The Obama administration is suing to block the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA. Lawyers at the Department of Justice argue that the marriage of the second and fourth largest wireless carriers will reduce competition. It is clear from the complaint filed by the government that the lawyers at DOJ do not fully understand the present state of wireless competition.

Alex Brill offers a blueprint for "meaningful, incremental change to strengthen Social Security" and reduce the long-term fiscal burden on the budget.

Conventional wisdom states that the economic well-being of all but the wealthiest Americans has stagnated or declined over the past twenty-five years. In Prices, Poverty, and Inequality: Why Americans Are Better Off Than You Think, Christian Broda and David E. Weinstein argue that this idea is based on misleading measurements...

In a new AEI Press book, Christian Broda and David E. Weinstein demonstrate that the consumer price index ignores two important sources of prosperity for American households.

Public sector pensions are not discretionary government spending, which can be reduced to maintain affordability. They are deferred pay earned as part of a legally binding contract of employment, and their true cost should be properly measured.

Supercommittee Republicans offered a plan to eliminate tax preferences and reduce tax rates, as in the 1986 bipartisan tax reform. They argued that high tax rates would squelch economic growth.  They didn't make the case that their proposals would also address income inequality. But Paul Ryan, in a paper based largely on a CBO analysis of income trends between 1979 and 2007, has done so.

President Barack Obama has signaled support for the idea to send additional checks to everyone receiving Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, and disabled veteran benefits, even though the deficit is expected to increase this year.

The Social Security Administration announced today that, for the first time since the 1970s, no Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) to retirement benefits will be paid in January 2010.