Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz joins us to critique the Republican tax plan that could face a vote as early as Friday. The sweeping legislation would overhaul the tax code in order to shower billions of dollars in tax cuts upon the richest Americans, including President Trump’s own family, and repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate. Stiglitz is a Columbia University professor, and chief economist for the Roosevelt Institute. He served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton. https://www.democracynow.org/2017/11/30/nobel_prize_winning_economist_joseph_stiglitz[with embedded video, and transcript]
Anti-Globalization in the Era of Trump: Joseph Stiglitz on Shared Prosperity Without Protectionism
Published on Nov 30, 2017 by Democracy Now!
In the updated edition of Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz’s new book, “Globalization and Its Discontents Revisited: Anti-Globalization in the Era of Trump,” he argues that when Trump became president, he “threw a hand grenade into the global economic order.” We speak with Stiglitz about the impact of free trade agreements that Trump has criticized. https://www.democracynow.org/2017/11/30/anti_globalization_in_the_era_of[with embedded video, and transcript]
Full Broadcast 30Nov17 Real News with David Knight GUESTS: • Kris “Tanto” Paronto — One of the Benghazi heroes who put their lives on the line to protect others is rightfully outraged at the outcome of the Obama administration’s show trial. One of the captured terrorists was given a criminal trial in the US that just ended without a conviction for murder. • Hugo de Garis — AI expert on the accelerating clash between AI & humans TOPICS: • Matt Later was apparently at the center of the Access Hollywood tape that was leaked to take down Trump & he grilled Bill O’Reilly on allegations of sexual harassment that O’Reilly vigorously denied. But there’s no denying the hypocrisy & depravity of Matt Lauer. • Major turning point in the Bundy Trial as the judge, who in previous trials was extremely biased in favor of prosecutors, grants bail after 2 years after massive government lies were exposed.
[from Alex Jones and his merry band of batshit bullshitters]
The price you pay for the same procedure, at the same hospital, may vary enormously depending on what kind of health insurance you have in the US.
That's because of bargaining power. Government programs, like Medicare and Medicaid, can ask for a lower price from health service providers because they have the numbers: the hospital has to comply or else risk losing the business of millions of Americans.
There are dozens of private health insurance providers in the United States and they each need to bargain for prices with hospitals and doctors. The numbers of people private insurances represent are much less than the government programs. That means a higher price when you go to the doctor or fill a prescription.
Uninsured individuals have the least bargaining power. Without any insurance, you will pay the highest price.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Sens. John Thune, Roy Blunt and Shelley Moore Capito join small business leaders in news briefing about the importance of tax reform.
Thursday, Nov. 30th 2017: Draining the Swamp - MSNBC host Joe Scarborough is in panic mode after President Trump reminded the world about the dead intern who was mysteriously found in Scarborough's office. We're witnessing the rebirth of humanity as it sheds the phantoms of the past who were pegging people down under a predatory system. Political commentator Lucian Wintrich reveals how the left censored his recent speech - and how this signals the collapse of the establishment power structure that has existed for centuries. Jon Rappoport hosts the final hour.
A brutal home invasion shook a dusty border town in Southern Arizona late one summer night in 2009. Three supposed US Border Patrol agents fatally shot a father and his 9-year-old daughter. As it turned out, the double homicide was masterminded by prominent-Minutemen-leader, Shawna Forde. VICE explores the demented rise and fall of Shawna Forde in a story about astonishing distortions of the American Dream and the unintended consequences of false narratives.
Today's War Room will be forever remembered. Owen Shroyer goes Texas State University to address the anti-white article published by the student newspaper. What followed was an epic exchange on the campus. Roger Stone breaks the biggest news developing out of the White House, as we continue to expose the liberal double standards when it comes to policy, race, and sexual assault.
[from Alex Jones and his merry band of batshit bullshitters]
Extraordinary rebuke to Trump by chorus of British leaders
The Beat With Ari Melber 11/30/17
Theresa May condemned Trump’s retweets of anti-muslim videos from a far-right group as the “wrong thing to do”, as the U.S. State Department warns that Trump’s tweets could endanger U.S. Officials overseas. Duration: 5:30
The FBI says “black identity extremists” pose a violent threat to police officers. Jelani Cobb breaks down the FBI report, Jeff Sessions’ response and America’s troubling views of African-American activism. Duration: 4:28
Republican senators are once again racing to pass a bill before anyone gets a chance to figure out what exactly it does or who it hurts. Duration: 3:39
Vote to impeach Trump will happen next week: Rep. Green
All In with Chris Hayes 11/30/17
“Impeachment was designed for times such as this and presidents such as Trump,” says Congressman Al Green, who plans to bring impeachment up for a vote next week. Duration: 5:35
Wray surprises with mention of 'foreign influence' task force
The Rachel Maddow Show 11/30/17
Rachel Maddow reports on the latest developments in the investigation into Russia's attack on the 2016 U.S. election, including FBI Director Wray announcing a previously unheard of task force to counter foreign influence in elections. Duration: 6:41
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin fails to deliver promised tax report
The Rachel Maddow Show 11/30/17
Rachel Maddow shows Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin's repeated claims that he had a hundred experts working on an assessment of the Republican tax bill, only to deliver nothing in time for the vote because reportedly there is nothing to deliver, no report was done. Duration: 14:24
Trump pushed top GOP senators to end Russia probe: NYT
The Rachel Maddow Show 11/30/17
Joyce Vance, former U.S. attorney, talks with Rachel Maddow about Donald Trump's potential legal jeopardy for obstruction of justice in light of new breaking news from the New York Times that Trump pressured senators over the summer to end the probe. Duration: 7:00
Sessions refuses to answer Schiff on Trump Russia probe pressure
The Rachel Maddow Show 11/30/17
Rachel Maddow shares video of Rep. Adam Schiff expressing his concern that Jeff Sessions refused to answer under oath to the House Intelligence Committee whether Donald Trump asked him to hinder the Russia investigation. Duration: 2:34
Trump obstruction eyed in Sessions avoidance of pressure question
The Rachel Maddow Show 11/30/17
Rep. Jim Himes of the House Intelligence Committee, talks with Rachel Maddow about new Trump obstruction questions after Jeff Sessions refused to tell Rep. Schiff in testimony before the committee whether Donald Trump pushed him to hinder the Russia investigation. Duration: 5:18
Analysis: Middle class gets average 1% tax cut with GOP bill
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell 11/30/17
The Republican tax cut plan in the Senate hit another snag because every analysis shows the bill adds a trillion dollars to the debt and only gives a small cut to the middle class. This move gives some hope to opponents of the bill. Lawrence O'Donnell examines. Duration: 8:53
Fmr. GOP Treasury official: Tax cut bill makes no sense
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell 11/30/17
Bruce Bartlett, who worked in the Reagan Treasury Dept., says Republicans are cutting taxes as if it's a game of golf: just trying to get to the lowest number possible without thinking of the impact on the deficit or the middle class. John Heilemann also joins. Duration: 8:46
Ezra Klein explains why impeaching Donald Trump doesn't require him having committed a crime. Lawrence O’Donnell says ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ means whatever the Senate says it does. Duration: 6:46
NYTimes: Trump pressed GOP senators to end Russia probe
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams 12/1/17
Multiple GOP senators, including the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, tell The New York Times that over the summer Trump called them to say he wanted them to end their Russia investigation. Our panel reacts. Duration: 8:42
Trump considers replacing Secy. of State Rex Tillerson
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams 12/1/17
NBC News reports that the Trump administration is mulling over another Cabinet shakeup that would see Rex Tillerson out as Secretary of State. Our expert panel reacts. Duration: 7:04
UK MPs: Trump anti-Muslim retweets are stupid & racist
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams 12/1/17
British lawmakers are calling on Prime Minister Theresa May to rescind an invitation for Trump to visit the UK after he retweeted a fringe UK group's unverified anti-Muslim videos. Jeremy Bash reacts. Duration: 4:22
Trump rally just outside Alabama could help Roy Moore
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams 12/1/17
After the White House said Trump wouldn't campaign for Roy Moore, The Washington Post reports Trump will hold a rally in Pensacola, FL which shares a media market with Mobile, AL just days before the AL special election. Duration: 1:33
On December 14, the FCC will consider and vote on Chairman Ajit Pai’s “Restoring Internet Freedom” proposal, which would reclassify internet service — now considered a Title II “utility” — as an “information service.” The proposal, which is expected to pass on a party-line 3-2 vote, would end a 2015 policy known as “net neutrality,” and give internet service providers significantly more power over what their customers do on the internet and how they access it.
Pai, his Republican allies, and the telecom industry promise that this will allow the internet to flourish and stimulate investment in broadband internet infrastructure. Critics and experts argue, however, that this policy change will simply remove the FCC-imposed barriers that prevent telecoms from abusing their power over the content and services delivered over their networks.
Trump Is Getting A Big Holiday Gift From The GOP Tax Plan (HBO)
Published on Nov 30, 2017 by VICE News
Yesterday, President Donald Trump went to Missouri to talk up his tax plan, and to dismiss any thoughts that the GOP tax plan might benefit him personally.
“This is going to cost me a fortune, this thing, believe me…This is not good for me,” the president said.
That’s a stretch, to say the least. While there are some elements in the plan that won’t benefit Trump that much, there are a lot of things he and his accountant should be able to take advantage of. One big help will be the change in how so-called pass-through businesses are taxed. Under the current law, pass-throughs are companies that don’t pay corporate income taxes, but instead pay at the individual income tax rate of the owner or owners of the company.
Both the Senate and House tax reform packages lower the current tax rate these businesses are taxed at. Well, at least some of those businesses.
If you are a small Main Street, mom-and-pop shop you might get a break under the GOP plan. But there’s a good chance it won’t make any difference at all. According to the Tax Policy Center, “Nearly 90 percent of pass-through owners already pay a tax rate of 25 percent or less (under current law). Thus, the 25 percent income tax rate cap on pass-through income would not benefit them at all.”
People who own pass-through businesses like hedge funds, or real-estate development and property-management entities, though, will almost certainly benefit a lot, since the GOP plan will sharply cut the tax rate they have to pay. Which means that despite Trump’s protestations, this tax plan will likely be very good for him.
Donald Trump boasts about the GOP tax bill at a campaign rally, and Trevor explains how the president's attacks on journalism have had an impact on slavery in Libya.
President Trump may have brought holiday cheer back to the White House, but Citizen Journalists Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson know that the war on Christmas isn't over.
I Came Up With Christmas: A President Show Christmas Published on Dec 1, 2017 by [full-episode for-pay channel] The President Show [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd6Lx8sVPAFvqLXeGdy8Kxg , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd6Lx8sVPAFvqLXeGdy8Kxg/videos ] Celebrate Christmas with the man who invented it: the president (Anthony Atamanuik)! Together with his loyal vice president (Peter Grosz), our fearless leader pays tribute to this holiest of holidays with a night of comedy, friends and music. Provider Viacom Partner rating TV-14 Release date 11/30/17 Running time 42:10 Language English Show The President Show Season 1 Episode 21 Category Comedy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16jRKl6mBXA [for-pay; no comments yet]
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Matt Lauer Sexual Harassment Allegations; Trump's Unhinged Tweets: A Closer Look
Seth takes a closer look at how the national reckoning over sexual harassment continued yesterday with the firing of TODAY show host Matt Lauer and how President Trump is becoming increasingly unmoored from reality.
John Oliver Is Trying to Educate Trump Through Commercials on Fox News
Published on Nov 30, 2017 by Late Night with Seth Meyers
John Oliver explains why he hates when people ask if President Trump makes his job easier, why he's sure he'll never meet his Lion King co-star Beyonce and reveals his plan to sneak information to Trump through ads on Fox News.
Did a 'Muslim Migrant' Beat Up a Dutch Boy on Crutches? A video of a teenager beating up a person on crutches was shared by President Donald Trump along with the claim that the antagonist was a "Muslim migrant." FALSE https://www.snopes.com/video-beating-dutch-boy-crutches/
It Started as a Tax Cut. Now It Could Change American Life. The tax plan has been marketed by President Trump and Republican leaders as a straightforward if enormous rebate for the masses, a $1.5 trillion package of cuts to spur hiring and economic growth. But as the bill has been rushed through Congress with scant debate, its far broader ramifications have come into focus, revealing a catchall legislative creation that could reshape major areas of American life, from education to health care. Some of this re-engineering is straight out of the traditional Republican playbook. Corporate taxes, along with those on wealthy Americans, would be slashed on the presumption that when people in penthouses get relief, the benefits flow down to basement tenements. Some measures are barely connected to the realm of taxation, such as the lifting of a 1954 ban on political activism by churches and the conferring of a new legal right for fetuses in the House bill — both on the wish list of the evangelical right. With a potentially far-reaching dimension, elements in both the House and Senate bills could constrain the ability of states and local governments to levy their own taxes, pressuring them to limit spending on health care, education, public transportation and social services. In their longstanding battle to shrink government, Republicans have found in the tax bill a vehicle to broaden the fight beyond Washington. The result is a behemoth piece of legislation that could widen American economic inequality while diminishing the power of local communities to marshal relief for vulnerable people — especially in high-tax states like California and New York, which, not coincidentally, tend to vote Democratic. All of this is taking shape at such extraordinary velocity, absent the usual analyses and hearings, that even the most savvy Washington lobbyist cannot be fully certain of the implications. Mr. Trump and the Republican leadership in Congress — stymied in their efforts to repeal Obamacare, and short of legislative achievements — have signaled absolute resolve to get a tax bill passed by the end of the year. As the sense has taken hold that Washington is now a trading floor where any deal is worth entertaining so long as it brings votes, interest groups have fixed on the tax bill as a unique opportunity to further their agendas. “There’s a Christmas-tree aspect to the bill,” said C. Eugene Steuerle, a Treasury official during the Reagan administration and now a senior fellow at the Urban Institute. As an example, he cited the provisions in the House bill designed to appeal to the religious right. “People want to add certain things, and if they don’t cost a lot, it’s a way to buy in agreement,” Mr. Steuerle said. Economists and tax experts are overwhelmingly skeptical that the bills in the House and Senate can generate meaningful job growth and economic expansion. Many view the legislation not as a product of genuine deliberation, but as a transfer of wealth to corporations and affluent individuals — both generous purveyors of campaign contributions. By 2027, people making $40,000 to $50,000 would pay a combined $5.3 billion more in taxes, while the group earning $1 million or more would get a $5.8 billion cut, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office. “When you put all these pieces together, what you’re left with is we are squandering a giant sum of money,” said Edward D. Kleinbard, a former chief of staff at the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation who teaches law at the University of Southern California. “It’s not aimed at growth. It is not aimed at the middle class. It is at every turn carefully engineered to deliver a kiss to the donor class.” In a recent University of Chicago survey of 38 prominent economists across the ideological spectrum, only one said the proposed tax cuts would yield substantial economic growth. Unanimously, the economists said the tax cuts would add to the long-term federal debt burden, now estimated at more than $20 trillion. If the package does have a guiding philosophy, it is a return to trickle-down economics, an enduring story line in which the wealthy are supposed to spend and invest their tax breaks, creating jobs and commercial opportunities for everyone else. As President Ronald Reagan slashed taxes in the 1980s, he argued that citizens, not bureaucrats, should decide how to spend their money. President George W. Bush bestowed enormous tax cuts on the affluent. But the trickle-down story has yet to achieve its promised happy ending. Only the beginning reliably transpires, the part where wealthy people get relief. The spoils of resulting economic growth have largely been monopolized by those with the highest incomes. Pay for most American workers has been stagnant since the mid-1970s, after the rising costs of housing, health care and other basics are factored in. Nonetheless, Republicans are staging a trickle-down revival. “Either it’s a religious belief, a belief where no amount of evidence would change that, or they are using the argument cynically and they just want more money for themselves,” the economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate, said. Mr. Stiglitz has long warned of the perils of growing inequality while deriding tax-cutting inclinations. Yet even those who have favored lighter tax burdens are critical of the current proposals. In the late 1970s, Bruce Bartlett developed what would become the locus of the Reagan tax cuts while working for Representative Jack Kemp, a conservative Republican from New York. Those cuts helped cushion the pain from sharp increases in interest rates by the Federal Reserve, Mr. Bartlett maintains. But Reagan was lowering the highest tax rate on individuals from 70 percent down to 28 percent by 1986. “What they have here is a big tax cut for the rich paid for with random increases in taxes for various constituencies,” Mr. Bartlett said. “It’s ridiculous. And it’s telling that they are ramming this through without any debate. All of the empirical evidence goes against the tax cut.” [...] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/business/republican-tax-cut.html
Senate Republicans Scramble to Find Revenue for Tax Bill With Vote Expected Friday The Senate will not vote on its tax bill tonight. Republicans are considering raising some taxes down the road to help offset the cost of their tax bill after the Senate parliamentarian rejected the idea of a trigger that would have automatically increased taxes if economic growth fell short of projections. Congress’s bipartisan tax referee said that economic growth induced by the tax cut would only offset $458 billion of its cost over the next decade. The analysis put the bill’s total price at $1 trillion, contradicting the Republican argument that the measure would essentially pay for itself. Earlier in the day, Senator John McCain of Arizona, who had been undecided about the bill, said he would vote yes, but Senator Susan Collins of Maine said she remained undecided. Though Republicans sound optimistic, party leaders still do not have firm commitments from enough senators to ensure the bill will pass. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/us/politics/tax-overhaul-senate-debate.html
Ahead of Vote, Promised Treasury Analysis of Tax Bill Proves Elusive WASHINGTON — In pitching the $1.5 trillion tax overhaul, Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, has said repeatedly that the plan will pay for itself through a surge of economic growth and that over 100 people in Treasury are “working around the clock on running scenarios for us.” Mr. Mnuchin has promised that Treasury will release its analysis in full. Yet, as the full Senate prepares to vote on a sweeping tax rewrite, the administration has yet to produce the type of economic analysis that it is citing as a reason to pass the tax cut. Those inside Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy, which Mr. Mnuchin has credited with running the models, say they have been largely shut out of the process and are not working on the type of detailed analysis that he has mentioned. An economist at the Office of Tax Analysis, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize his job, said Treasury had not released a “dynamic” analysis showing that the tax plan would be paid for with economic growth because one did not exist. Instead of conducting full analyses of tax proposals, staff members have been running numbers on individual provisions or policy ideas, like lowering the tax rate on so-called pass-through businesses and figuring out how many family farms would benefit from the repeal of the estate tax. Activity has picked up more recently as Treasury has sought to provide technical assistance to the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office for their estimates. A Treasury official said that there was not sufficient time to produce a full analysis with growth and revenue estimates of the final bill, which the Senate Finance Committee passed before Thanksgiving. The official pointed to a letter sent this week to Mr. Mnuchin by nine top conservative economists detailing how the Republican tax bills could bolster economic growth, saying that reflected the findings of its own economic models. [...] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/us/politics/treasury-analysis-tax-bill.html
Inspector general launches inquiry into whether Treasury hid Republican tax bill analysis The Treasury Department’s inspector general has launched an inquiry into whether the department hid an analysis of the Republican tax bill — or even did one at all. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin has said economic growth stimulated by the bill’s large tax cuts would offset lost revenue and indicated his department would produce an analysis proving it. But no analysis has been released as the Senate prepared to vote on its version of the tax legislation. The House approved its tax bill on Nov. 16. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to Treasury Inspector General Eric M. Thorson on Thursday asking for an inquiry after a New York Times article said members of the Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy, which would do such an analysis, said they were not working on one. “Either the Treasury Department has used extensive taxpayer funds to conduct economic analyses that it refuses to release because those analyses would contradict the Treasury secretary’s claims, or Secretary Mnuchin has grossly misled the public about the extent of the Treasury Department’s analysis,” Warren wrote. “I am deeply concerned about either possibility.” Rich Delmar, counsel to the inspector general, said Thursday the office had launched an inquiry and that it was a “top priority.” A spokeswoman for Mnuchin did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The announcement came as the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation released its analysis Thursday showing that the bill would add $1 trillion to the deficit over the next decade even after accounting for increased economic growth. [...] http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-pol-essential-washington-updates-inspector-general-launches-inquiry-into-1512084180-htmlstory.html
Need to Impeach Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, a co-author of the Federalist Papers — and an immigrant himself — argued that "high crimes and misdemeanors" could be defined as "abuse or violation of some public trust." This president has clearly already exceeded these standards. Congress has impeached past presidents for far less. — Tom Steyer, October 18, 2017 https://www.needtoimpeach.com/