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Why Trump's Ruinous Trade Policy Will Destroy U.S. Jobs

By Froma Harrop
#EndorseThis: John Oliver Exposes The Malignant Stupidity And Rampant Greed Of Equifax

By National Memo
Religious Right Using Hurricane Tragedies To Grab Public Funds For Churches

By Katherine Stewart
Climate Deniers In Washington Can't Save Big Coal

By Elliott Negin
Will Trump Betray Workers Again By Naming Kevin Warsh As Fed Chair?

By Josh Bivens Dean Baker and Michael Madowitz

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#EndorseThis: John Oliver Exposes The Malignant Stupidity And Rampant Greed Of Equifax
By National Memo
Religious Right Using Hurricane Tragedies To Grab Public Funds For Churches
In between Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, Trump took the time to plant a tweet bomb under the First Amendment. “Churches in Texas should be entitled to reimbursement from FEMA Relief Funds for helping victims of Hurricane Harvey (just like others),” he twittered.
By Katherine Stewart
Inspector General Debunks (Again) The IRS 'Scandal' That Never Was
The “IRS scandal” -- the right-wing delusion that the Internal Revenue Service was disproportionately targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status and slow-walking their approvals -- began as a political hit job by a partisan Republican congressman. It matured into a full-fledged scandal, with President Barack Obama apologizing and the IRS commissioner resigning in disgrace.
By Matt Gertz
For-Profit Schools Get State Dollars For Dropouts Who Rarely Drop In
Last school year, Ohio’s cash-strapped education department paid Capital High $1.4 million in taxpayer dollars to teach students on the verge of dropping out. But on a Thursday in May, students’ workstations in the storefront charter school run by for-profit EdisonLearning resembled place settings for a dinner party where most guests never arrived.
By ProPublica
Will Retailers Choose Price Tag System That Routinely Bilks Consumers?
In the beginning there were no fixed prices. Every transaction involved a negotiation between buyer and seller. Then in 1861, as Guardian reporter Tim Adams informs us, Philadelphia retailer John Wanamaker introduced price tags, along with the slogan, “If everyone was equal before God, then everyone would be equal before price.”
By David Morris
9 Reasons Trump’s Tax Plan Will Hurt You
Donald Trump says his tax plan is “a revolutionary change, and the biggest winners will be the everyday American workers as jobs start pouring into our country, as companies start competing for American labor and as wages start going up at levels that you haven’t seen in many years.”
By David Cay Johnston
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Learn The Ins And Outs Of The Foreign Exchange Market For $25
You can become part of the in crowd — and it doesn’t take a Wharton MBA (and its hefty tuition costs) to get you there with the New York Forex Institute Training and Certification Course, on sale now for $25 from The National Memo Store.
By Sarah Sanchez
Hedge Funds, Oil, Fossil Fuels And Pharma Gave Money To The GOP
During the first half of the year in state legislatures, drug companies have fought bills to reduce medicine prices; the financial industry has tried to stop legislation to end special state tax breaks; and oil and gas firms have pushed to block environmental regulations.
By David Sirota
Did Trump Get A Big Tax Refund After 2005?
The pressure is growing to force President Trump to turn over his tax returns. The other day, for example, 200 Congressmen filed a suit in federal court, arguing that voters and lawmakers have a right to know whether Trump’s businesses are violating the Constitution’s emolument clause, which bars the president from accepting payments from foreign countries.
By Allan Sloan
Much Wealth As Half The World's Population
While Americans fixate on Trump, the super-rich are absconding with our wealth, and the plague of inequality continues to grow. An analysis of 2016 data found that the poorest five deciles of the world population own about $410 billion in total wealth.
By Paul Buchheit
A Federal Regulator Is Probing Wells Fargo’s Mortgage Practices
A consumer watchdog agency is following up on ProPublica’s reports that the scandal-ridden bank improperly charged fees to customers from Los Angeles to Oregon. Meanwhile, the bank is conducting its own inquiry.
By Jesse Eisinger
In Trump's Budget, Both Epic Betrayal And Mathematical Fraud
Aside from defense spending, the Trump budget violates nearly every programmatic promise he made to voters last year. And adding insult to real injuries, he pretends to fulfill his promise to balance the budget with fake numbers. Not only are the numbers phony, but they represent the most audacious mathematical con game in a federal budget that anyone in Washington can remember. It is phonier than the phony budgets cooked up during the Reagan era, when the president’s own budget director eventually confessed, “None of us really understands what’s going on with all these numbers.”
By Joe Conason
Bernie Sanders Gives Budget Director Mick Mulvaney Epic Lesson On American Inequality
Shortly after the Trump administration unveiled its controversial budget proposal for 2018, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) totally dismantled the plan in a scathing op-ed.
By Alexandra Rosenmann
The Art Of The Steal: Has Trump Finally Found Someone To Buy The Brooklyn Bridge?
At last, Trump has set the stage for a sequel to his first book of lies, The Art of the Deal—and in grand style. He’s found the right investor. He may have received a gold necklace from the Saudi king and looked regal;
By Doug Kreeger
John Lewis Hammers Steve Mnuchin Over Trump's Sadistic Budget Cuts
"Mr. Secretary, I've often said that a budget proposal is a statement of values and priorities," Lewis began. "This administration's proposal makes crystal-clear that the hungry, the middle class, the elderly and the struggling will be left out and left behind."
By Alexandra Rosenmann
The 15 Heartless Proposals In Trump's Budget
Longtime federal budget experts quickly slammed the White House’s proposed 2018 budget on Tuesday. Its $1.4 trillion in cuts over the next decade would endanger tens of millions of households...
By Steven Rosenfeld
Yes, Trump Budget Would Cut Social Security (And Violate His Promise)
A number of usually reliable reporters were duped by White House spin that President Donald Trump’s draconian budget proposal for fiscal year 2018 to slash spending for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) was not a violation of his major campaign pledge to protect Social Security from cuts.
By Craig Harrington
Trump’s New Bank Regulator: Lawyer Who Helped Banks Charge More Fees
Keith Noreika helped big banks avoid state laws protecting consumers. As head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, he now has the power to override those state laws.
By ProPublica
How To Fight The Republicans Who Voted For 'Trumpcare'
Lots of liberals, and even some conservatives, are upset that House Republicans passed Thursday a health care bill that hadn't been vetted by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for its cost or effects, such as the loss of coverage for millions of Americans, as the CBO estimated for a prior version of the legislation. The GOP was apparently ready for it's Obamacare replacement and ready for it now—but opponents also were ready to fight back.
By Tim Marcin
Why Trump's Tax Cut Looks Like Kansas Writ Large
The tax plan Trump outlined last week has echoes of the Sunflower State's big 2012 tax cut, which precipitated a budget crisis that persists to this day. In large part, that's because more people than expected took advantage of the state's generous exemption for pass-through income.
By David Nicklaus
What's Wrong With Obama Getting $400,000 For A Speech?
Let's unpack the complaints about President Obama's $400,000 Wall Street speech. First off, his current job title is former politician. As president, he pushed the passage of Dodd-Frank, the Wall Street reforms despised by many in this paying audience. So where's the quid pro quo?
By Froma Harrop
Trump's Tax Plan: The Grifters Do 'Tax Reform'
The author of his tax plan, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, vowed last winter that Trump’s reforms would not disproportionately benefit the rich. In fact, he went further: “Any reductions we have in upper-income taxes will be offset by less deductions, so there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class. There will be a big tax cut for the middle class, but any tax cuts we have for the upper class will be offset by less deductions that pay for it.” That was then, this is now -- which with Trump usually means that he was lying.
By Joe Conason
Trump Tax Plan: Exploding Deficits And Bonanzas For the Super-Rich
While the proposed tax cuts would please those helped by them, such as multinational corporations and wealthy taxpayers, Trump's package fell far short of the kind of comprehensive tax reform that both parties in Washington have sought for years. As his milestone 100th day in office on Saturday nears, Trump has been scrambling to show progress on his agenda. The Trump tax plan, though meager in detail, matched up closely with the promises he made during his victorious 2016 election campaign.
By Amanda Becker and Ginger Gibson
3 Big Anti-Trump Marches Coming Up: Tax March, Science March, Climate March
Don't put away that protest sign or cut down on the calls to Congress just yet. The Trump administration has more fuel for the resistance fire, shocking Americans back into action just in time for three anti-Trump marches scheduled this month.
By Ilana Novick
Is Trump On the Verge of His Biggest Legislative Humiliation Yet?
The second plank of Trump’s job program is the much touted and much delayed “trillion-dollar infrastructure jobs plan,” favored by White House adviser Steve Bannon. However, the plan has yet to be drawn up and is not scheduled for presentation until next year. It remains to be seen if Trump and Bannon can harmonize their infrastructure jobs program with that of Senate Democrats or the American Society of Civil Engineers.
By Jefferson Morley
Calling Trump's Bluff: A Guaranteed Job For Every American Who Wants To Work
The job guarantee asserts that, if individuals bear a moral duty to work, then society and employers bear a reciprocal moral duty to provide good, dignified work for all. It would finally make real the ideal, stated in Franklin Roosevelt’s “Economic Bill of Rights,” that every American possesses a “right to a useful and remunerative job” and “to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation.” Not a paternalistic aid, and not some tribute to aristocratic virtue, but a right to be claimed and exercised
By Jeff Spross
Blue America Gets Richer
It's old news that Republican plans to basically kill Obamacare would hit Trump country the hardest. In Kentucky, for example, Obamacare brought coverage to a half-million people (out of a population of 4.4 million) — with 4 in 5 joining the expanded Medicaid program because their incomes were so low.
By Froma Harrop
Revealed: Did Trump Leak His Own 2005 Tax Return To David Cay Johnston?
On the Rachel Maddow Show yesterday evening, Johnston speculated that Trump himself might have sent him the 2005 tax documents anonymously via mail -- since that year's return at least shows the former casino mogul paying some taxes, following his final big score as an actual real estate developer.
By Joe Conason
Trump's Contentious 'Skinny Budget' Is Unlikely To Pass Congress
Get out your calendars and mark a circle around March 16. That’s the date when Congress expects President Donald Trump to present his "skinny budget" outline for the upcoming fiscal year.
By Mirren Gidda
An Open Letter Of Thanks To Trump Voters From The Billionaires
We billionaires just wanted to say a quick thanks for voting for Donald Trump without paying nearly any attention to what his actual policies would be. It's the least we can do, given that you've already done so much for us. Whether we enjoy restoring natural coal-flavoring to river water or seeing the cabinet stocked with our fellow billionaires and buddies from Goldman Sachs, it's the little things -- like being allowed to destroy the climate so we can be a tiny bit richer -- that we appreciate so very much.
By @LOLGOP
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