change. This time around, he's joined by dozens of national and state organizations that want corporations to pay down a larger share of this year's $1.5 trillion federal deficit. They're urging Congress and the Obama administration to make it happen. | 05/31/11 16:42:00 By - Tony Pugh

Rhode Island's Medicaid experiment draws raves, suspicion

Nearly 1,300 elderly and disabled adults have been able to leave Rhode Island nursing facilities or avoid them altogether under a pilot program designed to cut spending on Medicaid, the federal-state health plan for the poor. Rhode Island's effort has garnered national attention in conservative circles not because of what it does but because of how it's funded. | 05/23/11 13:06:00 By - Tony Pugh

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