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No weekend at Bernie's yet;
Sen. Bernie Sanders confirms he will seek reelection this fall.
— The Recount (@therecount) May 6, 2024
Sanders would be 89 by the time that new term ends. https://t.co/ZbDbTM3v7r
“The GOP will never rebuild until we move on from the Trump era, leaving conservative (but not angry) Republicans like me no choice but to pull the lever for Biden,” writes former Georgia Lt. Gov. @GeoffDuncanGA, a Republican, on supporting Biden. #gapol https://t.co/w0k3haJ8VX
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) May 6, 2024
Good question. Multitier justice system. The higher up the political ladder and the bigger criminal you are, the better one can get away with stuff.
How often do criminal defendants get held in contempt 10 times without being sent to jail?
— Mary L. Trump (@MaryLTrump) May 6, 2024
‘Greedflation’ Statistics & Trends 2024
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/credit-cards/greedflation-statistics-2024/
John Egan
Personal Finance Expert
Doug Whiteman
Fact Checked
....
Corporate Profit Trends
Corporations initially launched small price increases to deal with rising demand during the pandemic, supply squeezes, and higher food and energy costs linked to the Russia-Ukraine war. But many companies later cranked up the increases, making numerous consumer products and services more expensive.
Corporate profits began to rise rapidly in the middle of the second quarter of 2020 before reaching a peak in the second quarter of 2022, and then continuing to trend upward through the end of 2023.
Brands That Have Raised Prices
As corporate earnings reports have rolled out in recent years, many brands have been accused of contributing to greedflation and engaging in corporate profiteering.
Accountable.US, which describes itself as a nonpartisan watchdog group, analyzed earnings data for the 10 largest retailers by market capitalization in April 2022 and found that not only did they raise consumer prices, but they collectively reported $24.6 billion in higher profits during their most recent fiscal years[11]. The following brands were cited for excessive net profit increases:
Amazon
Saw its net income increase by more than $12 billion in 2021, to over $33 billion
CEO pay ratio—comparing the chief executive’s pay to that of the company’s typical worker—increased from 58-to-1 to 6,474-to-1
Walmart
Saw net income increase by $163 million in the company’s 2022 fiscal year to over $13.6 billion
Shareholder payouts grew by $7.2 billion, to nearly $16 billion in 2022
Planned to spend at least $10 billion on stock buybacks in fiscal 2023
Home Depot
Reported a 27% increase in annual net earnings
Boosted stock buybacks by $14 billion and spent nearly $7 billion on shareholder dividends
Planned to increase quarterly dividends by 15%
Costco
Posted record-breaking $5 billion in net income
Boosted shareholder payouts by more than $4.5 billion to over $6.2 billion
Continues to see spikes in profits after earning $1.2 billion in net income in the second quarter of fiscal 2022, up $348 million from the previous year
Lowe’s
Saw 2021 net income jump 44% to $8.4 billion while spending $15.1 billion on shareholder payouts, including stock buybacks that were $1.1 billion higher than expected due to better-than-anticipated financial performance
CVS Health
Posted more than $7.8 billion in 2021 net income
Authorized a $10 billion buyback program and spent $2.6 billion on shareholder dividends
Target
Saw net earnings rise 59% in 2021
Used profits to boost buybacks by 887% while spending $1.5 billion on shareholder dividends
Other evidence of potential greedflation:
During one three-month period in 2022, Nestle hiked prices 9.5% and Procter & Gamble raised them 9%[12]. The companies represent two of the world’s largest consumer brands.
Coca-Cola bumped up prices by 11% in 2022, and Kraft Heinz notched a more than 15% price hike[13].
As Tyson Foods reported surging profits in May 2022, its CEO told reporters the company was “asking customers to pay for inflation.”.........................................
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ICYMI: “Greedflation” Added to Dictionary.com
https://groundworkcollaborative.org/news/icymi-greedflation-added-to-dictionary-com/
Groundwork exposed “greedflation” as a key driver of higher prices beginning in 2021; Corporate greedflation continues to keep costs artificially high according to new Groundwork report
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Judge finds Trump in contempt for violating gag order again
Judge: Trump's violations are a 'direct attack on the rule of law'
The judge in the hush money trial says he will have to consider jail time in the future
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-hush-money-trial-05-06-24/index.html
Dustin Kittle
@dustinkittle
THE REAL KRISTI NOEM STORY AND WHY THIS RANCHER CALLS BULLSHIT:
I was born on a cattle and poultry farm — I have spent the majority of my life living on the farm — and I currently have a ranch in Tennessee with cattle, horses, and sheep — and what I am here to tell you is that Kristi Noem was wrong.
From the time I could crawl, I’ve been around hunting dogs — my dad raised treeing walkers and we currently have a treeing walker and a German shorthair pointer bird dog on the farm with us now.
I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat and have limited knowledge of Noem’s political dealings — I base my opinion on her own words in describing what was done; words that many people supporting her decision have not read.
As a rancher and an agricultural attorney, I 100% support the right of farmers and ranchers to protect their stock, including the use of deadly force on any animal, dog or otherwise, who is attempting to kill the stock — or poultry, as it was in this case.
But contrary to the false narratives being posited on this site, that is not what occurred in this case.
In the quotes published to date, Noem spends a fraction of the time in addressing the poultry incident, while attempting to justify her actions by opining on the dog’s hunting abilities.
The dog in question was a 14-month old German wire-haired pointer, a bird dog in training to hunt pheasant. Noem had taken the dog on a hunt with some older dogs to help train her but said the dog ruined the hunt with her overexuberance and puppy-like behavior.
On the way home from the hunt, Noem stopped by a friend’s house; however, Noem or someone else from her party apparently did not latch the kennel, and the young dog got out, got in with the neighbor’s chickens and began taking one bite at a time to kill each chicken, then moved on to the next one.
I have seen that exact behavior previously from young hunting dogs with chickens, to include our own GSP. That is not a blood-thirsty killer, but is in fact a condition of curiosity in most any dog’s behavior who finds themselves face-to-face the first time in a pen of chickens.
If Noem’s friend had walked inside her home, grabbed her deer rifle, and shot Cricket right between the eyes before she killed another of her chickens, that is an act I would fully support and is an act that is allowed under the law.
And while that is the scenario some are screaming in support of regarding Noem, it is not at all what occurred in this case.
To dispel another myth being posited by those who have not examined the facts, the first quote attributed to Noem in relation to the dog having ever bit a person came yesterday — and I would surmise it was included in the release to add a legal defense.
Let me explain.
The only reference to the young dog and biting a person came in the quote in which Noem said the dog “whipped around to bite me.” Unlike the positions made defending Noem, there is no evidence the dog had bit anyone, lest Noem would have said, the dog whipped around and bit me.
It may be semantics in some people’s mind, but the plain reading suggests otherwise. And even still, the dog’s actions do not approach the standard for euthanasia under the State’s “vicious” dog statute.
I would add this — if the rationale for Noem’s shortsighted decision was about protecting livestock, it would matter not, for her to offer, that she was “worthless as a hunting dog”. It’s simply a tell on Noem’s part to draw a distinction, implying the dog might not have suffered the same fate if it was a promising hunter.
In her statement made yesterday, Noem, like those supporting her acts being the way of life on the farm, referenced South Dakota’s statutory exemption for killing dogs “found chasing, worrying, injuring or killing poultry or domestic animals.”
The word “found” is integral to the statute’s interpretation, as its inclusion creates a plain reading that negates the interpretation that you may kill dogs who have chased, worried, injured, or killed poultry or domestic animals. And the distinction is an important one, which implies the exemption is one of present circumstances to stop a wayward dog in the act of chasing or killing — in order to protect poultry or livestock.
A review and analysis of a national survey of cases on similar statutes backs up the law’s plain reading, as a North Carolina court in the 2019 case of State v. Barnett delineates in whether the dog was killed in hot blood, so to speak, or at a later time, in cold blood; while finding the latter to indeed be an illegal act.
In that instance, a neighbor’s dogs had attacked the individual’s stock, and a few hours after the incident had taken place, the owner of the stock drove down the road and ran over and killed the dogs while they were on another property.
Now that act clearly may have moral justification to it if all of the facts are considered, but the court said the only fact that mattered was whether the defendant had intentionally ran over the dogs in cold blood or whether it was simply an accident.
The defendant pled it was unintentional and was acquitted on appeal for violating the law, as the court lacked evidence to prove, conclusively, that it was intentional.
Noem presents a different case.
Keep in mind that her dog, by all accounts, had never bothered stock or poultry previously, and did so in this case because it was taken to a farm with chickens, after a hunt, and its owner negligently left open the kennel to allow a young dog and the group of chickens to get together.
But make no mistake, Noem shot the dog, with a shotgun I might add, sometime later — both intentionally and in cold blood.
Noem drove the dog back to her home; certainly angered by what had just transpired, and perhaps realizing the part she played in allowing the hunting dog to get in with chickens.
She then leashed the dog up,walked it to a gravel pit — and with the dog having acted on instinct alone and having no cognizant awareness at that moment as to what was even going on — she executed it.
It’s not inconsequential that she did so with a shotgun rather than a rifle; perhaps using bird shot, with it following the hunt — and the little thought given as to whether the dog would suffer due to that callous selection or her profound ignorance.
Now read the last 12 words of the statutory exemption allowing a person to kill a dog in South Dakota in the protection of poultry or stock.
As to the livestock exemption, such a law allows property owners to take matters into their own hands; a point I wholeheartedly agree with, as a farmer or rancher has a duty to protect the animals entrusted to their care.
And in those last 12 words of the South Dakota statute, much clarity is given to the statutory intent, implying that the dog may not be shot on the owner’s own property.
That is because the protection of the livestock exemption is one from a defensive posture, again to take care of an individual’s own stock, lest the individual is the dog’s owner.
What the State of South Dakota appears to take in its statute is the common sense position that a dog’s owner may not be entitled to use deadly force against a dog who is chasing stock on their own property; seemingly implying that, if that dog is chasing stock, then we know who is to blame — and that owner has a duty to control their dog by training them, penning them, or giving them to someone else who can — but a dog is protected from execution by its own owner’s failure(s).
The language further covers the facts at hand, although clearly, it was not contemplated that someone who retrieved their dog to stop a present situation at another’s property — a property that didn’t 14-month old German wire-haired point did not drive itself to that day — would bring it back home and shoot it, and cite this statute to defend themselves.
Now while Noem has suggested the incident took place as far back as 20 years ago, it is possible she may get a legal reprieve due to the passage of time since the act; but to avail a procedural defense has nothing at all to do with the substantive facts.
And that is where the goat comes in.
Goats are one of the few species of livestock that I have not successfully raised.
When I was about 4 years old, my grandparents had goats and thought it would be a good idea to grab one out of the pasture and let me lead it at the junior goat show at the County Fair. As it would turn out, the goat, named Hammer Jack, was not ready for his primetime debut quite yet, and neither was I, as we took turns dragging each other around the ring.
My next goat venture came about 30 years later when I purchased the goats below — Registered Kiko mates we named Heart and Soul.
Six months after, I called the seller and offered for him to keep the money I had paid for them and I would throw in a sack of feed on top of it if I could bring them back to him.
If you are considering getting goats, check first to see if your fences will hold water — if they will, they might be able to hold a goat.
Based upon the quotes from Kristi Noem, it appears we were about on the same level of knowledge when it came to raising goats.
A relevant note is made up front in that Noem’s goat was an intact Billy or Buck — and it does not appear that it was some prized breeding piece, which leads me to this advice: If you have a male sheep or goat, who is not a breeding piece, and particularly if you have children, you should castrate it for a number of reasons ranging from sanitation to risk of injury.
We have 14 mature Bulls in our Herd Sire lineup, but it is our 2 Rams in our sheep flock who I keep the closest eye on, as mature male sheep or goats can become quite ornery and they can hurt you, without question.
I don’t know why Kristi Noem had an intact goat on her farm and I’m not sure why she allowed her children in with what appears to be a mature billy; but those decisions, without relation, explain the goat’s stench.
A male goat will have urine on its beard, its front legs, and its chest, in a mating instinct that goes back as long as goats have been around.
That likely explains to Noem why her goat stunk.
She then implies the goat was knocking her children down, not causing any physical harm it seems, but getting their clothes dirty.
Again, this entire situation underscores how little Noem, and those who support her actions, know about raising livestock.
A young child should never be in a pen with a male goat or sheep who has not been castrasted, as they will display breeding and territorial instincts that could cause harm, or even death, to a child by being rammed, with a child right at their level to get injured. If you intend to keep back a male goat or sheep, castrate it to eliminate those instincts for the safety of your kids, or keep those male sheep or goats in a secure pen; if they are not in to breed your females at the time.
Kristi Noem killed her bird dog after the incident with the chickens, that was caused by her own negligence. Noem then went straight out to the pasture, got the goat in question, who by all accounts was minding its business doing what goats do, and she brought it back to the gravel pit and she shot it too.
The goat, apparently outsmarting Noem, jumped just as she shot; leaving it maimed by the shotgun blast and suffering until she could retrieve another shotgun shell to finish the goat off, who had the misfortune of drawing Noem’s ire on the day she was executing animals.
And note the quote from Noem’s daughter; who if the math adds up was around 7 years old at the time. She got off her school bus and asked where Cricket, the GSP, was — to show this dog was no aggressive menace her children feared, but that it was instead the victim of Noem’s own stupidity and temper.
Now I would be remiss if I failed to mention that Noem’s initial response, which is likely all that most of her supporters cared to read, noted she killed her pheasant-hunting dog in training and the stinking goat, because that’s just how farmers handle business.
Bullshit.
And that’s where I come into this, as I consider myself a farmer and a rancher, and the last thing I want is for the American public to believe that its farmers and ranchers are a bunch of ignorant savages, although I’ll admit that I’m covering for the ones amongst us who are.
But, in a scenario I’ll admit is short on facts, Noem makes clear that she has extended her death warrants to three elderly horses in recent weeks.
The likelihood of three horses being in need of euthanasia at the exact same snapshot in time is next to impossible, and I hope you’ll forgive me for not giving Noem the benefit of the doubt given her prior acts.
I have heard of two elderly horses being euthanized together if the time for one of them was done and the other may mourn their loss without any other companion. There is a level of compassion in that decision that is certainly understandable, relatable, and if handled in the proper manner, moral.
The story on Noem’s horses, and their respective condition at the time of euthanasia, should be examined in more depth. But I will say that she somehow found a way to dig her hole down even further than she was.
It also jumps off the page to me to see Noem attempt to capitalize on the buzz created by her actions by encouraging folks who to buy her book to hear more “real, honest, and politically incorrect stories.”
With respect to that I’ll say this, no one thinks you’re tough for killing a defenseless animal. There are times on a farm that, due to suffering or circumstance, animals must be put down, often for their own benefit.
The fact that Kristi Noem seeks the protection of the types of decisions which must be made on a farm as a justification for her actions should be offensive to every farmer or rancher who takes seriously their responsibility and commitment to the animals entrusted to their care.
And finally, Noem took one last shot yesterday to, first, promote her book and, second, to reshape the facts.
She even gets in a reference to her leadership during Covid, which I’m sure was stellar, but is of no consequence to the firestorm that she has single-handedly created.
She then states she makes the best decisions for the people in her life, apparently including killing those animals who may create, for her, an inconvenience or embarrassment.
Noem further suggests that she followed the law — otherwise known as a gaslighting attempt to keep her supporters cheering her on, without taking the time to consider that her actions fall outside of the statutory exemptions for protection of stock.
Which is why, likely through her legal team, she included yesterday, for the first time I have seen it in print, a new allegation — that Cricket bit people.
I would surmise that would have been a leading fact to reveal in her decision to kill the dog, following the return to her property after the hunt — and would be much more relevant than the dog’s hunting prowess, or lack thereof, per Noem’s evaluation.
Noem closes by saying the easy way isn’t always the right way; and on that astute point, we do agree.
If you review my mentions, you will find plenty of vitriol over this issue, with references to bleeding hearts and a lack of my understanding on what it really means to be a farmer and a rancher in this world. And that’s ok, because I am secure in who I am; and I won’t shy away from something when I believe it is right.
I have had some say this will alienate me from the farming community — and serve as a detriment to my legal action demanding President Biden to appoint a full Farm Credit Board.
I do not care.
I act and I speak on my beliefs as to what is right and what is wrong; and I’ve always tried to be a voice for those who may not have one.
The truth is there are some amongst us in the farming community who want a license to do as they please on their own land, and I understand that to a point — but when Kristi Noem makes the case that her story is just a part of the same farm life I have grown up in and lived, I must speak up, lest, by association, others may relate the life I live to hers.
My Dad was a dedicated farmer and rancher until he passed away 10 years ago. He hated to see any person or any animal mistreated.
I’m not perfect by any means; and I fall short as to my own patience at times in handling stock — but the general population in this country covets empathy and honesty; and I do not want there to be a trust lost there as to what the farmer believes.
Kristi Noem does not speak for me — and she does not share in what I believe when it comes to what it means to be a farmer or a rancher — instead, she’s a reckless cowboy, or as it turns out here, a reckless cowgirl — and we are not the same.
Dustin Kittle
Tennessee Rancher | Agricultural and Environmental Attorney
Dustin Kittle@dustinkittle
AN OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS:
When I began researching the Noem matter, I could see early on there were significant inconsistencies in her story.
On Saturday, I ran this question through
@grok
and posted it to X after doing so.
I knew this would be a politically-charged issue and wanted to confirm up-front that my motives were pure. In hindsight, given the insinuations put out there by some on the opposite side of this right now, I am glad this was done.
Dustin Kittle@dustinkittle
Environmental and Agricultural Lawyer who operates Snow Creek Ranch | Snow Creek Clydesdales
Lawyer & Law FirmSanta Fe, Tenn., USAlinktr.ee/dustinkittleJoined December 2012
2,446 Following 4,704 Followers
https://twitter.com/dustinkittle
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More on inflation;
Half of recent US inflation due to high corporate profits, report finds
Thinktank report says ‘resounding evidence’ shows companies continue to keep prices high even as their inflationary costs drop
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/19/us-inflation-caused-by-corporate-profits
A new report claims “resounding evidence” shows that high corporate profits are a main driver of ongoing inflation, and companies continue to keep prices high even as their inflationary costs drop.
The report, compiled by the progressive Groundwork Collaborative thinktank, found corporate profits accounted for about 53% of inflation during last year’s second and third quarters. Profits drove just 11% of price growth in the 40 years prior to the pandemic, according to the report.
Prices for consumers rose by 3.4% over the past year, but input costs for producers increased by just 1%, according to the authors’ calculations, which were based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and National Income and Products Accounts.
“Costs have come down substantially, and while corporations were quick to pass on their increased costs to consumers, they are surprisingly less quick to pass on their savings to consumers,” Liz Pancotti, a Groundwork strategic adviser and paper co-author, said.
Since pandemic inflation spiked in 2021, a high-stakes debate has played out about its sources. Many progressive economists pointed to corporate profits – or “greedflation” – and supply chain issues as a driver of high prices, while their more conservative counterparts singled out government stimulus cash and high wages.
The report’s authors scoured corporate earnings calls and found executives bragging to shareholders about keeping prices high and widening profit margins as input costs come down.
The findings come as the Federal Reserve has hiked interest rates to their highest point in 20 years. The report casts serious doubt on the need for further interest rate hikes, and instead calls for stronger policies to rein in “corporate profiteering”.
Prices rose in 2021 as labor costs jumped and supply chain shocks from the pandemic and the Ukraine war snarled shipping traffic and left energy supplies in question. But those issues have in many cases been fully sorted out or are easing, and the labor market has stabilized. Many commodities and services producers’ prices have actually decreased, the report notes.
Nearly 60% of the drop in key goods and services’ inputs was driven by large declines in energy costs, such as jet fuel and diesel fuel, while transportation and warehousing costs have fallen by nearly 4% since June 2022 peaks.
Still, prices remain high. Consumers are still paying about 25% more for groceries, the report notes as an example.
Corporations maintain high prices by exploiting cost shocks caused by events such as the Ukraine war and coordinating price hikes, said Isabella Weber, a University of Massachusetts Amherst economist who was not part of the paper.
The shocks create an environment in which it is safe for firms to increase prices as they expect their competitors to do the same, said Weber.
“This is a form of implicit collusion,” she said. “Firms do not even need to talk to one another to know that a cost shock is a great time to raise prices. But when costs fall, price-setting firms do not have any incentive to decrease prices.”
If no firms launch a price war, Weber added, then companies “hold the line” on prices and widen margins. She pointed to food processors as an example.
The paper zooms in on the diaper industry, of which Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark control 70% of the domestic market. Diaper prices have increased by more than 30% since 2019 from, on average, $16.50 to nearly $22.
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It's not just the US: Corporate profits are keeping inflation high in Europe too
https://www.businessinsider.com/corporate-profits-keep-inflation-high-in-europe-and-america-imf-2023-7
Juliana Kaplan Jul 6, 2023, 6:00 AM MDT
The economic downturn the world has been bracing for still hasn't arrived, labor markets are still booming, and yet the economy feels bad. You can blame inflation for that one — and how much money companies are making off of you.
It's what some economists have termed "greedflation," as companies have found that customers are willing to tolerate ever-increasing prices amid pandemic-era economic conditions like supply chain issues and scarcity. In that model, companies pass along their increased costs to consumers, and then still make additional profits on top of it.
And it's not just an American issue: Higher prices in Europe are largely powered by corporate profits, according to a new working paper from the International Monetary Fund, and profits need to normalize before prices can truly drop.
IMF researchers Niels-Jakob Hansen, Frederik Toscani, and Jing Zhou find that domestic profits in Europe account for a little under 45% of inflation in the Euro Area, while higher wages — which have been pointed to as a primary driver of inflation — account for just a quarter of inflation.
"The growing literature on the role for profits is generally aligned with our finding that firms have fared relatively better than workers even in the absence of a large increase in markups," the IMF authors write.
Inflation is not solely caused by soaring profits, but the working paper finds that profits rising well above pre-pandemic trends have made their mark on European inflation. According to the IMF research, both labor costs and profits rose "significantly" above their recent averages — but profits made up a greater part of that. In particular, industries like trade, food, and travel saw their profits skyrocket, and contribute more to rising costs......................................................
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Trump's tax cuts and a vote for the same;
After Decades of Costly, Regressive, and Ineffective Tax Cuts, a New Course Is Needed
Testimony of Samantha Jacoby, Senior Tax Legal Analyst, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Before the Senate Committee on the Budget
https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/after-decades-of-costly-regressive-and-ineffective-tax-cuts-a-new-course-is
MAY 17, 2023
In my testimony, I will make three main points:
-First, tax cuts enacted in the last 25 years — namely, the tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 under President Bush, most of which were made permanent in 2012, and those enacted in 2017 under President Trump — gave windfall tax cuts to households in the top 1 percent and large corporations, exacerbating income and wealth inequality. These tax cuts cost significant federal revenue, adding to the federal debt and limiting our ability to invest in policies that broaden opportunity and contribute to shared prosperity.
Extending the Trump tax cuts that expire at the end of 2025 would continue to mostly benefit the well-off and, if not paid for, would add considerably to the nation’s long-term fiscal challenges.
-Second, extending the Trump tax cuts that expire at the end of 2025 would continue to mostly benefit the well-off and, if not paid for, would add considerably to the nation’s long-term fiscal challenges. Permanently extending the cuts would benefit households in the top 1 percent more than twice as much as those in the bottom 60 percent as a share of their incomes — providing a roughly $41,000 annual tax cut for the top 1 percent compared to $500 for households in the bottom 60 percent, on average — at a cost of around $300 billion per year. This would be on top of the large benefits high-income households will continue to receive from the 2017 tax law’s permanent provisions.
-Third, instead of doubling down on the failed trickle-down path of the Bush and Trump tax cuts, policymakers should set a new course by partially reversing the 2017 law’s flawed corporate tax cut, strengthening its international tax provisions, and reconsidering the tax code’s large tax breaks for high-income and high-wealth households. Doing so would make the tax code more progressive and raise substantial revenues that could be used to address the nation’s long-term fiscal challenges and pay for important policy priorities.
This approach stands in stark contrast to the House Republican debt limit bill, which would force deep cuts in a host of national priorities; leave more people hungry, homeless, and without health coverage; and make it easier for wealthy people to cheat on their taxes.[1]
The Wealthy and Corporations Have Received Massive Tax Cuts in Recent Decades
U.S. policymakers have substantially reduced taxes for wealthy households in recent decades. The 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts[2] reduced individual income tax rates, taxes on capital gains and dividends, and the tax on estates, all of which provided the largest benefits to the highest-income taxpayers. Though policymakers let many of the Bush tax cuts for high-income households expire in 2013, the 2017 Trump tax cuts again lowered individual income tax rates (including the top rate) and weakened the estate tax, so that it applied only to the wealthiest estates: those worth more than $11 million per person or $22 million per couple, indexed for inflation. The 2017 law also created a large new tax deduction on “pass-through” business income (business income from partnerships, S corporations, and sole proprietorships) and enacted large and permanent tax cuts for corporations.
Taken together, these tax cuts disproportionately flowed to households at the top and cost significant federal revenues, adding trillions to the national debt since their enactment.[3] By shrinking revenues, these tax cuts limit policymakers’ ability and willingness to make public investments that pay off in tangible and important ways for individuals, families, communities, and the country as a whole..........................
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Trump Tax Cuts Created New Costly Tax Advantages for the Wealthy
Like the Bush tax cuts, the tax cuts enacted in 2017 under President Trump benefited high-income households far more than households with low and moderate incomes. The 2017 tax law will boost the after-tax incomes of households in the top 1 percent by 2.9 percent in 2025, roughly three times the 0.9 percent gain for households in the bottom 60 percent, TPC estimates.[13] The tax cuts that year will average $54,220 for the top 1 percent — and $220,310 for the top one-tenth of 1 percent. (See Figure 1.) The 2017 tax law also widens racial disparities in after-tax income.[14]
The law’s tilt to the top reflects several costly provisions that primarily benefit the most well-off:
--Large, permanent corporate tax cuts. The centerpiece of the 2017 tax law was a deep, permanent cut in the corporate tax rate — from 35 percent to 21 percent — and a shift toward a territorial tax system, which exempts certain foreign income of multinational corporations from U.S. tax. At a cost of $1.3 trillion over ten years,[15] the deep cut in the corporate tax rate was the most expensive provision of the 2017 tax law, largely benefiting the most well-off. TPC estimates that over a third of the benefits from corporate rate cuts flows to the top 1 percent of households.[16] Proponents of these regressive corporate rate cuts argued that the benefits would trickle down in the form of broadly shared economic growth.[17] But a careful new study from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) finds that none of the earnings gains from the 2017 corporate rate cuts accrued to the bottom 90 percent of the income distribution, and this group received just a small fraction of the overall economic gains.[18]
--20 percent deduction for pass-through income. The law adopted a new 20 percent deduction for certain income that owners of pass-through businesses (partnerships, S corporations, and sole proprietorships) report on their individual tax returns, which previously was generally taxed at the same rates as wage and salary income. The deduction costs around $50 billion a year through 2025[19] and its benefits are highly tilted toward the wealthy; over half of its benefits will go to households with more than $1 million in income in 2024, according to JCT.[20] (See Figure 2.)
Wealthy households benefit the most from the deduction because they receive most pass-through income,[21] they get a much larger share of their income from pass-throughs than the middle class does,[22] and they receive the largest tax break per dollar of income deducted (because they are in the top income tax brackets). The deduction also creates new opportunities for high-income taxpayers to game the provision to maximize deductions.[23] Complex and valuable tax benefits like the pass-through deduction encourage taxpayers to push the boundary between lawful tax avoidance — itself engaged in by people with access to well-paid tax advisors — and unlawful evasion, and plummeting pass-through audit rates give them more leeway to do so.[24]
FIGURE 2
In addition to these and other flaws,[25] recent research from economists at the Treasury and the Federal Reserve found no evidence that the deduction provided any boost in economic activity in the two years following the deduction’s enactment — no additional investment, jobs, or higher wages for employees of pass-through businesses.[26]
Cutting individual income tax rates for those at the top. The law cut the top individual income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 37 percent for married couples with over $600,000 in taxable income. By itself, this provided a couple with $2 million in taxable income a $36,400 tax cut. The law also weakened the alternative minimum tax (AMT), which is designed to ensure that higher-income people who take large amounts of deductions and other tax breaks pay at least a minimum level of tax. The law raised both the AMT’s exemption threshold and its phaseout, delivering another tax cut to affluent households.
Doubling the estate tax exemption. The law doubled the amount that the wealthiest households can pass on tax free to their heirs, from $11 million per couple to $22 million, (indexed for inflation). The few estates large enough to remain taxable — fewer than 1 in 1,000 estates nationwide — will receive a tax cut of $4.4 million per couple.[27]
Extending the Trump Tax Cuts Would Double Down on the Law’s Flaws
Most of the 2017 law’s corporate tax provisions are permanent, but nearly all of its other changes — including changes to the individual income tax and the estate tax — are set to expire after 2025. Extending all of these provisions would be an expensive policy mistake, costing around $300 billion per year.[28]
These expiring provisions include some provisions affecting families with low and moderate incomes, but often in offsetting ways. For example, the law lowered statutory tax rates at all income levels, nearly doubled of the size of the standard deduction from $13,000 to $24,000 for a married couple in 2018, and doubled the size of the Child Tax Credit for many families.[29] Yet other provisions raised taxes on families, such as the elimination of personal exemptions and the new, permanent inflation adjustment for key tax parameters.[30] The end result of these offsetting changes is only modest tax cuts overall for most families, which pale in comparison to the law’s large net tax cuts for the wealthy.
The expiring provisions primarily benefiting affluent households — the cut in the top tax rate, the pass-through deduction, the weakened AMT, and estate tax cuts — account for a majority of the total cost of extending the law’s expiring provisions.[31] Extending the individual income tax and estate tax provisions would boost after-tax incomes for the top 1 percent more than twice as much as for the bottom 60 percent as a percentage of their incomes.[32] (See Figure 3.) In dollar terms, this is a $41,000 annual tax cut for households in the top 1 percent but only about $500 for those in the bottom 60 percent of households, on average.[33] These benefits would be on top of the very large benefits wealthy households receive from the law’s permanent corporate tax cuts.
CBO estimated in 2018 that the 2017 law would cost $1.9 trillion over ten years (not including the cost of interest payments on the debt from resulting larger deficits).[34] Making the individual tax cuts permanent would add another roughly $2.6 trillion in cost from 2024 to 2033, or $300 billion a year beginning in 2027.[35] Making other parts of the law permanent, such as the “expensing” tax break for business investments, which some policymakers have called for, would add hundreds of billions more to this cost.[36]
Steps to Creating a Better Tax System
Instead of doubling down on the flawed trickle-down path of the Bush and Trump tax cuts, there are opportunities to work toward a tax code that raises more needed revenues, is more progressive and equitable, and supports investments that make the economy work for everyone. A crucial first step is allowing the 2017 tax law’s provisions primarily benefiting high-income households to expire. Additional steps include scaling back the 2017 law’s large corporate tax cuts, ensuring that more income of very wealthy households faces annual taxation, and limiting other tax breaks primarily benefiting high-income households.
Reforming the 2017 Law’s Costly and Regressive Corporate Provisions
The 2017 law’s permanent corporate provisions are heavily tilted in favor of large corporations and their shareholders, who are disproportionately wealthy. Cutting corporate taxes costs significant revenue, and evidence is sorely lacking that the benefits have trickled down. Executives, disproportionately wealthy corporate shareholders, and highly paid employees have reaped virtually all the economic gains from the corporate rate cuts, research suggests.[37]
Reforming the corporate tax — such as by partially reversing the law’s deep rate cut to 28 percent, or halfway between the pre-2017 law 35 percent and the current 21 percent rate — would make the tax code more progressive while generating substantial revenue to fund national priorities.
The 2017 law’s international tax rules also require reforms to more effectively deter costly profit shifting and to better align with the global minimum tax agreement.[38] The 2017 law exempted certain foreign income of U.S. multinationals from U.S. tax and added several provisions, including the global intangible low tax income (GILTI) minimum tax, to try to limit incentives for foreign profit shifting. These provisions have serious design flaws, however, and leave significant room for multinationals to avoid taxes by shifting their profits to low-tax countries.[39]
In 2019, two years after the 2017 tax law was enacted, economists Ludvig Wier and Gabriel Zucman found “no discernible decline in global profit shifting or in profit shifting by U.S. multinationals.”[40] (See Figure 4.) This profit shifting costs significant revenue: globally, multinational corporations shift to tax havens about 36 cents of every dollar they make in profits, research suggests.[41]
Figure 4
Strengthening international tax rules by aligning them with the recent multilateral minimum tax agreement would increase the taxes multinationals pay to the United States. It would do so by ensuring that U.S. multinationals’ foreign profits are taxed at a rate closer to that which applies to domestic profits, and that more foreign profits are subject to the tax, which would greatly reduce the tax savings from reporting income offshore. It would also penalize foreign multinationals that operate in the U.S. if they earn profits in a country that does not impose adequate taxes. On the other hand, failing to update our rules would mean that another country could levy extra taxes on a U.S. multinational that operates within its borders — tax revenue that should be flowing to the U.S.[42]
There is little evidence that previous corporate tax cuts delivered the economic growth that proponents promised, particularly for lower- and middle-income workers. And there is no reason to believe that partially unwinding those cuts — by reducing the large cut in the corporate tax rate and restructuring international tax provisions to adhere to the global minimum tax agreement — would significantly harm the economy. Moreover, using the revenue from corporate tax increases to finance high-return public investments can boost growth. For example, compelling research finds that infants in families with lower incomes who receive more support from child-related tax benefits go on to have higher test scores, high school graduation rates, and earnings into young adulthood, all of which support a strong economy.[43]
Ensuring That More Income of Very Wealthy People Faces Annual Taxation, Reducing Special Breaks
.....................................................Critics of increasing taxes on high-income and high-wealth households often argue that doing so would stifle economic growth by reducing the return to capital investment and discouraging economic activity. Yet this belief, which has been subject to extensive research and analysis, does not fare well under scrutiny.[50]
These proposed reforms to the corporate and high-income provisions of the tax code — in addition to letting the 2017 law provisions benefiting affluent households expire as scheduled — belong at the center of future tax debates. They would generate substantial progressive revenue that the U.S. could use to fund new investments or address long-term fiscal challenges, benefiting workers, families, and businesses.
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How Trump’s Tariffs Really Affected the U.S. Job Market
https://carnegieendowment.org/chinafinancialmarkets/83746
MICHAEL PETTIS
A recent study on U.S.-China trade concludes that Trump’s trade policies cost the U.S. economy nearly a quarter million jobs. But its obsolete understanding of trade flows ends up pointing trade policymakers in the wrong direction.
January 28, 2021
AJanuary 2021 study commissioned by the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC) claims that former president Donald Trump’s trade policies cost the United States 245,000 jobs. As a Reuters news report put it, the USCBC claimed that “a gradual scaling back of tariffs” could help stop the bleeding, while also arguing that a failure to do so would lead to even greater job losses and more sluggish growth.
But while I have long argued that Trump’s approach to trade harmed the U.S. economy more than it helped, this is mainly because these trade policies were based on obsolete ideas about how trade works and because they ignored the fundamental sources of the U.S. trade imbalances. As Matthew Klein and I argued in Trade Wars are Class Wars, bilateral tariffs on Chinese goods do nothing to change the income distortions in China that spurred the country to run huge surpluses and export its deficient levels of domestic demand. Nor do such tariffs address the mechanisms that send these demand deficiencies to American shores. As a result, even if Trump’s tariffs were to succeed in reducing the U.S. bilateral deficit with China, they would simply cause the U.S. deficit with the rest of the world, along with China’s surplus with the rest of the world, to rise by at least as much.
Clearly, the Trump administration’s trade policies were not successful. American deficits with China and the rest of the world were higher last year than they had been in over a decade. And while it is a little unfair to consider 2020 data without recognizing the peculiar economic distortions created by the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. trade and current account deficits were much higher during Trump’s presidency than they had been under former president Barack Obama....................................................................
Lumber Affordability Hitting Homebuilders After Trump Tariff
Homebuilders' confidence waned in July as lumber prices rise in the aftermath of a Trump-implemented tariff.
https://www.usnews.com/news/economy/articles/2017-07-18/lumber-affordability-hitting-homebuilders-after-trump-tariff
By Andrew Soergel
July 18, 2017, at 4:06 p.m.
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Forgot to add this to my last post;
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174360850
Oil & gas industry campaign contributions in the U.S. 2019/20, by beneficiary
Published by Statista Research Department, Aug 25, 2023
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1179621/us-oil-and-gas-industry-campaign-donations/
An Oil Price-Fixing Conspiracy Caused 27% of All Inflation Increases in 2021
The FTC just found evidence that American oil companies colluded with the Saudi government to hike gas prices, costing the average family $3,000 last year. The question is, what can we do about it?
https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/an-oil-price-fixing-conspiracy-caused
MATT STOLLER
MAY 03, 2024
I’m at the Google antitrust closing arguments, and I’ll have some thoughts on that soon. But today’s piece is about some bombshell evidence that just came out on a giant post-Covid conspiracy in the oil industry. And I do mean giant, because there’s now evidence that price-fixingp in the oil industry alone may single-handedly be responsible for a little over a quarter of the total inflationary increase in 2021.
Let’s dive in.
Last Sunday, I wrote a piece alleging that U.S. shale oil producers colluded with the Saudi government from 2021-2023 to drive up gas prices. That essay was based on some reporting I had done, as well as a complaint from a savvy Kansas City class action law firm, Sharp Law, with special expertise in oil. The theory was that American producers, after a bitter price war from 2014-2016, got tired of competing on price with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or the OPEC oil cartel, and at some point from 2017-2021, decided to join the cartel and cut supply to the market. This action had the affect of raising oil prices, costing oil consumers something on the order of $200 billion a year.
Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission released evidence confirming that collusion played a serious role in hiking oil prices at that time. Pioneer Natural Resources CEO Scott Sheffield, a leader in the fracking field, “exchanged hundreds of text messages with OPEC representatives and officials discussing crude oil market dynamics, pricing and output.” Sheffield was explicit about his goal, saying that “if Texas leads the way, maybe we can get OPEC to cut production. Maybe Saudi and Russia will follow. That was our plan,” he said, adding: “I was using the tactics of OPEC+ to get a bigger OPEC+ done.” He talked to shareholders, publicly threatened rivals, and ultimately achieved output cuts across the industry regardless of price. “Even if oil gets to $200/barrel,” he said, “the independent producers are going to be disciplined.
By 2021, as the economy roared back from Covid, the independents had joined OPEC. “I don’t think the world can rely much on US shale,” Sheffield said. “It’s really under OPEC control.”.....................
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Trump moves ahead with selling public land to fossil-fuel industry amid coronavirus and oil price freefall
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/trump-fossil-fuel-coronavirus-oil-price-fall-us-public-lands-a9493101.html
Louise Boyle
New York
Thursday 30 April 2020 18:56 BS
................................................................Melyssa Watson, executive director of the Wilderness Society, told The Guardian: “From rolling back EPA’s pollution standards, to pushing for more oil and gas drilling and stifling the public review process, the federal government is fast-tracking rollbacks that deserve public scrutiny."
Last month, Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, announced a rollback on the Obama administration’s emissions standards for vehicles, despite the decision meaning that millions more tonnes of CO2 will be added to the global warming crisis.
The EPA also said last month that it would suspend the enforcement of environmental regulations that punish polluters during the coronavirus outbreak and allow industries to self-monitor.
At the time, the Natural Resources Defense Council tweeted: “This is an open licence to pollute. The administration should be giving its all toward making our country healthier right now. Instead it is taking advantage of an unprecedented public health crisis to do favours for polluters that threaten public health.”
Associated Press contributed to this report
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The Trump Administration’s Bad Deal for Public Lands
https://www.politico.com/news/agenda/2020/10/07/trump-public-lands-deal-426773
Opinion by JAYNI HEIN and MAX SARINSKY
10/07/2020 04:30 AM EDT
Jayni Hein is the natural resources director at the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law.
Max Sarinsky is an attorney at the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law
As wildfires exacerbated by climate change ravage the western United States, the Trump administration is fueling future climate disasters by continuing to hand over pristine public lands to private fossil fuel developers at breakneck pace.
That would be bad enough, but this fire sale of public lands is happening at arguably the worst possible moment for the American taxpayer: Global energy prices are at record lows, which means oil and gas developers are unwilling or unable to pay a fair price for access to these lands.
A normal approach to a decline in prices is to delay selling an asset until demand, and prices, recover. So a rational administration would look at the decline in demand for oil and gas leases and see it as an opportunity to hit pause and come up with a fiscally and environmentally smarter way to manage these lands.
Instead, the Trump administration is rushing ahead with these lease sales, locking in more harmful greenhouse gas emissions while failing to earn a decent return for American taxpayers...................................
.....................................These giveaways have become the norm for the Trump administration. In one extraordinary example, it allowed a single company to obtain over 113,000 acres of federal land — the size of over 80,000 football fields — for under $190,000, less than the median price of an American home. The Trump administration offered more acres for lease in its first two years than were offered under President Barack Obama’s entire second term. Last year, the Trump administration offered 1.6 million acres, seven times the amount offered in 2016.
By leasing so much public land and granting developers a 5- to 10-year option to drill, the administration not only deprives the public of the land’s other beneficial uses — such as conservation, recreation and renewable energy development — but also ties the hands of future administrations to enact responsible climate policies.
This recklessness is reminiscent of an era at the turn of the 20th century deemed the “Great Barbecue” for the buffet of federal mineral, grazing and forest lands offered to settlers and prospectors for paltry fees, ultimately leading to rapid and wasteful resource exploitation. Congress and regulators eventually adopted a more rational conservation policy, resulting in the establishment of agencies like the U.S. Forest Service and Interior’s Bureau of Land Management that are directed to manage public lands for public benefit.
Today’s flurry of bargain fossil-fuel lease sales could be called a second “Great Barbecue” for creating the conditions for producing the heat-trapping greenhouse gases that fuel climate change. Already, U.S. public lands would rank fifth in the world for greenhouse gas emissions if they were their own country. Continuing to produce large amounts of federal coal, oil and gas contradicts what climate science says we must do to prevent catastrophic climate damages: transition rapidly away from producing and burning fossil fuels..............................................................
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Saudis take 100% control of America's largest oil refinery
https://money.cnn.com/2017/05/01/investing/saudi-arabia-buys-largest-oil-refinery-port-arthur/index.html
by Matt Egan @MattEganCNN
May 1, 2017: 1:53 PM ET
Code: 6 | Message: The usage license for this video player has e
Saudi Arabia Now Controls the Largest Oil Refinery in North America
The move is a huge boon to Aramco before a big IPO, experts say.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/03/saudi-arabia-now-controls-the-largest-oil-refinery-in-north-america-energy-middle-east-aramco/
By Robbie Gramer, a diplomacy and national security reporter at Foreign Policy.
MAY 3, 2017, 10:01 AM
The Port Arthur refinery in Texas is North America’s largest oil refinery, and as of this week Saudi Arabia controls all of it. With the stroke of a proverbial pen, Saudi’s state-owned oil giant Aramco took on 100 percent ownership of the port, cementing its access to the lucrative U.S. energy market at a critical time.
Industry experts say this week’s deal is Aramco’s latest power play before its highly anticipated IPO next year. But it also unveils a wider Aramco strategy no other state-owned oil giant has pursued yet: buying up downstream refineries worldwide to ensure steady consumer access regardless of prices.................................
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Trump's NY pizza scam exposed in under a minute pic.twitter.com/VUiHg1ktrc
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) May 3, 2024
Republican/trump labor and wages
Florida workers brace for summer with no protections: ‘My body would tremble’
Effects of heat are expected to worsen after bill prohibiting municipalities from enacting shade and water protection is passed
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/04/florida-worker-heat-water-protection
There are 17 gop states suing the federal government over the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. The act protects access to very basic things, among which are:
— Miranda (@DoomScroling) May 2, 2024
- bathroom breaks
- access to water
- being able to sit or stand as needed
- allowing for lactation
So let's be clear, in… pic.twitter.com/IYVmtbvDNT
Sounds like your confession to me. How did you get so lazy minded? Since you can't explain any of your statements or views or have any backup at all of why you have them, and have to revert to the same old cult garbage tactics. That's all you got? What a friggin snowflake.
Done and ignored; end.
I would say we're better off. At least the current President isn't mass killing us and selling our national secrets to foreigners or selling a can of beans from the presidency for favors and personal gain. The stock market is better off. What do you consider better off? Jobs are better. Wages are better compared to historical differences in inflation and increase in a wages together. Infrastructure attention and funding for it greatly improved, attention to our climate crisis, even though not even close to enough, has greatly improved compared to trump. We've started to minimize dependence on China and other sources, making good progress or at least more than any time in current history and a lot more than trump did, which is pretty much nill. Trump took in millions from China and put it in his pocket.
Border wasn't secure, hasn't been secure for ages and trump didn't secure it, had a cheap barrier that literally blew over several times in as little as 30 mph gusts and was put up without any supporting mechanisms to make it any real barrier which promptly was penetrated on a regular basis and causing constant repair and damage replacement ever since. At one point, trump released more migrants into the US percentage wise than Biden. Don't really fault him for that part other than he was just focusing on the political theater for himself with a "wall", and only doing a half ass job protecting the border.
Without the manpower, resources, and means (money from congress), barriers are worthless and won't stop the onslaughts of migrants. Plus most of trump's barriers was just replacement and repair of old barriers, and very little of a new wall comparatively. Barriers are still continuing to being put up, using the money that was appropriated from congress for it from the trump's time. That's just his job following a structured system and the laws of governing.
Laws are made in congress, funding from congress. When republicans had the house, senate, and the white house, did they do anything that would change the laws regarding our migrant problem? No. Why trump failed in court with his policies on immigration and other issues, and that was with a lot of republican judges. The president has to follow the laws, if the laws don't address the problem, congress has to get to work and do their job. For reference see this site;
https://policyintegrity.org/trump-court-roundup Use the drop down lists for different queries.
What are the republicans doing now under direction of trump? Blocking the funds that would help secure our border and just using immigration for political fodder.
Just one example, there's lots of them;
Scanners that spot smuggled fentanyl at the border sit unused because Congress hasn't provided the cash to install them
The money to install the screeners was in the supplemental funding request Republicans blocked.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/border-fentanyl-scanners-unused-congress-provided-no-money-rcna141432
Inflation is a pretty complex subject, causes of and beginning of a flaring inflation begins before it actually happens, sometimes way before and it definitely doesn't happen overnight or just because administrations change in the short run. It also can become sticky even if all the right things are done. What was the cause of recent inflation? 40-50% was caused by corporate greed, so there's that out of the way. We had a devastating virus that killed millions with trump and republican party killing 100's of thousands of people helping that kill rate along. I for one will never forget or ignore the massive slaughter they perpetrated, neither will all the ones left that lost and still losing. It was a crime against humanity. Expenses from that crime are still being paid, some to never recover from the financial burden that was put upon them, let alone the emotional, physical, and mental damage that followed. All contributing to the inflation rate.
Supply and demand issues entailed a big part. Trump and the republicans taking from the poor and giving to the rich didn't help anything out. You own a house? How's your insurance rates going? The climate crisis, in which trump did everything he could to hide it, and favor the fossil fuel industry taking kickbacks from them in the form of political funding for himself at the cost put to us. The insurance industry lost 120 Billion last year to the climate crisis. We've got to pay for that and we will. Even if you rent, the insurance rates have a lot to do with increases in your rent, also has a lot to do with anyone's ability to buy a house or maintain it. That's part of the inflation rate and not Biden's doing. You bring up cost of gas, blaming President Biden for it. There's evidence of price manipulation by oil companies controlling the price affecting gas prices at the pump. That's nothing new, they've been controlling and buying politicians and justices for quite a while. Why the environmental mess we're in. Are you aware that the trump administration allowed for full control and ownership of one of the largest refining plant and a jewel of refining plants in Texas to the Saudi's? They import a lot of their own oil in, refine it here in the states at their own plant, and sell it to the American people. I'd say that's a part of inflation and what we pay at the pump. Trumps family got billions from the Saudi's, so I guess it paid him to look the other way,
And if an administration is given an utter mess to deal with like President Biden had/has to deal with, it takes a lot to come out of it, especially with a disjointed and conflicting congress following instructions from a guy who has no business instructing, telling them to sabotage anything President Biden does no matter what, no exceptions, conflict and mayhem creation allowed only.
There was war and conflicts, people killing people, constant cyber attacks upon us from Russia, North Korea, and China. You want to blame President Biden for Putin attacking Ukraine, blame Biden for some terrorists attacking Israel, please. If trump had his way, Russia could take over the world as long as there's something in it for him.
I could go on, but I think that's more than enough. Don't want to overdo it. lol. I'll let it go and agree with you on one point, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
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Just as I was having a little hope and giving you an open door, you start slamming it shut with bs like that statement. If that's what you read into my words, better go back and read it again. I thought I was pretty clear. Your accusation sounds more like a confession. No one is right on everything, I'm sure not, but someone who is part of a cult, any cult, or "want to debate or discuss the validity of all those things spoken about", or just continue to repeat and support disinformation wars, will be almost always wrong. If you believe in and support all those things I mentioned, then yes I'm in the right, and your in the wrong and I have no patience for that kind of debate or discussion.
It may be more about willful ignorance to have basis for your views that make your errors and the inability to debate or discuss your views. Garbage in, garbage out as they say.
Maybe you want a dictatorship and everything that comes with that, trump said "many people want that". You'd be in the wrong. It's not up for discussion.
When someone backs a convicted criminal and a known profussive liar, grifter, fraud, and a convicted sexual predator, they are in the wrong. That's not debatable.
When somebody backs a mitigation war against mitigation methods to a very deadly virus, going against 100's of years of proven science, and in doing so killing and maiming hundreds of thousands of people in the US and causing all that expense and misery, they are in the wrong. No respect is given or deserved.
When someone tries to argue numbers and facts and arguing that 2+2 isn't 4 or just plain ignore it all together, and believe it's whatever trump says it is. They are in the wrong. There is no debate and no working with those kind of ideals.
If you want to come and espouse "Biden and open border policies" you better come with knowledge of the total situation now and over the decades with facts and figures backing your views, not just repeat bs republican one liners without the documentations to back that line. Also valid reasons for backing the action to dismiss the most aggressive border policy in ages written by republicans and democrats for the only reason that it might help President Biden and the people address the current problem. What are the specific policies that have been made that make you feel the president isn't doing his job; show your work as they say.
If you want to talk about the economy and infrastructure, you need to show some numbers, facts, and figures, all of them and show what specific policies that trump had during his time that was better, got more done to give you the view voting for trump is right. I'm not going to give you the time of day if all you do is go on trump's political speech and promises coming from a man that's suffering from dementia that I guarantee you he's not going to last to do anything even if he wasn't just a total liar.
If you want to talk about world affairs, don't come talk to me about acts supporting Putin or Orbin, or come without due diligence and omitting the subject of trump and family stealing and selling pieces of America to foreigners for their profit.
Want to talk about law and order, there's facts and numbers out there to go by. If all you want to do is ignore all the crime involved with the person you give your vote for and want to allow him to be above the law, you have no validity, especially if you want to discuss republicans bs of "the Biden crime family" to try to deflect from their own crimes.
In other words, you don't have to agree with me on anything to discuss or debate, but if you just come and post the same old bs republican lines, disinformation tactics, and trump with his party's repetitive lies, and those are the only reasons for your views or why you are right, you are barking up the wrong tree.
Maybe you would consider putting a different foot forward, you started to show a little willingness, so I responded with giving a little back and opening a door to ways that might work for an open dialogue, at least that was my intent. But I don't have the patience, desire, or the time for lost causes.
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Not implying anything, I stated "Dementia is no joke and very serious and devastating ordeal. I have personally been involved and saw it with an inlaw." It's a very long slow miserable road through hell and back. Both for the one inflicted and all the ones around them. Do a little research on it.
Everything else that I posted was written by someone else (who I agree with), the video was with a health professional with the backing of 100's of health professionals and their knowledge. Medical science and serious professionals all over the US aren't implying either, they are stating facts.
Any implications were that you get up at all hours and clean the shit and puke off them, try to calm their fears and pain of not knowing who you are or where they are, feeding them, making decisions and keeping them from hurting themselves or others. It takes everything in ones soul to handle it, not to give up and quit, continue to address it 24/7, even if you know that there will be nothing but increased suffering until the inevitable cruel end. You do it until it is just past your abilities and have to give them to the professionals (or if you're lucky, sooner to the undertaker), come to a realization that you have to say goodby to someone that will never hear it. The agony of defeat to an unbeatable foe.
What you don't do is put that inflicted person in charge of you or your country, they are not even in charge of themselves. Nor do you put people in power that is using that person having dementia for only their route to power, power undeserved, giving them leadership that they are unqualified for and just a threat to what little bit of democracy we have left.
But that's not implying, nor is it an opinion, just a statement of facts. We're not even getting into all the other deviousness that's involved with trump.
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There are 17 gop states suing the federal government over the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. The act protects access to very basic things, among which are:
— Miranda (@DoomScroling) May 2, 2024
- bathroom breaks
- access to water
- being able to sit or stand as needed
- allowing for lactation
So let's be clear, in… pic.twitter.com/IYVmtbvDNT
If your honest about that, thank you, and hope for a realistic dialog about realistic issues. If that happens, I, personally will give you any respect deserved for that goal. Might find others will too. One fact is for sure, division, especially division based on unrealistic issues, lies, and disinformation campaigns, will lead us all (the people governed) to being conquered and a much lower quality of life. There are way too many more serious issues against all of us in our world today to fight against. Fighting amongst ourselves; we will surely lose. "They" know this and why hate and conflict are subjecting us to the melee. First steps are the hardest but can be the most important.
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Dementia is no joke and very serious and devastating ordeal. I have personally been involved and saw it with an inlaw.
The Shallow State
@OurShallowState
Holy sh*t, Trump's language problems are clearly worsening, and his medications are being ratcheted. Yesterday, several forms of aphasia were at play, and the energy level at Wisconsin and Michigan were markedly different.
Sometimes, he just mispronounces, sometimes he makes up entirely new words, and most times he doesn't quickly catch the gaffes and correct them anymore - which is significant evidence that he's worsening. And sometimes now he short-circuits like a computer with frayed wires.
I'm going to pull no punches here:
Dr Gartner's well-covered chronology of Trump's cognitive issues has proven accurate. He's now supported by more than a small army of influential clinicians and mental health pros. As you've heard me say many times, neurological decline is not linear but as any of us who've lost loved ones to the disease can attest - when it goes bad ... it goes bad.
Having said all that, the MAIN POINT I want to reiterate is that Trump's neurological decay is the new Big Lie. I guarantee - GUARANTEE- that this IS being medically and otherwise addressed. His aides know much of the truth, if not all. They guard this secret with their lives. None of them care about Trump the man, but they very much care about Trump, the conduit to power.
I don't know how many more rallies we'll see. He can't sustain cogency after a while. His oratory is really limited to super-friendly environs for short periods, where he can speak on repetitive autopilot, or to a camera with no interplay, like outside court.
There must be a team figuring out not only how to keep it secret, but how to medicate him, how to recalibrate him afterward, what the rest pattern is, etc. Some in his circle must privately wonder what he will look, and sound like by Nov.
The MSM is starting to cover the gaffes more, but they're so selfishly careful to stay away from references to medical issues or declines, which they still consider conjecture. How much is legal concerns, and how much is willful blindness, we cannot know. We do know that Trump is their meal ticket. And I suspect that as soon as they report objectively on this, which I believe they will have to do at some point, it will probably move the needle in the polls, and impact everything else - including who he selects as a running mate, whether donors want to feed money to a guy who will - eventually - begin to lose self-awareness.
8:13 AM · May 2, 2024·823.6K Views
I'll just add a couple of things to look for: Watch his mobility, his gait, and his physical appearance - dementia eventually impacts these. The "falling asleep in court" is significant. Also - see whether he again references his cognition - Trump likes to get ahead of negatives by saying the opposite of truth, and as we all know - his projection is often a confession.
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If your "political views" support dictatorships (at best a kleptocracy), support massive voter suppression (subscribing to the Big Lie for republicans cover to a voter suppression campaign), supports a party that supports our adversaries, support a party that kills 100's of thousands of Americans on their own soil, supports blocking protection on our borders for the pure purpose of helping a criminal and his crimes upon this nation, support corrupt judges (put in by corrupt republicans), support climate denial, its causes and effects, support white supremacists, fake patriots and homegrown terrorists, support all the constant lies and disinformation, support republican created culture wars, support a person that doesn't have the emotional or mental capacity or ability to lead others let alone a country, and so much, much more.................................you have made yourself the enemy and part of why our country is right now.
Maybe you don't support those things and just ignorant to the facts. Then maybe your not the enemy, but you and others like you with your beliefs are one of the biggest dangers to OUR country and the society within it and will be addressed as such. I assume that you have at least the average intelligence, so that would lead to that you are not stupid and choosing to be ignorant, choosing to follow or practice stupidity. Your right, "all it takes is to stop" and use your intelligence that you were born with. That is if you're not the enemy.
Discussing or debating real policy, real numbers or scientific facts, and not the made up bs would be great, all for it. But if you want to debate or discuss the validity of all those things spoken about above as being a choice, your just going to be shitting uphill.
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Republicans wants the cult to believe inflation is all Biden's fault. President Biden made the gas cost more than 2 bucks, President Biden caused the price of eggs at the market. The lies constantly repeated to enlist the the emotions to put them in power. It's only the lazy mind that won't look farther than the political talking point.
In a Senate hearing on corporate price gouging an expert says:
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) May 2, 2024
"In the second and third quarters of 2023, corporate profits drove over half of inflation — 53% of inflation.
Over the last 40 years before the pandemic, profits drove just 11% of inflation."
Via: @accountable_us pic.twitter.com/hpCegaO03K
While you've been paying through the nose at the gas pump, U.S. oil companies have allegedly been conspiring to keep prices high.
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) May 2, 2024
Just so happens that Big Oil spent more on stock buybacks and dividends in 2023 than ever before.
Textbook corporate greed. https://t.co/rLi0O7QAfp
Yvette Wang, former chief of staff for Miles Guo and his codefendant in the $billion criminal fraud and racketeering case is changing her plea to guilty ahead of their trial, starting in three weeks. Prosecutors have listed Steve Bannon, who was advisor for Miles Guo, as a "co-conspirator" in the case.
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Rep. Scott Perry shared post from pro-Nazi and white nationalist account
https://www.mediamatters.org/white-nationalism/rep-scott-perry-shared-post-pro-nazi-and-white-nationalist-account
WRITTEN BY ERIC HANANOKI
PUBLISHED 05/02/24 10:02 AM EDT
In previously unreported activity, Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) shared a post claiming that “indigenous Brits are LITERALLY being replaced by foreign men.” Perry’s post was taken from a social media account that has promoted pro-Nazi material, shared white nationalist propaganda, and attacked people for being Jewish (as when it posted, “shut up jew boy,” in response to a comment).
This isn’t the first time that Media Matters has documented a Republican member of the House of Representatives sharing material from a pro-Nazi media source: Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), who is a member of the House Freedom Caucus with Perry, last year twice promoted sites that denied the Holocaust and praised Adolf Hitler. Media Matters has also repeatedly documented how Republican officeholders have engaged with or shared content from extremist and bigoted accounts.
Perry is a far-right member of Congress who frequently appears in right-wing media. He has a history of promoting conspiracy theories and played a key role in the Republican attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania...............................................
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BREAKING: LTG (Ret) Mike Flynn says he received “eight subpoenas last night” 🚨👀#ArrestMikeFlynn pic.twitter.com/b2Ehh0vtju
— Jim Stewartson, Counterinsurgent 🇺🇸🇺🇦💙🎈 (@jimstewartson) May 2, 2024
Fenton allegedly got approval from leaders at Abide in the Vine Church to "betroth" the girl to him "with an understanding that no sexual activity would occur."https://t.co/Vg6MhTTxqt pic.twitter.com/U0dgHqrvp7
— 𝐁𝐞𝐤𝐬 (@antifaoperative) May 2, 2024
How different editing creates different thoughts. In the political arena with a constant deluge of disinformation tactics, manipulated thoughts can be the difference in installing a dictator or saving a democracy or literally between life and death or at the minimum to the quality of one's life. Where the conservative amygdala is larger and more prone to amygdala hijacking, the disinformation tactics have more effect. “Amygdala hijack” a term out the book “Emotional Intelligence” by psychologist Daniel Goleman if anyone interested. Pretty powerful reading. It refers to "an intense emotional reaction that’s out of proportion to the circumstance".
Good to learn about, the perpetrators of the massive disinformation campaigns have learned about it and use it extensively to our detriment. A brain is designed to "think before we act", with an manipulated intense "amygdala hijack", the acting overpowers the thinking.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/24894-amygdala
Your amygdala is a small part of your brain, but it has a big job. It’s a major processing center for emotions. It also links your emotions to many other brain abilities, especially memories, learning and your senses. When it doesn’t work as it should, it can cause or contribute to disruptive feelings and symptoms.
Toward a Theory of Political Emotion Causation
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244016662106
https://www.durhamprobonoblog.co.uk/post/your-brain-already-knows-who-you-are-going-to-vote-for
Your brain already knows who you are going to vote for
The editing is insane on this tbh
— Wolf of X (@tradingMaxiSL) April 26, 2024
The real video, in case anyone was curious. 👇pic.twitter.com/YtEJlaoySs
Maddow: In Wisconsin, Republicans are running a Selina Meyer understudy who is from California.. In Pennsylvania, Republicans are running a guy who lives in Connecticut… but wait, there’s more pic.twitter.com/bAmgknWTys
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 30, 2024
From one side;
Trump, confused: GOP growth is plunging pic.twitter.com/zqhukGkzD4
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) May 1, 2024
Trump takes credit for veterans legislation passed during the Obama-Biden administration in 2014 pic.twitter.com/heefy25CoU
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) May 1, 2024
Wisconsin has always been at the front lines of the fight for unions and working people, from the Bay View Massacre in 1886 to the first comprehensive public sector union law in 1959.https://t.co/B06Ue9ERSL
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) April 30, 2024
Trump wants votes from union members, but he stiffs them just as surely as he stiffed his own contractors. He’ll promise the world. But North American Building Trade Unions President Sean McGarvey knows what becomes of those promises—watch:https://t.co/W9IUCEMF9L
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) April 30, 2024
Trump packed the Supreme Court with anti-labor justices. Thanks to his appointment of Neil Gorsuch, in 2018 the right-leaning court ruled 5-4 in a case that gutted public sector unions. https://t.co/1iIPVkceSo
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) April 30, 2024
During 2023’s UAW strike, Trump sought UAW’s endorsement by speaking at an auto parts plant in Michigan. Too bad the plant was non-union. Non-union folks held “Autoworkers for Trump” signs. For workers, Trump talks the talk, but won’t walk the walk. https://t.co/OqjzJzbpnF
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) April 30, 2024
Over and over, President Biden shows why he’s the most pro-union president in history, reaching out to organizers at union-averse companies like Starbucks and Amazon to show his support for employees’ efforts to unionize. https://t.co/KWlANM1VAM
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) April 30, 2024
Unlike Trump, @JoeBiden believes unions mean a stronger workforce. In 2021, he established a White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment to encourage more union organizing.https://t.co/QmIhfhvhtR
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) April 30, 2024
And while Trump’s NLRB cronies tried to undo labor progress, Biden’s appointees are doing what the board was meant to do—protect and support union workers.https://t.co/MzqOy0OQO6
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) April 30, 2024
In 2011, Gov. Scott Walker’s Act 10 stripped bargaining power from public employees. Walker and the GOP went on to pass a so-called right-to-work law smashing private sector unions as well. This century, no state has had a bigger decline in union density than Wisconsin. pic.twitter.com/p7kMHPSEAC
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) April 30, 2024
And in 2023, at long last, union membership in Wisconsin started going up. In his State of the State Address, Governor @Tony4WI declared the Year of the Worker.https://t.co/QL7ZBN6d5C
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) April 30, 2024
Trump wants to bamboozle Wisconsin workers about his agenda.@WisDems—a proud union shop!—is fighting back. We want every worker to know who’s on their side, and who isn’t.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) April 30, 2024
We need your help. Chip in any amount: https://t.co/8s8smXAa1c
Wisconsin has about 205,000 union members. Trump’s margin of victory in 2016 here was 22,748. In 2020, Biden won by 20,682. Union members can decide Wisconsin. And Wisconsin can decide this whole national election.https://t.co/KmZqw1BgQd
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) April 30, 2024
Unions will be doing all they can to inform and mobilize their members. Your help can ensure that @WisDems can do the same. This election is a jump ball—and with your help, we’ll scale up our organizing and comms work and ensure truth defeats lies. https://t.co/8s8smXAa1c
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) April 30, 2024
Barron transferred to the Oxbridge Academy in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is due to graduate with the class of 2024 on May 17.
Then there was this today.
Where Is Barron Trump Going to College? Everything We Know
https://www.newsweek.com/barron-trump-college-plans-1896027
Published May 01, 2024 at 9:25 AM EDT
Updated May 01, 2024 at 12:34 PM EDT
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Sure hope the event is outside. Visions of emergency first responders in hazmat suits coming to an overwhelmed panicked crowd and doing triage due to a large putrid stench cloud that could only be described as The Blob's first cousin's revenge. They will have to install drop down oxygen mask mechanisms by each chair preparing for the event.
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I'm assuming that's satire, but is it? These days it's hard to tell the difference between onion laughter and the life and times of Traitor trump. lol
BURN!
So his father is going, and not Trump? pic.twitter.com/ZwHERVrY9v
— Muffley Merkin (@muffley_merkin) April 30, 2024
Fox News propaganda about Trump's trial has taken on some serious North Korea vibes: It absurdly portrays him as exerting total mastery over the proceedings and even depicts his dozing off as an act of heroic defiance.
— Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) May 1, 2024
This is MAGA cult stuff. 1/
Link:https://t.co/AEZt2i94m6
It's time to talk about @RobertKennedyJr. Because despite his royal Democratic lineage, he is a right-wing, MAGA-aligned crank. It is vital that voters considering Kennedy know this about him.
— Matt Bennett (@ThirdWayMattB) May 1, 2024
Here's a thread with just SOME of the evidence. There's more. A lot more. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/D9axGeNm2x
Fair question. And the answer is low-information voters who would vote for Biden in a head-to-head w/Trump but see the Kennedy name and think he's someone he most certainly is not.
— Matt Bennett (@ThirdWayMattB) May 1, 2024
It only takes a few thousand in key states to swing the election to Trump. https://t.co/iSj35YfeoN
I see, just for fun. Yet, there still is a whole lot of body language in the original and it's not saying much of anything good. In this case, just using different colors to paint the same overall picture kind of diminishes the fun a bit.
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That's a whole lot of body language being spoken.
Someone doesn't like it. https://t.co/loUjlVQyxn pic.twitter.com/lp1jdpNVoV
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) April 30, 2024