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.”

The Iowa Legislature passed the nation’s most restrictive abortion law

The Iowa legislature has passed a bill that would ban abortions if a fetal heartbeat is detected. The governor is pro-life but has not indicated yet if she would sign it.

From the article: “…the Republicans pressing the Iowa legislation are making a decisive turn away from the smaller, more incremental measures of the past that have, in their view, merely chipped away at abortion rights. They have a new, longer-term goal in their sights: reaching a Supreme Court that could shift in composition with a Republican president in the White House, potentially giving the anti-abortion movement a court more sympathetic to its goal of overturning Roe v. Wade than the current court is.”

Sad!

 

Yet another roundup of Pruitt articles

How does this guy keep his job?  There are over 10 investigations going on now.

EPA’s top spokesperson is leaving

Lobbyist for other countries helped plan Pruitt’s trip to Australia

Lobbyist helped arrange Pruitt’s trip to Morocco

Pruitt takes credit for achievements from the Obama administration

Two top Pruitt aides quit

EPA staff “in despair” as Pruitt blames them

Nearly a dozen Pruitt probes now

Pruitt aide asked staffers to look into setting up an EPA office in Pruitt’s hometown

Pruitt stalled pollution probe in Oklahoma after taking money

EPA whistleblower says Pruitt lied to Congress

Pruitt bought a house with a lobbyist when he was in Oklahoma

Pruitt aide plants negative stories about Zinke

Pruitt reimbursed himself $65,000 from his Oklahoma Attorney General campaign.

Why is Pruitt still in his job?

Ex-EPA chief says Pruitt is unfit

Fox News on Pruitt

Is Pruitt the most corrupt member of the administration?

Another departure

Sad!

 

 

 

Trump would not get impeached if he fired Mueller

I don’t subscribe to CQ Now but look at the tweet. It says what I have been saying.  Trump can fire Mueller and won’t get impeached for it.  Blame Republican leadership.   Sad!