Global Investors Are Telling Donald Trump His Deficits and National…
Washington is unnerved these days about budget deficits and the national debt. Deficit angst comes along periodically, often as a pretext for cutting social spending. This time, however, there’s genuine cause for alarm. Outsized deficits are par for the course when the economy is in recession or reeling from a shock like the pandemic or the financial collapse; most of… Continue reading
Donald Trump’s Economic Record is Mediocre, and the Outlook Is…
Ignoring the facts while praising yourself is second nature to many politicians, and a case in point is Donald Trump’s claims that his stewardship of the economy puts his predecessors to shame. In recent months, President Trump has tweeted that economic growth under his presidency "is better than it has been in many decades,” “the Economy is raging at an…Continue reading
The Case for Reforming the United States Postal Service
Last week, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order creating a new task force to evaluate how the United States Postal Service (USPS) operates and funds itself. The order followed two weeks of presidential tweets about the Amazon-USPS relationship. Trump has raised serious concerns that may need to be addressed, but he seems to blame the wrong party. The heart…Continue reading
Asking about Citizenship Status in the 2020 Census Is Dangerous…
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s decision last week to “reinstate” a question on citizenship status in the 2020 decennial Census (it was last asked in 1950), almost certainly will vastly increase the number of people who ignore or evade the 2020 decennial Census. The policy will certainly discourage undocumented immigrants from filling out a Census form, and so lower the official…Continue reading
Trump’s SOTU Economic Agenda: Self-Congratulations and Empty Threats — But…
In less than a week, President Donald Trump will deliver his first State of the Union (SOTU) address. It’s safe to assume that he will follow his predecessors in casting his first year in office as a series of triumphs. With the government shutdown over for now, Trump will congratulate himself for resolving it. His economic message will highlight the…Continue reading
The New Economics of Jobs Is Bad News for Working…
Many political observers still seem flummoxed by the fact that millions of working-class Americans voted for Donald Trump after supporting Barack Obama not once but twice. One important reason may lie in certain large-scale changes in America’s job market over the last decade. The growing role of a college degree in landing a job is well documented. Now, new household…Continue reading
Does Science Prove that the Modern GOP Favors the Rich?
Virtually everyone outside the Trump administration agrees that the GOP tax plans passed by the House and the Senate will aggravate income inequality. In fact, the party-line votes on both plans are the latest instance of a remarkable fact: Over the last 40 years, income inequality has accelerated when Republicans held the White House, the Congress or both, and slowed…Continue reading
Evaluating the Claim that Cutting Corporate Taxes Will Raise Your…
Real disputes among professional economists rarely make their way into political debates. But that’s what’s happened with the issue of whether the Trump administration’s proposal to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent would mainly benefit shareholders or workers. Both sides make coherent arguments – but in the end, the evidence supports the proposal’s opponents. Those…Continue reading
Blame the Economy for Widening Inequality – And Washington for…
America’s widening income inequality has become a subtext across most debates in domestic policy. GOP plans to repeal and replace Obamacare failed in large part because virtually every expert warned that the changes would end coverage for millions of people with modest incomes and cut taxes for high-income people. President Donald Trump’s push to cut business taxes will likely meet…Continue reading