August 21, 2019

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Business August 21, 2019

Would A Payroll Tax Cut Help The U.S. Economy?

NPR’s Audie Cornish speaks with Jason Furman, who was President Obama’s chief economic adviser, about Trump administration’s consideration to stimulate the economy via payroll tax cuts.



AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

President Trump suggested yesterday that his administration is considering proposing a payroll tax cut as a way to goose a slowing economy.

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PRES DONALD TRUMP: Payroll tax is something that we think about, and a lot of people would like to see that. That very much affects the working – the workers of our country.

CORNISH: The payroll tax is the money that’s automatically deducted from employees’ paychecks for Social Security and Medicare. But would cutting those taxes now help juice the economy? We’re going to put that question to Jason Furman. He served as an economic adviser to President Obama when Congress last gave a temporary payroll tax cut.

Welcome back to the program.

JASON FURMAN: Thanks for having me back.

CORNISH: The economy is growing at a slower rate now. The stock market has been jittery. People are worried about the prospect of a recession. This is not exactly what was going on during the Obama administration in those early days, right? But would cutting the payroll tax now help stimulate growth?

FURMAN: When we did the payroll tax cut, the unemployment rate was, you know, 8% or 9%. Right now it’s below 4%. So I don’t think this is something that’s needed right now. But there is enough uncertainty in the economy that, who knows? Maybe six months from now, things will deteriorate and we might actually need it.

CORNISH: The payroll tax is money that’s deducted from our paychecks, right? That would go to Social Security and Medicare. Don’t we need this money to fund those safety net programs?

FURMAN: In the Obama administration, we set up a mechanism that the Social Security trust fund was repaid entirely for all of the payroll tax cut, and so it had no effect on Social Security solvency whatsoever.

CORNISH: So basically the government filled in the gap while we took our pay cut.

FURMAN: Right. It doesn’t really have any effect at all on Social Security. It does increase our debt, and so there are consequences, but not consequences for Social Security or for senior citizens.

CORNISH: People don’t talk as much about deficits, but we’re already looking at a trillion-dollar deficit, right? Could the U.S. afford to pay payroll taxes again?

FURMAN: If we are in a decent shape, then I think it would be a wasteful addition to the debt. That would not be worth it. If the economy was turning down, then I would say we couldn’t afford not to do a payroll tax cut or some other form of fiscal stimulus.

CORNISH: But consumer spending has been strong, right? I mean, this is not the weak spot in the economy.

FURMAN: Yeah. Consumer spending has been the most consistent, strong spot in the economy. And that’s because employment levels are high. Wages are growing faster than inflation. And the types of worries we’re seeing are in financial markets which are forward-looking and trying to think about what’s going to happen next. But we’re really not seeing it for consumers and in the labor market today as a problem.

CORNISH: JPMorgan Chase came out with a forecast this week about the president’s tariffs on products from China, and it said, if fully implemented, Trump’s tariffs would cost the typical household a thousand dollars. So is that a reason to give ordinary Americans a break on their payroll tax?

FURMAN: Well, that might be a reason to drop the tariffs. But yeah, if you did a 2% payroll tax cut, and you made $50,000 a year, you would get a thousand dollars off your taxes. So that would roughly cancel out with the full amount of the tariffs.

CORNISH: What do you see as a possible alternative to this? I mean, some would say, look, there needs to be more business investment. Why not do an additional cut in the corporate tax rate?

FURMAN: I think there’s not a lot more room to stimulate the economy on the corporate side. I think if and when we need fiscal stimulus, we should have a comprehensive approach. Part of that is tax cuts for individuals. I would make them more progressive than a payroll tax cut, maybe give every household the same amount of money but phase it out for the most well-to-do households. But I’d also give fiscal relief to states and more money for things like unemployment insurance and nutrition assistance because if the economy turns down, those are the people that will be most hurt by it.

CORNISH: That’s Jason Furman. He served as chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Thank you for explaining it to us.

FURMAN: Thanks so much.

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Health August 21, 2019

Poll: Nearly 1 in 5 Americans Says Pain Often Interferes With Daily Life

According to the latest NPR-IBM Watson Health Poll exercise, including stretching and yoga, is popular among younger people as a way to relieve pain.

Daniel Grill/Getty Images/Tetra images RF


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Daniel Grill/Getty Images/Tetra images RF

At some point nearly everyone has to deal with pain.

How do Americans experience and cope with pain that makes everyday life harder? We asked in the latest NPR-IBM Watson Health Poll.

First, we wanted to know how often pain interferes with people’s ability to work, go to school or engage in other activities. Overall, 18% of Americans say that’s often a problem for them. Almost a quarter – 24% — say it’s sometimes the case.

(Note: Because of rounding, total exceeds 100%)

NPR-IBM Watson Health Poll


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NPR-IBM Watson Health Poll

The degree to which pain is a problem varies by age, with 22% of people 65 and older saying pain interferes often with their daily lives compared with only about 9% of people 35 and younger.

Once pain strikes, how do people deal with it?

The poll found that 63% of people had sought care for their pain and 37% hadn’t. Younger people were less likely to have pursued care.

The most common approach is an over-the-counter pain reliever. Sixty percent of people said that is something they do. Another popular choice, particularly among younger people, is exercise, including stretching and yoga. Forty percent of those under 35 say exercise is a way they seek relief. Only 11% of people 65 and older say exercise is something they try for pain. Overall, 26% of people see exercise as helpful for their pain.

That level of exercise is “really exciting to see,” says Brett Snodgrass, a nurse practitioner and clinical coordinator of palliative medicine at Baptist Hospitals in Memphis, Tenn. In her experience, not nearly as many people were doing that, even a few years ago.

She says a decline in opioid prescribing could be part of the reason for the change. “Often prescribers were settling for prescriptions,” she says of health care providers’ longstanding approach. “Now that there’s less prescribing, patients are having to take more responsibility” for managing their pain, she says.

But options such as exercise and physical therapy are easier to access for people with higher incomes. Snodgrass points to the poll’s finding that only 15% of people whose income was less than $25,000 a year cite exercise as a way they relieve pain. By comparison, about a third of people making $50,000 or more annually say it’s one way they deal with it.

(Note: Up to two choices were allowed.)

NPR-IBM Watson Health Poll


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NPR-IBM Watson Health Poll

About 15% of Americans do turn to a prescription medicine to help get relief. People 35 and under were least likely to get a prescription drug for pain – only 3%. Older people, those 65 and older, were most likely to make use of a prescription medicine, with 23% opting for that approach.

In terms of treatment, pain needs to be viewed holistically, so that reliance on medicines alone doesn’t drive decisions. “If we don’t pay attention to pain as a public health issue, I think we’re going to be addressing half of the problem and causing another problem,” says Dr. Anil Jain, vice president and chief health information officer at IBM Watson Health.

In light of the efforts to reduce opioid use, we asked if people who are taking opioids for pain are concerned about becoming addicted: 16% said yes; 84% said no.

A little more than a third of people taking opioids said they were worried about losing access to opioids compared with about two-thirds who aren’t.

The nationwide poll surveyed 3,004 people during the first half of March. The margin of error is +/- 1.8 percentage points.

You can find the full results here.

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