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April 30, 2012

Economy Dominates GOP And Democratic Campaign Events In NH

Both the Obama and Romney camps campaigned in New Hampshire today.  Governor Romney made a stop along the waterfront in Portsmouth with fellow Republican–and US Senator–Kelly Ayotte.  Meanwhile, Lilly Ledbetter (of Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act fame–more on that in a minute) campaigned for Obama in Hanover.  And both, in their own ways, focused on […]

April 27, 2012

Why Obama’s Pushing Student Debt As A Campaign Issue (And Why It Matters To NH)

One of the stories we try to check-up on regularly at StateImpact is New Hampshire’s student debt situation.  The average Granite Stater carries $31,000 in student debt–more than anyone else in the country.  The US House is set to vote today on whether cuts to student loan interest rates will expire this summer.  If so, […]

April 20, 2012

Has The Stimulus Created Jobs In NH? Depends On How You Slice The Numbers

As the clock winds down on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka: “The Stimulus Package”), it remains a controversial–and highly politicized–initiative.  This week, Grant Bosse of the conservative/libertarian New Hampshire Watchdog* project stoked the Granite State stimulus debate on the organization’s website. Using data from the federal stimulus-tracking website, Bosse ran some figures and […]

April 9, 2012

As Demand For Job Training Programs Increases, Federal Funding Decreases

We’ve talked a lot recently about the so-called “skills gap” in New Hampshire vis-à-vis the manufacturing sector.  In a nutshell, the state’s fabricators say they have lots of openings for skilled labor, but not enough people are qualified to fill them.  Now, Motoko Rich reports for the New York Times that other sectors are demanding […]

April 6, 2012

Navy Admiral Calls Portsmouth Naval Shipyard A “Critical” Installation

With continued talk of pruning the Pentagon’s budget, the military has told Congress it plans to save money by starting a new round of base realignment and closure, or BRAC.  The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was spared during the last BRAC round in 2005.  Still, the senate delegations from Maine and New Hampshire have been vocal […]

March 6, 2012

Why One Economist Says Austerity Is Hurting Job Growth

As we’ve mentioned before, one of our key online lurking destinations for economic news is the New York Times.  And while we don’t often draw on op-ed’s, a recent offering from economist Paul Krugman caught our attention. In “States of Depression,” Krugman (a self-professed liberal) faults the national push towards austerity for the slow economic […]

February 23, 2012

Bipartisan Group Pans Tax Plans Of (Almost) All GOP Presidential Candidates

As we publish, US Budget Watch (part of the bipartisan group Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget) just announced release of a report analyzing the tax plans of the GOP presidential candidates.  (We’ll link to it when it becomes available.) According to their research, only Ron Paul’s tax plan won’t dramatically increase the national debt. […]

February 22, 2012

Federal Vs State Health Insurance Exchange–Does It Matter?

As part of the Affordable Care Act, every state must have a health insurance exchange in place by January 2014. An exchange is a clearinghouse of sorts where people and small business can go to buy insurance and also find out which tax rebates they may use to help them buy coverage. “I’ve heard people […]

February 17, 2012

Why Home Care Workers Aren’t Guaranteed Minimum Wage

Recently, the Obama Administration announced plans to change Labor Department rules so that home care workers–personal care aides and home health aides–are guaranteed federal minimum wage and overtime pay.  Right now, states are allowed to decide if they want to include this class of worker under their own minimum wage and overtime laws.  Many have […]

February 16, 2012
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