Service or subsidy?

US$87 billion -- or, maybe, it's just US$67 billion -- is at stake. That's the amount the US government pays banks each year to administer the Pell Grant student loan program. The Obama Administration proposed that the government cut out the middleman and run the lending program itself. The House approved the measure. Its fate depends on whether the measure gets bundled into the budget reconciliation bill. If it does, a majority vote in the Senate will make it law. If it goes to the Senate on a stand alone basis, 60 votes will be needed to pass it and 60 votes aren't there.

When doing better is still bad news...

Tax evasion has been dubbed Mexico's national past time. A recently concluded study by the ITESM brings good news: the rate of tax evasion in Mexico dropped from 40% in 2000 to 24% in 2008. The bad news is that nearly a quarter of taxes that should be collected still aren't. Still, progress has been made.