Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

A path to voting yes on tax cut bill

An interview on CNBC with Rep.Tom Cole offers some insight into the path to voting yes on the tax bill… Alhough mainstream forecasters like the Joint Committee on Taxation and University of Pennsylvania have issued unflattering analyses of GOP proposals, Cole says his tax-committee colleagues tell him other models offer sunnier results in line with […]

The GOP Tax Bill Disses the Working Class

The GOP Tax Bill Disses the Working Class Here’s something about the GOP House and the GOP Senate:  they each passed tax bills (supposed to come out in a “conference” agreement sometime today) that diss the United States’ working class taxpayers.  White or black, Christian or Jew or other, citizen by birth or naturalized citizen–workers […]

New Dialogue Rules for the CDC

Trump administration has forbade the usage certain words; “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based” from being used in CDC reports. I wonder what is up next, the burning of books? The Trump administration AND Repubs keep establishing new boundaries for their reach into American lives. Trump’s Chief of Staff Jim Kelly told the […]

The Republican Party’s Heartlessness–the Casualty Loss Provision of the purported “tax reform” legislation

The Republican Party’s Heartlessness–the Casualty Loss Provision of the purported “tax reform” legislation The GOP is cruising towards passage of its class warfare tax legislation that continues the long trend of Republican tax policy to redistribute upwards to the very rich.  The legislation, however, is supported by a small minority of the American public (latest […]

Hope Lives: Pressing Collins and Corker and Flake on Tax Bill

Hope Lives: Pressing Collins and Corker and Flake on Tax Bill The Republicans’ proposed tax legislation–whether the House or Senate version–is despicable.  It will exacerbate the already devastating income and wealth inequality in this country, leave the federal government without adequate funds for real infrastructure and social safety net needs, and place in almost inviolable […]

Real wages stagnate YoY, decline significantly since July

Real wages stagnate YoY, decline significantly since July So lackluster has wage growth been that even the modest uptick in consumer inflation to 2.2% YoY in November means that non-managerial workers have seen virtually no real growth in their paychecks over the last 12 months. With yesterday’s +0.4% increase in consumer prices, here’s what YoY […]