This graph is a good example of omitted variable bias, a statistical issue discussed in Chapter 2 of my favorite textbook. The key omitted variable here is parents' IQ. Smart parents make more money and pass those good genes on to their offspring.

So far this year, there have been 81 bank failures out of 8,195  FDIC- insured institutions, or slightly fewer than 1% of all banks. How does that compare to previous periods of financial stress and episodes of bank failures?

The Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, recently released a report estimating what percentage of all federal taxes (income, payroll, corporate, estate) are paid by people in all five income quintiles. The study also breaks down the top income quintile to show how much those in the top 5 percent, 1 percent and 0.1 percent of income... More

Government has a poor record of predicting the cost of health care programs. Here are some notoriously inaccurate forecasts of first year costs.

A detailed looked at how federal debt breaks down, updated continuously.

The purchase of an average-priced new vehicle took 22.1 weeks of median family income in the second quarter 2009, according to Comerica Bank’s Auto Affordability Index.

The lion's share of federal stimulus money in New York City is going to Medicaid and education.

Canada, the Czech Republic, Korea, and Sweden all cut their corporate tax rates in 2009, distancing the United States even further from the pack with its combined federal and state rate of 39.1 percent—second only to Japan for the highest corporate tax rate among nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Perhaps not surprisingly, consumers have a more favorable view of Ford because it did not take bailout money from the federal government, according to a recent Rasmussen Reports poll, although a certain percentage of those surveyed said the bailout had no impact on their views of the companies. Will this translate into more or less business? Rasmussen finds more Americans willing to consider buying a Ford because the... More