Month: May 2018

Unemployment falls to 3.9%

The unemployment rate fell to 3.9%.  Trump deserves some of the credit.  It would be easier to give him credit on the rare occasions when he does something right if he didn’t take credit for things he didn’t do.  The fall in unemployment and the rise in the stock market are continuations of the trends under Obama.  Trump claims he inherited a mess but that’s not true.

More on the unemployment rate  The article states: “The economy has added 2.7 million jobs during Trump’s first 15 full months in the White House, extending labor market gains under the Obama administration. Employers added 3.1 million jobs during the last 15 months of President Barack Obama’s tenure. ”

That’s exactly my point!

Sad!

Update on hourly wages:

North Korean prisoners

I hope that North Korea does release the three US hostages.  In his eagerness to bash Obama, Trump gets the facts wrong.

Tax law roundup

recent articles and opinion columns on the Trump tax cut law:

Paul Krugman thinks it’s a “nothingburger”. The article states: “Krugman, who is also a columnist for The New York Times, added that he was always skeptical that the new tax law would trigger the economic benefits touted by some lawmakers. But the results so far, he said, are “worse than the pessimists expected.”   Krugman’s column is here.

Apple will buy back $100 billion in stock.

Investment boom from the tax cut hasn’t happened.

CNNMoney asked readers about the impact of the tax cut on them

 

Trump Place condo owners can remove his name from the building

Update 10/18/18

A judge ruled that condominium owners in Trump Place can vote to remove his name from the building.

From the article:

“The once ubiquitous Trump brand has become divisive since Mr. Trump entered the presidential campaign. At the same time, Trump branded buildings in New York have lagged behind the luxury market, selling for about 6.6 percent less than the average Manhattan condominium in 2017.
Condo owners at the Trump Parc in Stamford, Conn., are debating a similar move as the owners of 200 Riverside Boulevard. The silver T-R-U-M-P letters were pried off a troubled hotel and residential condominium in Panama City earlier this year. The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Toronto was renamed the Adelaide.
The Trump name was clipped off the Trump Soho, a condominium hotel in Manhattan. And three rental apartment buildings just south of 200 Riverside excised the Trump name from the building and the staff’s uniforms without any repercussions after Mr. Trump was elected president.”

Sad!

update 10/17/18

 

Looks like a bribe to me

Wisconsin Governor Walker is giving parents a $100 check if they answer a few questions. There is no reason for this.  From the article

“To his critics, who note that Walker is a few months away from a tough reelection bid, it looks like campaign-year bribery of the up to 671,000 families who could receive checks.
And to independent economists, it’s a mystifying piece of tax policy that has no clear long-term economic purpose and few, if any, recent comparable examples, given that tax breaks are traditionally incorporated for tax filing season — not in the months before an election.”

Sad!

Ban assault weapons

Editorial by Representative Swalwell:

He writes: “Reinstating the federal assault weapons ban that was in effect from 1994 to 2004 would prohibit manufacture and sales, but it would not affect weapons already possessed. This would leave millions of assault weapons in our communities for decades to come.
Instead, we should ban possession of military-style semiautomatic assault weapons, we should buy back such weapons from all who choose to abide by the law, and we should criminally prosecute any who choose to defy it by keeping their weapons. The ban would not apply to law enforcement agencies or shooting clubs.”