Tag: Trumponomics

‘Trumponomics has utterly failed’: Paul Krugman details why the GOP’s economic worldview has collapsed

AlterNet logoIt’s often taken for granted that, whatever else you might say about President Donald Trump, he has at least been good for the U.S. economy. That, many argue, is the fact that may lead to his re-election in 2020.

Except this uncritically accepted pearl of conventional wisdom is quite dubious, as many experts in economics would tell you.

One of those experts, Trump-appointed Fed Chair Jerome Powell, even announced a cut to interest rates this week in light of weak business investment in the economy and the uncertainty caused by the president’s trade wars.

Another expert is economist Paul Krugman, who wrote in a new piece for the New York Times Thursday: “Obviously Powell couldn’t say in so many words that Trumponomics has been a big flop, but that was the subtext of his remarks. And Trump’s frantic efforts to bully the Fed into bigger cuts are an implicit admission of the same thing.”

View the complete August 2 article by Cody Fenwick on the AlterNet website here.

No, Trump Voters, Your Wages Aren’t Going Up

The following article by David Cay Johnston was posted on the DCReport.org website August 15, 2018:

Unless You Were Already Making More than $1 Million a Year

We’ve got some disappointing news for all those people who voted for Donald Trump because he promised rising wages.

While Trump keeps saying wages are rising the official government data show that’s just not true.

Consider a worker paid the median wage, half make more and half less, of $600 a week in round numbers. If she got the average 2.8% raise on July 1, her gross pay rose by a bit under $17.

View the complete article here.

How an unequal tax cut grew more unequal

The following article by Heather Long was posted on the Washington Post website December 2, 2017:

The Senate on Dec. 2 passed a Republican bill overhauling the tax code. The bill passed by a 51-49 vote. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

When Senate Republicans introduced their tax bill in mid-November, they faced competing interests: Some senators thought it wasn’t generous enough for working-class families. Others thought it didn’t deliver enough to business owners.

As Republicans moved closer to a final vote on the bill Friday night, they made several tweaks to the tax legislation. They announced more benefits for business owners, particularly wealthy ones, but they voted down a proposal by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) to give low-income families a bigger tax break. Continue reading “How an unequal tax cut grew more unequal”

Tax bill could trigger historic spending cuts

The following article by Adam Cancryn and Sarah Ferris was posted on the Politico website November 30, 2017:

Medicare alone could see cuts of $25 billion a year. Credit:
Alan Diaz/AP Photo

Republicans are on the verge of a massive tax overhaul that would hand President Donald Trump his first major legislative victory. But the $1.5 trillion tax package could trigger eye-popping cuts to a slew of federal programs, including Medicare.

Unless Congress acts swiftly to stop it, as much as $150 billion per year would be cut from initiatives ranging from farm subsidies to student loans to support services for crime victims. Medicare alone could see cuts of $25 billion a year. And the specter of those cuts has thrust Congress into a high-stakes game of political chicken. Continue reading “Tax bill could trigger historic spending cuts”