Offering asides, recommended links, blogworthy quotations, and more, In Brief is the Northwest Progressive Institute's microblog of world, national, and local politics.
“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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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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“The need for a Green New Deal can rendezvous with the imperative of anti-depression public investment. Much of this sweeping proposal is on the drawing boards and has not been done for lack of funding. Some of it will take some advance planning. The time to start is now.”
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Paul Krugman brings the truth in a New York Times column about the IOKIYAR principle (Debt, doomsayers and double standards)
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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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“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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Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer met with Donald Trump at the White House and got exactly what they came for.
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“We’re going to have a challenging midterm anyway, and I don’t see how putting the attention on shutting down the government when you control the government is going to help you.”
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The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank finally trains his ire on a deserving figure for once.
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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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“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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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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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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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.’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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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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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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“Ranked second from the bottom in a new report, the state’s tax system makes it tough for taxpayers to find out just how much they’re coughing up to the government. Oregon’s system ranks as the most transparent of all,” writes The Seattle Times’ Gene Balk.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWebDbGtQI4 From ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live: “Trump released a proposed budget that would cut funding for PBS, Meals on Wheels, and The National Endowment for
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U.S. Representatives Suzan DelBene and Pramila Jayapal have been forcefully speaking out against the House Republicans’ extremely destructive Trumpcare bill as it has speedily made
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“At a time when Washington’s towns and cities were just specks on a map, our state’s founders chose education as our paramount duty. Not roads or railroads. Not jails. They chose schools. So should we,” the Governor declared.
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