Trump Wants to Raise the Gasoline Tax—Maybe
Donald Trump wants some money to pay for his infrastructure ideas: President Donald Trump’s chief economic adviser raised the possibility of increasing the federal gasoline tax next year to help pay for the administration’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan, U.S. Representative Tom Reed said. National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn brought up the fuel tax as a…
Obamacare Sabotage Is Working Great So Far
Emily Bazar reports on the current state of Obamacare in California: If the comments on Covered California’s Facebook page are any indication, you’re all suffering from acute health insurance confusion: “I wanted to sign up again this year … I’m hesitant now because of what Trump has done. Should I still consider?” “Does the removal…
Blockchain Is the New Pets.com
Here’s the latest from the world of internet bubble-osity: This company added the word “Blockchain” to its name and saw its shares surge 394% https://t.co/oYWaWhrZQK via @lisapham pic.twitter.com/1YnMpgIFwG — Bloomberg Markets (@markets) October 27, 2017 Bloomberg provides the details: A British company that has been investing in internet and information businesses is having its best…
The AI Revolution Is Coming—And It Will Take Your Job Sooner Than You Think
Oh look: my piece about robots and mass unemployment is up. I wanted to make it crystal clear what it was about, so the headline is “You Will Lose Your Job to a Robot—and Sooner Than You Think.” Needless to say, not everyone agrees. And I address some of the most common criticisms in the…
Corporate Tax Rates Don’t Have Much To Do With Economic Growth
Over at The Corner, Veronique de Rugy complains that Republicans are making a hash of tax reform. No argument there. In particular, she’s unhappy about increasing the child tax credit even though she admits it’s politically popular: But is it more important than simplifying the tax code and getting rid of special handouts to preferred…
What Did the Great Moderation Moderate?
Let’s see. What country am I in today? Oh yeah: the United States. Well, California, anyway, which is sort of an outlying territory these days. So let’s do something America-centric with a chart to get me back into non-vacation mode. Alex Tabarrok points out today that the “Great Moderation” in the US economy appears to…