WHAT DOES THIS WOMAN THINK HER AMNESTY FOR 40 MILLION LOOTING MEXICANS DO TO THE AMERICAN WORKER???
TRUMPERNOMICS:
THE SUPER RICH APPLAUD TWITTER’S TRUMP’S TAX CUTS FOR THE SUPER RICH!
of the fact that virtually all income gains during the period of the supposed
recovery from the financial crash of 2008 have gone to the top 1 percent income
bracket."
Senator Warren warns of US economic “crash”
Democratic Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has warned of a crash of the US economy on the scale of the 2008 financial meltdown or even worse. In a commentary published Monday on Medium titled “The Coming Economic Crash and How to Stop It” she says there are “serious warning signs in the economy.”
OBAMA'S BANKSTERS FINISHED OFF OUR SAVINGS AS INVESTED IN OUR HOMES, AND OUR JOBS GO TO ILLEGALS AND FOREIGN BORN. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS WOMAN TALKING ABOUT???
She calls on Congress to “act before another crisis costs America’s families their homes, jobs, and savings.”
Warren’s intervention is no doubt pitched towards the debate among Democratic presidential aspirants in Detroit, Michigan next week. That state, along with other “rust belt” states devastated by deindustrialisation, narrowly voted for Trump in 2016, costing Hillary Clinton the presidential election.
Notwithstanding the political motivations and manoeuvring behind her warnings, the data she cites in her article points to the threat of another crisis in the US economy, notwithstanding the record stock market boom and the fall in official unemployment to its lowest level in 50 years.
Warren writes that there is a lot to “worry about” in the economy. “I see a manufacturing sector in recession. I see a precarious economy that is built on debt—both household debt and corporate debt—and that is vulnerable to shocks. And I see a number of serious shocks on the horizon that could cause our economy’s shaky foundation to crumble.”
She cites a number of statistics on debt both at the household and corporate level. Rising costs for basic items such as housing and education, coupled with stagnant wages, have lifted household debt to record levels. Student debt has more than doubled and auto loan debt is at its highest levels since data was first collected two decades ago.
Some 71 million American adults, more than 30 percent of all adults in the country, have had debts placed in collection, meaning they are more than 180 days late on their payments, according to a survey conducted by the Urban Institute a year ago.
Corporate debt is also on the rise. Leveraged lending—that is, lending to companies that are already significantly in debt—has risen by 40 percent since the start of 2017. According to Warren, these high-risk loans now make up a quarter of all American business loans, and “they look a lot like the pre-2008 subprime mortgages.”
The former chair of the US Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, has also pointed to the dangers posed by these loans, which, like the sub-prime mortgages, have minimal protections and are packaged and sold off to investors. Last October, in an interview with the Financial Times, Yellen said there had been a “huge deterioration in standards; covenants have been loosened in leveraged lending.” She said she was “worried about the systemic risks associated with these loans.”
Warren also cites recent data from the Federal Reserve showing that, contrary to the claims by Trump of a renaissance in manufacturing, this sector of the US economy is now in recession. Production was down by 1.2 percent in the June quarter after a 1.9 percent decline for the first three months of the year.
The financial markets are also pointing to a recession, with the Treasury yield curve having inverted in March for the first time since 2007. The inversion refers to a situation where the yield on long-term bonds falls below the short-term rate—a phenomenon that has been a reliable predictor of recessions in the past.
Warren also takes aim at Trump’s trade and foreign policies, saying the trade war with China threatens American manufacturing, and the president is goading Britain to a no-deal Brexit that would have “immediate and significant spillover effects” on the US economy.
But Warren is not opposed to the trade war, which recalls nothing so much as the disastrous economic warfare of the 1930s. She is concerned only that it be carried out on the basis of a “coherent strategy—working with our allies—to respond to China’s tactics.”
The political significance of Warren’s critique, as World Socialist Web Sitewriter Patrick Martin noted in his profile on her presidential candidacy, is that it seeks to “counter the growing popularity of socialism among youth and working people” by sowing the illusion that “capitalism can be reformed—through the election of herself and similar political figures—and made to work in the interests of working people.”
The bogus character of the agenda advanced by Warren, who has described herself as “capitalist to the bone,” is underscored by the measures she advances to meet the clear signs of a deepening crisis. She writes that there is “good news,” because “we have a chance to head off a crisis… if we take bold action now to address the underlying problems.”
But this “bold action” in the face of a crisis which, as 2008 revealed, threatens a total meltdown of the financial system, consists of nothing more than a few paltry reforms. These include raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, empowering workers to elect at least 40 percent of the boards of corporations and cancelling student debt up to $50,000.
As for the runaway escalation of corporate debt in the pursuit of profits through financial speculation, Warren proposes that the Financial Stability Oversight Council created by Congress after 2008 should “monitor risks that cut across different markets” and “meet specifically to discuss those risks and announce a plan for addressing them.”
As with all would-be reformers of capitalism, Warren never explains why such regulations, supposedly put in place to prevent rampant speculation, not to speak of outright criminal activities, have proved to be completely ineffective.
The reason lies in her political orientation and the class interests she represents. To deal honestly with the bankruptcy of token restrictions on the banks and hedge funds would expose the fact that the entire financial system operates as an institutionalised mechanism for the accumulation of wealth in the hands of the financial elites. It would establish the necessity for a genuine socialist program aimed at bringing the “commanding heights” of the economy under public ownership and democratic control. For a “capitalist-to-the-bone” political figure, that is to be prevented at all costs.
Democrats reach deal with Trump on budget and debt ceiling
In a deal that demonstrates that the
Democratic Party offers no genuine
opposition to the Trump administration, the
congressional Democratic leadership has
reached an agreement with the White House
on a two-year, bipartisan plan to boost military
spending to record levels and guarantee to
Wall Street that there will be no limit on
federal borrowing that would cause instability
in the financial system.
Democratic Party offers no genuine
opposition to the Trump administration, the
congressional Democratic leadership has
reached an agreement with the White House
on a two-year, bipartisan plan to boost military
spending to record levels and guarantee to
Wall Street that there will be no limit on
federal borrowing that would cause instability
in the financial system.
Trump tweeted his support for the agreement, worked out between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in a tweet Monday evening. Pelosi sent a letter to every member of the House Democratic majority hailing the deal, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged the full support of the Senate Republican leadership.
The Trump tweet declared, “I am pleased to announce that a deal has been struck with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy—on a two-year Budget and Debt Ceiling, with no poison pills … This was a real compromise in order to give another big victory to our Great Military and Vets!”
The reference to “no poison pills” points to one of the biggest Democratic cave-ins in the budget deal. Pelosi and Schumer have agreed that for the next two years they will not use budget or appropriations bills as a means of pushing Democratic political priorities such as lifting the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding for abortion, or prohibiting Trump from using Pentagon funds to build a wall on the US-Mexico border.
The border dispute was the main issue in the federal shutdown earlier this year. After congressional Democrats reached a deal with the White House that ended the shutdown without funding the wall, Trump declared a national emergency and ordered funds transferred from the Pentagon to build the wall anyway, in defiance of the congressional “power of the purse.”
An array of lawsuits against this emergency order are now proceeding through the federal courts, with the expectation that the Supreme Court will issue a ruling next year. The budget agreement means that the Democrats have agreed not to attempt any further legislative action to bar Trump from diverting Pentagon funds to the border wall. They have already agreed to a Pentagon budget authorization that restores the funding to the military that Trump has already diverted, effectively ratifying the president’s illegal and unconstitutional action.
One top Senate Democrat, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, wrung his hands over the deal giving a green light to build the border wall. “I’m worried the House is willing to give him far too much discretion to take money and move it anywhere he wants including a wall.” But Leahy issued a further statement saying he would vote for the deal anyway because it raises the debt ceiling and reverses what he called “unsustainable cuts in non-defense discretionary spending.”
The Democrats’ decision to make this agreement with the Trump administration—acceding to both its massive military build-up and key policy initiatives like the border wall—underscores the entirely hollow and phony character of their rhetorical condemnations of Trump for his attacks on four Democratic congresswomen, and his broader efforts to mobilize a fascistic movement on the basis of anti-immigrant bigotry and denunciations of socialism.
Only one week ago, the House passed, by a near-party-line vote, a resolution condemning as racist, Trump’s attacks on the four congresswomen, including his demand that they “go back to their home countries.” Now the House leadership has embraced an agreement that amounts to the formation of a coalition government with the racist-in-chief.
The basic framework of the deal is to provide an additional $320 billion in spending, equally divided between the military and domestic programs, over the next two years. This includes a record $738 billion for the military in Fiscal Year 2020, which begins October 1. That figure splits the difference between the $750 billion approved by the Senate and the $733 billion passed by the House.
Both Democrats and Republicans cited the need to provide the Pentagon with record resources and continuous funding over the full two-year period as the decisive element in the bipartisan deal. Whatever their differences on Trump’s bullying tactics and rejection of traditional diplomacy, both corporate-controlled parties support far-flung military operations to assert the global interests of American imperialism.
The Senate further demonstrated this bipartisan consensus for military aggression by rubber-stamping the nomination of Mark Esper, a former lobbyist for giant defense contractor Raytheon, to become Secretary of Defense. Tuesday’s vote was by an overwhelming 90-8 margin.
The vote would have been close to unanimous but for five of the seven Senate Democrats seeking the presidential nomination—Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker—who voted against confirming Esper in order to sustain the pretense that they have significant differences with Trump. One Democratic presidential candidate, Michael Bennet, voted for the nomination, while Bernie Sanders was at campaign events and did not vote.
Besides the boost for the military, the bill reassures Wall Street that there will be no interruption in the massive flow of funds from the US Treasury in the form of interest payments on the federal debt. The bill lifts the federal debt ceiling for the next two years, until July 2021, allowing the Treasury to borrow whatever funds it requires to make payments on US government bonds and other federal obligations.
Both Democrats and Republicans agreed to forego any efforts to use the debt ceiling as leverage in budget or policy disputes during that two-year period. Nor will there be any federal shutdown of the kind that lasted 35 days early this year.
The two top Democratic leaders, Pelosi and Schumer, issued a joint press release hailing “robust funding for critical domestic priorities,” while declaring the deal would “enhance our national security,” a reference to the military spending. In her letter to the House membership, Pelosi wrote, “We will now move swiftly to bring this legislation to the Floor, so that it can be sent to the President’s desk as soon as possible.”
The Trump administration agreed to drop its demands for hundreds of billions of additional cuts in social spending over the next two years and to accept instead an increase of roughly $160 billion.
The White House initially demanded $150 billion in “offsets”—spending cuts or revenue increases—in return for the $320 billion boost in overall spending. This was reduced to $77 billion in the final deal, nearly all of it amounting to bookkeeping tricks involving the 2028 and 2029 fiscal years, rather than immediate cuts or revenue increases over the next two years.
These two concessions to the Democrats sparked outrage and opposition on the part of the ultra-right “Freedom Caucus” faction of House Republicans, who announced they would oppose the deal.
Other House Republicans have denounced the deal because it sets aside indefinitely the bipartisan 2011 Budget Control Act that mandated annual “sequesters” of military and domestic discretionary spending to force an overall spending reduction. Congress has waived the sequesters every year since 2011, and the new agreement continues that pattern for 2020 and 2021, then allows the Budget Control Act to expire.
TRUMPERNOMICS FOR THE RICH…. and his parasitic family!
"Trump's alleged comment is maddening and disheartening,
but at least he's being straightforward about his indefensible
and self-serving neglect. I'll leave you with this reminder of the scope of the problem, not that anyone in power is going to do a damn thing about it."
but at least he's being straightforward about his indefensible
and self-serving neglect. I'll leave you with this reminder of the scope of the problem, not that anyone in power is going to do a damn thing about it."
"The tax overhaul would mean an unprecedented windfall for the super-rich, on top
of the fact that virtually all income gains during the period of the supposed
recovery from the financial crash of 2008 have gone to the top 1 percent income
bracket."
Mark Levin Warns: America’s Spending, National Debt ‘Will Destroy the Country from Within’
Nationally syndicated radio talk show host, TV host, author and American lawyer Mark Levin (Screenshot)
On his nationally syndicated radio talk show “The Mark Levin Show” on Monday, host Mark Levin warned that the United States of America’s spending and national debt “will destroy the country from within.”
“Look around you, because 50 years from now, this country’s not going to be anything like it is today,” said Mark Levin of America. “I’ll be gone. Many of us will be gone, but your children and grandchildren will be here and future generations. And I am telling you that what we are doing to our children and grandchildren and generations yet born is going to destroy them. This is going to destroy them. All this crap about Mueller, Russia-collusion, all these lies, the focus of the media, unfortunately, mark my words, this will destroy the country from within.”
Mark Levin’s comments came in response to a piece by Brian Riedl in National Review, which states that, “President Trump and congressional leaders are nearing a [budget] deal that would raise the discretionary-spending caps by $320 billion over two years and offset less than one-quarter of those costs (and even those offsets would take a decade to materialize).”
Below is a transcript, in pertinent part, of Mark Levin’s remarks from his show on Monday:
“There is no desire – none – to cut spending. None. There’s no pressure on Congress to cut spending – none. There’s no rational discussion on this in the media. It will all be blamed on Trump. It should be blamed on all of them quite frankly, both parties, all leaders – both parties, all leaders.“There is no budget control act anymore. There’s no budget control anymore. Right now the fiscal operating debt is $22 trillion, and massively expanding. The unfunded liability debt is over $250 trillion. They don’t even tell you about that. All they ever do is talk about the $22 trillion fiscal operating debt. They never tell you about the unfunded liabilities. They complain, ‘You know, we can’t control entitlements.’ Then you ought to ask them, ‘Well, what does that contribute to the debt?’ They don’t want to talk about it because they might have to do something about it. So when you add the $22 trillion— Let’s just round it off to $220 trillion – it’s much higher – in unfunded liabilities, that means each and every one of you owes about $700,000 in debt. Babies, teenagers, senior citizens, about $700,000 each. It’s about $68,000 if you just consider fiscal operating debt. But we’re into all of it. There isn’t just a fiscal operating debt. There’s an unfunded liabilities debt.“Then we have the Democrats running off and saying, ‘College for all!’ ‘How are you going to pay for it?’ ‘Oh, you know, just tax the rich.’ ‘Health care for all!’ ‘Well, how are you going—’ ‘Oh, well, we’ll just tax the rich.’“And then the Republicans, at least they used to give lip service to controlling spending, don’t even give lip service anymore.
“I want you to look at your children and grandchildren. I want you to think about 50 years from now, just 50 years from now. We talk about Apollo 11, right? 50 years ago.“Look around you, because 50 years from now, this country’s not going to be anything like it is today. I’ll be gone. Many of us will be gone, but your children and grandchildren will be here and future generations. And I am telling you that what we are doing to our children and grandchildren and generations yet born is going to destroy them. This is going to destroy them. All this crap about Mueller, Russia-collusion, all these lies, the focus of the media, unfortunately, mark my words, this will destroy the country from within.“China will be on the rise. Other countries will be on the rise, while we destroy ourselves from within because we’re too d--- selfish, because we want something for nothing, because we have demagogues at the helm that keep telling us, ‘You have a right to this and a right to that and a right to this and a right to that.’”
Report: Trump Says He Doesn't Care About the National Debt Because the Crisis Will Hit After He's Gone
"Trump's alleged comment is maddening and disheartening,
but at least he's being straightforward about his indefensible
and self-serving neglect. I'll leave you with this reminder of the scope of the problem, not that anyone in power is going to do a damn thing about it."
but at least he's being straightforward about his indefensible
and self-serving neglect. I'll leave you with this reminder of the scope of the problem, not that anyone in power is going to do a damn thing about it."
"The tax overhaul would mean an unprecedented windfall for the super-rich, on top
of the fact that virtually all income gains during the period of the supposed
recovery from the financial crash of 2008 have gone to the top 1 percent income
bracket."
America’s Future Looks Bleak as Debt Continues to Mount
President Donald J. Trump shaking hands with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. (Photo by Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)
With an economy that’s strong, that creates opportunities, and that grows wages, people are experiencing the American dream. But this dream is in danger of becoming the American nightmare.
The future looks bleak: job losses, lower wages for those lucky enough to keep a job, and massive tax increases on average Americans.
For many families, that could mean tighter budgets, less money to buy food and clothes, and little prospect for a family vacation or being able to improve their financial situation in the future.
It might mean working longer hours, taking on a second job, or working an extra few years instead of retiring, just to keep up with mounting bills. And that dream of giving your kids a better life than you had? That may be out of reach.
This isn’t the plot of some dystopian novel. This is our future if we don’t demand that politicians in Washington control their spending addiction.
Despite their promises to the contrary, every year, politicians continue to spend hundreds of billions of dollars more than the government takes in. And every year, they put it on the national credit card and the bill grows bigger.
That bill currently averages $67,000 for every single American. If you’re a family of three, that’s over $200,000. And just like the credit card bill you get at the end of the month, this bill is coming due.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. There are several ways our politicians can reform their reckless spending habits and save us from this fate.
First, they can stop spending billions of dollars on things that have already been identified as waste, fraud, and duplicative services.
Second, they should focus on funding the constitutionally mandated duties of the federal government, first and foremost national defense.
The federal government should return control of many programs to the private sector and state and local governments. Programs often work best and cost less when they’re run by those closest to the people affected by them.
Third, they should reform the biggest social programs in the budget, from Social Security to health care, to return control over health care and retirement decisions to Americans while protecting the most vulnerable.
And finally, Washington should keep taxes low and eliminate thousands of heavy-handed regulations that just grow government and siphon away our money and our freedoms. The recent tax cuts and deregulation are allowing the economy to flourish, which leads to more jobs and rising wages.
Higher taxes are not the solution to out-of-control spending. We need to address the problem at its roots.
It’s not too late to save the incredible promise that is America. But first, we have to convince leaders to end their runaway spending habits and adopt spending controls.
By taking these steps, we can reverse the current course, live in a freer, more prosperous America, and save the American dream for our generation and for generations yet to come.
Report: Trump Says He Doesn't Care About the National Debt Because the Crisis Will Hit After He's Gone
"Trump's alleged comment is maddening and disheartening,
but at least he's being straightforward about his indefensible
and self-serving neglect. I'll leave you with this reminder of the scope of the problem, not that anyone in power is going to do a damn thing about it."
but at least he's being straightforward about his indefensible
and self-serving neglect. I'll leave you with this reminder of the scope of the problem, not that anyone in power is going to do a damn thing about it."
"The tax overhaul would mean an unprecedented windfall for the super-rich, on top
of the fact that virtually all income gains during the period of the supposed
recovery from the financial crash of 2008 have gone to the top 1 percent income
bracket."
Mark Levin: ‘Republican Party Today Does Not Stand for Fiscal Responsibility’ – ‘Nobody Does’
Nationally syndicated radio talk show host, TV host, author and American lawyer Mark Levin (Screenshot)
Host Mark Levin blasted leaders in Washington, particularly Republicans, for not standing for fiscal responsibility while speaking on his nationally syndicated radio talk show “The Mark Levin Show” on Monday.
“We used to at least have fiscal conservatives,” stated Mark Levin. “There are no more fiscal conservatives, maybe a handful. But the Republican Party today does not stand for fiscal responsibility. Therefore, nobody does.”
Mark Levin’s comments came in response to a piece by Brian Riedl in National Review which states that “President Trump and congressional leaders are nearing a [budget] deal that would raise the discretionary-spending caps by $320 billion over two years and offset less than one-quarter of those costs (and even those offsets would take a decade to materialize).”
Below is a transcript, in pertinent part, of Mark Levin’s remarks from his show on Monday:
“Alright, I wasn’t going to start with this. I’m going to talk tonight about the press, about climate change, but first, now, we’re going to talk about the debt.“It doesn’t matter who the president is. It doesn’t matter which party controls Congress. The fact is that when those in charge of spending and borrowing and taxing do what’s about to be done to the American people, it’s unconscionable. Spending is completely out of control, and we simply do not have any adults who want to do anything about it because it’s much easier politically to just keep spending.“As Mitch McConnell once said, and I paraphrase, ‘You don’t lose votes by spending.’ That’s the Republican majority leader of the Senate.
“Now, we used to at least have fiscal conservatives. There are no more fiscal conservatives, maybe a handful. But the Republican Party today does not stand for fiscal responsibility. Therefore, nobody does. People can call me and ‘[indiscernible].’ I don’t care. I have kids and grandkids too. I care about the future of this country. This is the most selfish act one generation can do to the next, to impose on generations yet born this massive debt because we want health care for all and we want free college, and we want more this and more of that and so forth and so on is unacceptable. It’s unacceptable.“What a bunch of punks we’ve become – this generation. I’m not kidding. You know, we like to talk about Millennials: ‘You know, those d--- Millennials!’ We’re doing this! And the generation before us did this.“We’re told there’s nothing we can do about it. What do you mean there’s nothing we can do about it?“And then we have a Democrat Party that wants to quadruple what’s taking place, while the Republican Party’s doubling what’s taking place.“We sent people to Congress during the Tea Party revolution who are now voting for massive spending and massive debt. Why? I’ll tell you why. Because politically – this is what they’re going to tell you – they don’t want to shut down the government, and you have a treasury secretary who’s a liberal Democrat who’s already saying we don’t want to default. There would be no default.“Well, let me tell you something. One day there will be a default. One day there will be a default, but it will be a different kind of default. It will be one completely out of our control when the economy crumbles. There’ll be no health care; there’ll be no pensions; there’ll be no minimum wage; there’ll be no property rights. It’ll all go up in a puff of smoke.“And then you have these hucksters on TV and radio saying, ‘You know, they always warn us about this, but none of it happens.’ Well, look at history. It has happened. Just because our economy is so big, it takes time. But the laws of economics, as I’ve said a thousand times, are like the laws of physics. They don’t change. I don’t care how many statutes are passed, I don’t care how many proposals are made, how many claims about redistributing wealth take place, we simply can’t produce enough to keep up with this.”
Report: Trump Says He Doesn't Care About the National Debt Because the Crisis Will Hit After He's Gone
"Trump's alleged comment is maddening and disheartening,
but at least he's being straightforward about his indefensible
and self-serving neglect. I'll leave you with this reminder of the scope of the problem, not that anyone in power is going to do a damn thing about it."
but at least he's being straightforward about his indefensible
and self-serving neglect. I'll leave you with this reminder of the scope of the problem, not that anyone in power is going to do a damn thing about it."
"The tax overhaul would mean an unprecedented windfall for the super-rich, on top
of the fact that virtually all income gains during the period of the supposed
recovery from the financial crash of 2008 have gone to the top 1 percent income
bracket."
IMF Raises U.S. and U.K. GDP Forecasts, Cuts Global Growth Projection
1:47
U.S. economic growth will be better than projected earlier this year while trade tensions will weigh on the global economy more than expected, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday.
The IMF said it expects the U.S. economy to grow 2.6 percent in 2019, up from the 2.3 percent growth forecast in April’s World Economic Outlook. The revision reflects stronger-than-expected first quarter performance, the IMF said.
But a sharp slowdown in the growth of global trade is weighing on the global economy more than expected. Real global economic growth will slow to 3.2 percent this year, one-tenth of a percentage point lower than the April forecast. Last year, the global economy grew 3.6 percent. In 2017, it grew 3.8 percent, according to the IMF report.
The IMF now expects world trade will grow 2.5% in 2019, nearly a full percentage point lower than the April forecast.
Growth in the euro area is projected at 1.3 percent in 2019, unchanged from the April forecast. The United Kingdom is forecast to grow 1.3 percent, one-tenth of a percentage point higher than earlier expected.
“In China, the negative effects of escalating tariffs and weakening external demand have added pressure to an economy already in the midst of a structural slowdown and needed regulatory strengthening to rein in high dependence on debt,” the IMF reports.
Growth is expected to be 6.2 percent this year, one-tenth of a percentage point lower than the April projection.
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