Lessons in economics

As the election campaign ground along with the relentlessness of Ann Coulter drinking 18 cups of coca tea a day, you might have heard the phrase "Simpson-Bowles" once or twice.

This is not to be confused with Ashford Simpson, Jessica Simpson, or the BCS Bowles Series.

It was a plan to save money, so that young people can have more cash for bong-fillers and bubble gum.

Now former Sen. Alan Simpson (R.-Wyo.), the first part of Simpson-Bowles, has decided that the young haven't listened to him enough. … Read more

Technology topics can mark a rare bipartisan area of political agreement: Both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama say they would make cybersecurity a priority, and both like to talk up government funding of basic research.

If you look a bit more closely, however, differences emerge. They're perhaps most marked over federal regulation, where the two major parties have long-standing disagreements, but also exist on topics like WikiLeaks, copyright legislation, and whether to levy a new tax on broadband providers.

Keep reading for CNET's 2012 Tech Voters' Guide, in which we highlight where the four candidates -- we've … Read more

Silicon Valley's economy seems to be recovering more quickly than the rest of the nation's, with employers hiring and venture capitalists offering sunny predictions. There's even a new reality show based here.

It may not last. A new analysis of how business-friendly states are -- released today by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation -- shows that California is way at the bottom. The Golden State ranks a dismal 48 out of 50.

"States do not institute tax policy in a vacuum," said Scott Drenkard and Joseph Henchman, the study's authors. "Every change to a … Read more

For a moment this weekend, those who follow Microsoft's Twitter account seemed to think that the company had embraced liberalism and kissed it on both European cheeks.

There appeared, you see, a tweet that read as follows: "@RBReich your granddaughter's level of discourse and policy > those of Ann Coulter." The tweet, with its succinct use of the greater-than sign, was captured for posterity by Adam Khan.

The RBReich in question is somewhat Democratic economist and Berkeley professor, Robert Reich. He had tweeted on Saturday that he was going "To NY to visit my 4-yr-old … Read more

California's tax collectors are preparing to open a new front in their battle to collect sales taxes from Amazon.com customers.

A deal inked last year between Amazon and Sacramento means that, for most items shipped from the online retailer's warehouses, sales tax will be collected at checkout starting tomorrow. But, as CNET reported earlier this week, that doesn't apply to hundreds of thousands of items "fulfilled" by Amazon from its warehouses on behalf of other sellers.

That means a New York camera shop could have inventory located in an Amazon warehouse outside of San … Read more

ASPEN, Colo.--Luigi Gambardella is an amiable, effusive Italian businessman, who seems almost bemused that anyone would object to his proposal to give a United Nations body more authority over how national governments may or may not regulate the Internet.

Gambardella is chairman of the executive board of the European Telecommunications Network Operators, or ETNO, which submitted a proposal to a U.N. body in June that would establish the principle of sender-party-pays for Internet traffic. Not-so-coincidentally, a lot of Internet traffic is sent to Europe from the United States.

"We believe that this situation is putting at risk … Read more

ASPEN, Colo.--The former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission predicts that an unfair competition lawsuit against Google would be an uphill battle for his former agency.

But William Kovacic, who left the commission last fall and is now a law professor at George Washington University, said here yesterday that his former agency might well try it anyway.

"If I were Mount Google or Mount Apple, I'd be really worried about being scaled today," Kovacic said during a panel discussion on antitrust at a Technology Policy Institute conference. Government attorneys get "extra credit for big cases,&… Read more

ASPEN, Colo. -- Verizon today renewed its criticisms of the Obama administration's Net neutrality rules, saying its lawsuit seeking to overturn them will rein in an out-of-control federal agency.

The company's lawsuit is about "the importance of restraint on the regulatory authority in the Internet space," said Tom Tauke, Verizon's executive vice president for public affairs. "We believe that is critical -- and this battle is really a battle about that kind of restraint."

In September 2011, Verizon filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Federal Communication Commission's Net neutrality rules. The … Read more

The wife of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and the co-founder of Instagram are among the notable guests for tonight's State of the Union address by President Obama.

The presence of Laurene Powell Jobs and Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger signals that at least a part of the State of the Union will focus on technology, which President Obama has long argued can help improve the country's fortunes.

Releasing the guest list for the State of the Union address has increasingly become a way for the White House to call attention to an issue or initiative, using an individual … Read more