“This analysis looks at what the president and his team have done so far to address crime and justice, and what the country can expect in the weeks and months ahead. ” More.
Month: April 2017
Donald Trump Is Coming for Your Social Security: How the GOP Plans a Bait and Switch to Cut Taxes — and Pensions
“Trump and his team are planning to completely abandon Social Security’s dedicated funding stream from the Federal Insurance Contributions Act payroll deduction and pay for the program with general revenue. They will sell this as a tax cut for workers, which is what it will look like on the paycheck. But Trump’s rumored innovation is to replace the money with a form of value-added tax, which means that typical workers, who spend most of their money on consumer goods, will still pay taxes; they will just lose their retirement guarantee. Rich people will get their tax cuts and don’t need Social Security anyway. It’s a GOP win-win.” More.
Trump Condos Worth $250 Million Pose Potential Conflict
“President Trump’s companies own more than 400 condo units and home lots whose sale could steer millions of dollars to Trump, a USA TODAY investigation has found. The volume of real estate creates an extraordinary and unprecedented potential for people, corporations or foreign interests to try to influence a president. Anyone who wanted to court favor with the president could snap up multiple properties or purposefully overpay. They could buy in the name of a shell company, making it impossible for the public to know who was behind the sales.” More.
Latest Obamacare Repeal Plan Would Explode Premiums for People with Pre-Existing Conditions
“In an effort to revive the American Health Care Act, or AHCA, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and congressional Republicans proposed a plan for an ‘invisible risk pool.’ Word has leaked that the pool is part of a broader to allow insurers in the individual market to charge a premium markup for enrollees with pre-existing conditions, with the pool put forth as a way to offset the premium increases resulting from the rest of the plan. Even before these changes, the AHCA would have thrown 24 million people off of their coverage to pay for massive tax cuts for the rich. Ryan’s most recent attempt to alter the bill would be even more harmful. Enrollees could see premium increases of tens of thousands of dollars, and the proposed invisible risk pool would shave only a tiny sliver off these increased costs for the sickest consumers.” More.
Trump Ignores Retail Jobs Meltdown Roiling U.S. Malls
“Once-bustling shopping malls and department stores are now empty as millions of Americans do their shopping online through businesses that have warehouses but don’t operate storefronts. Trump’s muted response to the retail apocalypse shows which workers count in Trump’s America.” More.
Why the Trump Administration Has So Many Vacancies
“The process is bogged down by the involvement of top White House officials, turf wars and an inexperienced and overworked staff.” More.
Speaking of Flying: Scorpion Stung Passenger on United Flight from Houston
This has certainly been a week for passengers flying the “friendly skies”. More.
Trump’s Ethics Lobbying Ban Up in Smoke; Mr. Peacock Flies Coop for Business Roundtable
“Senior White House budget adviser Marcus Peacock is leaving President Donald Trump’s administration to become the second in command at a high-profile business lobby group in Washington that’s looking to increase its influence…When he joined the Trump administration, Peacock signed an ethics pledge required by the president that would’ve banned him from lobbying his former office for five years. The White House granted him a waiver from that commitment.” More,,,
Carter Page: ‘Something may have come up in a conversation’ with Russians About Lifting US Sanctions
“Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, said that when he was in Moscow last summer, ‘something may have come up in a conversation’ with Russians about lifting U.S. sanctions. Page traveled to the Russian capital in July 2016 to give a speech at the New Economic School.” More.
FBI Monitored Former Trump Campaign Adviser Carter Page on Russia
“The FBI obtained a warrant to monitor President Donald Trump’s former campaign adviser, Carter Page, last summer on suspicions he knowingly engaged in clandestine intelligence activities on behalf of Moscow.” More.