Oct 31 2017
October Economic Snapshot of the States
This month’s highlights include updated preschool and college enrollment data, and updated Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Medicare enrollment figures.
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
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.
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 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 17 2017
Top Ten Facts on Medicare
For over 50 years, Medicare has provided health coverage to seniors and people with disabilities, enabling them to lead healthy lives and receive the care they need. Unfortunately, rather than taking steps to strengthen Medicare, the Republican budget cuts nearly $473 billion from Medicare over the next ten years.
Oct 17 2017
Republican Health Care Sabotage, Inc. Invoice
This invoice reflects annual premium increases and increased costs for health care. The bill is for three people on the individual market, one on CHIP, and one on Medicare. The charges reflect annual health care costs under President Trump and Republicans in Congress.
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.
