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Payback
Dedicated to the Fools, Racists, and Ignorant
People who vote for the GOP and trump or don't vote because they claim it is not important
october 19, 2018
400 years and they have learned nothing
8 disturbing trends that reveal the South’s battered psyche
From Salon: Across red-state America, especially in the Deep South, the latest statistics show that the cycle of poverty, in its many manifestations, is unchanged and holding firm. Why is this? It’s easy to say this is how Republicans like to run states—cutting budgets, not raising the minimum wage, opposing labor unions. They let the poor and working class stew in their hardscrabble juices. Meanwhile, they distract voters by accusing liberals of waging war on the few sources of personal power in Southerners’ difficult lives: their religious beliefs and owning guns. But go back several decades when segregationist Democrats ruled; for the most part, they weren’t very different from today’s Republicans.
So what is it that perpetuates decades of poverty in the Deep South? What follows are eight bundles of statistics tracking this latest cycle of poverty. Could it be that people who historically have been treated badly, who have little money in their pockets but look to the sky and pray, expect less from others—including the public and private sector? Does that explain why red-staters cling to God, gun ownership and a “leave-me-alone” ferocity?
They expect politicians to defend their values and their pride and little more?
What’s going on here isn’t entirely political, even if it is used by red-state Republicans in their personal drive for power and influence. Look at what the following statistics reveal about red-staters trapped in deep cycles of poverty. What is the thread that connects lousy governance, bad health, evangelical religion and firearms fervor?
1. Southern states have the most poor people.
2. Deep South states have no minimum wage.
3. Deep South has lowest economic mobility.
4. South has lowest per capita spending sy state government.
5. Forget about decent preventative healthcare.
6. One result: people self-medicate in response.
7. Forget the lottery, just pray to Jesus.
8. And hold onto that gun!
So what is it that perpetuates decades of poverty in the Deep South? What follows are eight bundles of statistics tracking this latest cycle of poverty. Could it be that people who historically have been treated badly, who have little money in their pockets but look to the sky and pray, expect less from others—including the public and private sector? Does that explain why red-staters cling to God, gun ownership and a “leave-me-alone” ferocity?
They expect politicians to defend their values and their pride and little more?
What’s going on here isn’t entirely political, even if it is used by red-state Republicans in their personal drive for power and influence. Look at what the following statistics reveal about red-staters trapped in deep cycles of poverty. What is the thread that connects lousy governance, bad health, evangelical religion and firearms fervor?
1. Southern states have the most poor people.
2. Deep South states have no minimum wage.
3. Deep South has lowest economic mobility.
4. South has lowest per capita spending sy state government.
5. Forget about decent preventative healthcare.
6. One result: people self-medicate in response.
7. Forget the lottery, just pray to Jesus.
8. And hold onto that gun!
payback headlines - how you are screwed!!
*Trump trade war delivers farm boom in Brazil, gloom in Iowa
(ARTICLE BELOW)
*China slashes U.S. LPG imports amid trade war
(ARTICLE BELOW)
*WORKER INCOMES GROWING SLOWER IN COUNTIES TRUMP FLIPPED IN 2016
(ARTICLE BELOW)
*THE ALARMING LINK BETWEEN THE INCREASE IN ‘DESPAIR DEATHS’ AND COUNTIES THAT VOTED FOR DONALD TRUMP
(ARTICLE BELOW)
*These three states that went for Trump in 2016 will be hardest hit by his auto tariffs: report(ARTICLE BELOW)
*‘He’s gonna kill us’: Nebraska farmers freak out as Trump’s trade war threatens their businesses(ARTICLE BELOW)
*Illinois manufacturer moving to Mexico over Trump tariffs
(ARTICLE BELOW)
*Trump’s trade war just forced US soy farmers to take a massive financial hit
(ARTICLE BELOW)
*One map shows why Trump's trade war with China could be a disaster for average Americans(ARTICLE BELOW)
*"super conservative" Trump supporter - wife is deported. "I'm eating my words"
(ARTICLE BELOW)
*MORE TAXPAYERS WILL OWE THE IRS IN APRIL DUE TO UNDER-WITHHOLDING, REPORT SAYS
(ARTICLE BELOW)
PAYBACK FUNNIES(at the end)
GREEN PARTY FucK YOU! - THIS IS WHAT TRUMP HAS WROUGHT...SAME AS HILLARY
Cattledog - demo. underground
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29 rules have been overturned
Flood building standards Proposed ban on a potentially harmful pesticide Freeze on new coal leases on public lands Methane reporting requirement Anti-dumping rule for coal companies Decision on Keystone XL pipeline Decision on Dakota Access pipeline Third-party settlement funds Offshore drilling ban in the Atlantic and Arctic Ban on seismic air gun testing in the Atlantic Northern Bering Sea climate resilience plan Royalty regulations for oil, gas and coal Inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions in environmental reviews Permit-issuing process for new infrastructure projects Green Climate Fund contributions Mining restrictions in Bristol Bay, Alaska Endangered species listings Hunting ban on wolves and grizzly bears in Alaska Protections for whales and sea turtles Reusable water bottles rule for national parks National parks climate order Environmental mitigation for federal projects Calculation for “social cost” of carbon Planning rule for public lands Copper filter cake listing as hazardous waste Mine cleanup rule Sewage treatment pollution regulations Ban on use of lead ammunition on federal lands Restrictions on fishing |
24 rollbacks are in progress
Clean Power Plan Paris climate agreement Wetland and tributary protections Car and truck fuel-efficiency standards Status of 10 national monuments Status of 12 marine areas Limits on toxic discharge from power plants Coal ash discharge regulations Emissions standards for new, modified and reconstructed power plants Emissions rules for power plant start-up and shutdown Sage grouse habitat protections Fracking regulations on public lands Regulations on oil and gas drilling in some national parks Oil rig safety regulations Regulations for offshore oil and gas exploration by floating vessels Drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge Hunting method regulations in Alaska Requirement for tracking emissions on federal highways Emissions standards for trailers and glider kits Limits on methane emissions on public lands Permitting process for air-polluting plants Offshore oil and gas leasing Use of birds in subsistence handicrafts Coal dust rule |
7 rollbacks are in limbo
Methane emission limits at new oil and gas wells
Limits on landfill emissions
Mercury emission limits for power plants
Hazardous chemical facility regulations
Groundwater protections for uranium mines
Efficiency standards for federal buildings
Rule helping consumers buy fuel-efficient tires
Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/climate/trump-environment-rules-reversed.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur
Methane emission limits at new oil and gas wells
Limits on landfill emissions
Mercury emission limits for power plants
Hazardous chemical facility regulations
Groundwater protections for uranium mines
Efficiency standards for federal buildings
Rule helping consumers buy fuel-efficient tires
Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/climate/trump-environment-rules-reversed.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur
The True Cost of Voodoo Economics
The Reagan-Bush Debt is how much of the national debt of the United States is attributable to the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and
the Republican fiscal policy of Borrow-And-Spend.
As of Tuesday, October 09, 2018 at 7:37:16AM CT,
The Current Reagan-Bush Debt is:
$13,522,795,293,802.90
which means that in a total of 20 years,
these three presidents have led to the creation of
91.72%
of the entire national debt
in only 8.2645% of the 242 years of the existence of the United States of America.
@ReaganBushDebt.org
Here are the 66 Programs Trump eliminates in his budget - Soph0571 Demo Underground
Trump trade war delivers farm boom in Brazil, gloom in Iowa
Reuters - raw story
11 OCT 2018 AT 09:15 ET
The Bella Vita luxury condominium tower rises 20 stories over the boomtown of Luís Eduardo Magalhães in northeastern Brazil. Its private movie theater and helipad are symbols of how far this dusty farming community has come since it was founded just 18 years ago.
Local soybean producers shell out upwards of a half-million U.S. dollars to live in the complex. Nearby farm equipment sellers, car dealerships and construction supply stores are bustling too.
Meanwhile, nearly 5,000 miles to the north in Boone, Iowa, farmers are hunkering down. At a recent agriculture trade show here, Iowa corn and soybean grower Steve Sheppard reflected the cautious mood.
“I’m not buying any machinery, I’m not spending any money,” Sheppard said.
Two countries. Same business. Two very different fates. The reason: China.
A growing trade war between the United States and China is re-ordering the global grains business. In response to Trump administration tariffs on Chinese goods, Beijing this year imposed levies on U.S. agricultural products. Among them was a 25 percent tariff on soybeans, the single most valuable U.S. farm export. U.S. growers sold $12 billion worth to China last year alone.
The fallout has been quick. China, the world’s largest importer of soybeans, has scaled back purchases of U.S. grain to feed its massive hog herd.
It is turning instead to Brazil, which has ridden the wave of Chinese demand for two decades to become a global agricultural powerhouse. Brazilian soybean exports to the Asian country jumped 22 percent by value between January and September, compared to the same period a year ago.
Brazilian producers are not only selling more grain, their soy is fetching $2.83 more per bushel than beans from the United States, up from a premium of just $0.60 a year ago, thanks to stepped up Chinese purchases.
Prices for U.S. soybeans, meanwhile, recently sunk to decade lows that farmers say are below the cost of production. The slump has made the agricultural sector a drag on an otherwise healthy U.S. economy. The Trump administration said in July it would spend up to $12 billion in taxpayer funds to help U.S. farmers offset trade-related losses, although the aid package could shrink.
Many American farmers, overwhelmingly conservative voters who helped propel Donald Trump to the presidency, are standing by their man. They believe he will eventually negotiate a better trade deal with China, whose appetite for soybeans is so vast that it cannot completely wean itself off U.S. grain.
But for the time being, Trump trade policies are handing precious market share, money and momentum to Brazil, the United States’ most formidable agricultural competitor. Some fear the lost ground will be hard to reclaim.
“Bad news on tariffs in the U.S. is good news for them,” Robert Crain, general manager for the Americas for equipment dealer AGCO Corp, said about Brazilian farmers in an interview at the Iowa show.
BOON TO BRAZIL
Like their U.S. counterparts, Brazil’s farmers produce much more grain than is needed at home. Foreign customers are responsible for the country’s agricultural boom. Nearly 80 percent of Brazil’s soy exports now head to China.
The city of Luís Eduardo Magalhães is a testament to the importance of this international trade. Located in the state of Bahia, with farms stretching in every direction, the formerly unincorporated rural area in less than two decades has swelled to 85,000 people. That is bigger than Sioux City, Iowa’s fourth-largest city.
Major employers in Luís Eduardo, as most locals call the city, include fertilizer factories, seed producers and processors of soy and cotton. The area “relies 100 percent on agriculture,” said Carminha Maria Missio, a farmer and president of the local growers union.
While Brazil’s overall economy is stuck in a ditch, the nation’s farm sector rolled to 13 percent growth last year. The John Deere dealership in Luís Eduardo saw its sales rise 15 percent in 2017 and is expecting double-digit growth again this year, managing partner Chico Flores Oliveira said.
The local real estate market is surging too. Another new luxury condo tower is slated to open next year. Single-family homes are sprouting throughout the city. Prices for prime farmland are up 37 percent since 2012, according to consultancy Informa Economics IEG FNP.
Brazil’s total soy area is expected to expand to a record 36.28 million hectares this season due to robust Chinese demand, according to a Reuters poll of analysts.
Farmers here also are bullish on this month’s presidential election in Brazil. Far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro, who is leading in the polls, favors rolling back fines for farmers who deforest illegally or break other environmental laws. Like Trump, Bolsonaro, is wary of China. But producers here trust him not to blow it on trade.
“Rural producers support Bolsonaro emphatically,” said Congresswoman Tereza Cristina, head of the powerful agriculture voting bloc in Brazil’s Congress. “We have access to him…and I am certain that he is smart and sensible.”
U.S. FARM BELT PINCHED The outlook is much gloomier in Iowa, the long-established heart of U.S. agriculture.
It is the nation’s top corn-producing state and the No. 2 producer of soybeans. But its access to some global markets has suffered under Trump.
The president walked away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement that would have opened valuable markets such as Japan to more American ag products. His renegotiation of the NAFTA accord had Mexico, the largest importer of U.S. corn, exploring other suppliers, including Brazil. Now the Chinese are pulling back.
Boone lays smack in the state’s center, surrounded by miles of row crops, hogs and poultry. Farmland values here fell 12 percent from 2012 to 2017, according to Iowa State University. Worries about the U.S.-China trade war loomed over the recent Farm Progress show, which comes to town every other year.
Equipment dealer Lee Randall jotted down prices at an auction of used tractors and implements at the show. Prices have dropped on trade tensions and low crop prices, he said, shaking his head as a green and yellow Deere & Co combine sold for $118,000 and another fetched $82,000.
“Five years ago you could have added 30 percent to every one of these pieces,” said Randall, whose business, Randall Brothers, is based in Ohio.
Nearby, Brett Begemann, chief operating officer for Bayer Crop Science said farmers were likewise scrutinizing purchases of seeds and chemicals. The trade dispute is making it difficult for Bayer to predict 2019 earnings for its agriculture unit.
A two-hour drive north of Boone in Algona, Iowa, a town of about 5,500 people, farm doldrums are crimping business at the local Deere and Harley-Davidson Inc dealerships, the operators said.
“Ultimately this area lives and dies by the farmer,” said Jim Wilcox, an owner of the Harley store.
Farmers’ woes are showing up on bank balance sheets as well. The proportion of the region’s agricultural loans reported as having repayment problems was up in the second quarter, reaching mid-year levels not seen since 2002, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Rodney Jensen, who farms near Algona, regrets not making deals to sell soybeans from his autumn harvest when prices were higher. Like many, he is storing his crop, waiting for better times.
He worries China will not buy as much U.S. soy as it used to, even if the two nations patch things up.
“It’s been pretty pessimistic around here,” Jensen said.
Local soybean producers shell out upwards of a half-million U.S. dollars to live in the complex. Nearby farm equipment sellers, car dealerships and construction supply stores are bustling too.
Meanwhile, nearly 5,000 miles to the north in Boone, Iowa, farmers are hunkering down. At a recent agriculture trade show here, Iowa corn and soybean grower Steve Sheppard reflected the cautious mood.
“I’m not buying any machinery, I’m not spending any money,” Sheppard said.
Two countries. Same business. Two very different fates. The reason: China.
A growing trade war between the United States and China is re-ordering the global grains business. In response to Trump administration tariffs on Chinese goods, Beijing this year imposed levies on U.S. agricultural products. Among them was a 25 percent tariff on soybeans, the single most valuable U.S. farm export. U.S. growers sold $12 billion worth to China last year alone.
The fallout has been quick. China, the world’s largest importer of soybeans, has scaled back purchases of U.S. grain to feed its massive hog herd.
It is turning instead to Brazil, which has ridden the wave of Chinese demand for two decades to become a global agricultural powerhouse. Brazilian soybean exports to the Asian country jumped 22 percent by value between January and September, compared to the same period a year ago.
Brazilian producers are not only selling more grain, their soy is fetching $2.83 more per bushel than beans from the United States, up from a premium of just $0.60 a year ago, thanks to stepped up Chinese purchases.
Prices for U.S. soybeans, meanwhile, recently sunk to decade lows that farmers say are below the cost of production. The slump has made the agricultural sector a drag on an otherwise healthy U.S. economy. The Trump administration said in July it would spend up to $12 billion in taxpayer funds to help U.S. farmers offset trade-related losses, although the aid package could shrink.
Many American farmers, overwhelmingly conservative voters who helped propel Donald Trump to the presidency, are standing by their man. They believe he will eventually negotiate a better trade deal with China, whose appetite for soybeans is so vast that it cannot completely wean itself off U.S. grain.
But for the time being, Trump trade policies are handing precious market share, money and momentum to Brazil, the United States’ most formidable agricultural competitor. Some fear the lost ground will be hard to reclaim.
“Bad news on tariffs in the U.S. is good news for them,” Robert Crain, general manager for the Americas for equipment dealer AGCO Corp, said about Brazilian farmers in an interview at the Iowa show.
BOON TO BRAZIL
Like their U.S. counterparts, Brazil’s farmers produce much more grain than is needed at home. Foreign customers are responsible for the country’s agricultural boom. Nearly 80 percent of Brazil’s soy exports now head to China.
The city of Luís Eduardo Magalhães is a testament to the importance of this international trade. Located in the state of Bahia, with farms stretching in every direction, the formerly unincorporated rural area in less than two decades has swelled to 85,000 people. That is bigger than Sioux City, Iowa’s fourth-largest city.
Major employers in Luís Eduardo, as most locals call the city, include fertilizer factories, seed producers and processors of soy and cotton. The area “relies 100 percent on agriculture,” said Carminha Maria Missio, a farmer and president of the local growers union.
While Brazil’s overall economy is stuck in a ditch, the nation’s farm sector rolled to 13 percent growth last year. The John Deere dealership in Luís Eduardo saw its sales rise 15 percent in 2017 and is expecting double-digit growth again this year, managing partner Chico Flores Oliveira said.
The local real estate market is surging too. Another new luxury condo tower is slated to open next year. Single-family homes are sprouting throughout the city. Prices for prime farmland are up 37 percent since 2012, according to consultancy Informa Economics IEG FNP.
Brazil’s total soy area is expected to expand to a record 36.28 million hectares this season due to robust Chinese demand, according to a Reuters poll of analysts.
Farmers here also are bullish on this month’s presidential election in Brazil. Far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro, who is leading in the polls, favors rolling back fines for farmers who deforest illegally or break other environmental laws. Like Trump, Bolsonaro, is wary of China. But producers here trust him not to blow it on trade.
“Rural producers support Bolsonaro emphatically,” said Congresswoman Tereza Cristina, head of the powerful agriculture voting bloc in Brazil’s Congress. “We have access to him…and I am certain that he is smart and sensible.”
U.S. FARM BELT PINCHED The outlook is much gloomier in Iowa, the long-established heart of U.S. agriculture.
It is the nation’s top corn-producing state and the No. 2 producer of soybeans. But its access to some global markets has suffered under Trump.
The president walked away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement that would have opened valuable markets such as Japan to more American ag products. His renegotiation of the NAFTA accord had Mexico, the largest importer of U.S. corn, exploring other suppliers, including Brazil. Now the Chinese are pulling back.
Boone lays smack in the state’s center, surrounded by miles of row crops, hogs and poultry. Farmland values here fell 12 percent from 2012 to 2017, according to Iowa State University. Worries about the U.S.-China trade war loomed over the recent Farm Progress show, which comes to town every other year.
Equipment dealer Lee Randall jotted down prices at an auction of used tractors and implements at the show. Prices have dropped on trade tensions and low crop prices, he said, shaking his head as a green and yellow Deere & Co combine sold for $118,000 and another fetched $82,000.
“Five years ago you could have added 30 percent to every one of these pieces,” said Randall, whose business, Randall Brothers, is based in Ohio.
Nearby, Brett Begemann, chief operating officer for Bayer Crop Science said farmers were likewise scrutinizing purchases of seeds and chemicals. The trade dispute is making it difficult for Bayer to predict 2019 earnings for its agriculture unit.
A two-hour drive north of Boone in Algona, Iowa, a town of about 5,500 people, farm doldrums are crimping business at the local Deere and Harley-Davidson Inc dealerships, the operators said.
“Ultimately this area lives and dies by the farmer,” said Jim Wilcox, an owner of the Harley store.
Farmers’ woes are showing up on bank balance sheets as well. The proportion of the region’s agricultural loans reported as having repayment problems was up in the second quarter, reaching mid-year levels not seen since 2002, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Rodney Jensen, who farms near Algona, regrets not making deals to sell soybeans from his autumn harvest when prices were higher. Like many, he is storing his crop, waiting for better times.
He worries China will not buy as much U.S. soy as it used to, even if the two nations patch things up.
“It’s been pretty pessimistic around here,” Jensen said.
China slashes U.S. LPG imports amid trade war
Seng Li Peng - reuters
OCTOBER 9, 2018
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - China has choked back on imports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the United States, traders and analysts said, turning to the Middle East for extra supplies amid the two countries’ trade dispute.
China bought nearly 3.6 million tonnes of U.S. LPG in 2017, making the United States the country’s second-largest supplier of the fuel used in petrochemicals, as well as for cooking, transport and heating.
However, U.S. imports have come off dramatically over the course of 2018, before stalling completely in late August when China imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on over 300 U.S. goods, including LPG, in retaliation for U.S. tariffs.
Consultancy IHS Markit estimates U.S. imports fell to barely 1 million tonnes during the first eight months of 2018, down from about 2.1 million tonnes for the same period last year, said He Yanyu, Executive Director for Natural Gas Liquids.
The fall came as Chinese buyers wound back U.S. purchases of LPG amid uncertainty about the impact of buying product from the United States, said a trader who tracks the fuel.
No U.S. LPG cargoes have landed in China since tariffs were imposed in late August, said Ong Han Wee at consultancy FGE.
“China has stopped shipping in U.S. LPG cargoes as they are now too expensive,” added a second trader who tracks LPG cargoes.
The United States last year accounted for about 20 percent of China’s total LPG imports, which are currently running at about $1 billion a month, based on Thomson Reuters calculation.
The U.S. gap is being filled largely by Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, analysts said.
The change comes as prices for the fuel, often a mix of propane and butane, spike in line with higher oil prices.
State-owned Saudi Aramco, whose contract prices are used as benchmarks in Asia, fixed its propane and butane contract prices for October at $655 a tonne, the highest since 2014.
U.S. prices are also rising. The propane price at the Texan Mont Belvieu hub hit its highest since 2014 on Sept. 28 at around 108 cents per gallon before easing to around 104 cents on Oct. 9.
This works out to about $542 a tonne, based on Reuters calculations, but is above the Saudi Aramco price after taking into account freight and terminal charges and the additional 25 percent tariff.
China’s LPG imports rose about 15 percent to nearly 18.3 million tonnes in 2017, driven partly by new petrochemicals plants which use the propane dehydrogenation method to produce the raw material for plastics..
IHS’s He said LPG prices were likely to stay firm in November and December due to higher oil prices and winter demand.
China bought nearly 3.6 million tonnes of U.S. LPG in 2017, making the United States the country’s second-largest supplier of the fuel used in petrochemicals, as well as for cooking, transport and heating.
However, U.S. imports have come off dramatically over the course of 2018, before stalling completely in late August when China imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on over 300 U.S. goods, including LPG, in retaliation for U.S. tariffs.
Consultancy IHS Markit estimates U.S. imports fell to barely 1 million tonnes during the first eight months of 2018, down from about 2.1 million tonnes for the same period last year, said He Yanyu, Executive Director for Natural Gas Liquids.
The fall came as Chinese buyers wound back U.S. purchases of LPG amid uncertainty about the impact of buying product from the United States, said a trader who tracks the fuel.
No U.S. LPG cargoes have landed in China since tariffs were imposed in late August, said Ong Han Wee at consultancy FGE.
“China has stopped shipping in U.S. LPG cargoes as they are now too expensive,” added a second trader who tracks LPG cargoes.
The United States last year accounted for about 20 percent of China’s total LPG imports, which are currently running at about $1 billion a month, based on Thomson Reuters calculation.
The U.S. gap is being filled largely by Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, analysts said.
The change comes as prices for the fuel, often a mix of propane and butane, spike in line with higher oil prices.
State-owned Saudi Aramco, whose contract prices are used as benchmarks in Asia, fixed its propane and butane contract prices for October at $655 a tonne, the highest since 2014.
U.S. prices are also rising. The propane price at the Texan Mont Belvieu hub hit its highest since 2014 on Sept. 28 at around 108 cents per gallon before easing to around 104 cents on Oct. 9.
This works out to about $542 a tonne, based on Reuters calculations, but is above the Saudi Aramco price after taking into account freight and terminal charges and the additional 25 percent tariff.
China’s LPG imports rose about 15 percent to nearly 18.3 million tonnes in 2017, driven partly by new petrochemicals plants which use the propane dehydrogenation method to produce the raw material for plastics..
IHS’s He said LPG prices were likely to stay firm in November and December due to higher oil prices and winter demand.
Worker incomes growing slower in counties Trump flipped in 2016
REUTERS -raw story
07 SEP 2018 AT 15:09 ET
Worker pay gains in areas of the country that helped power Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential victory were substantially slower than in the rest of the country during the first year of his administration, new government data shows.
In the 220 counties that flipped from voting for Democratic candidate Barack Obama in 2012 to Republican candidate Donald Trump in 2016, the average worker earned about $46,000 in the 12 months through March, up 1.9 percent from a year earlier. That compared with a 2.6 percent increase to around $56,000 for the country as a whole, according to a Reuters analysis of Labor Department data.
The data, released this week in the department’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, highlights the difficulty of closing the prosperity gap for regions that have long struggled economically, and whose grievances were seen as a factor in Trump’s election victory.
On Friday, the Labor Department reported separate data showing average hourly earnings nationwide rose by 2.9 percent in August from a year earlier, the fastest rate in nearly a decade. The next view of wages at the county level will not be available until December.
More than a third of the counties that flipped from voting Democrat to Republican are in six states that were crucial to Trump’s 2016 victory: Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida.
The economies of these counties tend to rely more on agriculture and manufacturing, sectors that in recent decades have grown more slowly than many service industries clustered in U.S. cities. The counties’ average incomes have been falling further behind the national average income for decades.
The first year of Trump’s presidency, which began Jan. 20, 2017, was no exception. Incomes in the counties flipped by Trump were 82.8 percent of the national average, down from 83.3 percent in the 12 months through March 2017.
Income gains nationwide have picked up in recent years, but so has inflation. And wage gains have remained historically weak in the years since the 2007-09 recession.
Trump’s White House on Wednesday said nationwide hourly earnings data underestimates wage growth because it does not properly adjust for recent tax cuts, inflation and changes in the labor force. The numbers also do not fully incorporate forms of compensation such as employer contributions to health insurance.
Adjusting for these factors, White House economists said in a report here, would reveal faster earnings growth.
Some political scientists believe lackluster growth in earnings nationwide could weigh on Trump’s Republican party in the November congressional elections.
In part due to accelerating price increases, hourly earnings fell 0.2 percent in the 12 months through July when accounting for inflation, according to an August 10 Labor Department report.
The quarterly census on jobs and earnings draws from employer reports to state programs for unemployment compensation. The data is not adjusted for inflation and measures earnings in the counties where employees work but not necessarily where they live.
In the 220 counties that flipped from voting for Democratic candidate Barack Obama in 2012 to Republican candidate Donald Trump in 2016, the average worker earned about $46,000 in the 12 months through March, up 1.9 percent from a year earlier. That compared with a 2.6 percent increase to around $56,000 for the country as a whole, according to a Reuters analysis of Labor Department data.
The data, released this week in the department’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, highlights the difficulty of closing the prosperity gap for regions that have long struggled economically, and whose grievances were seen as a factor in Trump’s election victory.
On Friday, the Labor Department reported separate data showing average hourly earnings nationwide rose by 2.9 percent in August from a year earlier, the fastest rate in nearly a decade. The next view of wages at the county level will not be available until December.
More than a third of the counties that flipped from voting Democrat to Republican are in six states that were crucial to Trump’s 2016 victory: Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida.
The economies of these counties tend to rely more on agriculture and manufacturing, sectors that in recent decades have grown more slowly than many service industries clustered in U.S. cities. The counties’ average incomes have been falling further behind the national average income for decades.
The first year of Trump’s presidency, which began Jan. 20, 2017, was no exception. Incomes in the counties flipped by Trump were 82.8 percent of the national average, down from 83.3 percent in the 12 months through March 2017.
Income gains nationwide have picked up in recent years, but so has inflation. And wage gains have remained historically weak in the years since the 2007-09 recession.
Trump’s White House on Wednesday said nationwide hourly earnings data underestimates wage growth because it does not properly adjust for recent tax cuts, inflation and changes in the labor force. The numbers also do not fully incorporate forms of compensation such as employer contributions to health insurance.
Adjusting for these factors, White House economists said in a report here, would reveal faster earnings growth.
Some political scientists believe lackluster growth in earnings nationwide could weigh on Trump’s Republican party in the November congressional elections.
In part due to accelerating price increases, hourly earnings fell 0.2 percent in the 12 months through July when accounting for inflation, according to an August 10 Labor Department report.
The quarterly census on jobs and earnings draws from employer reports to state programs for unemployment compensation. The data is not adjusted for inflation and measures earnings in the counties where employees work but not necessarily where they live.
The alarming link between the increase in ‘despair deaths’ and counties that voted for Donald Trump
Nicole Karlis, Salon
06 SEP 2018 AT 07:24 ET
The 2016 election brought to light a cohort of Americans whom activist Michael Moore tried to warn the country about before the 2016 presidential election.
“From Green Bay to Pittsburgh, this, my friends, is the middle of England – broken, depressed, struggling – the smokestacks strewn across the countryside with the carcass of what we use to call the Middle Class,” Moore wrote in his viral article “5 Reasons Why Trump Will Win,” which compared Middle America to Brexit.
A new analysis by researchers at Columbia University, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine this week, has corroborated Moore’s theory about the men and women previous politicians have seemingly left behind.
According to the study, there is an alarming link between an increase in “despair deaths” – a term which describes deaths caused by drug overdoses, alcohol or suicide – and counties that voted for Trump. In other words, those who have been left behind — the ones who voted for Trump, because they presumably thought his presidency would improve their quality of life — are enduring higher despair death rates.
“Although life expectancy is increasing in many parts of the country, especially in urban areas, we’re not seeing nearly the same gains in rural and middle America. We shouldn’t underestimate the degree to which some portions of the country have been left behind in terms of their health,”said study leader Lee Goldman, chief executive of Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center, in a press release. “And it’s not surprising that health disparities correspond with voting behavior.”
The study started when Dr. Goldman and his team of researchers hypothesized that changes in health outlook may have impacted the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. To test this hypothesis, they used data from America’s 3,112 counties to observe changes in presidential voting and death rates. The results concluded counties that had a net percentage increase of those who voted for the winning 2016 presidential candidate had a 15 percent higher 2015 age-adjusted death rate than those counties with a net increase in Democratic voters. The rise in deaths caused by alcohol, drugs and suicide was 2.5 times higher in 2016 those counties, too.
“It’s commonly argued that President Trump won by receiving more votes from people who have been left behind economically — especially older, less-educated, and less-urban, white voters,” Dr. Goldman said. “Based on our data, we can also say that changes in life expectancy were an independent factor in voting choices. Reduced health prospects are an important marker of dissatisfaction, discouragement, hopelessness and fear — sentiments that may have resonated with voters who sided with President Trump. Although correlation does not imply causality, our findings also suggest that plausible improvements in life expectancy in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin might have shifted their electoral votes to Secretary Clinton.”
The correlation between population health and voting trends is indeed interesting — and one researchers can look to for ways in which public health crises could be mitigated.
“Regardless of your political persuasion, our paper suggests that, if health disparities were important enough to influence presidential voting, they may have an even broader impact on our country’s future than we had imagined,” said Dr. Goldman. “It also highlights how much work remains to reduce health disparities.”
“From Green Bay to Pittsburgh, this, my friends, is the middle of England – broken, depressed, struggling – the smokestacks strewn across the countryside with the carcass of what we use to call the Middle Class,” Moore wrote in his viral article “5 Reasons Why Trump Will Win,” which compared Middle America to Brexit.
A new analysis by researchers at Columbia University, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine this week, has corroborated Moore’s theory about the men and women previous politicians have seemingly left behind.
According to the study, there is an alarming link between an increase in “despair deaths” – a term which describes deaths caused by drug overdoses, alcohol or suicide – and counties that voted for Trump. In other words, those who have been left behind — the ones who voted for Trump, because they presumably thought his presidency would improve their quality of life — are enduring higher despair death rates.
“Although life expectancy is increasing in many parts of the country, especially in urban areas, we’re not seeing nearly the same gains in rural and middle America. We shouldn’t underestimate the degree to which some portions of the country have been left behind in terms of their health,”said study leader Lee Goldman, chief executive of Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center, in a press release. “And it’s not surprising that health disparities correspond with voting behavior.”
The study started when Dr. Goldman and his team of researchers hypothesized that changes in health outlook may have impacted the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. To test this hypothesis, they used data from America’s 3,112 counties to observe changes in presidential voting and death rates. The results concluded counties that had a net percentage increase of those who voted for the winning 2016 presidential candidate had a 15 percent higher 2015 age-adjusted death rate than those counties with a net increase in Democratic voters. The rise in deaths caused by alcohol, drugs and suicide was 2.5 times higher in 2016 those counties, too.
“It’s commonly argued that President Trump won by receiving more votes from people who have been left behind economically — especially older, less-educated, and less-urban, white voters,” Dr. Goldman said. “Based on our data, we can also say that changes in life expectancy were an independent factor in voting choices. Reduced health prospects are an important marker of dissatisfaction, discouragement, hopelessness and fear — sentiments that may have resonated with voters who sided with President Trump. Although correlation does not imply causality, our findings also suggest that plausible improvements in life expectancy in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin might have shifted their electoral votes to Secretary Clinton.”
The correlation between population health and voting trends is indeed interesting — and one researchers can look to for ways in which public health crises could be mitigated.
“Regardless of your political persuasion, our paper suggests that, if health disparities were important enough to influence presidential voting, they may have an even broader impact on our country’s future than we had imagined,” said Dr. Goldman. “It also highlights how much work remains to reduce health disparities.”
These three states that went for Trump in 2016 will be hardest hit by his auto tariffs: report
Tom Boggioni - raw story
18 AUG 2018 AT 12:56 ET
According to an analysis by Business Insider, the three states that will be hardest hit by President Donald Trump’s trade war involving the auto industry are states that helped elevate him to the Oval Office.
In May of this year the president proposed a 25 percent tariff on imported cars and auto parts in retaliation for what he feels are unfair trade policies that he believes favor other nations.
While the tariffs have yet to go into effect, automakers are already reacting to possible lost business by proposing massive job cuts. Automaker Volvo has already announced that the 4,000 jobs planned for expanded production in South Carolina may not materialize if the tariffs are implemented.
Seeking to understand the impact on the industry, Business Insider looked at the percentage of each state’s workforce employed in the auto industry using data from the Center For Automotive Research.
What they found was Michigan — unsurprisingly — led the pack with 21.4 percent of the workers tied to the auto industry. Behind Michigan came Indiana (13.9 percent) and Ohio (11.7 percent) — with all three states combing to contribute 45 electoral votes to Trump’s 2015 total
Following those three are an additional three states that went for Trump: Kentucky (11 percent), Tennessee (9.6 percent), and Alabama (8.3 percent).
You can read the whole report — with graphics — here.
In May of this year the president proposed a 25 percent tariff on imported cars and auto parts in retaliation for what he feels are unfair trade policies that he believes favor other nations.
While the tariffs have yet to go into effect, automakers are already reacting to possible lost business by proposing massive job cuts. Automaker Volvo has already announced that the 4,000 jobs planned for expanded production in South Carolina may not materialize if the tariffs are implemented.
Seeking to understand the impact on the industry, Business Insider looked at the percentage of each state’s workforce employed in the auto industry using data from the Center For Automotive Research.
What they found was Michigan — unsurprisingly — led the pack with 21.4 percent of the workers tied to the auto industry. Behind Michigan came Indiana (13.9 percent) and Ohio (11.7 percent) — with all three states combing to contribute 45 electoral votes to Trump’s 2015 total
Following those three are an additional three states that went for Trump: Kentucky (11 percent), Tennessee (9.6 percent), and Alabama (8.3 percent).
You can read the whole report — with graphics — here.
‘He’s gonna kill us’: Nebraska farmers freak out as Trump’s trade war threatens their businesses
Brad Reed - raw story
16 AUG 2018 AT 13:23 ET
President Donald Trump’s trade war against multiple countries has been hammering the price of American soybeans, and many farmers say they’re seriously feeling the pinch.
The Los Angeles Times reports that soy farmers in Nebraska are increasingly anxious that Trump’s trade war could drag on into the fall, at which time they would suffer massive losses due to the low prices of their crops.
Data released by the Labor Department this week revealed that American agricultural export prices plunged by 5.3 percent last month, which marks the biggest drop in export prices since October 2011.
Soy bean farmers, which have been specifically targeted by China’s retaliatory tariffs against American imports, were particularly hard hit. According to Labor Department figures, U.S. soy export prices plunged by 14.1 percent in July, just after China slapped soy imports with 25 percent tariffs.
“He’s gonna kill us,” 81-year-old farmer Joel Samuleson told the Los Angeles Times, referring to the drop in soy prices.
Farmer Doug Saathoff, meanwhile, says that he likes the fact that Trump is a “businessman,” but he worries about the erratic nature of the president’s trade negotiations.
“How long can I hold out?” he asked the Los Angeles Times, referring to his own farm’s financial situation. “I don’t know.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that soy farmers in Nebraska are increasingly anxious that Trump’s trade war could drag on into the fall, at which time they would suffer massive losses due to the low prices of their crops.
Data released by the Labor Department this week revealed that American agricultural export prices plunged by 5.3 percent last month, which marks the biggest drop in export prices since October 2011.
Soy bean farmers, which have been specifically targeted by China’s retaliatory tariffs against American imports, were particularly hard hit. According to Labor Department figures, U.S. soy export prices plunged by 14.1 percent in July, just after China slapped soy imports with 25 percent tariffs.
“He’s gonna kill us,” 81-year-old farmer Joel Samuleson told the Los Angeles Times, referring to the drop in soy prices.
Farmer Doug Saathoff, meanwhile, says that he likes the fact that Trump is a “businessman,” but he worries about the erratic nature of the president’s trade negotiations.
“How long can I hold out?” he asked the Los Angeles Times, referring to his own farm’s financial situation. “I don’t know.”
Illinois manufacturer moving to Mexico over Trump tariffs
BY AVERY ANAPOL - the hill
08/15/18 11:49 AM EDT
A storage safe manufacturer is reportedly planning to shut down two Illinois factories and move to Mexico in response to President Trump’s tariffs on Chinese metal imports.
Stack-On Products will close its two Chicago-area plants in October and lay off 153 people, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Al Fletcher, human resources director for the manufacturer’s Las Vegas–based parent company, told the newspaper that the company decided to relocate the operations to Mexico after Trump announced tariffs on steel and aluminum, as well as other products, from China.
“The operation is really not profitable,” Fletcher said. “Mr. Trump is part of this.”
Stack-On has operated in Chicago — its only two U.S. plants — for four decades, according to the Tribune, which added that the company already has factories in Mexico and China.
Fletcher told the newspapers that some of the employees will be given the option to relocated to El Paso, Texas, across the border from its Stack-On factory.
The company is one of a growing list that has announced layoffs, closures or price increases as a result of Trump’s tariff disputes with other countries.
The president announced massive tariffs on aluminum and steel imports earlier this year, and has engaged in a back-and-forth with China, as well as angered key U.S. allies like Mexico, Canada and the European Union, over the taxes.
He has repeatedly complained that other countries are treating the U.S. as a “piggy bank” that’s being “robbed” by their trade policies.
But his decision to impose steep tariffs has prompted other nations to retaliate, and many U.S. industries have expressed concerns that the levies will destroy their market.
The Department of Agriculture last month announced a $12 billion plan to aid farmers hurt by Trump’s trade battles.
Stack-On Products will close its two Chicago-area plants in October and lay off 153 people, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Al Fletcher, human resources director for the manufacturer’s Las Vegas–based parent company, told the newspaper that the company decided to relocate the operations to Mexico after Trump announced tariffs on steel and aluminum, as well as other products, from China.
“The operation is really not profitable,” Fletcher said. “Mr. Trump is part of this.”
Stack-On has operated in Chicago — its only two U.S. plants — for four decades, according to the Tribune, which added that the company already has factories in Mexico and China.
Fletcher told the newspapers that some of the employees will be given the option to relocated to El Paso, Texas, across the border from its Stack-On factory.
The company is one of a growing list that has announced layoffs, closures or price increases as a result of Trump’s tariff disputes with other countries.
The president announced massive tariffs on aluminum and steel imports earlier this year, and has engaged in a back-and-forth with China, as well as angered key U.S. allies like Mexico, Canada and the European Union, over the taxes.
He has repeatedly complained that other countries are treating the U.S. as a “piggy bank” that’s being “robbed” by their trade policies.
But his decision to impose steep tariffs has prompted other nations to retaliate, and many U.S. industries have expressed concerns that the levies will destroy their market.
The Department of Agriculture last month announced a $12 billion plan to aid farmers hurt by Trump’s trade battles.
Trump’s trade war just forced US soy farmers to take a massive financial hit
Brad Reed - raw story
14 AUG 2018 AT 09:54 ET
President Donald Trump’s trade war forced American farmers to take a big hit financially last month, as prices for U.S. farm exports fell faster than they have at any time since 2011, when America was still recovering from the 2008 financial crisis.
Bloomberg reports that American agricultural export prices plunged by 5.3 percent month-over-month, which marks the biggest drop in export prices since October 2011.
Soy bean farmers, which have been specifically targeted by China’s retaliatory tariffs against American imports, were particularly hard hit. According to Labor Department figures, U.S. soy export prices plunged by 14.1 percent in July, just after China slapped soy imports with 25 percent tariffs.
Over the past two months, multiple reports have cropped up of Trump-backing soy farmers in the Midwest who say they have been significantly hurt by the president’s trade wars with China, Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
Michael Petefish, the President of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, told CNN last month that he and his fellow farmers are “hurting” and that he might not back Trump’s 2020 campaign if he didn’t fix his trade policies.
Some farmers getting hurt by Trump’s trade war are still sticking by the president, however. Soybean farmer Bill Beam, for instance, told CNBC that he’d still vote for Trump even though the president is costing him “a lot of money.”
Bloomberg reports that American agricultural export prices plunged by 5.3 percent month-over-month, which marks the biggest drop in export prices since October 2011.
Soy bean farmers, which have been specifically targeted by China’s retaliatory tariffs against American imports, were particularly hard hit. According to Labor Department figures, U.S. soy export prices plunged by 14.1 percent in July, just after China slapped soy imports with 25 percent tariffs.
Over the past two months, multiple reports have cropped up of Trump-backing soy farmers in the Midwest who say they have been significantly hurt by the president’s trade wars with China, Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
Michael Petefish, the President of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, told CNN last month that he and his fellow farmers are “hurting” and that he might not back Trump’s 2020 campaign if he didn’t fix his trade policies.
Some farmers getting hurt by Trump’s trade war are still sticking by the president, however. Soybean farmer Bill Beam, for instance, told CNBC that he’d still vote for Trump even though the president is costing him “a lot of money.”
One map shows why Trump's trade war with China could be a disaster for average Americans
Bob Bryan - business insider
Aug 9, 2018, 9:31 AM ET
- President Donald Trump's trade war with China is ongoing, with tariffs flying back and forth.
- While US tariffs currently apply to $34 billion worth of Chinese goods coming into the US, Trump has threatened to apply tariffs to every import from China.
- The trade war could have significant economic consequences, as China is the largest source of imports for 23 states and among the top five sources for 47.
- It could also have political consequences, as 15 of the 23 states that count China as their top import source voted for Trump in 2016.
The Trump administration on Tuesday announced a 25% tariff on $16 billion worth of Chinese exports to the US, adding to the $34 billion worth of Chinese goods already subject to tariffs. Trump has also begun to move forward with tariffs on another $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, and he has effectively threatened that every item from the country could eventually be subject to tariffs.
Tariffs act as a tax on goods coming into the country, meaning goods coming into the US from China would be hit with an additional 25% duty. That makes those goods more expensive, which, in theory, would drive US companies to buy non-Chinese products.
Given that Chinese goods represented just over 21% of all imports coming into the US in 2017, an escalation of the trade war could push up prices for many goods. While the disruptions are likely to be widespread, some states may face more problems than others.
According to data from the US Census Bureau, China is a key source of imports for many states:
- For 23 states, China is the top source of imports.
- For 45 states, China is in the top three.
- China is among the top five import sources for 47 states. (North Dakota, Louisiana, and Delaware are the only exceptions.)
- Of the 23 states that count China as their largest source of imports, Trump won 15 in the 2016 presidential election.
supported the racist and got burned!!!
"super conservative" Trump supporter - wife is deported. "I'm eating my words"
Demovictory9 - demo underground
8/8/18
Sgt. Temo Juarez was a Trump guy. An Iraq combat veteran who served as a Marine infantryman and then an Army National Guardsman, his friends called him a “super conservative.” With his wife, he brought up their two daughters in Central Florida. He supported Trump in 2016, eager for a change.
But now, “I am eating my words,” he told the military newspaper Stars and Stripes in an interview published last week.
On Friday, Juarez and his family became the latest victims of Trump’s zero-tolerance policy on immigration.
On that day, his wife, Alejandra, left the country under a deportation order. She had come to the United States from Mexico illegally as a teenager two decades ago and had until now being living undisturbed with Temo, a naturalized U.S. citizen, and daughters, both natural-born Americans. This week, Temo will fly to Mexico with his daughters, 9-year-old Estela and 16-year-old Pamela — and leave his younger daughter there, even though English is her first language. He can’t do his construction job and take care of her in Florida by himself.
Temo Juarez believed Trump would deport only illegal immigrants who were criminals, and his wife had no record.
Instead, as the family fought Alejandra’s deportation, young Estela, with unicorns on her T-shirt, wept as she spoke to TV cameras: “I really do want to stay with my mom and dad. I want us to be together and stay in my house. I don’t want to go to Mexico. I want to stay here.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-veteran-supported-trump-until-trump-deported-his-wife/2018/08/06/33083252-99bc-11e8-b60b-1c897f17e185_story.html?utm_term=.359d4bba9251
But now, “I am eating my words,” he told the military newspaper Stars and Stripes in an interview published last week.
On Friday, Juarez and his family became the latest victims of Trump’s zero-tolerance policy on immigration.
On that day, his wife, Alejandra, left the country under a deportation order. She had come to the United States from Mexico illegally as a teenager two decades ago and had until now being living undisturbed with Temo, a naturalized U.S. citizen, and daughters, both natural-born Americans. This week, Temo will fly to Mexico with his daughters, 9-year-old Estela and 16-year-old Pamela — and leave his younger daughter there, even though English is her first language. He can’t do his construction job and take care of her in Florida by himself.
Temo Juarez believed Trump would deport only illegal immigrants who were criminals, and his wife had no record.
Instead, as the family fought Alejandra’s deportation, young Estela, with unicorns on her T-shirt, wept as she spoke to TV cameras: “I really do want to stay with my mom and dad. I want us to be together and stay in my house. I don’t want to go to Mexico. I want to stay here.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-veteran-supported-trump-until-trump-deported-his-wife/2018/08/06/33083252-99bc-11e8-b60b-1c897f17e185_story.html?utm_term=.359d4bba9251
More Taxpayers Will Owe The IRS In April Due To Under-Withholding, Report Says
SCOTT NEUMAN - npr
August 1, 20188:53 AM ET
More Americans will be writing a check to the IRS in April because their employers are not withholding enough from their paychecks following the new tax law, the Government Accountability Office says in a new report.
Based on simulations run by the Treasury Department, the GAO says taxes for 30 million Americans – 21 percent of taxpayers — are being under-withheld by their employers, meaning they are getting a larger check this year, but will owe at tax time in April. According to the simulations, 73 percent of taxpayers will be over-withheld and receive a refund from the Internal Revenue Service.
When the simulation was run as if there had been no change in the tax law, 18 percent of taxpayers, or about 27 million, would have experienced under-withholding and 76 percent would have been over-withheld. In both scenarios, just 6 percent of taxpayers would have the correct amount of withholding.
Who should be concerned? According to the GAO, a hypothetical taxpayer who is married with two children, earning $180,000 annually, $20,000 of which comes from non-wage income and who itemizes deductions.
As The Associated Press notes, "Millions of American workers started getting fatter paychecks early this year, as employers withheld less money in anticipation of lower income taxes under the law. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a middle-income household should on average get a $930 tax cut this year, lifting its after-tax income by 1.6 percent."
The report by the independent GAO was requested in January by senior Democrats on the Senate and House tax-writing committees who asked for an analysis of withholding tables under the new Republican tax law, according to AP.
The GAO acknowledges that the IRS has cautioned taxpayers that they may need to review and update their withholding as a result of the new law.
The Treasury Department and the IRS are responsible for updating the tax withholding tables each year, but their roles and responsibilities are not spelled out in writing. The GAO recommends that the secretary of the Treasury work with the IRS commissioner to sort that out.
Based on simulations run by the Treasury Department, the GAO says taxes for 30 million Americans – 21 percent of taxpayers — are being under-withheld by their employers, meaning they are getting a larger check this year, but will owe at tax time in April. According to the simulations, 73 percent of taxpayers will be over-withheld and receive a refund from the Internal Revenue Service.
When the simulation was run as if there had been no change in the tax law, 18 percent of taxpayers, or about 27 million, would have experienced under-withholding and 76 percent would have been over-withheld. In both scenarios, just 6 percent of taxpayers would have the correct amount of withholding.
Who should be concerned? According to the GAO, a hypothetical taxpayer who is married with two children, earning $180,000 annually, $20,000 of which comes from non-wage income and who itemizes deductions.
As The Associated Press notes, "Millions of American workers started getting fatter paychecks early this year, as employers withheld less money in anticipation of lower income taxes under the law. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a middle-income household should on average get a $930 tax cut this year, lifting its after-tax income by 1.6 percent."
The report by the independent GAO was requested in January by senior Democrats on the Senate and House tax-writing committees who asked for an analysis of withholding tables under the new Republican tax law, according to AP.
The GAO acknowledges that the IRS has cautioned taxpayers that they may need to review and update their withholding as a result of the new law.
The Treasury Department and the IRS are responsible for updating the tax withholding tables each year, but their roles and responsibilities are not spelled out in writing. The GAO recommends that the secretary of the Treasury work with the IRS commissioner to sort that out.
payback funnies
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what you see is what you get!!!
your share, idiot!!!!
