Remember when Republicans cared about the deficit? No longer: The federal deficit hit $895 billion in the first 11 months of fiscal 2018, an increase of $222 billion, or 32 percent, over the same period the previous year, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The nonpartisan CBO reported that the central drivers of the increasing deficit were the Republican tax law … Read More
In Other News, More Evidence Of Money Laundering Shows Up
McClatchy News has the goods: Aleksandr Burman, a Ukrainian who engaged in a health care scheme that cost the federal government $26 million and was sentenced to a decade in prison, paid $725,000 cash for a condo at a Trump Tower I in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla. in 2009. Leonid Zeldovich, who has reportedly done extensive business in the Russian-annexed area … Read More
The Horrible Things The Trump Administration Is Doing That Are Unrelated To Scandals
Sometimes, you forget that these people are just plain evil: The Trump administration is moving to reverse Obama-era rules barring hunters on some public lands in Alaska from baiting brown bears with bacon and doughnuts and using spotlights to shoot mother black bears and cubs hibernating in their dens. The National Park Service issued a notice Monday of its intent … Read More
Mulvaney, The Head Of The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, Is The Wolf Guarding The Henhouse
The man is very Trumpian in his dealings: Mick Mulvaney, the interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told banking industry executives on Tuesday that they should press lawmakers hard to pursue their agenda, and revealed that, as a congressman, he would meet only with lobbyists if they had contributed to his campaign. “We had a hierarchy in my office … Read More
The Wild West Of The West Wing
It is the first day of March 2018. I wrote a lot of posts yesterday, and I didn’t even it HALF of the things going on. The breaking news that would be major scandals in any other White House. It was insane. Here’s what happened JUST YESTERDAY: Hope Hicks — without question, the aide (family aside) with whom Trump is closest … Read More
CFPB Is All But Committing Malpractice
Equifax (EFX.N) said in September that hackers stole personal data it had collected on some 143 million Americans. Richard Cordray, then the CFPB director, authorized an investigation that month, said former officials familiar with the probe. But Cordray resigned in November and was replaced by Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s budget chief, who was once quite vocal about eliminating the agency. … Read More
Speaking Of Sex Scandals…
While we wait for the doors to blow wide open on the Trump-Daniels sex scandal (IF they blow open, that is), let’s chew on this: Casino mogul and Republican National Committee (RNC) finance chair Steve Wynn is facing accusations of sexual misconduct, including that he forced a woman to have sex with him in 2005, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Wynn, … Read More
The Horrible Tax Bill Is GOP Gift To Themselves [UPDATE: Senate Votes Yes]
Literally: Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, inserted language into the final tax bill that would enrich three different constituencies: fossil fuel firms, Republicans’ major campaign donors and a handful of Cornyn’s GOP congressional colleagues including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and two other Texas lawmakers in the House. Cornyn originally added the language in an amendment to the Senate bill at the … Read More
Disney Buys Most Of Fox
Big entertainment news: The Walt Disney Co. has struck a deal valued at $52.4 billion to acquire much of the Hollywood holdings of 21st Century Fox, the global television and entertainment conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch and his family. The deal occurs against a backdrop of swift changes to the industry’s finances and uncertainty about succession plans at both companies. The … Read More
This Is Not Just A Bad Tax Bill; This Is A Bill That Will Make America Worse In Many Ways
NY Times: 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 … Read More
Who Is In Charge Of The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau?
Richard Cordray. the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said that he would be leaving as head of the CFPB at the end of this month. Last Friday, November 24, he sent a letter to President Trump, declaring that he’s officially done leading the federal government’s controversial consumer watchdog agency once the clock strikes midnight. In a separate letter to … Read More
Ivanka Is Either A Fake Or Stupid On Equal Pay
A few months ago: #EqualPayDay is a reminder that women deserve equal pay for equal work. We must work to close the gender pay gap! https://t.co/CcwsoBXWdF — Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) April 4, 2017 From TPM: First daughter Ivanka Trump, who made wage equality and workplace protections for women one of her signature issues on the campaign trail and in her … Read More
Breaking: The Senate Health Care Bill Gets Scored
The House Bill said 23 million would lose insurance under the House GOP plan to replace Obamacare. Now the Senate version has been scored and it is…. just as bad. The Senate bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act would increase the number of people without health insurance by 22 million by 2026, a figure that is only slightly lower than the 23 … Read More
Meanwhile, Republicans Are Giving America Back To Wall Street
Republicans in the House of Representatives passed the Choice Act yesterday, a sweeping deregulation of the financial sector. It passed 233-186, with no Democratic support. One Republican, Walter Jones of North Carolina, voted no. This bill rolls back or weakens most of the protections put in place since the 2008 financial crisis through President Barack Obama’s Dodd-Frank Act. Though it … Read More
Two Bills Signed Into Law By Trump So Far
(1) Repeal of the “Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers” Rule. The rule was that oil, gas and mineral companies had to disclose (to the Securities and Exchange Commission) any payments (taxes, royalties, fees, bonuses, etc) given to foreign governments relating to commercial development of oil, natural gas, or minerals. Designed to prevent companies from engaging in corruption with … Read More