Extractive Taxation and the French Revolution
What ought to be a cause for tariffs pause: unrepresentative and often high taxes were a major spur to the French Revolution.
Read more...Category Archives: Taxes
Michael Hudson: Return of the Robber Barons – Trump’s Inverted View of America’s Tariff History
Trump’s slash and burn tariff policy is to shrink government, gut regulation and sell off public assets to pay for his tax cuts on super rich
Read more...Trump Tariff Climbdown: Consumer Impact Worse Due to China Retaliation; Who Wins Aside from Trump’s Ego
Some further observations about the Trump tariff train wreck.
Read more...Trump Tariffs Run Over Already-Desperate Car Industry; Higher Prices, Job Cuts, and Supplier Closures Baked In
The tariff situation has developed not necessarily to the advantage of the car industry.
Read more...Bracing for the Fallout from Trump Tariff Delusions
Trump is about to drop another big tariff shoe, and pretty much no one but very hard core ideologues is on board.
Read more...Trump Executive Order Calls for End of Paper Checks for Taxpayer and Government Payments by Sept. 30; Industry Official Snort About Deadline; What About User Payment Charges?
Trump has mandated a Mission Impossible: getting rid of paper checks for Treasury receipts and payments by September 30
Read more...Trump and Musk Are Making It Harder for the IRS to Catch Wealthy Tax Cheats
The DOGE dismantlement/takeover of the IRS continues apace.
Read more...Why the EU Is Failing
The Democratic Deficit is one reason why the EU is perceived to be failing; but there are others such as too much power being concentrated in one unelected institution and a lack of transparency
Read more...A Fiscal Crisis Is Looming for Many US Cities
US cities, which enjoyed a renaissance after the flight of the 60s and 70s reversed, now face a world of budget hurt.
Read more...Musk Is Lying About Waste and Fraud in Social Security to Have an Excuse to Kill It
Musk wants to cut your Social Security benefits and then have Congress use the savings to give himself a gigantic tax cut.
Read more...The Bazooka Diplomacy of Trump’s Tariffs
A look at theory and practice as far as tariffs are concerned, and what that means for Trump’s threats and plans.
Read more...Europe’s Challenge and Opportunity in the Trump Era: Building Coalitions of the Willing
How some ideas for bolstering Europe’s position in the Trump era are not as well thought through as they ought to be.
Read more...Is Trump Serious About Trying to Close the Private Equity Carried Interest Loophole?
Trump wants to revive his 2017 plan to curb a private equity tax abuse, the so-called carried interest loophole. Is he likely to succeed now?
Read more...How Much Will Trump’s Bark Exceed His Bite? Doubts About Whether Disruptive Federal Hiring and Spending Pauses Will Produce Lasting Changes
Trump is adept at using his willingness to be wildly inconsistent to destabilize opponents. But he is unduly fond of using blunt instruments like tariffs that he can impose unilaterally, with insufficient consideration of whether they will work all that well, let alone what bad unintended effects they might generate. What Trump has done so […]
Read more...The Curse of the Household Analogy
It can’t be said too often: national government spending is not like household spending, and acting as if it is is damaging.
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