In Case You Missed It...

This week on Off the Charts, we focused on the minimum wage, health care, the federal budget and taxes, Social Security, and safety net programs.

• On the minimum wage, we excerpted Jared Bernstein’s New York Times Economix blog on why the new Congressional Budget Office analysis shows the benefits of raising the minimum wage.  Arloc Sherman explained why a higher minimum wage is a net win for most income groups.

• On health care, Paul Van de Water explained why the health reform law provides premium subsidies in all states to help people buy coverage.  He also rebutted more bogus economics on the medical device tax.

• On the federal budget and taxes, Joel Friedman noted that the President’s forthcoming budget will build on December’s Murray-Ryan agreement by proposing additional discretionary funding.  Nathaniel Frentz showed that cuts in IRS funding are costly for taxpayers and the budget.  Chye-Ching Huang highlighted new evidence that the Earned Income Tax Credit boosts college enrollment.

• On Social Security, Paul Van de Water explained that adopting the chained CPI for cost-of-living adjustments in Social Security and other retirement programs makes sense only under certain conditions.

• On safety net programs, Arloc Sherman reiterated that the 2009 Recovery Act kept millions out of poverty.

In other news, we issued a paper examining a Tax Foundation study on taxes and economic growth.

A variety of news outlets featured CBPP’s work and experts recently.  Here are some highlights:

Editorial: Cut!
Richmond Times-Dispatch
February 20, 2014

Will a Minimum Wage Hike Really Cost Jobs?
The Nation
February 18, 2014

CBPP’s Chart of the Week:

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