The Buffalo Chronicle
Commerce
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For private digital currency, insist on openness
By Jim Harper Last week, the Digital Dollar Project (DDP) highlighted the challenges involved in producing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) that will preserve important values such as privacy. Every CBDC effort we…
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Hochul: “Bay Ridge should have its waterfront back”
Governor Kathy Hochul wants New York City to more aggressively reclaim its waterfront for public park space — and she thinks that the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn is precisely the place…
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Hochul plans to invest heavily in the MTA; will prioritize ‘TriboroRx’ over Second Avenue subway
Incoming Governor Kathy Hochul plans to invest heavily in the Metropolitan Transit Authority, including billions to modernize aging track and signal systems, to purchase new trains, to construct new subway and elevated…
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The White House’s $65 billion broadband subsidies lack accountability
By Mark Jamison The White House has announced what it calls a historic bipartisan infrastructure deal that would cost about $1.2 trillion. About 27 percent of the money goes to what is generally thought of…
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Infrastructure bill action could doom US cryptocurrency industry
By Jim Harper “CONGRESS IS SO BROKEN,” shouted Caitlin Long, founder and CEO at the Avanti Financial Group. Having spent two decades on Wall Street in stints at Solomon Brothers, Credit Suisse, and Morgan…
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Childcare not to blame for employment troubles
BY ANGELA RACHIDI The disappointing April jobs report raised new questions about how government policies, such as enhanced unemployment insurance, have slowed the economic recovery by discouraging people from returning to work. Some have suggested that closed…
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New York’s hospital industry ranks near the bottom of two quality report cards
BY BILL HAMMOND New York’s hospitals remained near the bottom of two quality report cards issued last week. In an update to Hospital Compare, a consumer guide from the U.S. Centers for Medicare…
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For most New York income tax filers, SALT deduction still isn’t missed
BY E.J. McMAHON Today was the (rescheduled) deadline for filing 2020 federal income tax returns, which makes this New York’s third annual SALT-Free Income Tax Day. By midnight tonight, most Empire State…
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New York’s jobs recovery outpaced U.S. in April
BY E.J. McMAHON Private-sector employment in New York increased faster than the nationwide recovery rate in the month of April, according to the state’s latest monthly jobs report. The April count of private-sector…
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Where were New Yorkers headed in the run-up to the pandemic?
BY E.J. McMAHON Since the late 1960s, New York’s primary export to the rest of the nation has been people, as reflected in federal data tracking population flows within and between states.…
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Fewer, more expensive jobs projected from ‘American Jobs Plan’
BY MATT WEIDINGER Fact-checkers have started to notice the shaky jobs claims made by Biden administration officials in touting their $2.2 trillion American Jobs Plan. That includes this whopper from President Biden last week: “Independent analysis…
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The zero-sum administration’s corporate tax plan
BY PAUL H. KUPIEC Newly-elected administrations try to lay the groundwork for their legacy in the first 100-days in office. During their “honeymoon” period, they introduce landmark legislation and issue executive orders…
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Remote work: Will country roads really take you home?
BY BRENT ORRELL That’s the question raised by a new incentive program designed to draw workers freed from geography by remote-work options to live in the state of West Virginia. Ascend West Virginia is…
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Does the US need a national paid leave law after the pandemic?
BY ANGELA RACHIDI When the coronavirus pandemic hit American shores in early 2020, questions emerged over how employers and employees would handle the anticipated need for workers to take time away for illness or to care…
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New Senate plan would make pandemic unemployment benefits permanent
BY MATT WEIDINGER The Washington Post reports President Joe Biden’s next trillion-dollar spending plan “is expected to devote hundreds of billions of dollars to new programs,” including “$225 billion for child-care funding; $225 billion…
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Zombies firms could complicate the strong post-pandemic economy
BY JAMES PETHOKOUKIS What sort of shape is the American economy in after a year of the pandemic? Maybe better than you might guess. Even better than many economists might have guessed.…
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Proposed wealth taxes come with a wealth of worrisome potential trade-offs
BY JAMES PETHOKOUKIS President Biden’s campaign tax plan was full of tax increases, some $3 trillion worth. But a wealth tax wasn’t one of them. And, according to The New York Times, a wealth tax…
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Postal Service’s performance declined last year
BY KEVIN R. KOSAR Last week, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hauled Postmaster General Louis DeJoy before it and spent the better part of five and a half hours denouncing him. In…
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FCC’s emergency broadband benefit attracts praise, criticism
BY DANIEL LYONS Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a report and order establishing the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (EBB), a $3.2 billion program to help low-income families stay connected…
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Romney floats ‘child allowance’ in reform of child tax credit
BY KYLE POMERLEAU Last month, Senator Mitt Romney introduced a proposal to enact a “child allowance,” a monthly payment to households with children. His proposal would be financed in part by repealing other child…
