From an article in the NY Review of Books: “ . . . the 94 percent marginal tax rate [Reagan] was theoretically subject to an income above $200,000, though in reality Reagan, like other actors, was able to pay a 25 percent capital gains rate by receiving his earnings form “temporary corporations” set up for […]

Apparently, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) warned her colleagues to pass the CR or else: “He will declare a state of emergency,” the senator told her colleagues, seemingly referring to a potential action President Trump might take if Congress does not pass a spending bill before the government runs out of funding midnight Friday.” LOL! “potential”? […]

And The Income Tax From Wikipedia: A tariff is a tax paid by consumers in a given country imposed by the government of that country or customs territory, or by a supranational union, on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue, import duties can also be a form of regulation of […]

It must be fun to play the crowd, making them think what a tough guy the president is. Did he (being Trump) not know there was a trade agreement with Mexico? Something called the USMCA Agreement? Of course, he did. Of course, much of the US population do not realize this exists and has existed […]

When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton simply replied, “Because that’s where the money is.” DOGE is targeting the IRS for massive cuts. And that’s where the money is, to be sure. But robbing the IRS of personnel will ensure that the wealthy and corporations will keep the money they were supposed to pay […]

Trust is sine qua non in a democracy. Citizens simply must trust that those in power will follow the law. When that trust breaks down, it leads to assassinations, coups and civil war. The idea that the SCOTUS is the final arbiter of what is and isn’t legal is based on nothing in the Constitution. […]

– by New Deal democrat There’s no important economic data today, so this is a good time to write about several important developments in the stock and bond markets. First of all, as many of you may already know, a portion of the US Treasury yield curve, between the 10 year and 3 month Treasuries, re-inverted […]

I watched a Nova show titled: Baltimore Bridge Collapse It got me wondering: What Ifs? The specifics I mention regarding the bridge come from this show and this Wikipedia article. We have all been hearing and asking, “what if there is another pandemic”. With the personnel/financial cuts and head of agency changes the current Republican […]

Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen review Trumps budget cuts. The implication here is it is near impossible to achieve the dramatic cuts without imposing severe penalties on the US Citizenry, The attempt is to balance the budget so as intakes equal outtakes of funds. Except Trump does not want to fix his 2017 tax break. […]

Indirect costs on research grants represent charges to cover the administration of grant funds; heating, cooling, water, gas, fume hoods and other centralized infrastructure; building and grounds security; facility maintenance and custodial services. Historically, these have been negotiated every two years between each institution and the NIH depending on the proportion of infrastructure devoted to […]