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Nov 09 2017

Senate GOP Plans to Tax Americans Twice

President Trump and Senate Republicans’ tax proposal threatens to take the state and local tax deduction (SALT) away from over 40 million households. State and local deductions are not a partisan issue—both red and blue state families use them to save hard-earned money on their federal tax returns. The SALT deduction ensures Americans are not taxed twice on the same income. These deductions include write-offs for state sales, income, and property taxes. By eliminating the deduction, working Americans will face tax hikes costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Nov 08 2017

House GOP Tax Plan Robs Local Communities

House Republicans are taking aim at tax incentives that lift up working families and promote infrastructure spending in struggling communities across the nation. These incentives are supported by both Republicans and Democrats, and benefit manufacturing workers, health care professionals, and school teachers, among others. Eliminating them would cripple economic progress in thousands of rural and urban communities, stripping working Americans of new job opportunities, higher wages, and affordable housing.

Nov 06 2017

Post-9/11 Veterans Contribute to Industries Across the Economy

Post-9/11 veterans are a vital part of the workforce in industries across the economy. Many recent veterans continue serving their country after leaving the armed forces, working for the government at the federal, state, or local level. Nearly 16 percent of post-9/11 veterans work for the federal government where Republicans’ proposed budget cuts could impact wages and jobs.

Oct 30 2017

Soaring Business Profits Fail to Yield Investment Growth

Analysis by the Economic Policy Institute shows that, despite averaging profit rates of 8.5 percent since 2007, the business investment rate has been substantially lower than in previous eras. At 2.1 percent, business investment growth since 2007 has been less than half the pace of the post-war era.

Oct 27 2017

American Consumers Deserve Their Day in Court

Big businesses use forced arbitration to funnel consumers into a secretive process where an arbitrator, often selected by the company, decides the outcome. Over 99 percent of payday loans and 85 percent of private student loans include forced arbitration clauses. Most consumers have no idea these clauses are included in the fine print.

Oct 25 2017

Economists Dismiss CEA Findings

The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) released a report estimating that cutting the corporate tax rate, as proposed in the Republican tax framework, would increase average household earnings by at least $4,000. The report has been widely criticized, for its methodology and conclusions, by a broad range of economists, academics, and policy experts.

Oct 23 2017

Nearly 8 Million Working Households Will See an Average Tax Hike of $794

Under the GOP tax plan in 2018 alone, those getting high incomes at the top 1 percent of earners would see an average tax cut of $129,000 and those earning the top 0.1 percent of incomes would get a cut of more than $722,000. Meanwhile, nearly 8 million working households will actually see an average tax hike of $794.

Oct 23 2017

New Consumer Protections in Payday Lending

Earlier this month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its final rule on small-dollar and payday loans establishing much needed borrower safeguards and protections to help families break out of the payday debt cycle. For far too long, the payday loan lenders—who have more branches nationwide than Starbucks—operated with little oversight, depleting consumers’ bank accounts along the way. New consumer protections take commonsense steps to prevent predatory lenders from targeting vulnerable working Americans.

Oct 17 2017

GOP Budget Threatens Americans with Alzheimer’s

This week, the Republicans have put forth a budget resolution that attacks the health care and financial security of 5.5 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s. The budget cuts a trillion dollars from Medicaid and more than $470 billion from Medicare, undermining the critical programs that Americans with Alzheimer’s and their families depend on. These draconian cuts would pull the rug out from millions of Americans and force them to scramble to pay for the treatment they need.

Oct 16 2017

Are Trump Tax Cuts Brewing Bubbles?

Despite the President’s and Republican Congress’s failure so far to deliver on their agenda, expectations of policy changes and big tax cuts for top earners and big business have pushed the U.S. stock market to highs now verging into bubble territory. The price-to-earnings ratio, or PE, provides a measure of investors’ expectations of future corporate profits. Stock valuations relative to corporate earnings in S&P 500 companies have never risen above 28 without a sharp and severe stock market correction lurking around the corner. Only three times in U.S. history has the PE risen above 28: (1) on the eve of the Great Depression, (2) on the eve of the Dot-Com bubble bursting, and most recently (3) when Donald Trump took office.