Tag: Economic Plans

Trump Economics For 2025

The series on the possibilities of a trump administration continues.

Some pundits say that the economy was a driving force in the past vote….and that things will improve….I disagree.

Now that the idiots in our society all 51% of them have given the nod to Trump for a second time it might be helpful to know what to expect from his economic policies…..

President-elect Donald Trump on the campaign trail laid out a broad array of ideas aimed at providing tax relief, cutting prices, hiking tariffs and strengthening the economy, which ranks at the top of voters’ concerns.

Nearly all of the measures, which lack detail, would require congressional approval. That could be tough to achieve in the partisan climate on Capitol Hill.

Here’s what you need to know about what Trump has said he’ll do to address the economy:

Tackle expiring tax cuts

Some parts of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, one of Trump’s signature achievements during his time in the White House, are scheduled to lapse at the end of 2025.

While the law reduced taxes for most people, Democrats often criticize the TCJA for disproportionately benefiting the wealthy.

Trump wants to extend all the individual income and estate tax cuts that the 2017 law provided. This includes, among other things, an increase to the standard deduction, lower marginal income tax rates for most income brackets, and an increase to the estate tax exemption.

Trump has suggested he would get rid of the cap on state and local tax deductions, known as SALT. The TCJA limited the deduction to $10,000, but the controversial cap expires at the end of 2025.

Additionally, Trump has called for lowering the corporate tax rate to 15% for certain companies. The TJCA permanently lowered the top corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.

Trump would also restore companies’ ability to immediately deduct investments in equipment and research.

There is so much more…..

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/06/politics/heres-what-trump-is-proposing-for-the-economy/index.html

Trump’s big stand is the imposition of tariffs…..remember what happen last time he did so?

Economic experts have predicted that such policies would hinder economic growth, increase inflation, harm the working class, balloon the deficit, and likely ignite a new trade war. As a result, his policies would take us back to the first Gilded Age of wealth concentration and gross economic inequality.

Maybe in simpler terms…..

Food will more expensive, education will suck, health care will suffer, tax breaks for billionaires, and on and on…..

But do not take my word for it….

Trump says all this would end inflation, boost manufacturing and employment, and lower the cost of food and housing. But that has been analyzed and dismissed by almost every economist and trade group in the country to look at it.

“Trump has again proven he is a brilliant huckster,” said Kristen Monroe, a political economist at the University of California Irvine. “The election was decided because Americans thought Trump would do a better job managing the economy. Unfortunately, they are wrong. Trump’s policies will help billionaires like Elon Musk but hurt most everyday Americans. We’ll see higher prices, increased deficits, increased costs for healthcare and prescription drugs, and trade wars that will hurt everyone.”

Economists say Trump’s proposal now — for tariffs of 50% to 60% on imports from China and 10% to 20% on all other imports — would crush the economy and do little to preserve jobs. A Bloomberg Economics analysis found that Trump’s tariffs would almost double inflation from its current rate of near 2% to 3.7% by the end of 2025.

https://qz.com/donald-trump-economy-tariffs-trade-taxes-inflation-fed-1851692901

Let’s look at the immediate increases with the Trump tariffs….

President-elect Donald Trump has promised a major escalation of the nation’s tariffs.

Trump has proposed tariffs of between 60% and 100% on Chinese goods, and a tax of between 10% and 20% on every product imported from all U.S. trading partners.

Economists widely forecast that tariffs of this magnitude would increase prices paid by U.S. shoppers, since importers typically pass along a share of the cost of those higher taxes to consumers.

Trump’s tariffs would cost the average U.S. household about $2,600 per year, according to an estimate from the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Some products would likely undergo much more significant price increases than others, experts told ABC News, pointing to items like electronics and toys that rely heavily on imports.

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/trumps-proposed-tariffs-raise-prices-products-experts/story

There is no room for optimism with Trump economics….it will be disastrous…..and you will be paying through the nose….

But do not bitch for you voted for the SOB

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Harris Economic Plan

Before the campaign starts in earnest the Harris people have released the economic plan that she will pursue….not that it will ever become the law of the land….her plans sounds a lot like the ideas from Biden and very little is sounded progressive…..

That said why not look at her proposals…..

Vice President Kamala Harris is set to make her most significant economic policy announcement yet, to include a proposed ban on price gouging in the food sector and a crackdown on corporations. Harris will unveil her economic plan Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the proposals described or hinted at in advance of the announcement indicate “a sharp escalation in the economic populism” of President Biden, reports the Washington Post. Here’s what to expect, according to CNN, NPR, and Reuters:

  • “The first-ever federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries … to make clear that big corporations can’t unfairly exploit consumers to run up excessive corporate profits,” the campaign says, per the Post.
  • Tax breaks the campaign says will lead to 3 million new housing units over four years, moving beyond a Biden administration proposal to allow 2 million new and renovated homes.
  • Limit tax breaks for corporate investors that buy up large numbers of single-family rental homes.
  • A ban on rental price-fixing.
  • $25,000 for more than 1 million first-time home buyers to help with the down payment, up from a $10,000 tax credit proposed under Biden.
  • A $40 billion fund to help local governments finance innovative housing construction, up from a $20 billion proposal under Biden.
  • End federal income taxes on tips, also backed by former President Trump.
  • Expand the child tax credit to $6,000 for families with newborn children.
  • A push to lower healthcare costs and cancel medical debt.

A few are ambitious….my problem is words are cheap how will she accomplish all these promises?

Let’s look at the one that is on everyone’s mind…..the high cost of food….

Economic justice advocates on Thursday applauded the Harris campaign’s announcement the Vice President Kamala Harris is planning to unveil a historic ban on food and grocery price gouging amid widespread discontent about costs that have ballooned by 26% in the last five years.

The Democratic presidential candidate is expected to unveil the proposal for the first-ever federal price gouging ban at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday, detailing plans to direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to impose “harsh penalties” on companies that hike food prices to pad their profits.

As president, the campaign said late Wednesday, Harris would set “clear rules of the road to make clear that big corporations can’t unfairly exploit consumers to run up excessive corporate profits on food and groceries,” building on actions President Joe Biden has taken, such as the creation of a Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing and his guidelines aimed at reining in corporate mergers.

The rules would be introduced in Harris’ first 100 days in office, should she win the presidential election in November.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/kamala-harris-north-carolina

I see Bernie is on-board with these ‘promises’….

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders praised the economic agenda outlined Friday by Democratic nominee Kamala Harris as “an important step forward in making our country a fairer and more just society.”

While acknowledging that the vice president’s slate of proposals does not go as far as he “would like,” Sanders said it is “an economic agenda that begins to speak to the needs of working families and takes on the unprecedented corporate greed that is taking place throughout America.”

“At a time when the price of healthcare is soaring, Vice President Harris understands that we need to cancel medical debt in America,” said Sanders. “At a time when we have a major housing crisis, with 650,000 people experiencing homelessness, Vice President Harris understands that we have to build at least 3 million units of affordable housing, provide a $25,000 down payment for first-time homebuyers, and prevent corporate landlords from jacking up rent.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/sanders-harris-economic-agenda

Is this truly a plan Bernie would propose?

Good question and we may never know the answer.

Sadly I will not hold my breath waiting for these ‘plans’ to be implemented….right now it is so much noise of a campaign….there is NO proof in the pudding so to speak.

Odd that after high prices plaguing the population and the Dems come up with a plan just before an election makes me doubt their sincerity.

We will see just how gung-ho they are after the election.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Trumponomics

Well we have an official ticket for the GOP, Trump/Vance, and now they will set about doing what they must to win in November….a good place to look is their economic policies or we could call it Trumponomics…..the prevailing thought is Americans will vote with their wallets this time around.

Then let us look at Trump’s policies…..

The odds of a second Donald Trump presidency are mounting in the wake of a failed assassination attempt and his strong debate performance, with Wall Street preparing for the possibility of sticky inflation, protectionist trade policies, and higher long-term bond yields

https://seekingalpha.com/news/4124846-trumponomics-what-trump-would-do-if-he-wins-presidential-election

Now that you have a good look at their upcoming policies….what will it mean for the markets?

Economic populism has transmuted the Republican Party, and that new version of the GOP has just gone from one standard bearer to two.

Donald Trump’s choice of J.D. Vance as his running mate suggests he is leaning harder into the economic policy instincts that helped land him his first term in 2016 and that he no longer feels the need to placate the type of free-market conservatives who have dominated the party for decades.

The former president’s views on tariffs, spending and immigration were no doubt a key ingredient to his electoral success in 2016. But he chose Mike Pence as his vice president for that race — a candidate with more traditionally conservative free-market viewpoints.

Few Republicans have been more vocally critical of the party’s modern economic conventions than Vance, who has embraced not just tariffs, but also policies like a higher minimum wage and increased barriers to corporate mergers — even openly praising President Joe Biden’s aggressive antitrust chief, Lina Khan.

He is uninterested in traditional small-government priorities.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/07/16/the-trump-vance-ticket-is-a-repudiation-of-free-market-conservatism-00168578

What about prices?

Tariffs, one of Trump’s only consistent enthusiasms, are a sure thing. Starting in 2018, his administration imposed several rounds of duties, prompting predictable retaliation. Combined, these measures eliminated jobs, slashed incomes and cost consumers about $51 billion annually. Now Trump wants to impose tariffs of 60% on Chinese-made products and 10% on other imports. Bloomberg Economics estimates that this would raise consumer prices by 2.5% over two years and reduce growth by 0.5%. Trump has also promised a 100% duty on imported cars. Details TBD — one analyst describes the likely effect as “catastrophic” — but the point is that trade wars of this kind are always prone to raising prices.

Prices will most likely rise and so will inflation….so just how does he plan to end our ‘inflation nightmare’?

Former President Donald Trump is campaigning on a pledge to end the “inflation nightmare,” vowing that if he wins a second term, he’ll bring down prices “very quickly.” And if that scenario came to pass, it would be cheered by the millions of Americans who say higher costs remain a major problem.

There’s only one problem: Key policies that undergird so-called Trumponomics — a combination of tariffs, tax cuts and a crackdown on immigration — are likely to cause a flare-up in inflation, according to many Wall Street economists. That would be a painful outcome for consumers and businesses sapped by more than two years of surging prices. More broadly, renewed inflationary pressures would also come as inflation is finally inching closer to the Federal Reserve’s goal of 2% per year. 

But experts warn that Trump’s economic policies could cause such progress to stall, and even reverse. They note that tariffs effectively act as a consumption tax, increasing the cost of goods imported into the U.S. — costs that businesses typically pass on to consumers. 

(cbsnews.com)

If one would just look at these plans and stop kissing Trump’s ass they would see that his proposals will only hurt them in the long run…..a vote for Trumponomics is shooting oneself in the foot….and there has been too much of that in the last decade.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

Vote Smart!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Congress Does What It Does Best–Nothing

As this year’s session draws to a close…The Congress does what it always does….waits until it is a certainty that nothing or little gets done.

Like the whole ‘Building America Back’ scam……

Biden’s ambitious economic plan for the nation was just what all politicians do….promise and fail to deliver….but most are not disappointed because they have fail safe that will protect their Centrist BS…..Biden’s fail safe has been Manchin and Sinema in the Senate……

As Biden’s modest economic plan crumbles, brought asunder from within by members of his own party, the fate of the Democrats in the midterm elections seems as firmly sealed as that of poor Fortunato in Poe’s “A Cask of Amontillado.” Yet, I can’t help thinking this collapse was inevitable and was secretly, if not desired at least planned for by Biden. Losing Democratic control of the Congress would leave him in Clinton’s position after the rout of 94–both as the last defense against the Republican Visigoths and able to freely wheel-and-deal unfettered by the demands of his party’s progressive wing. Bill was adept at triangulation politics. But then he was a much nimbler politician than Biden, able to screw over his electoral base and still seduce them into voting for him again two years later.

Joe Manchin: “I’ve never been a liberal in any way, shape, or form, so if progressives want a bigger reconciliation bill elect more liberals…I cannot accept our economy, or basically our society, moving towards an entitlement mentality.”

Of course, Manchin’s never hesitated to demand entitlements for banks and corporations…

Biden always knew he had three failsafes against having to fulfill any of the big ticket promises he made during the campaign: the Senate parliamentarian, Sinema and Manchin. He didn’t even need Mitch.

(Jeffrey St. Clair)

I say do nothing because the infratstructure plan is widely popular with the people of this country….

Despite Republican opposition in Congress, majorities of Americans favor every key aspect of President Biden’s infrastructure plan, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll.

The survey of 1,649 U.S. adults, which was conducted from April 6 to April 8, found that most (51 percent) say they would support “another big legislative package to invest in America’s infrastructure and combat climate change”; far fewer (30 percent) say they would oppose it.

Both Democrats (80 percent to 8 percent) and independents (48 percent to 36 percent) favor such a package. Republicans are opposed, 58 percent to 22 percent.

(yahoo news)

And yet nothing from the Congress….but what’s new?

Real Progressives have seldom thought the Congress was on their side….the nation is stuck in 1950 and Dems are NO help in moving this country forward…..cash has made the Congress a do-nothing institution which is crippling the country and its people.

And yet the voter turns a blind eye to the BS making them as worthless as tits on a flashlight.

We could change all this stagnation….but sadly we will not.

Turn The Page~!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Economic Development?

I have always thought that the promise of ‘economic development’ was a “LIE”…..it is the promise of something that is not going to happen to justify some sort of con perpetrated on the community.

I got thinking about this term more when I watched a piece on the local news…..the head honcho of the country economic development was taunting the building of several small strip malls.executive offices…as a bright world in which the county lives in……

First of all let’s define the term ‘economic development’…..

Economic development is a concerted effort on the part of the responsible governing body in a city or county to influence the direction of private sector investment toward opportunities that can lead to sustained economic growth. Sustained economic growth can provide sufficient incomes for the local labor force, profitable business opportunities for employers and tax revenues for maintaining an infrastructure to support this continued growth. There is no alternative to private sector investment as the engine for economic growth, but there are many initiatives that you can support to encourage investments where the community feels they are needed the most.

That definition is all blue skies and unicorns.

My question is to the city council where is this building economic development?

They built a structure that may remain empty….they employed a couple of guys to erect the structures but where is that economic development?

I mean where these couple of small malls were built sits in an area full of unused space……just two blocks away is a large strip center that sits 90% unoccupied….about one mile away is a large strip mall that is only about 70% occupied and 2 miles away is a strip center that has many open spots for businesses to jump on…..and this does not include the smaller strip malls within a 5 mile radius that sit basically unoccupied…so why were these new malls necessary?

So with this said where is all that ‘economic’ upside?

All this is just my area…..the broader look at local development is just as bleak…..

The average minimum wage in my county is $7.25…that is about half what is needed for a living wage.

So again I ask what ‘economic development’?

Land speculators and contractors are the only people making out like bandits…..by using the BS of ‘economic development’….there is few economic benefits for the average worker in this county.

My next question is….how with so many open spaces for businesses to expand how does a contractor/developer get the cash to build something that may go unused?

Of course I am told that these new structures will benefit the community…..and how does a empty office space enhance my community?

Just who will benefit from this non-existent economic development?

What makes anyone on the council think that business will rush to snap up this new space?

Are the objectives of development met by these structures….those objectives are 1) provide for basic needs.  2) Raise the level of living.  3) Expand the range of economic and social choices.

These structure fail.

How does these ‘new’ buildings offer any of those?  Just who profits from this wish and a hope of destroy land and cutting down trees om a wish and a hope?

My thought is that if we truly wanted economic development then maybe paying livable wages would do more than the promise of empty buildings.

The council needs to design a plan and program for filling empty spaces before the destruction of more land….the council works for the people of the city and should not bow to the cash and wishes of developers….especially on the lie of ‘economic development’.

Just a thought.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Global Minimum Corporate Tax?

Here is an idea that I can support…..but an idea that will be fought tooth and nail by corporations that do not want to pay anything for the right of economic exploitation….

But Biden’s SecTreasury has proposed a plan for a global tax…….

Corporations around the world should pay at least a 15% tax on their earnings, the Treasury Department said Thursday as part of its push for a global minimum for businesses.

The final rate could go even higher than that, according to a Treasury release that said the 15% minimum is a “floor and that discussions should continue to be ambitious and push that rate higher.”

U.S-based companies currently pay a 21% rate, a level that was slashed during the Trump administration. Previously, the top rate had been 35%.

Under a proposal from President Joe Biden, the tax rate would be lifted to 28%, part of a plan to raise levies on both companies and the highest earners.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been touting the benefits of a global corporate minimum tax rate that she said would discourage companies from relocating domiciles to other countries to cut their tax burdens even though most of their operations are in the U.S.

Yellen’s Treasury believes “that the international tax architecture must be stabilized, that the global playing field must be fair, and that we must create an environment in which countries work together to maintain our tax bases and ensure the global tax system is equitable and equipped to meet the needs of for the 21st century global economy,” the department said in a news release.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/20/us-proposes-global-minimum-corporate-tax-rate-of-15percent-with-an-eye-on-something-even-higher.html

Sadly I do not see this as a plan that will make it….corporations own a lot of politicians around the world and they will do as they are told…..

I may have been pre-mature in my doubt….

The Group of Seven wealthy democracies agreed Saturday to support a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15% in order to deter multinational companies from avoiding taxes by stashing profits in low-rate countries, per the AP. G7 finance ministers meeting in London also endorsed proposals to make the world’s biggest companies—including US-based tech giants—pay taxes in countries where they have lots of sales but no physical headquarters. Britain’s Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, the meeting’s host, said the deal would “reform the global tax system to make it fit for the global digital age and crucially to make sure that it’s fair, so that the right companies pay the right tax in the right places.”

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who attended the London meetings, said the agreement “provides tremendous momentum” toward reaching a global deal that “would end the race-to-the-bottom in corporate taxation, and ensure fairness for the middle class and working people in the US and around the world.” France cheered Saturday’s agreement and claimed credit for acting as its catalyst. “We made it! After 4 years of battle, a historic accord was reached with G7 member states,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire tweeted. “France can be proud!” The endorsement from the G7 could help build momentum for a deal in wider talks among more than 140 countries being held in Paris as well as a Group of 20 finance ministers meeting in Venice in July.

Will this be just another great idea that will be thrown on the trash pile of good ideas.

A side thought for my reader to ponder…

As long as I am writing about globally….how would you like to work for McDonalds…..in Denmark…..

The agreement with McDonalds does not only include salary per. hour and 6 weeks holiday. There is extra charge for evening and night work. Payment for seniority, holiday payment (Easter and Christmas for example, (100%), on top of all payment there is an extra 6.85%, Pension plan for employees from the age of 20 (12%).

In the Danish labor market, all employees have 5 weeks paid holiday by law. Some of the things that are extra in the companies that have a collective agreement, just like McDonalds, is one week more (called Feriefridage). So, the answer to your question is yes. McDonalds employees have 6 weeks’ paid vacation for all.

McDonald’s workers in Denmark truly make more than $20 an hour.

Do McDonald’s Workers in Denmark Make $22 an Hour?

Interesting!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Biden/Harris Financial Policies

Time to look at Biden and what are his financial policies and will they do any good for the American people…..

While Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is unlikely to prioritize a financial industry crackdown if he wins on Nov. 3, he is expected to take a much tougher line than Trump and his former boss President Barack Obama.

Banks and investors were preparing for a Biden victory over the weekend after Trump tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, in a blow for his campaign.

Here are some of the key areas his administration and agency picks would likely focus on.

THE COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT ACT
HOUSING FINANCE
CONSUMER PROTECTIONS, CREDIT REPORTING
CLIMATE CHANGE RISKS
BANKRUPTCY REFORM
POSTAL BANKING
 
All pretty good ideas….but knowing what our politics is like I d not think they will be nearly as all powerful as they pretend….after special interests get through they will be toothless tigers….as usual.
 
The tax policies of the Biden/Harris team is also good ideas…..

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have an opportunity to cut poverty in America in half. A new study finds that the Democratic ticket has put forward or endorsed a set of proposals that, taken together, could add up to the biggest anti-poverty plan in decades.

Three specific measures — Biden’s plan to make Section 8 housing vouchers universal; congressional Democrats’ plan for a $3,000-a-year child allowance ($3,600 for kids under 6), and Harris’s LIFT Act proposing new tax credits for low-income households — would have lowered the poverty rate from 12.7 percent to 6.5 percent if they had been adopted in 2018, according to researchers at the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia. That’s 20.2 million fewer people living in poverty.

The reduction in child poverty would be larger still, from 13.7 percent to 3.6 percent. Only about a quarter as many children would remain in poverty after the policy package’s adoption.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21456242/joe-biden-poverty-checks-kamala-harris

Once again good plan…but it will probably not hold up to the brutal American political process….more promises that will go unfulfilled thanx to lobbyists and cash spread around.

Learn Stuff!

VOTE!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Trump’s “Platinum Plan”

Donald the Orange has issued a new economic plan aimed at improving relations with the Black community…..it will be called “the Platinum Plan”….

President Trump took aim at Black voters Friday by offering a new multi-billion-dollar plan and taking a jab at his Democratic rival, CNN reports. “No one in politics today has done more to hurt the Black community than Joe Biden,” Trump said at a campaign event in Atlanta. “Joe Biden should not be demanding your support; he should be begging for your forgiveness.” Trump’s campaign said his so-called “platinum plan” would funnel up to $40 billion in government funding—and perhaps hundreds of billions more from the private sector—for Black business loans, per NPR. White House advisor Ja-Ron Smith called it “historic” for a GOP president to focus “on the economic empowerment of the Black community.”

Trump’s plan is packed with other planks, like designating Antifa and the KKK as “terrorist organizations” and making Juneteenth a national holiday, Fox News reports. It would also aim to improve healthcare for Black communities; allow Black churches to vie for federal resources; install “diversity training” in law enforcement; and boost Black educational opportunities by closing “failing schools” in favor of “full school choice and education opportunity.” The rollout comes amid gloomy polling numbers for Trump among Black voters, who prefer Biden by roughly a 75-point margin. Forbes, meanwhile, runs through Trump’s plan and says “it’s not clear” where much of the funding will come from.

Antifa?  Has anyone of these mental midgets ever taken a look that is?  It is NOT…I repeat NOT a single group but a loose organization of people who despise fascists so how will they decide which ones will be the ‘terrorists’?  A lame ass attempt to look strong….instead that appear to be idiots.

He, Trump, looks desperate…..this is an ambitious plan that will probably never see the light of day if he is re-elected……but I am being too pessimistic….here is his “Plan”……

The president on Friday is expected to roll out details of what the campaign is calling the “Platinum Plan,” which details “opportunity,” “security,” “prosperity,” and “fairness” for the Black Community.

The president’s plan, according to the campaign, will increase access to capital in Black communities by almost $500 billion, help to create 500,000 new Black-owned businesses, and help to create 3 million new jobs for the Black community.

(FOX News)

This from the president that has done more for black people than even Lincoln (that is my favorite bullshit line of all time)

But please take some time and look over his new “Plan” and tell me what you think.

Click to access president-trump-platinum-plan-final-version.pdf

Does this truly sound like a Plan that Trump would offer?

To me it does not…..some campaign worker wrote it in a desperate attempt to find some Afro-American voters for November.

Another one if my thoughts is if this is so damn important why was it nor part of the non-existent GOP platform?

This is a con job!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Trump On Screwing The People

Even if you are an ardent supporter of Donald the Orange you are about to be bent over and hammered hard by the Trump administration…..

First, those people that are collecting unemployment benefits……

White House Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow made clear that the Trump administration will not allow an extension of emergency jobless aid to workers laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re paying people not to work,” the former Wall Street executive declared. “Almost all businesses,” he said, understand that the additional unemployment benefit “is, in effect, a disincentive” for people to get back to work.

Three months ago, Congress passed the CARES Act. While handing vast sums to big business, it included a $600-per-week emergency payment by the federal government to supplement the far lower state unemployment benefits, which are, for example, capped in Michigan at approximately $350 per week.

More than 20 percent of the US workforce—some 36.5 million people—have been thrown out of work because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/06/16/pers-j16.html

On the retirement front…..how many of my readers will depend on a 401(k) for their retirement?

If you do then you had better read this and understand what will happen to your retirement fund……

With the American public’s attention consumed by the Covid-19 pandemic and mass protests against police brutality, the U.S. Labor Department earlier this month quietly gave corporate sponsors of retirement plans something they’ve been agitating over for years: a government green light to invest workers’ savings into funds managed by notoriously predatory private equity firms.

The move, announced on June 3 by Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, allows large managers of 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs) to put workers’ retirement savings into private equity investments that offer the possibility of huge returns—and devastating losses.

U.S. workers “have socked away $6.2 trillion in 401(k) accounts and another $2.5 trillion in IRA accounts.”

“If just 5 percent of the money in these retirement funds were available to private equity,” wrote Appelbaum, “it would be a windfall of $435 billion—real money even to private equity millionaires and billionaires.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/16/leading-us-retirees-lambs-slaughter-trump-labor-dept-quietly-offers-401k-plans

While retirees are pissing and moaning about being locked down and they cannot get a haircut….Donald the Orange and his thieves are being permitted to rape your retirement fund.

And yet he still has some undying support….I question their mental process….as a wise man once said….”you can’t fix stupid” or maybe I should say “stupid is as stupid does”…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–18Oct19

How do we fight economic injustice?

Appears AOC, one of Trump’s nemeses on the Hill, has a plan….a plan that she has put into motion as a bill/law…..

Representative Ocasio-Cortez believes that we must build a just society to protect our communities and uplift our neighbors. A Just Society legislation aims to combat one of the greatest threats to our country, our democracy, and our freedom: economic inequality

…

A Just Society aims to ensure that we are on a path towards shared prosperity for all. A just society provides a living wage, safe working conditions, and healthcare. A just society acknowledges the value of immigrants to our communities. A just society guarantees safe, comfortable, and affordable housing. By strengthening our social and economic foundations, we are preparing ourselves to embark on the journey to save our planet by rebuilding our economy and cultivate a just society. To learn more, follow the links below.

https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/ajs

Check out her plan and then tell me your thoughts.  Please keep the lies of socialism to a minimum…..if you cannot be constructive and unbiased……. then move along.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”