Stimulus

Ariz. escapees tied to slayings probe PHOENIX - Two men who escaped from a private Arizona prison and a woman thought to have helped them have been linked to the investigation of a couple's killing in New Mexico, authorities said. New Mexico State Police spokesman Peter Olson said Tracy Province, John McCluskey, and Casslyn Welch were linked through forensics but declined to say whether police believe the three were responsible for the killings. Province, McCluskey, and Daniel Renwick escaped from Arizona State Prison July 30 after Welch, 44, threw wire cutters over the perimeter fence, authorities said.

President Obama's stimulus plan has helped stabilize the big, ugly recession and keep it from turning into a bigger and uglier depression, economists Mark Zandi , of Moody's Economy.com, and Alan Blinder , of Princeton, told us last week in a 30-page, stat-laden report. The bank bailouts (now mostly repaid) helped more, they added. But the stimulus helped, too. How long will we be paying for this? In the case of one stimulus program, the Build America Bonds , those payments will go on for decades - and the cost will grow as the program outlasts the crisis it was meant to fix, if some in Congress get their way. Build America Bonds are taxable bonds, used to fund local-government spending, and yield interest rates higher than the usual tax-free muni rates, helping attract investors.

Mark Zandi is chief economist of Moody's Analytics No one is happy with the economy's current performance. Granted, conditions are much better than they were not long ago: Remember the dark days of 2008, when major financial institutions were evaporating, layoffs were surging, and house and stock prices were plummeting? But with unemployment still stuck near 10 percent, and household nest eggs significantly diminished, Americans remain understandably on edge. Not surprising, many blame government's response to the financial panic and recession for our current problems.

Perhaps Frank R. Gunter's article on Alan Walters' economic policy for Margaret Thatcher should have been headlined "The problem with tax cuts," not "stimulus" (Monday). Recent history clearly shows that big tax cuts result in massive deficits, requiring targeted tax hikes to restore fiscal health. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush were forced to reverse course and raise taxes, while Thatcher and President Bill Clinton did so on principle, leading to healthy surpluses. President George W. Bush disregarded this lesson, and his huge tax cuts have plunged us back into the fiscal abyss.

Bernard Hawkins said that when his development company examined the then-foreclosed house on 56th Street near Poplar, it was full of personal belongings such as family photographs. "We assume the previous owner of the property died, based on the conversations we had with the neighbors," said the executive director of Philadelphia Neighborhood Housing Services. After a major renovation costing about $100,000, including new heating and plumbing, new windows and a tankless hot water heater, the house in the Carroll Park section of West Philadelphia is alive and ready to be sold.

By Frank R. Gunter Has President Obama's economic stimulus actually led to a deeper recession and higher unemployment? In 1981, the United Kingdom was in a severe recession, and most economists supported a stimulus program of increased government spending and reduced taxes. They predicted this would stimulate private consumption and investment, shortening the recession. However, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's senior economic adviser, Alan Walters, advised her not to stimulate the economy in this manner, but rather to adopt a contractionary fiscal policy by raising taxes.

In the bleak cityscape of Philadelphia's poorer neighborhoods, the corner store is both convenience and curse, stocking milk and cheese, as well as junk food and cigarettes. Thanks to federal stimulus money recently pumped into the city, such stores may also start carrying healthier foods, like fresh produce. In March, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced awards of more than $372 million to 44 communities to combat obesity and smoking. Philadelphia's share - $15 million to battle obesity and $10.4 million toward smoking cessation over two years - was disbursed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

ASPECTER is haunting American politics - it's the great and growing fear of budget deficits. In Washington, public policies critical to restoring the health of our economy are being delayed because of the deficit. Outside Washington, politicians and opinion leaders, and some citizens, are wringing their hands about our deficits. Some of these opinion leaders, with foundation backing, are holding a series of public town halls about the deficit, including one in Philadelphia on June 26. We need to stop and think seriously about the kind of problem the deficit presents and how we should deal with it before we let hysteria lead us down the wrong path.

TERRIFIED of raising the national deficit - or at least terrified of being accused of raising it in an election year - congressional Democrats are pursuing policies that will increase the deficit even more. Case in point: In a last-minute, politically motivated decision, the U.S. House of Representatives voted May 28 to strip $24 billion in Medicaid funding assistance that the states had been counting on when they drafted their budgets this year. The Senate takes up the legislation this week.

American Reading Co. said it increased its sales by 35 percent to $17.3 million in the 10-month fiscal year that ended April 30. Sales for the King of Prussia educational services company were $12.8 million in the same period the year before. The gain in sales led American Reading to hire 22 workers, bringing total employment to about 90 employees, and company president Al Struzinski said it plans to continue hiring into 2011. The company provides reading and training programs to schools in 41 states.