Congress is getting in the holiday spirit, and top on their gift list for American workers is extending President Obama’s payroll tax holiday, set to expire at the end of the year. But, as is the case with many gift ideas, this one sounds better than it is in real life.

In the latest AEI Political Report, the AEI Politics team looks at at the new phase of 2012 campaign from a variety of angles. 

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Dhammika Dharmapala will present the results from his recent paper on the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004.

It is all too clear that the holiday's diversion of general revenue from the Social Security trust fund has undermined historical practices and distorted federal budgetary priorities.

In a just published piece, AEI economist and tax expert Alan Viard warns that the 2011 payroll tax holiday, which shaves 2 % points off workers’ Social Security tax rates, undermines historical practices and distorts federal budget priorities as it diverts $130 billion from the general treasury into the Social Security trust fund.

The European Union boycott of Mugabemight work better if the United Nations did not help the Zimbabwean leader flout it.

In one of a series of events and conversations about the meaning of the American calendar, Amy A. Kass (Hudson Institute) and Leon R. Kass (AEI) seek to restore America's fading national memory with a celebration of the holiday by its original and proper name: Washington's Birthday.