Newsletter Archive

February 2020

Mike Bloomberg's $5 Trillion Tax Plan

Michael Bloomberg released a tax plan Saturday that aims to raise $5 trillion from high-income households and corporations over 10 years to pay for new spending on education, infrastructure and climate change.

Plus: Plus - The American Dream alive and well in ... Finland?

January 2020

Trump Medicaid Overhaul Will Spark Furious Election-Year Fight

The Trump administration on Thursday set off a fight over Medicaid by officially opening the door for states to apply to convert part of the program into block grants — a controversial structure that, instead of providing open-ended…

Plus: Plus: Scoring Sanders’ Medicare-for-All plan

US Economy Misses Trump's 3% Growth Target

The U.S. economy grew at a 2.1% annual rate over the final three months of 2019, the Commerce Department estimated Tuesday. For the full year, gross domestic product grew by 2.3%, down from 2.9% in 2018 and 2.4% in 2017.

Plus: Plus: The F-35 can’t shoot straight

Trump Admin Readies Big Changes for Medicaid

The Trump administration is reportedly taking steps toward achieving a longtime conservative goal: allowing states to turn Medicaid funds into block grants.

Plus: Plus: House Dems unveil a $760B infrastructure plan

Budget Deficit to Top $1 Trillion a Year for Next Decade

The U.S. budget deficit is expected to top $1 trillion in fiscal year 2020 and remain above that level indefinitely, lifting the national debt over the next decade to its highest level since World War II, the nonpartisan Congressional…

Plus: Plus, the next big fiscal question

Trump’s Immigrant Wealth Test Cleared by Supreme Court

The Supreme Court voted 5-4 Monday to allow the Trump administration to start enforcing a new rule designed to screen out immigrants at risk of becoming “public charges.”

Plus: Plus: the administration scrambles on drug prices

The Pentagon’s $35 Trillion Accounting Black Hole

Tax proposals put forth by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders won’t generate as much revenue as their campaigns project, and in some cases would fall significantly short of estimates, according to new analyses…

Plus: Plus: Sanders, Biden tax plans come up short, study says

Trump Says He’s Open to Entitlement Cuts

Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders continue to trade shots over Social Security.

Plus: Plus, why Biden and Sanders are still fighting over Social Security

Sanders and Biden Clash Over Social Security

With less than two weeks to go before the Iowa caucuses, Social Security has emerged as a major point of contention in the Democratic presidential primary.

Plus: Plus, Trump again promises a middle-class tax cut

Medicare for All Would Save US Money, New Study Says

A Medicare for All system would likely lower health care costs and save the United States money, both in its first year and over time, according to a review of single-payer analyses published this week in the online journal PLOS Medicine.

Plus: Plus, Treasury's new bond to finance rising debt

Trump Admin Broke the Law by Withholding Ukraine Aid: Watchdog

At the heart of the impeachment trial of President Trump that got underway today in the Senate lies a question of budget authority: Just why did the president and his administration place a hold on congressionally approved military aid to…

Plus: Plus, how big banks are benefiting from Trump's tax cuts

Three Takeaways from the Democratic Debate

The Iowa caucuses are less than three weeks away and the top four Democratic presidential contenders are tightly bunched in state polling, so the stakes were high at Tuesday night’s primary debate, the candidates’ last chance to make a…

Plus: Plus, why economists say the US should spend more

Trump Wants to Divert Military Funds to His Wall Again

President Trump is planning to shift $7.2 billion in Pentagon funds toward construction of border barriers this year — more than his administration reprogrammed last year and five times what Congress authorized for 2020, The Washington…

Plus: Plus, more than 2 million adults in Medicaid ‘coverage gap’

Trump’s ‘Four Pinocchio’ Tax Claim

President Trump routinely lies or makes exaggerated, unsupported and misleading claims. The Washington Post’s most recent tally of such statements topped more than 15,400 over Trump’s first 1,055 days in office, with the rate of falsehoods…

Plus: Plus, Trump and Bloomberg clash over health care

How the GOP Will Attack Bernie Sanders' Wealth Tax

We highlighted yesterday a defense of wealth taxes from Gabriel Zucman, a liberal economist who has advised both Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders on their tax proposals. On Friday, a pair of conservative economists laid out their…

Plus: Plus, Trump's debt total

A Promising Idea to Cut Health-Care Costs Fizzles

Just 5% of the U.S. population accounts for 50% of all health spending. So the idea of addressing the medical and social needs of the sickest and most expensive patients among us to keep them from making repeated visits to the hospital…

Plus: Plus, a defense of the wealth tax

The Staggering Cost of US Health Care Bureaucracy

Seemingly everyone has a horror story to tell about dealing with the bureaucracy of the U.S. health care system, from mundane matters like medical records to financial fights over surprise medical bills or insurance claims.

Plus: Plus, why the IRS is struggling to do its job

Good News for Tax Cheats

The annual IRS report we told you about yesterday revealed that the agency audited just 0.45% of individual tax returns in 2019. That marks the eighth year in a row the audit rate has dropped, says Richard Rubin of The Wall Street Journal,…

Plus: Plus, Trump's overstated military muscle

Medicare’s ‘Astonishing Amount of Waste’ on Drugs

“The IRS touches more Americans than any other entity, public or private,” Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in the agency’s annual report released Monday. The document provides a summary of IRS operations in the…

Plus: Plus, what the IRS did in 2019