I write about business and economics for @nytopinion. If you like these tweets, try my book, The Economists' Hour: bit.ly/3F9vFGF
Washington, DC
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The part where Senator Loeffler invested in a work-from-home company is the part that just f cking kills me.
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Honestly it's hard to construct a better metaphor for the Trump administration than the fact that the United States is now bombing its own military bases.
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Well, there it is. The Senate just voted 80-15 to force railroad workers to accept a new contract that does not provide sick leave.
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What needs to be fixed? They're registered offshore to avoid paying U.S. taxes. Why on earth would we pay them?
They can ask Bermuda or Liberia for a bailout.
NEW: Cruise industry not confident it could borrow from any of the existing loan programs bc of offshore registration.
Sr. admin official says bipartisan Senate grp working to ensure they can access one of the facilities--or else will seek a legislative fix in the next package.
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The Democratic Party, which took both chambers and the White House in 2020 promising to pass a law that strengthens collective bargaining, just demolished collective bargaining in one of the few industries that still had it. Quite a legacy.
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One thing that should be way high on the priority list if the Dems retake the WH and the Senate: Increase IRS funding by, say, 10x and make sure every rich person in this country is actually paying what they owe.
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The correct way to phrase it is "Sen. Kyrsten Sinema does not support the voting rights bill."
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The measure of a healthy economy is not the availability of a limitless supply of people willing to work for $2.13 an hour plus tips.
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The bill that the House passed last night only guarantees paid coronavirus sick leave to ~20 percent of American workers.
I repeat: Most workers still aren't guaranteed paid sick leave.
nytimes.com/2020/03/14/opini…
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Jonas Salk refused to patent the polio vaccine. Asked who owned his discovery, he responded, “Well, the people, I would say."
‼️
Azar refuses to promise a coronavirus vaccine will be affordable for anyone:
"We would want to ensure that we work to make it affordable, but we can't control that price, because we need the private sector to invest.. Price controls won't get us there."
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2020: Will democracy survive?
2021: What, exactly, is the definition of infrastructure?
This is what progress looks like, folks. Savor it.
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A big reason the Senate can't pass a bailout bill is that Republicans are refusing to require big companies that get bailouts to refrain from firing workers or imposing pay cuts.
Also, Republicans are opposing the expansion of unemployment benefits for workers who do get fired.
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Congratulations to everyone participating in this inane debate about a problem that doesn't exist because YOU CAN'T GET UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS BY LEAVING YOUR JOB VOLUNTARILY.
The senators' fear, the source says, is that some workers would see the enhanced unemployment benefits as an incentive to leave their jobs. But proponents say that the enhanced benefits are only temporary -- and do not outweigh the significant benefits people get by holding a job
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This is a picture of people storming the capitol of the United States while carrying *a confederate flag.*
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Just to be clear, the state of Massachusetts is relying on the New England Patriots to deliver desperately needed medical supplies because the federal government is a dumpster fire.
Kraft family used Patriots team plane to shuttle protective masks from China to Boston bostonglobe.com/2020/04/02/n…
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The stock market is going to crash tomorrow morning and it's important to understand that the problem isn't the failure of this GOP bill.
The problem is that the GOP failed to propose a bill that protects American workers from economic catastrophe.
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It's an unfortunate moment to bring up the fact that a lot of people lost their homes to foreclosure in the last recession because the Obama administration basically did nothing to prevent that from happening.
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Republicans insisted on an exemption for companies with more than 500 employees, and Democrats caved.
McDonald’s, Amazon, and pretty much any other company that you’ve ever heard of — THEY ARE EXEMPTED.
And that loophole includes 54 percent of all workers.
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Just a reminder that Intuit and HR Block make money by charging for a service that should be free. The government could easily provide a comparable service at no charge. These companies have purchased the complicity of Congress - and they have enough $ left for Super Bowl ads.
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I didn’t anticipate that this would be the mechanism for getting rid of the most lawless of our police and firefighters, but I’m not complaining.
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Another thing about this GOP bill:
It would give Treasury $500 billion.
That it could use to bail out the hotel industry.
Including Donald Trump's hotels.
And Trump has refused to rule out taking the aid.
And recipients wouldn't be named for six months.
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This statement by Trump -- the suggestion that Jews must prove their loyalty to the United States by voting in a particular way -- is an appalling piece of antisemitism.
Pres Trump just now in the Oval Office: "I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty."
(He was wrapping up an answer to a Q about Rep Tlaib & Rep Omar and US aid to Israel)
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They need gas masks because you gas them.
They need shields because you beat them.
Here is a shield and a couple of gas masks from a rioter arrested in Portland. Not a sign with a slogan that someone expressing their first amendment rights might carry, but preparations for violence. Peaceful protester? I don’t think so.
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We're about to to find out whether messing with a billionaire's phone is going to be a bigger international problem for Saudi Arabia than killing one of that billionaire's employees.
washingtonpost.com/politics/…
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The president who thinks Robert E. Lee is a hero has decided to prevent the public celebration of an actual hero: cnbc.com/2019/05/22/harriet-…
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omg your company won't even give them health insurance
I’m asking governors in all 50 states + DC to prioritize drivers & delivery people for early vaccine access. 👇 These frontline workers should get the vaccine before people like me. reut.rs/374LWiv
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"For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans last year paid a lower total tax rate — spanning federal, state and local taxes — than any other income group, according to newly released data."
Watch how radically taxes on the wealthy have fallen over the past 70 years:
(Full column: nytimes.com/interactive/2019…)
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omg just build houses
As home prices continue to soar in California, @toniatkins and Senate Democrats want to try a new approach: spending $10 billion to help families buy homes. Details on the new proposal here - wsj.com/articles/california-…
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Factory work doesn't inherently lift people into the middle class. Those became good jobs because workers imposed their political will. Service-sector jobs could be good jobs, too.
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Sorry but “blame Republicans” doesn’t fly this time. Dems chose to intervene. Dems chose to offer a “no sick leave” option. And Dems just put it through both houses.
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The New York Times editorial board has never before published something like this about an American president. But then we've never faced a moment like this. Please read our plea to defend the United States by voting Donald Trump from office.
nytimes.com/interactive/2020…
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hey does anyone need a name for a military base?
Medgar Evers, a World War II hero (he fought in Normandy in June 1944) graduated from college and went on work for voting rights, better economic opportunities for Blacks, equal access to public facilities and more. He was buried with full honors at Arlington
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It bears emphasis that this is what the police are doing while the cameras are rolling -- while they know they're on TV.
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It's nice that they fired the Minneapolis police officers, but I still prefer the old-fashioned practice of arresting murderers.
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I don't understand the case for paying the USWNT the same salaries as the USMNT. The women are obviously much better at soccer. They should be paid more.
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Pelosi said workers will now get sick leave.
Pence said, “If you are sick, stay home. You’re not going to miss a pay check.”
But that’s not true. That’s what this legislation should do, but that’s not what it actually does.
nytimes.com/2020/03/14/opini…
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Paying sick workers to stay home is one of the most important things the government can do to slow the spread of the coronavirus. This bill is being sold as meeting that need.
Democrats and Republicans are saying it.
And they are not telling the truth.
nytimes.com/2020/03/14/opini…
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lol the founding fathers also didn't intend for 'south dakota' to be a state
The Founding Fathers never intended for Washington D.C. to be a state.
#DCStatehood is really about packing the Senate with Democrats in order to pass a left-wing agenda.
Just look at the DC voter registration data:
🔵 76.4% Democrat
🔴 5.7% Republican
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Another way of saying this is that the police have not arrested the two officers for assaulting an innocent man.
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Let's talk about unemployment benefits.
The federal government is currently "employing" about 20 million Americans at a weekly wage of $600.
In about 10 days, it plans to lay off all of them.
What do you think that is going to do to the economy?
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Basically all of this is illegal in the United States, precisely to ensure workers can't win these kinds of wages or put this kind of pressure on their employers.
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One way to read the Mattis piece, and other recent criticism of the president, is that people are beginning to conclude that standing with Trump is a losing bet. If he stays down in the polls, we're going to see a lot of people rediscovering their principles in the coming months.
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Tell me with a straight face you ever want to go back to the old convention hall roll calls.
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What choice did Princeton have? The university endowment is down to its last $25 billion.
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The crazy thing about the Alito op-ed is you can believe every word he wrote and he's still straight up confessing to taking a bribe from a rich guy who had business before the court.
wsj.com/articles/propublica-…
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One of the nation's largest and most important media companies doesn't care if the content it publishes is true.
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Four years ago, the Republican presidential candidates met for a debate at that library, with that plane as the backdrop.
They were asked what we should do about climate change.
And they fought for the chance to tell the moderates and the audience that we should do nothing.
Here is a look at the #EasyFire from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley:
latimes.com/california/story…
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Biden’s performance tonight was not bad enough to scare his loyalists and not good enough to convince anyone else. Pretty much the worst-case scenario for Democrats. And for democracy.
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I haven't really paid attention to the Tucker Carlson thing but the gist of it is that an explicitly racist TV show was also somehow secretly racist at the same time?
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Lots of people are puzzled by why Democrats would do this so let me explain. It's actually very straightforward: Democrats are trying to help people who are very rich.
News: House Dems have yet another SALT plan. Would raise the cap to $80k for nine years, per people familiar, rather than $72.5k for ten years.
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Stephen Moore -- whom President Trump reportedly plans to nominate to the Fed -- got so many facts wrong that the Kansas City Star's editorial page editor vowed never to publish his work again:
archives.cjr.org/united_stat…
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It's genuinely amazing to listen to GOP senators line up to explain why bailing out companies is "not a bailout" (and therefore the companies should be allowed to fire workers).
This is the goal in the middle of an economic crisis?
To preserve the right to fire workers?
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Shorter version of Powell: The economy is doing fine except for the specific problems that Trump promised to fix or improve.
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The bill also lets the Trump administration provide exemptions to employers with less than 50 workers.
That’s another 26 percent of the workforce -- 80 percent total.
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Perhaps you’re wondering: which are the big companies where workers can’t take paid sick leave?
Well, we made a list for you!
nytimes.com/2020/03/14/opini…
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So we're going to tax Americans until Mexico stops allowing people from central America to exercise their legal right to seek admission to the United States.
Seems pretty foolproof.
On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP. The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied,..
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Whoever at the White House made sure that Trump's Q&A started after the market closed deserves a raise.
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LSU cancelled all classes, for everyone, for two days, because its football team is playing for the national championship.
Obviously LSU's professional football players aren't there for the classes, but this is some next-level stuff.
lsureveille.com/news/lsu-boa…
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Ten million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits in the last two weeks. TEN MILLION AMERICANS.
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The president is desperately trying to pick fights with the media because 100,000 Americans are dead and the economy is in flames and much of it could have been prevented by a competent leader.
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What is the possible journalistic justification for allowing Mark Meadows to speak anonymously to contradict a doctor who just spoke on the record?
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“The top 1% of households fail to report about 21% of their income.” wsj.com/articles/high-income…
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It is totally possible to play baseball. It's even possible to have fans in the stands.
But it requires a functioning state.
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One thing Democrats could try to avoid nights like this one is winning more elections. I know it's not a popular idea, but it might work.
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This is the sixth straight day on which the president hasn’t called a press conference and answered questions on live TV to to demonstrate that concerns about his mental acuity are overblown.
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Retroactive tax breaks are pointless.
Rich people have plenty of money.
And there's already a political party devoted to giving them more. Maybe find something else to stand for?
For the Phase 4 stimulus, Pelosi is eyeing ... a two-year retroactive lifting of the SALT cap. Lotta $ for millionaires there. W/@ESCochrane
nytimes.com/2020/03/30/busin…
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Here's a venn diagram of people who think distance learning is working for young children (A) and people who have young children (B).
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Your occasional reminder that the President is openly and publicly breaking the law, on the regular, no investigation required:
1. The Constitution bars the prez from accepting gifts or payments from foreign govts. Aka the emoluments clause.
2. The @Trump Organization won’t say which foreign govts are paying them, for what, or how much.
3. But it’s happening—like *tonight.*
propublica.org/article/trump…
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Coronavirus update: There's no way to tell when the White House is telling the truth. Also, the nation's most important news publisher, Facebook, makes money by disseminating falsehoods. Good luck everyone.
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I'm genuinely interested to hear the rationale for giving federal money to companies and then letting them fire their workers. I assume it has something to do with economic efficiency.
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Wow it sure is convenient for a large number of the nation’s richest and most powerful people that a man who already tried to hang himself once was allowed to do it a few days later while under government supervision.
ABC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT: Jeffrey Epstein commits suicide overnight in his jail cell, officials tell @ABC News. pscp.tv/w/cB637DM3Mzg2fDFlYU…
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"Government is the problem"
"Get government out of my life"
"Starve the beast"
Well, here we are in the middle of a pandemic without a functioning federal government.
What now?
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One thing I find especially troubling about Trump's Google hoax is that it was Dr. Deborah Birx who stood there and provided the imaginary details. The breakdown in our ability to confront this crisis isn't just a problem with political leadership. It's the technocrats, too.
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Senator Susan Collins is on the Senate floor delivering an impassioned defense of unconditional corporate bailouts.
Not really seeing how we're getting to a deal this afternoon.
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There is no special legal category called “journalists.” The arrest of Omar Jimenez and his CNN crew was a violation of their rights as Americans. Just imagine how dangerous it is for a black man to walk the streets of Minneapolis right now without the protection of CNN.
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There's something like 700 billionaires in the United States and I hope some of them can be convinced to issue joint statements about Elizabeth Warren, because it's going to be really boring if we have to do this 700 times.
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People! Don't let the weak jobs report, the surge in Covid cases and the effects of climate change distract you from the real threat to our economy: Inflation.
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This is a mindblowing failure of leadership.
House Dem and GOP leaders are holding respective dinners for new members.
.@SpeakerPelosi told me it’s safe. “It’s very spaced,” she said and there is enhanced ventilation and the Capitol physician signed off.
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So a guy who doesn't believe in science -- who has denied that smoking can kill you, or that condoms can protect you; who does not believe in evolution, or in climate change -- will now be vetting the statements of government scientists. Cool, cool.
Government health officials and scientists will have to clear statements about the coronavirus outbreak with the office of Vice President Mike Pence, in an effort to tighten the White House’s control of messaging about the virus
nyti.ms/3a7omjV
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Take a moment to savor that Harriet Tubman, born a slave, will be replacing Andrew Jackson, a slaveowner among his many sins, on the $20.
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Midnight. The National Zoo has released its lions. Good luck to everyone in Northwest DC.
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Chile is the poster child for extreme economic inequality in a developed country. I spent time there last year for my book (which has a chapter on Chile) and what I found hardest to understand is why there wasn't more political unrest. Now there is.
nytimes.com/2019/10/19/world…
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This is an amazing story but for me the biggest takeaway is the massive amount we still don’t know about Trump’s finances and business dealings in the 25 years that follow the end of this story. nytimes.com/interactive/2019…
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You wanna celebrate saving the auto industry? Fine.
The 2009 stimulus? Take a bow.
But you do not get to pretend that you tried to help people stay in their homes. It's just not so.
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Why do people find this hard to understand? For shorter routes, Amtrak is much nicer than airplane travel in pretty much every respect.
.@SenatorWicker to @PeteButtigieg: "You enjoy actually traveling on Amtrak?" "-- Answer: "I do"
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Ady Barkan, an extraordinary person no longer able to do the most ordinary things, has become a hero to many because of the way he is living his final years and months and days.
My latest for @nytopinion:
nytimes.com/2019/05/03/opini…
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So the U.S. and China have both agreed to announce a "trade deal," which so far as I can tell consists entirely of both sides repeatedly saying the words "trade deal."
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You know who's having a great debate is @ashleyrparker, the moderator from the Washington Post. Different kinds of questions than we've heard at past debates, on important but chronically ignored issues like childcare and paid family leave.
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They created an industry based on the violation of current labor laws, and their solution is to write new labor laws.
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