Net Neutrality Is All About the Little Guy
Richard B. Levine/Levine Roberts/Newscom via ZUMA The FCC is getting ready to kill off net neutrality rules, which means that internet providers will be allowed to play favorites with different content from different companies. Tyler Cowen suggests this is really no big deal. He looks at two studies: In the past, the FCC went through…
Donald Trump’s Response to Disaster Aid for California: Nothing
Paul Kitagaki Jr/Sacramento Bee via ZUMA A few weeks ago, California requested $7.4 billion in disaster aid following the massive series of wildfires in the northern part of the state that killed 43 people and destroyed nearly 9,000 structures. Actually, let’s back up. That’s not quite accurate. California’s Democratic governor, its two Democratic senators, and…
Surprise! The Senate Tax Bill Kills the Middle Class, But It’s Great For the Rich
A few days ago the Joint Committee on Taxation released its analysis of the Senate tax bill, which I wrote about here. My conclusion was that the bill was “batshit crazy,” but Republicans cried foul. The JCT analysis included the effects of eliminating Obamacare’s individual mandate, and while that seems fair to me, it didn’t…
Repealing the Individual Mandate Would Hurt the Poor, Help the Rich
Speaking of the individual mandate, it turns out that CBO has analyzed how federal spending would change if the mandate were repealed. This is not about Obamacare subsidies, which will obviously decrease if fewer people buy insurance. This is about reductions in direct spending on Medicare, Medicaid, etc. Here it is: It’s pretty easy to…
Mulvaney OK With Keeping Individual Mandate, Provides No Guidance on How to Pay For It
The latest: Mulvaney: White House ‘OK’ pulling individual mandate repeal from tax bill White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that the administration wants to repeal part of Obamacare in Congress’ tax bill but is “OK with taking it out” if “it becomes an impediment.” ….“If we can repeal part of Obamacare as part…
Six Months Ago Donald Trump Fired the Director of the FBI
This is your periodic reminder that six months ago the president of the United States fired the director of the FBI. Then he went on national TV and admitted that he had done it because he was exasperated with Comey’s investigation of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign (“this Russia thing”). And then nothing…