Permanent standard time is better than daylight saving, sleep experts say “Sleep experts widely agree with the Senate that the country should abandon its twice-yearly
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What if Congress isn’t hopelessly locked in partisan gridlock? What if it’s getting a lot done?
“According to statistics from the Brookings Institution and CQ Roll Call’s own calculations, the 116th Congress was actually the most productive since the 80th in 1947–48, the farthest back Brookings’ data goes,” Jim Saksa writes for CQ Roll Call.
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Bernie Sanders lost his fight to be president. But now he’s written a budget that could secure his legacy.
“Sanders, just weeks from his eightieth birthday, is on the cusp of leaving an indelible mark on the federal government, having shepherded a $3.5 trillion spending blueprint through the Senate this week,” The Washington Post’s Mike DeBonis reports.
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The Beltway isn’t used to the left setting the agenda on Capitol Hill
“That’s why they freaked out over Democrats linking two separate infrastructure bills,” David Dayen writes. “But to succeed, the left must also erase privatization from the agenda.”
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The secret IRS files: Trove of never-before-seen records reveal how the wealthiest avoid income tax
ProPublica reports it that has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing.
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Watch Senator Maria Cantwell become the Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee
Twenty years after joining the United States Senate, Senator Maria Cantwell now chairs one of the institution’s most powerful committees. This clip shows her taking up the gavel.
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Unsurprise: Fifty years of tax cuts for the rich failed to trickle down, economics study says
A new paper from the London School of Economics reinforces what progressive activists and economists already know: Trickle down doesn’t. Tax cuts for the wealthy do not create jobs. In fact, they result in greater wealth hoarding and income inequality. It’s time to require the wealthy to pay their fair share in dues to our world community.
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Watch Pramila Jayapal take Trump’s AG Bill Barr apart on Capitol Hill
When it was her turn to spar with Trump’s enforcer, Pramila Jayapal made the most of it. Watch her take Bill Barr apart in this three minute video.
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Paul Krugman on debt, doomsayers and double standards
Paul Krugman brings the truth in a New York Times column about the IOKIYAR principle (Debt, doomsayers and double standards)
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‘It’s gonna kill this community’: Seattle Times covers right wing governor’s war on Alaska’s public services
Imagine if Tim Eyman became governor and began taking an axe to Washington’s public services. That’s what is happening in Alaska, where right wing extremist Mike Dunleavy is using his line item veto power to force through a 41% cut to the University of Alaska system, plus gut Medicaid, behavioral health, and the Alaska State Ferry system.
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Most millionaires support tax on wealth above $50 million, CNBC survey finds
“Fully 60% of millionaires support Warren’s plan for taxing the wealth of those who have more than $50 million in assets,” CNBC reports.
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Representative Kim Schrier presided over the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time today
Congratulations to Representative Kim Schrier, who presided over the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time on May 9th, 2019.
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Larry Kudlow may have been more wrong about the economy than anyone alive
The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank finally trains his ire on a deserving figure for once.
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MSU scholars find $21 trillion in unauthorized military spending; DoD to conduct first-ever audit
Michigan State University economist Mark Skidmore, discussing his team’s startling finding about the Pentagon’s expenditures (MSU scholars find $21 trillion in unauthorized military spending; Defense Department to conduct first-ever audit).
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I’m a Depression historian. The Republican tax scam is straight out of 1929.
“Republican policies in the ’20s instead pushed to concentrate more of the income at the top. Nine decades later, Republicans are rushing to do it again — and they are sprinting toward an economic cliff. Another round of Government of the People, by the Republicans, for the super-rich will be catastrophic. The American people must call a halt before it’s too late,” writes Robert S. McElvaine.
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Congress can give every American a pony (if it breeds enough ponies)
Professor Stephanie Kelton, who teaches public policy and economics at SUNY Stony Brook, has written the op-ed of the year, explaining how U.S. fiscal policy really works.
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What’s up with Washington State’s tax system?
KCTS9: What’s Up With Washington State’s Tax System? Washington state’s vibrant and diverse economy doesn’t hint at it. Neither does Seattle’s red-hot construction and tech
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There are three types of single-payer ‘concern trolls’ — and they all want to undermine universal healthcare
Money for war is magically always there; money for healthcare must be counted bean by bean. — Adam Johnson: There are three types of single-payer
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B.C. government raising taxes for high earners and corporations to help pay for $51.9B balanced budget
“B.C.’s new. government will spend $51.9 billion for this fiscal year to support the NDP’S stated goal of making the province more affordable for residents,” the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports. The budget will be balanced through increases in the corporate income tax, personal income tax (for wealthy families), and pollution tax.
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Irritated by his own party, Trump makes deal with Democrats to keep government open
This is arguably the first real “deal” Donald Trump has made as President. It comes more than seven months after his regime came into power.
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Pramila Jayapal blasts immoral cuts in front of Trump budget director Mick Mulvaney
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal questioned Budget Director Mick Mulvaney about Trump’s new budget proposal during the House Budget Committee hearing today. Watch the video and read the transcript.
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