For Republicans, there are only two certainties in life: debt and tax cuts. During his eight-year tenure, President Ronald Reagan tripled the national debt accumulated over the first two centuries of the republic. (The hemorrhaging from his 1981 tax cut would have been worse, but for 11 subsequent tax hikes the Gipper signed to help […]
Category: Taxes
Last year, IRS chief John Koskinen warned about the impact of his agency's shriveling budget. "I have not figured out either philosophically or psychologically," he lamented, "why nobody seems to care whether we collect the revenue or not." That was before Congressional Republicans slashed its funding for the fifth straight year. Now, one year after […]
The year 2010 was huge for Republicans, and not just because of their overwhelming triumph in the midterm elections. Five years ago, the GOP made two very big promises to the American people. On the very day President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law on March 23, 2010, then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch […]
On the eve of President Obama's 2015 State of the Union address, we have a rare bipartisan consensus on one of the greatest challenges facing the United States. Record-high income equality, President Obama, Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney all agree, presents a threat to the American Dream and American democracy. The ever-widening gap between the […]
As 2015 begins, there is much to be optimistic about for the new year. The American economy is really starting to take off. The private sector has created new jobs for a record 57 months, driving down the unemployment rate and finally beginning to put upward pressure on wages. Plummeting global energy costs are putting […]
The sun does not rise in the west and set in the east. Gravity does not make objects fall upwards. The earth is not flat. And tax cut do not pay for themselves. Despite four decades of bitter experience--and incontrovertible data--to the contrary, Heritage Foundation chief economist Stephen Moore nevertheless took to the op-ed pages […]
As 2014 comes to a close, the American economy is finally starting to take off. U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) surged by 5 percent in the third quarter, the best performance since 2003. Employers hired 321,000 more workers in November, marking the 57th consecutive month of private sector job gains. With unemployment down to 5.8 […]
Almost from its inception in 1974, Republicans have hated the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Ever since Capitol Hill's budget scorekeeper presciently predicted Ronald Ronald's magical tax cuts would produce oceans of red ink, the GOP has had the CBO in its crosshairs over its inconvenient truths about taxes, the economic stimulus, health care and more. […]
Workers at Walmart used the Black Friday shopping rush to elevate their demands to receive a living wage from the nation's largest employer and retailer. Among the protesters are 12 who gave up their Thanksgiving feasts and instead went on a 24-hour fast. But while many Walmart workers and their supporters are making great sacrifices--and […]
This week, House Republicans selected Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as the next chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. That lofty perch, the AP was quick to proclaim, gives Ryan "a high-profile platform if he decides to run for president in 2016 or beyond." But that's not the only perk for Mitt Romney's […]