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Trump Administration Is Lying About The Tariff Numbers 7 Apr 9:05 PM (12 hours ago)

 

The TrumpMusk Attacks On Social Security Continue 7 Apr 9:04 PM (12 hours ago)

Republicans have never liked Social Security, but the program was so popular and worked so well that they couldn't do away with it. The worst they could do was to chip away at it around the edges (like raising the retirement age). 

But Donald Trump doesn't care. He's either a lame duck or the first U.S. dictator, and either way can do what he wants regardless of what the people want. He appointed Elon Musk as his hitman, and Musk is busy trying to destroy the Social Security system. He's laid of workers needed to run the system efficiently and is planning more layoffs - and he's making changes that make it harder for citizens to access the system.

They say they're just trying to eliminate the massive fraud in the system. Don't believe it. There is very little fraud in the system. And the changes being made doesn't eliminate any fraud. It just breaks the system so it doesn't work any more. That will give the Republicans the excuse they need to finally eliminate the system.

The GOP only cares about the rich - the people who don't need Social Security. They don't seem to care about the millions who depend on Social Security to live. For 40% of Social Security recipients, Social Security is their only income. For millions more, it keeps them out of poverty.

We don't have the luxury of waiting until the next election to save Social Security. In another year and a half, the system might not even exist anymore - or it will be so broken that it doesn't work anymore.

We must stop the attacks on Social Security NOW! Resist. Demonstrate. Put pressure on elected officials. Do whatever you can. 

If you don't, you may find yourself without a Social Security system. That would be disastrous for today's seniors, and tomorrow's retirees!

Money Can't Buy Love 7 Apr 9:03 PM (12 hours ago)

 Political Cartoon is by Clay Bennett in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

No One Should Be Surprised - Trump Told Us What He Would Do 7 Apr 9:02 PM (12 hours ago)

Trump is less than 100 days into his second term, but he has wasted no time. He has issued over 100 executive orders, appointed Elon Musk to destroy (or at least severely damage) critical government agencies, attempted to wrest control of government spending away from Congress, and put punitive tariffs on nearly every nation in the world. Together, these actions are cratering our economy and turning the world against us - even our friends.

But the crazy part to me is that many Americans seem to be surprised at what he is doing - including his MAGA supporters (who are now worried about Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and rising inflation) and his rich supporters (who are worried about what the tariffs will do).

No one should be surprised. Trump told us he would do these things while on the campaign trail. And his acolytes even published a book detailing what would happen if he was re-elected. Perhaps most of all, he is just being himself. He has not changed.

Trump is vindictive. He made it clear he wants retribution for everyone who has ever angered him.

Trump is economically ignorant. While he thinks he's the smartest person in any room, his tariffs and attacks on critical government agencies prove otherwise. Some people thought he'd do good because they thought he was a good businessman. He wasn't. His six bankruptcies show that. He couldn't even make money with a casino (which are money machines to other casino owners).

Trump is a narcissist. He cares only for himself. He told supporters he would lower prices on the first day of his term. Instead, his tariffs will supercharge inflation. His supporters will also be hurt by his attacks on agencies (Which many of them rely on to survive).

Trump is power hungry. He wants everyone to bow to him or suffer the consequences. He wants the power of a dictator. He was this way in the business world, and he's the same way as president.

It seems that most business people and most voters were just gullible. They believed what he said about himself, and not what he said he would do to the country. They are now regretting that.

It Wasn't A Liberation For Consumers 7 Apr 9:01 PM (12 hours ago)

Political Cartoon is by Adam Zyglis in The Buffalo News.
 

The Biggest Self-Inflicted Economic Wound In U.S. History 7 Apr 9:00 PM (12 hours ago)

 

The Right To Due Process Applies To Everyone 6 Apr 9:05 PM (yesterday, 9:05 pm)

 

Most People Disapprove Of The Job Trump Is Doing 6 Apr 9:04 PM (yesterday, 9:04 pm)

The chart above reflects the results of the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between March 30th and April 1st of a nationwide sample of 1,626 adults (including 1,465 registered voters). The margin of error is 3.3 points for adults and 3.1 points for registered voters.

Orange Man Tanks The Economy 6 Apr 9:03 PM (yesterday, 9:03 pm)

Political Cartoon is by Lalo Alcaraz at Pocho.com.
 

Republicans Don't Care About Working Men And Women 6 Apr 9:02 PM (yesterday, 9:02 pm)

Republicans would like you to believe their policies would be good for all Americans. They want you to believe that when they give more to the rich, the rich will then let some of that money trickle down to benefit everyone else in our society. 

But that policy didn't work in the late ninetieth and early twentieth centuries. It just made the rich much richer and everyone else poorer - and resulted in the Great Depression. Fortunately, FDR and the Democrats changed the policy. The result was several decades of growth and economic equity.

But around 1980, the Republicans gained enough power to change economic policy - and they went right back to the failed "trickle-down" economic policy of the past. And that change once again favored the rich to the detriment of everyone else. While the rich saw their income grow by 300 to 400 percent, the bottom 80% of Americans struggled to keep up with inflation.

And the Republicans refused to initiate any policy to help working men and women.

They blocked all attempts to raise the minimum wage to a livable wage, which would have lifted millions of workers out of poverty.

They made it harder to start or join a labor union, even though that would have helped workers climb into the middle class.

They blocked efforts to make sure women received pay equal to that of men.

They promoted the deportation of low-wage immigrants (who were doing jobs Americans didn't want) and promoted the importation of skilled immigrants (to take good jobs that Americans did want).

They are now trying to substantially cut programs needed by the working class - like Medicaid, which many depend on to cover the children  and their elderly parents (in nursing homes). They also are doing serious damage to Social Security and Medicare, which workers depend on for their retirement years.

Now they are allowing Donald Trump to impose tariffs on almost every country - a move that will raise prices on nearly everything. This won't affect the rich (who have enough money to buy what they want - no matter the price). But it will take a huge bite out of the already stretched-thin budgets of workers.

Republicans have done their best to make the richer much richer, but have done nothing to make life easier for working men and women.They, like Trump, are big on promises - but promises mean nothing if not followed by actions. Their actions don't help workers. Too often, those actions hurt them.

Deporting The Constitution 6 Apr 9:01 PM (yesterday, 9:01 pm)

Political Cartoon is by Jen Sorensen at jensorensen.com.
 

An Economic Downturn Would Seriously Hurt Republicans 6 Apr 9:00 PM (yesterday, 9:00 pm)

 

About 1.5% Of ICE Arrests Are U.S. Citizens 5 Apr 9:07 PM (2 days ago)

 

The Public Knows The Tariffs Will Hurt Average Americans 5 Apr 9:06 PM (2 days ago)

The chart above reflects the results of the YouGov Poll -- done on April 3rd of a nationwide sample of 3,631 adults. 

The Penguin Must Be Punished 5 Apr 9:05 PM (2 days ago)

 Political Cartoon is by Clay Jones at Claytoonz.com.

Where The Voters Are On Social Security (And Where They Think The Parties Are) 5 Apr 9:04 PM (2 days ago)

 

A Sheep In The Meeting Of Wolves 5 Apr 9:03 PM (2 days ago)

Political Cartoon is by Rob Rogers at Tinyview.com.
 

Over 1200 Cities Nationwide Protested Against Trump On Saturday 5 Apr 9:02 PM (2 days ago)

 

Trump Blows the U.S. Economic Engine 5 Apr 9:01 PM (2 days ago)

 Political Cartoon is by Dave Granlund at davegranlund.com.

Trump Tariffs Won't Hurt The Rich But It Will Hurt Everyone Else 5 Apr 9:00 PM (2 days ago)

 

Using Power In A Capricious, Destructive, And Dumb Way 4 Apr 9:07 PM (3 days ago)

 

The Unemployment Rate For March Climbed Slightly To 4.2% 4 Apr 9:06 PM (3 days ago)

The Labor Department released the unemployment report for March on Friday. It showed the economy produced about 228,000 jobs for the month. That was not bad, but not enough to keep the unemployment rate from rising to 4.2% (0.1% more than February).

Here are the relevant statistics for March:

SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE

170,591,000

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS

7,083,000

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

4.2%

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT

Adult men...............3.8%

Adult women...............3.7%

Teens (16-19)...............13.7%

Whites...............3.7%

Blacks...............6.2%

Asians...............3.5%

Hispanics...............5.1%

No HS diploma...............5.8%

HS graduate...............4.1%

Some college...............3.5%

Bachelor's deg. or more...............2.6%

NUMBER OF MARGINALLY-ATTACHED WORKERS (unemployed but not counted)

1,687,000

MORE REALISTIC NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS (official + marginally-attached)

8,770,000

MORE REALISTIC UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

5.1%

And There Was No Anesthetic 4 Apr 9:05 PM (3 days ago)

Political Cartoon is by Rick McKee at Cagle.com.
 

Republicans Are NOT Fiscally Responsible - And They're Trying To Hide That 4 Apr 9:04 PM (3 days ago)

Catherine Rampell (The Washington Post) explains the nasty trick Republicans want to use to hide the cost of their tax cuts for the rich: 

Senate Republicans on Wednesday decided their party alone will control how math works. This is a pressing legislative question at present, because pretzeling budgetary outcomes into prettier shapes and sizes will determine whether Republicans can pass President Donald Trump’s promised tax cuts.

Those cuts are very expensive. They include not only extensions of the 2017 tax law provisions (set to expire this year), but they also lower corporate rates as well as carveouts for tips, auto loan payments and other goodies. In total, Trump’s preferred tax agenda could cost between $5 trillion and $11 trillion over the next decade.

This is inconvenient. Republicans like to pretend they’re fiscal conservatives (at least some of the time). They would prefer not to acknowledge the hefty price tag, and they also don’t want to fully offset it with unpopular spending cuts.

So, they’ve devised a cheat. Rather than admitting how much their tax agenda would cost, they are simply asserting that they get their first $4 trillion — free!

Here’s how: Republicans say that because some (expiring) tax cuts have been in place since 2017, extending them shouldn’t be recorded as costing anything, because they wouldn’t feel different. This is ... not how budgets work. As I’ve explained before, it’s like saying even though your car lease has ended, leasing another car should count as “free” because you got used to the convenience of having a vehicle around.

Normally, neutral referees are available to call out this kind of funny business.

First, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office “scores” significant legislation, to determine how much a bill would change revenue and spending in the years ahead, compared with what would happen if Congress allowed existing law to remain as it is. Then, a person called the Senate parliamentarian would confirm that the CBO number matches what lawmakers had previously agreed their bill would cost. If it doesn’t, the bill becomes much harder to pass.

Republicans have been trying to persuade the Senate parliamentarian to adopt their preferred math. So far, the parliamentarian has delayed making a ruling. But on Wednesday, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) announced the parliamentarian won’t ever need to decide. He plans to do what the party wants either way.

“I have the authority to determine baseline numbers for spending and revenue,” Graham said in a statement. Under that authority, he said, he can use the special book-cooking math — a “current policy baseline” — that grants his party $4 trillion in freebies.

In other words: 2+2=5, if Republicans decree it so.

Sacrifices To Be Made 4 Apr 9:03 PM (3 days ago)

Political Cartoon is by Kevin Kallaugher in The Baltimore Sun.