Congress Reaches Tax Break Agreement

For the past week congressional leaders have been arguing nearly constantly about what to do with the expiration of the payroll tax cut. A deal was originally struck, then rejected later, but it seems now that Congress has yet again struck a deal and this time it is going to happen for sure.

This is great news for working Americans as it will definitely help them early in 2012; had Congress not reached a decision on extending the tax cut Americans would have spent on aver $2000 more on taxes simply because the tax break ended. This obviously upset millions of people and after a week of constant attention Congress reached a deal that should please everyone while also making sure that Americans are not forced to pay more in income taxes.

Assuming things go as planned the tax break extension will officially be signed into action tomorrow, making it one of the fastest provisions passed recently. The new extension is very similar to the original deal reached, though congressional members say that there are a few key differences. Either way Americans are simply happy to hear that come 2012 they will still have all of the money in their pockets rather than being forced to pay a significant amount more in taxes. This is great news for everyone and the timing could not be better as Congress has given the entire country an amazing Christmas present this year.

Jobs Increase Substantially

In times of economic turmoil it is somewhat uncommon to have any sort of good news surface. Fortunately the report on unemployment for March indicates that good things are in fact happening within the economy. More specifically unemployment is declining as more and more jobs are being created by various industries.

According to the U.S. Labor Department approximately 260,000 jobs were added last month alone, which is a significant increase overall. Of course there were hundreds of thousands of jobs eliminated last month as well but in the end the number of new jobs was greater than the number of jobs lost.

Not only was March a very successful month for employers, February was just as good. Two months in a row with substantial job increases has not happened since 2006 and many experts say it could be a sign that the economy is finally beginning to recover.

The U.S. Labor Department and other analysts also agree that the consistent increase in jobs will likely continue for the rest of 2011. What this means is that by the end of the year unemployment will likely decrease by another percentage or two. Currently unemployment is at a 2 year low of 8.8% and by the end of the year it is expected to be even lower. In the coming weeks more announcements about the economic situation are anticipated and overall analysts and economists say they should all carry plenty of good news about the current state of the U.S. economic situation along with the worldwide economic situation.