Tax Cuts Don’t Tend To Pay For Themselves

The Trump Administration insists the President’s massive tax cut will indeed pay for itself.

That would be great. It’s hard to find anyone not in favor of a simplified tax code and lower taxes. Still, that statement leaves many economists (and anyone who remembers what happened after previous massive tax cuts) scratching their heads.

The Committee For A Responsible Federal Budget (a non-governmental group promoting fiscal restraint) did some quick number crunching and estimates a $5.5-trillion dollar revenue loss over the next decade, potentially doing more harm to the economy than good. As the group’s president puts it in this New York Times article “there is no golden goose at the top of the tax-cut beanstalk, just mountains of debt.”

Some Congressional Hocus-Pocus Might Get Obamacare Repeal To A Vote After All

Every member of the far-right Freedom Caucus says they will back a plan now on the table. The new plan aims to wash their hands of the bill’s biggest controversies by passing those decisions on to states. States would now have the discretion to allow insurance companies to charge sick people more, or no longer require them to cover a minimum list of benefits (such as maternity care.) The big question now: will more moderate republicans get on board? (As we mentioned yesterday, Republicans in congress wrote into the bill provisions that would allow them to keep their current coverage, even if their constituents lose it.)

California v. Trump?

While more of a reaction than direct challenge to a White House-backed Obamacare repeal, Democrats in California took a step ahead with a plan to create the first statewide single-payer health system in the country. The bill is far from law, and the big question, as usual: where’s the money going to come from?

Democrats in California also making noise about forbidding the state from doing business with contractors who agree to work on the President’s “wall.”

Now This Looks Like A Man Who Might Be A Little Overconfident Just Because He’s Got “A Guy” Now Over There In the Supreme Court

Still, there’s a soberingly high-percentage chance he may turn out to be right. And in an interview with the conservative Washington Examiner, Trump said he’s “absolutely” considered breaking up the 9th Circuit, calling the court “outrageous.”

Technically, the judge who issued the temporary injunction is a District Judge and he’s not on the 9th Circuit. If his ruling is appealed, then the 9th Circuit of Appeals would hear it.

Republicans have been complaining about the 9th Circuit for a long time. They introduced a bill last year to split the circuit, but as long as Democrats have at least 41 Senators, it’s not going to happen. [NY Magazine]

But it a great issue for Trump to play to his base with. Those liberal judges messing up his plans can become the scapegoats for his failed policies. Of course, Trump’s Executive Order directly affects cities in California, and it only makes sense that is where the orders are being questioned.

Canada Won’t Soon Be Getting A “Donald Trump” Of Its Own

Kevin O’Leary of “Shark Tank” fame, dropped out of the race for Conservative Party leadership. The reality TV star was considered a front-runner.

Mini-Editorial: New Drinking Game

Every time someone from the Trump administration says something the President wants to spend money on will “pay for itself with growth”, take a shot. Prediction: you won’t have many dry days in the next 4-8 years. In all seriousness, take “pay for itself with growth” to mean “we have no idea how we’re going to pay for it, and we’re not even going to try to figure it out.”