Congress

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) was created by Congress in 1974 to insure all private-sector pensions against employer bankruptcy and underfunding. By 2006, the PBGC was responsible for insuring pensions for 44 million working and retired Americans.

After the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers, two reasons are often cited for bailing out banks. First, it is assumed that bankruptcy greatly reduces the value of a firm’s assets. Second, such an action would have negative effects on the firm’s lenders that would ripple outward.  If a company is sufficiently large, it’s seen as “too big to fail,” and thus must be bailed out.

One of the core ideas of American government is that coequal, separate branches serve to balance out one another, reducing the abuse of power and the potential for corruption. Though this theory can seem self-evidently valid, little research has been conducted on how the separation of powers may be stronger or weaker in particular cases.

Diabetes, heart disease and back pain are the priciest ailments in the United States, a new survey has found. And the cost of healthcare is rising faster than inflation.

The decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court are seldom without controversy, and American history has seen fierce public debate over the Court’s proper role in the democracy. With lifetime tenure, justices are in principle immune from the vagaries of public opinion. But new issues inevitably come to the Court because of emerging trends in society, and evolving norms and values have always been part of these cases.