Financial News

[StrangeSox]

During a budget conference today, Mulvaney slipped in a statement that tax revenues are coming in slower than expected and that we may hit the debt limit sooner than originally anticipated. Mnuchin is along Congress to raise the ceiling before they go on summer recess.

[Dick Allen]

During a budget conference today, Mulvaney slipped in a statement that tax revenues are coming in slower than expected and that we may hit the debt limit sooner than originally anticipated. Mnuchin is along Congress to raise the ceiling before they go on summer recess.

Quick cut the taxes for the rich.

 

One thing I don't get is if cutting taxes is just going to be passed on to the working class, why is the right so opposed to raising the minimum wage? Pass the tax savings on to your workers, no?

[southsider2k5]

Quick cut the taxes for the rich.

 

One thing I don't get is if cutting taxes is just going to be passed on to the working class, why is the right so opposed to raising the minimum wage? Pass the tax savings on to your workers, no?

 

Letting people keep money they already had vs taking money from someone else

[caulfield12]

Letting people keep money they already had vs taking money from someone else

 

It would be amazing if they could completely shut down the entire government except for State/Pentagon/DOD and see how much people really need their government, after all.

 

The amount of money that corporations aren't paying in taxes due to offshoring or tax breaks/shelters DWARFS the amount of money that's "being stolen" by that 47% in the US receiving entitlement benefits. The average food stamp distribution ranges from $60-150 (not even one trip to the grocery story for most Chicago families) and the average SS benefit is something like $800 (for those already retired).

 

A good half of that 47% are retired or semi-retired.

 

Donald Trump is proposing cuts to those who have already retired....cutting their "guaranteed" Federal pension rates. Talk about taking money from the middle class and reallocating it to the 1%, there's no a better example. That's not making America Great Again for your voters, now is it?

 

 

And yet guys like McCain and Mulvaney want to spend not $64 billion but $640 BILLION more on defense. To put it in proper perspective, that's like asking a family in Grand Rapids would they rather give $1 per month to support the Corporation for Public Broadcasting or would they rather "donate" $2000 per year for military spending???

 

How is that $2000 per family per year not "taking from someone" else? How can those who supported military spending from 1981 through today (Reagan through Trump) justify that with all of the new problems that have been created int he world by US/NATO policies during that time?

 

We would have been better off just burning those trillions instead of destabilizing Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan/Pakistan even further.

 

What about the $400+ billion on infrastructure spending in Iraq and Afghanistan when we can't even afford $200 billion for OUR OWN PEOPLE. Safe highways, bridges, dams, sewer systems, airports, electrical grids, internet and broadband access, etc. That $200 billion is 1/10th of what they actually need to spend.

 

Mulvaney's solution...we give $20 million to the states for a highway project, somehow the citizens of KS will come up with $80 million, so it's REALLY LIKE THEY ARE LEVERAGING that $200 billion into $1 trillion. WOW. AMAZING. Yet how are the states going to afford that when they can't even take care of their Medicaid populations with limited Federal block grants there.

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 2017 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

A scathing resignation memo from the top US student aid official reveals a Trump proposal that may delegitimize the Department of Education...

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/scathing-res...-180800559.html

 

Proposed plan to move loan administration from Education to Treasury Dept.

Edited May 26, 2017 by caulfield12

[bmags]

Modest jobs report today at 137, that I would bet a small amount will be heavily revised upward.

 

We are at a point where we see really nice employment gains from no college segments and african american UE. I really hope fed holds off on rates until some actual wage growth can occur.

 

 

[StrangeSox]

The House is voting to repeal Dodd-Frank this morning.

[caulfield12]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/good-workers...-184719239.html

All the "good" workers are taken in this part of Indiana

 

 

How Illinois became America's failed state

The Land of Lincoln is drowning in red ink. And it's about to have its most expensive election ever.

By NATASHA KORECKI 06/10/2017 09:50 AM EDT

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/10/i...election-239384

 

 

 

 

Edited June 10, 2017 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

The most dangerous part about killing Dodd-Frank

http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/12/investing/...-ola/index.html

[caulfield12]

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170614-...al-their-wealth

The new, subtle ways the rich signal their wealth

 

 

The rise of the aspirational class and its consumer habits is perhaps most salient in the United States. The US Consumer Expenditure Survey data reveals that, since 2007, the country’s top 1% (people earning upwards of $300,000 per year) are spending significantly less on material goods, while middle-income groups (earning approximately $70,000 per year) are spending the same, and their trend is upward.

 

Eschewing an overt materialism, the rich are investing significantly more in education, retirement and health – all of which are immaterial, yet cost many times more than any handbag a middle-income consumer might buy. The top 1% now devote the greatest share of their expenditures to inconspicuous consumption, with education forming a significant portion of this spend (accounting for almost 6% of top 1% household expenditures, compared with just over 1% of middle-income spending). In fact, top 1% spending on education has increased 3.5 times since 1996, while middle-income spending on education has remained flat over the same time period.

 

The vast chasm between middle-income and top 1% spending on education in the US is particularly concerning because, unlike material goods, education has become more and more expensive in recent decades. Thus, there is a greater need to devote financial resources to education to be able to afford it at all. According to Consumer Expenditure Survey data from 2003-2013, the price of college tuition increased 80%, while the cost of women’s apparel increased by just 6% over the same period. Middle-class lack of investment in education doesn’t suggest a lack of prioritising as much as it reveals that, for those in the 40th-60th quintiles, education is so cost-prohibitive it’s almost not worth trying to save for.

Edited June 14, 2017 by caulfield12

[southsider2k5]

Powerball and MegaMillions are theatening to kick Illinois out of the lottery program.

[StrangeSox]

Amazon to buy Whole Foods for $13B

[caulfield12]

Does Donald Trump Believe in Tooth Fairies?

http://www.newsweek.com/neil-buchanan-does...-626775?ref=yfp

 

One might also note that even if one is obsessed with high-end tax cuts, the Kennedy bill reduced marginal income tax rates for the wealthiest Americans from 91 percent to 70 percent, whereas the top federal rate is now 39.6 percent. It just might be the case that the effects are different at lower rates.

 

Indeed, research by the famed economist Thomas Piketty and his co-authors suggests that marginal tax rates in the 75-80 percent range for high-income earners are consistent with high economic growth. As a bonus, such rates would also begin to turn the tide against the growing inequality that has had such disastrous effects on the U.S. and the world.

 

As an aside, those who are looking for economic policy suggestions that might increase the economy’s growth possibilities will find that it is liberal policies that are the most promising, as I wrote recently.

 

In any case, the bottom line is that Trump and the Republicans (and their motivated supporters) are continuing to embrace a view of economics that was never widely accepted by economists and that has been debunked both theoretically and empirically many times over. We must reject their regressive policies.

Edited June 18, 2017 by caulfield12

[StrangeSox]

[caulfield12]

Eighty-seven percent of upper-income Americans -- those making $75,000 or more annually -- own stocks, as do 83% of postgraduates and 73% of college graduates. Sixty-four percent of Republicans hold stocks, compared with half of Democrats and independents. Men are more likely than women to be stock owners. Those aged 50 to 64 are the most likely of any age group to say they have money invested in the stock market.

 

http://www.gallup.com/poll/147206/Stock-Ma...owest-1999.aspx

 

 

 

 

[Jerksticks]

Eighty-seven percent of upper-income Americans -- those making $75,000 or more annually -- own stocks, as do 83% of postgraduates and 73% of college graduates. Sixty-four percent of Republicans hold stocks, compared with half of Democrats and independents. Men are more likely than women to be stock owners. Those aged 50 to 64 are the most likely of any age group to say they have money invested in the stock market.

 

http://www.gallup.com/poll/147206/Stock-Ma...owest-1999.aspx

Poor people don't own stocks?? Somebody get them some stocks! American Stock Sharing (Act) has never been needed more.

[caulfield12]

Poor people don't own stocks?? Somebody get them some stocks! American Stock Sharing (Act) has never been needed more.

 

They do, it's called Social Security, the problem is that the rate of return is under inflation...but at least guaranteed not to disappear or be cut 10-15% until around 2030.

[caulfield12]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/21/technolo...s-kalanick.html

Founder Travis Kalanick forced out at age 40 as CEO of Uber...

[StrangeSox]

They do, it's called Social Security, the problem is that the rate of return is under inflation...but at least guaranteed not to disappear or be cut 10-15% until around 2030.

 

 

SS is invested in special Treasury bonds, not the stock market.

[caulfield12]

SS is invested in special Treasury bonds, not the stock market.

 

Well, bonds are a risk averse form of investment...the point being the poor do receive something from the government already (to the earlier point about why doesn't the government just give away stock market portfolios to the poor, obviously being sarcastic or that the poor are 100% undeserving through their own doing.)

Edited June 21, 2017 by caulfield12

[StrangeSox]

Wells Fargo: There were nearly 70 percent more potentially fake accounts opened than originally thought

 

 

Give Wells Fargo the Corporate Death Penalty

The bank is a serial corporate criminal that has screwed over millions of Americans. Here's what the government should do about it.

[southsider2k5]

Sounds like a backdoor deal to punt the debt ceiling to December might have been reached.

[StrangeSox]

Yeah, apparently Trump met with Schumer and Pelosi? And now Republicans in Congress are super pissed about it.

 

https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/905475282676670469

[southsider2k5]

The Vice Chair of the Fed just quit.

[bmags]

I wonder if it goes hawk or dove.