Economy & Budget

America’s manufacturing sector is experiencing a renaissance, thanks in large part to unprecedented access to abundant supplies of natural gas from shale. Natural gas is the chemical industry’s primary feedstock, and with U.S. natural gas prices as low as they are, America’s chemistry industry is in a strong competitive position for the first time in years. That means our downstream partners who rely on our industry to produce medicine, cars, computers, building materials and other essential goods are in a more competitive position.

This week, President Barack Obama will be in Mexico to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. Though security has been at the center of the U.S.-Mexico agenda in recent years, the relationship encapsulates much more than that. This trip provides a vital opportunity to refocus the agenda on our economic ties and build upon the success of NAFTA, but President Obama has instead been concentrating his attention on completing negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and beginning a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with Europe. These are commendable initiatives, but the administration has not informed us of the advantages of these agreements as compared to others. Nor has it offered a realistic strategy to achieve either of them.  

Here we go again.

Recent news stories that Congress is once again fighting over whether to double the interest rates on many student loans is distressing and all too familiar.

As the mother of a high school senior who is applying to colleges right now, I know that it may come down to what we can afford — and how much debt she will be able to carry into her life after school.

The cost of the rates doubling—about $1,000 a year -- may not seem like a lot, but it is to those of us who struggle to make ends meet every day.

This week, scores of surgeons are visiting Capitol Hill, and the Auto Alliance is pleased to join them in supporting “Decide to Drive,” a campaign to help reduce distracted driving. Their timing is perfect, because we have arrived at a crucial crossroads in addressing distracted driving.
 
Recently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released guidelines for reducing distracted driving that articulate a perfectly calibrated goal -- one with which automakers agree. That goal is to get drivers to connect their phones to the integrated, built-in systems in vehicles -- systems increasingly operated by voice commands -- so drivers can keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.

In his recent blog entry on chained CPI (Chained CPI: Unfair and inaccurate, April 26th), AARP President Robert Romasco highlights his group's opposition to the change, charging that it would be “Unfair and Inaaccurate.” In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.
 
A coalition of strange bedfellows, including Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform and Moveon.org, have announced their opposition to this policy, even as many responsible policymakers from both sides of the aisle and at the highest levels of government continue to support it – notably, the president and the Speaker of the House.

If you’ve watched certain YouTube videos or heard statements from a number of Republican members during last week’s House Subcommittee hearing, you might think the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline program is enabling rampant abuse of taxpayer funds by the poor to collect stockpiles of free cell phones.   

It would be wrong thinking, as the most egregious abusers of the program have been opportunistic private companies, not the vast majority of low-income households that rely on the program for discounted basic phone service.

After thinking about it for more than a year, I finally pulled the trigger. At 64-plus, I am now one of millions of baby boomers who is collecting Social Security. Had I waited another year and a half, my monthly check would have been more, but the math seemed to be in my favor now. 

As a result of working the numbers every-which-way, I created a formula that just might solve three Social Security problems simultaneously. Namely, maintaining support for current retirees, creating a blueprint for future beneficiaries, and a shoring-up of the system itself. I think it's a plan that Simpson-Bowles, the White House and Congress all can agree on in a matter of hours. First the assumptions; then, the idea:

Over the past decade, the Pentagon has engaged two major conflicts nearly half a world away with thousands of military personnel on multiple tours of duty. Military forces are coming home and operations will decline. But now the country's economic health dictates that going forward the Defense Department must operate on a much reduced budget and make these cuts faster than planned.

The chosen mechanism for trying to slim down, unfortunately, is a technique called "sequestration" which was thought to be so extreme that it would never be employed. But here we are. Sequestration mandates cuts without much consideration -- valuing pounds sliced from belly fat equally with those chopped from muscle and brain tissue.

On my way to Washington this week, my flight, along with many others, was delayed. The 45 minute delay wasn’t due to bad weather, a mechanical problem, or poor scheduling by the airline. It was an unaccountable bureaucrat who decided to slow down the lives of Americans.

You may have seen the news this week concerning the 40 percent of flights that have been delayed throughout the country. This air traffic jam is a direct result of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) furloughing air traffic controllers in response to the sequester recently implemented out of Washington for federal spending. The sequester called for a 5 percent cut to the FAA. That’s it – 5 percent.

The president’s attempt to cut Social Security and veterans’ benefits through what is known as “chained CPI” breaks the promise he made to seniors when he was campaigning for the Presidency. His plan is inequitable and ignores the economic realities of the typical Social Security beneficiary. It is inaccurate even by its own lights, failing to deliver on its promise of a better gauge of the cost-of-living.
 
The chained CPI cut would start now and grow larger and larger over time. It would cut Social Security and veterans’ benefits by $146 billion over the next 10 years, taking thousands of dollars out of the pockets of seniors who have earned their benefits and veterans who have already sacrificed so much for all of us.