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	<title>Business &#38; MoneyCategory: Labor &#124; Business &#38; Money &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>Why is Texas Governor Rick Perry in Illinois?</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/04/24/why-is-texas-governor-rick-perry-in-illinois/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/04/24/why-is-texas-governor-rick-perry-in-illinois/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:41:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh Sanburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Reform]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Jobs]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=78359</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Like an aging rocker, Texas Governor Rick Perry is currently on the 2013 I&#8217;m Coming For Your Jobs tour across America. His first stop: California a couple months ago. This week he’s in Illinois, where he got a nasty reception from public officials. The trips are part of an effort to get businesses from highly taxed and heavily regulated states to relocate down South — but his efforts may fall flat, if recent history is any indication. (MORE: Europeans Are Thinking the Unthinkable: That Debt Defaults Might Make Sense) Texas has arguably become one of the few true economic success stories since the recession. The state has an unemployment rate of around 6% and a $9 billion budget surplus, even as many states struggle with 8% and 9% unemployment and severe budget deficits. The state is run by pro-business Republicans in the state legislature, along with Gov. Perry, who supports low regulation and low taxes. Texas doesn’t have an individual income tax, either. Its minimum wage is lower than other left-leaning states, which keeps labor costs down. Prices for land and housing are low. And the oil and natural gas boom in recent years has kept jobs from leaving the state. The tradeoff for all this, of course: Texas&#8217;s relatively flimsy social safety net. But Perry still isn&#8217;t satisfied with business in Texas. The governor sees even more potential if he can just lure corporations away from states that aren’t as friendly to business. The two states he&#8217;s visited so far, California and Illinois, rank 50th and 48th, respectively, in a survey of best states for business, according to a recent poll in the Wall Street Journal. In February, Gov. Perry visited California, a state with high labor costs, high taxes, and heavy environmental regulation, all of which can make it onerous for businesses to set up shop. According to Reuters, Ron Mittelstaedt, chairman and CEO of Waste Connections Inc., moved his waste business from Sacramento, Calif., to The Woodlands, Texas, and was able to build new facilities in 16 months. In California,<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=78359&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Government</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/economy-policy/government-economy-policy/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">jsanburn</media:title>
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		<title>Europeans Are Thinking the Unthinkable: That Debt Defaults Might Make Sense</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/04/23/europeans-are-thinking-the-unthinkable-that-debt-defaults-might-make-sense/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/04/23/europeans-are-thinking-the-unthinkable-that-debt-defaults-might-make-sense/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Apr 2013 07:00:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Sivy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Austerity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Banking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bonds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Currency]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Investing]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=78185</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The euro-zone crisis has slipped off the radar screen during the past couple of weeks as gun control and the Boston bombers have dominated U.S. news. But none of the euro zone’s problems have gone away. Political crises beset France, Italy and Spain. Smaller countries, from Portugal to Cyprus, face even more pressing financial troubles. Germany grows less and less willing to foot the bill for bailouts. And for the first time, serious public figures in Europe have begun openly discussing the pros and cons of allowing countries to default on their national debt. There is, in fact, a historical case for tolerating default. Argentina suffered a financial crisis in 1999 that led to a period of high unemployment. Over the next several years, it became harder and harder to maintain the value of currency. In 2002, the country defaulted on more than $100 billion in debt. Inflation soared, and workers&#8217; purchasing power plummeted. Savers lost a big chunk of their money. But a year later, growth bounced back to an 8% to 9% annual rate, and wages rose even faster. The same issues arose during the 2008 banking crisis. Ireland bailed out its banks, while Iceland couldn’t afford to and allowed a partial default. The results were that Ireland had no inflation, but unemployment topped 14% as growth ground almost to a halt. By contrast, in Iceland the currency lost almost half its value and inflation reached 5.4%. However, economic growth picked up slightly and unemployment didn’t rise much above 6%. (MORE: Why the Case for Austerity Took a Big Hit) In all these cases, policymakers had to choose whether working people or financial interests should be the ones to suffer most during a serious economic crisis. Default hurt affluent savers and financial institutions, but proved to be better for ordinary workers over the long term. What is happening now in Europe is that populations are resisting further austerity. In response, politicians and technocrats are beginning to question whether default might ultimately be less painful than doing what will be required to keep<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=78185&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Europe</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/economy-policy/europe-economy-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/biz-euro-default-130422.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">A man walks past a closed down business in Madrid</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">michaelsivy</media:title>
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		<title>If There’s No Inflation, Why Are Prices Up So Much?</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/03/12/if-theres-no-inflation-why-are-prices-up-so-much/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/03/12/if-theres-no-inflation-why-are-prices-up-so-much/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2013 09:45:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Sivy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Austerity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Commodities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Currency]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Indicators]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Real Estate & Homes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tax Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taxes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wall Street & Markets]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=74397</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week, I ran out of ink for my printer and ordered some more online. My computer automatically pulled up the previous order, and I was shocked to see that the price of the ink cartridges I was buying had gone up 25%. To my mind, ink always seems overpriced. Manufacturers sell printers cheaply because they know that they can make lots of money on the ink. For the same reason, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil is said to have sold millions of cheap kerosene lamps in order to make big profits selling kerosene. But since ink cartridges were already priced way above cost and official statistics show little general inflation, why had ink gone up 25% in less than a year? Price hikes for a particular item here or there don&#8217;t qualify as inflation. If one thing gets more expensive but something else gets cheaper, that’s what economists call a relative price change. Inflation is a simultaneous increase in prices across the board. Some measures of inflation, such as the GDP Deflator, track price changes that affect businesses as well as those that affect consumers. But the Consumer Price Index is supposed to focus on inflation at the consumer level. And the CPI has recorded minimal increases over the past four years. Since the recession ended, the 12-month change in consumer prices has averaged 2% and has never been as high as 4%. (MORE: Online &#8216;Predictions&#8217; Market Intrade Shuts Down Months After Federal Lawsuit) There are lots of other ways to gauge inflation, however, that give very different signals. Gold was $930 an ounce when the recession ended, and today it’s $1,583. So if you believe in the gold standard, prices have increased 70% in four years – or an annualized rate of 14.2%. Of course, many economists dismiss the gold price as an archaic indicator. So it may be more meaningful to look at price increases over a broad range of commodities. The Reuters CRB Commodity Index, which tracks the prices of coffee, cocoa, copper, and cotton, as well as<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=74397&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Economy &amp; Policy</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/economy-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/inflation.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/inflation.jpg?w=240" />
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			<media:title type="html">inflation</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/b8875a12f713f52ecc28fe72efed7fd4?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">michaelsivy</media:title>
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		<title>Why Many Americans Feel Like They&#8217;re Getting Poorer</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/03/05/why-many-americans-feel-like-theyre-getting-poorer/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/03/05/why-many-americans-feel-like-theyre-getting-poorer/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Mar 2013 13:00:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Sivy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jobs]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Taxes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=73756</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Data released by the Commerce Department last week showed that personal income fell 3.6% in January, the biggest decline in 20 years. The drop was even bigger when taxes and inflation are taken into account. Real personal disposable income fell by 4%, the biggest monthly drop in half a century. In part, this is a statistical blip. Companies accelerated certain payments – giving year-end bonuses in December rather than January, for example – so that employees could avoid higher taxes going into effect for 2013. But even if that blip is smoothed out, real aftertax income is lower than it was six months ago. What this means is that the U.S. economy is not merely recovering from the recession more slowly than one might like, but is actually getting worse for many Americans. Despite three-and-a-half years of uninterrupted growth in real GDP and a decline of more than two percentage points in the unemployment rate since 2009, the standard of living is falling for as much as half the population, particularly if you look beyond monthly numbers to longer-term trends. (PHOTOS: America Copes with a Stagnant Economy) Commentators assessing a recovery in progress naturally tend to focus on changes from one month or quarter to another. But what really matters is not how the economy compares with where it was in earlier time periods, but how it compares with where it would now be if it were fully utilizing all of its resources. Economists call this level &#8220;full capacity,&#8221; and it rises over time as the population grows, technology improves and facilities are upgraded. When a recession occurs, the economy&#8217;s actual output drops significantly below the full capacity level, creating what&#8217;s known as an &#8220;output gap.&#8221; Once the recession ends and a recovery begins, there&#8217;s normally a period of well-above average growth so that actual output regains the ground lost during the recession and comes back close to full capacity. But since the most recent recession ended, growth has never been fast enough to close the output gap – indeed, the gap has<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=73756&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Economy &amp; Policy</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/economy-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/biz-poorer-0305.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/biz-poorer-0305.jpg?w=240" />
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			<media:title type="html">A homeless man looks from the window of a condemned house in Warren, Ohio, Oct. 28, 2012.</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/b8875a12f713f52ecc28fe72efed7fd4?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">michaelsivy</media:title>
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		<title>Obama&#8217;s Proposal to Boost the Minimum Wage: Will It Help or Hurt Workers?</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/02/14/obamas-proposal-to-boost-the-minimum-wage-will-it-help-or-hurt-workers/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/02/14/obamas-proposal-to-boost-the-minimum-wage-will-it-help-or-hurt-workers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Feb 2013 10:45:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christopher Matthews</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jobs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=70578</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Of the proposals in President Obama&#8217;s State of the Union address, the one that&#8217;s perhaps getting the most attention is his push to have the federal minimum wage raised from $7.25 to $9.00 per hour. There are many reasons for this. First, it was one of the few concrete proposals to come out of the speech; and unlike many of the President&#8217;s industrial and tax policy ideas, it is easy to understand: Pass a law saying businesses can&#8217;t pay workers less than $9 per hour. But does the law make sense for the low-income workers it aims to help? For years the conventional wisdom among many economists was that higher minimum wages actually reduced employment &#8212; for the simple reason that if you make something like labor more expensive, firms will purchase less of it. But research in the 1990s, specifically a study authored by economists David Carr and Alan Kreuger, seemed to prove otherwise, or at least to poke holes in this theory. Carr and Kreuger studied the effect of an increase in the minimum wage in New Jersey from $4.25 to $5.05 per hour in 1992. They surveyed 410 fast food restaurants in New Jersey and nearby counties in neighboring Pennsylvania, which saw no increase in the minimum wage. Their study found that New Jersey&#8217;s minimum wage hike didn&#8217;t negatively affect employment &#8212; in fact, they found, employment increased. (MORE: Does President Obama Really Believe in Deficit Reduction?) Since this 1992 paper, several other studies using similar methodologies have come to similar conclusions. A review of this literature by the left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress summed up the logic behind why a minimum wage hike wouldn&#8217;t reduce employment: &#8220;Studies generally find that policies that increase the compensation of low-wage workers significantly reduce turnover, boost worker effort, encourage employers to invest in training for their workers, and can increase demand for goods and services—all of which help balance out any potential negative effects.&#8221; For proponents of minimum wage hikes, this is the end of the debate. But it<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=70578&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Labor</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/economy-policy/labor-economy-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/2013-02-13t174933z_18304704.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">President Barack Obama is shown a truck engine block being manufactured as he tours Linamar Corporation in Arden, N.C, Feb. 13, 2013.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">christopherrmatthews</media:title>
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		<title>6 Reasons the Stock Market Could Do Surprisingly Well in 2013</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/01/22/6-reasons-the-stock-market-could-do-surprisingly-well-in-2013/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/01/22/6-reasons-the-stock-market-could-do-surprisingly-well-in-2013/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2013 14:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Sivy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Austerity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bonds]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Stocks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Economy]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Wealth]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=67363</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The S&#38;P 500 hit a five-year high last week, and now some experts are saying that stocks are overpriced and that the overall market is vulnerable to a 20% drop this year. There are certainly plenty of things to worry about, from a lousy economy and political gridlock in Washington to the possibility of a financial crisis in the euro zone. But there’s an equally compelling case that stocks could do quite well in 2013. Indeed, it wouldn’t be hard for the Dow to sail through its all-time high of 14,164 and go on to top 15,000 before the year is out – a gain of 10% or more from current levels. There’s no denying the economy’s current problems. Since the recession ended more than three years ago, growth has been consistently disappointing for a recovery. Moreover, the economy has actually been slowing down recently – from a 3.1% annualized growth rate in last year’s third quarter to less than 1.5% in the fourth quarter. In addition, analysts project that the fiscal cliff deal, combined with attempts to cut the deficit, will knock as much as a full percentage point off GDP growth in 2013. In short, this year’s economy figures to be just as sluggish as last year’s – and maybe worse. But the pessimists’ case for a bear market is based on more than a limping U.S. economy. They think the bull market – up more than 100% over the past three-and-a-half years – has run its course. They expect a global slowdown that will cause 2013 corporate profits to fall short of expectations. Finally, they think the Federal Reserve’s extreme easy-money policies will either lead to inflation, or that the Fed will have to raise interest rates. Either way, it would send the prices of Treasury bonds into a tailspin and unsettle the stock market as well. Whew! That’s a lot to worry about. But today’s bearish commentators are making one crucial incorrect assumption – that share prices move in lockstep with the economy. It’s true that over the long term, share prices follow<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=67363&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/01/22/6-reasons-the-stock-market-could-do-surprisingly-well-in-2013/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Markets</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/wall-street-markets/investing-wall-street-markets/markets/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">michaelsivy</media:title>
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		<title>Why the Fiscal Cliff Deal Should Have Included Social Security</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/01/02/why-the-fiscal-cliff-deal-should-have-included-social-security/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/01/02/why-the-fiscal-cliff-deal-should-have-included-social-security/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:42:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Sivy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Austerity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economics & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jobs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tax Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taxes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wealth]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=65424</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yesterday&#8217;s deal to avoid the fiscal cliff offers quick fixes for the country&#8217;s most urgent financial problems but will also add almost $4 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years. Cuts in discretionary spending and entitlements have therefore become even more essential, but the fiscal cliff deal has postponed negotiations over spending for at least another couple of months. Moreover, one major government program is likely to be omitted from those discussions: Social Security. Although much attention has been paid to ending the temporary reduction in Social Security payroll taxes, little has been said about modifying the program&#8217;s benefits. Indeed, these are likely to be kept off the table entirely during future negotiations over spending cuts. This omission is usually justified on the grounds that Social Security does not contribute to the deficit. However, the program does add to the growth of the national debt. How can Social Security have no deficit and yet add to the national debt? Chalk that up to the Social Security Trust Fund. Money that workers pay into the system goes largely to fund benefits for people who have already retired. Any surplus goes into the Trust Fund – now more than $2.7 trillion – which invests in government bonds. In 2010, however, the amount that Social Security took in fell short of the amount needed to pay benefits. That gap is growing and is projected to surpass $100 billion a year before the end of the decade. (MORE: Four Misconceptions About Taxes and the Deficit) This shortfall can be covered by taking money out of the Trust Fund. But every time that&#8217;s done, the government has to redeem some of the bonds in the Fund for cash. It gets that money by selling other bonds to the public. And while bonds in the Fund represent money that the government owes to itself, and therefore don&#8217;t count toward the national debt, bonds sold to the public do add to the debt. Since Social Security will likely continue to pay out more in benefits than it takes in,<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=65424&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/01/02/why-the-fiscal-cliff-deal-should-have-included-social-security/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Economy &amp; Policy</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/economy-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/capital.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/capital.jpg?w=240" />
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			<media:title type="html">The U.S. Capitol is pictured on Dec. 31, 2012.</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/b8875a12f713f52ecc28fe72efed7fd4?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">michaelsivy</media:title>
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		<title>Why the U.S. Has a Worse Youth Unemployment Problem than Europe</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2012/11/05/why-the-u-s-has-a-worse-youth-employment-problem-than-europe/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2012/11/05/why-the-u-s-has-a-worse-youth-employment-problem-than-europe/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Nov 2012 06:30:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Gumbel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Job Markets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jobs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=59877</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The latest unemployment statistics released this week on both sides of the Atlantic show that the number of jobless is continuing to rise in Europe far above the rate in the U.S., and the picture is especially bleak for young Europeans under the age of 25. In the 27 E.U. nations as a whole, the youth unemployment rate rose to 22.8% in September, up from 21.7% the previous year. In Greece and Spain, that proportion is over 50%. In the U.S., meanwhile, the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged in October, at 7.9%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Nov. 2. And the U.S. rate of unemployment among young people under 25 was 16%. But such statistics are rather misleading because they don’t tell the whole story. They don’t include the millions of youngsters who are not in the labor market because they are continuing with their education or are engaged in training programs. If you take those young people into account, the picture is still grim everywhere, but the U.S. actually comes off as having a worse youth unemployment problem than Europe. (MORE: The Jobless Generation) The most marginalized group of young people are those who not only don’t have a job but are no longer in school, either. In the jargon of economists, these are the so-called NEETs, youngsters not in employment, education or training. Their numbers have been rising everywhere, but they are especially prevalent in the U.S. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, which has the best data on the subject, 14.8% of young Americans qualified as NEETs in the first quarter of 2011 (the most recent period available), up from 12.1% in the same period in 2007. In the E.U. as a whole, the figure was 13.2%, up from 11.5% in 2007. Within the European numbers there are big variations. In Germany, Austria and the four Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, the figure is below 10%. Spain and Greece have high rates, as would be expected, of 17.6% and 18.2%, respectively, but the worst<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=59877&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2012/11/05/why-the-u-s-has-a-worse-youth-employment-problem-than-europe/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Jobs</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/economy-policy/jobs-economy-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/1500_us_job_1104.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/1500_us_job_1104.jpg?w=240" />
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			<media:title type="html">Job seekers stand in line to meet prospective employers at a career fair in New York City</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">petergumbeltime</media:title>
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		<title>Romney&#8217;s Dismaying Attack on Garage-Based Businesses</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2012/10/09/romneys-dismaying-attack-on-garage-based-businesses/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2012/10/09/romneys-dismaying-attack-on-garage-based-businesses/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Oct 2012 16:57:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ira Stoll</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economy & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jobs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Small Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hewlett-Packard]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lenders bagels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mattel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mitt romney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Romney]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=51265</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The most infuriating moment of the first presidential debate between Mitt Romney and President Obama hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves. That moment was when Governor Romney, the Republican, in response to a question about regulation, declared it “essential” and went on, “You couldn’t have people opening up banks in their — in their garage and making loans.” That sound you heard during the debate was the echo of me ripping my hair out while throwing my drink at the television in frustration at the idea of a Republican presidential nominee who portrays himself as the defender of free markets yet who also describes garage-based businesses as a grave danger that must be regulated out of existence. (MORE: Save Big Bird! Will Romney&#8217;s Threats Wind Up Boosting PBS Fundraising?) Among the successful American businesses that began in garages are: Hewlett-Packard, which began in a 12-foot by 18-foot garage at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto, Calif., and grew into a company with nearly 350,000 employees and more than $100 billion a year in revenue. Apple, which assembled some of its first computers in Steve Jobs’ parents’ garage at 2066 Crist Drive in Los Altos, Calif. Apple now has a market capitalization of more than $600 billion. Google, whose official company history explains that it set up workspace in September 1998 in Susan Wojcicki’s garage at 232 Santa Margarita, Menlo Park, Calif. Amazon, which for nearly a year in 1994 and 1995 consisted of founder Jeff Bezos and five employees working in the garage of a Seattle home that Mr. Bezos had rented. Mattel, the toy company that is known for Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels cars and that began in a Southern California garage. Senator Marco Rubio spoke about it in his maiden speech. Lender’s Bagels, which began in a West Haven, Conn., garage and grew into a business with tens of millions of dollars in annual sales. Okay, none of those garage-based startups was in the lending business. But there’s no reason that the same kind of garage-style innovation that brought growth and dynamism to the technology, toy, and bagel<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=51265&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Entrepreneurship</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/small-business/entrepreneurship-small-business/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/153331596.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/153331596.jpg?w=240" />
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			<media:title type="html">Obama And Romney Square Off In First Presidential Debate In Denver</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/44310a1af940f994952d1e4db73096cd?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">TIME.com</media:title>
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		<title>What Are the Jobs Figures Really Telling Us?</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2012/10/08/what-are-the-jobs-figures-really-telling-us/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2012/10/08/what-are-the-jobs-figures-really-telling-us/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Oct 2012 12:00:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rana Foroohar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economy & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jobs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[job numbers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jobs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Romney]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=51055</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Big problems persist for the economy, even as the unemployment rate dips below 8%. <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=51055&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2012/10/08/what-are-the-jobs-figures-really-telling-us/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Jobs</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/economy-policy/jobs-economy-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/151371809.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/151371809.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/151371809.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Unemployment Claims Drop Lower Than Predicted For August</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/1c372315300738b8325eb1812b2ba263?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">ranaforoohar</media:title>
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		<title>How Bad Is America&#8217;s Pension Funding Problem?</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2012/09/26/how-bad-is-americas-pension-funding-problem/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2012/09/26/how-bad-is-americas-pension-funding-problem/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Sivy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Municipal Government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taxes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wall Street & Markets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[deficit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Federal Employee Retirement System]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pensions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social security]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=50049</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[No sooner had the Chicago teachers’ strike been settled than a new crisis emerged last week in the Windy City. The Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund was reported to be on the brink of collapse. That fund is not alone. Although the troubles that plague the Social Security system get the most attention, similar dangers now threaten many other kinds of retirement funds. Some plans are being inadequately funded, some have earned unexpectedly low returns, and some suffer from a Baby Boom bulge in the number of retirees. Moreover, the problems facing these funds will in many cases be harder to fix than those for Social Security. And the scale of the total potential shortfall is immense. There are basically two types of retirement funds. Defined-contribution plans, such as 401(k)s and IRAs, are tax-advantaged accounts owned and largely funded by employees themselves (sometimes with additional contributions by employers). The only real risk for these funds is that the investments in the account may perform poorly. Over the past 12 years, unfortunately, most stocks have gained little or have actually declined in value. As a result, many people approaching retirement today have far less money than they expected. While such a shortfall is distressing, it doesn’t compare with the dangers posed by the other type of plan. So-called defined-benefit plans promise to pay benefits to retirees based on the length of time they worked and their former salaries. If these plans run short of money, they not only leave retirees unsure that their benefits are safe, they also create a potential cost for whoever has to bail them out (often taxpayers). Such plans can slide along for years hiding their growing internal deficits with accounting tricks. But at some point, the funding gap becomes too big to disguise – which is what is happening now. How bad is the total problem? Let&#8217;s add it all up. (MORE: What You Should Save by 35, 45 and 55 to be on Target for Retirement) Start with Social Security, which is paying out more than it takes<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=50049&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2012/09/26/how-bad-is-americas-pension-funding-problem/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>12</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Economy &amp; Policy</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/economy-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/600_biz_401k_0926.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/600_biz_401k_0926.jpg?w=240" />
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			<media:title type="html">401K Worries</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/b8875a12f713f52ecc28fe72efed7fd4?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">michaelsivy</media:title>
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		<title>Understanding a New Global Economy</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2012/08/09/understanding-a-new-global-economy/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2012/08/09/understanding-a-new-global-economy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2012 13:53:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rana Foroohar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economy & Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Caterpillar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[globalization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[glocal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[job growth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[outsourcing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=46037</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Jobs and growth are split more or less equally between the U.S. and the rest of the world. That doesn’t mean the pressure is off labor – witness the company’s union squabbles – but it challenges conventional wisdom about the global economy.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=46037&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Curious Capitalist</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/curious-capitalist/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/138084264.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/138084264.jpg?w=240" />
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			<media:title type="html">Inside Enercon Engineering Ahead of Factory Orders Data</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/1c372315300738b8325eb1812b2ba263?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">ranaforoohar</media:title>
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