by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Frank Islam,
It now appears that the Republicans will get a tax bill to President Trump to sign before the holidays.
The bill will be a gift for a few. But, because of its serious inequalities, for most Americans it will be a lump of coal in their stockings.
The tax plan was purportedly going to cut taxes for the many. The hard truth is this is not the case. The plan is just an extension of the Trump approach to governing in his first year – which is doing so in a manner which taxes us.
The Trump style and administration has taxed our patience, credulity, and sense of fairness and decency. The forms of taxation have been almost countless and endless. Here are a few of the lowlights.
Trump’s taxation without representation began in his inaugural address in which he promised to end “this American carnage” while providing us with a dark, gloomy and troublesome speech which was a form of carnage in its own right.
During the primary campaign and the general election contest, Donald Trump engaged in a virtually endless stream of pugnacious and petulant tweets. There was a faint hope that, after he was elected President, Trump would become more presidential, tweet less and think more.
That hope began to fade away in the interim before Trump took the oath of office on January 20, 2017. It was permanently quashed in the following months of 2017 as the Donald’s trumper-tantrums increased.
His missives sent nearly daily were full of sound and fury signifying something. That something is that Donald Trump is immature, obsessed with himself, and incapable of maintaining any sense of dignity or decorum.
Trump’s tweets are stealing the American soul and spirit. But his executive orders and the actions of his federal government departments and agencies are even more deadly. They are sticking a stake in the heart of America and Americans.
Since he has been elected President, Trump has issued numerous executive orders. Many of them have been mundane and inconsequential. Others, however, such as his executive orders which suspended immigration from predominantly Muslim countries tear at the fabric of this nation of immigrants.
While the President’s actions tend to be highly visible and voluble, the work of those in charge of the federal bureaucracy tend to be less visible but very damaging to the interests and concerns of millions of Americans.
Consider the following decisions made in December by the Federal Communications Commission and the National Labor Relations Board.
The Federal Communications Commission by a 3-2 vote decided to repeal the “net neutrality” rules for the Internet. This gives license to the giant internet service providers such as Verizon and Comcast to slow or block websites and apps and to charge more for faster speeds.
The National Labor Relations Board by a 3-2 vote reversed an earlier Obama-era ruling which had given unions and workers some leverage in negotiating with businesses such as hotel chains and fast food franchises as joint employers. The NLRB restored the previous standard saying that a corporate entity was an employer only if it exercised direct, immediate and unlimited control over workers at a franchisee.
These decisions are just the most recent examples of actions that favor the big guys and gals while taxing the little guys and gals. Similar moves within the domestic agencies such as the Department of Education, and the EPA during this first year of the Trump administration grind away at the interests of the “little people” as well.
Under Betsy DeVos’ leadership, the Department of Education has eliminated 72 policies affecting services to disabled students; withdrew the Obama administration guidance on sexual assault on college campuses; and, considered a number of measures that would have a negative effect on loans and loan servicing for millions of students.
Under Scott Pruit’s leadership, the Environmental Protection Agency has eliminatedreferences to climate change from its website; changed its position on a number of legacy toxic chemicals that were seen as problematic; and, repealed the Obama administration’s regulation on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
The list of things that are literally and figuratively taking our breath away could go on, and on. But, Donald Trump stands head and shoulders at the very top of that list.
And, at the top of his breath-taking away feats, is his inexplicable position regarding Russia. Or, perhaps his position is not inexplicable at all but merely the actions of an individual putting one’s self-interest above that of the nation’s interest.
Time will tell on that matter. Till then, we the citizens suffer. We continue to be taxed.
The famous bronze plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty reads,
“Give me your tired, your poor
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
In 2017,
We are tired
More than tired, we are exhausted.
We are poor
Poor in the sense of longing for leadership
We are the huddled masses
Huddled together to protect our democracy
We are yearning to breathe free
Free of who and that which taxes us.
In 2018,
We do not want our breath taken away.
We want to be inspired
To think great thoughts
To do great things
To be proud Americans again.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Investing, World
By Bahattin Gonultas,
Ankara : The U.S. dollar gained after republican agreement on the shape of U.S. tax cuts, but investors will closely watch President Donald Trump’s speech on national security on Monday.
The greenback rose against the yen on Monday in Asia and the euro/dollar exchange rate was trading at $1.1762 on the global currency market.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the dollar’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, eased 0.02 percent to 93.43.
It is expected that Trump will call out China for engaging in “economic aggression”, in his national-security speech according to the Financial Times.
In other developments, the market will be watching lawmakers in the world’s largest economy, U.S., for their decision on reducing corporate and individual tax rates.
In Turkey, the treasury will announce central government debt stock on Wednesday.
The Turkish Statistical Institute revealed the December consumer confidence index on Thursday and November house sales on Friday.
The Turkish lira rose to 3.8603 against the dollar at Monday’s opening, compared to 3.8676 on Friday’s close.
Gold prices were up 0.19 percent at $1,256 per ounce at 0632GMT Monday.
On Friday, Turkey’s benchmark stock index closed down 0.31 percent at 109,330,17 points.
The Brent crude oil index hovered over $63.43 per barrel on Monday at 0632GMT.
The ten-year benchmark bond in Turkey was traded at 12.40 percent, 7 base points higher than Friday’s close.
—AA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : US President Donald Trump’s administration is set to propose revoking a rule that makes spouses of thousands of H1-B visa holders eligible to work while in the US, potentially complicating a major driver of technology jobs, the media reported.
Since 2015, the spouses of H-1B, or high-skilled, visa holders waiting for green cards have been eligible to work in the US on H-4 dependent visas, under a rule introduced by former President Barack Obama’s administration, CNN reported on Friday.
The tech sector is a major employer of H-1B visa holders.
But in a statement late Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security said that it intended to do away with the rule.
However, the department did not explain its reasons in the announcement, saying that it was only acting “in light of” the “Buy American, Hire American” executive order that Trump had signed in April.
The formal process to rescind the rule will still need to be initiated at a later date.
While changing the rule would not prevent spouses of H-1B holders from pursuing other avenues for work authorisation, it could deter a number of high-skilled immigrants from staying in the US if their spouses cannot easily find work.
As well as dropping the rule allowing spouses to work, the Department of Homeland Security statement mentioned plans for other changes to the H-1B visa programme, reports CNN.
They include revising the definition of what occupations are eligible for the programme “to increase focus on truly obtaining the best and brightest foreign nationals”, which would be a standard potentially far above what is currently understood under the law.
The Obama-era rule allowing spouses to work already faces a legal challenge. A group called Save Jobs USA filed a lawsuit in April 2015 arguing that it threatens American jobs.
It has continued to press the case following Trump’s election, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said in the past that the H-4 rule “hurts American workers”.
The administration’s plans to overhaul the H-1B programme has caused particular alarm in India, which accounts for 70 per cent of all H-1B workers.
The H-1B is a common visa route for highly skilled foreigners to find work at companies in the US. It is valid for three years, and can be renewed for another three years.
It is a programme that’s particularly popular in the tech community, with many engineers vying for one of the programme’s 85,000 visas each year.
In October, the government said it was toughening up the process for renewing the visa. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services instructed its officers to review requests for renewal as thoroughly as they would initial visa applications.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : US Senate and House Republicans have struck an agreement on a sweeping tax-cut bill that, if passed, would be the first major piece of legislation signed by President Donald Trump, the media reported.
Senate Republican leaders shared the details of the revamped bill with members of their conference on Wednesday and Speaker Paul Ryan updated his colleagues later in the day, reports The Hill magazine.
“I’m confident we’ll pass the bill next week,” Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn, a member of the Senate-House negotiating conference, told reporters.
Republican leaders plan to hold an initial procedural vote on December 18, a final Senate vote on December 19 and then send the measure to the House for final passage.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell heralded the development as something that would boost the middle class.
“We want to take more money out of Washington’s pocket and put more money into the pockets of the middle class. I’m confident the conference committee will finalize a bill that does just that,” he tweeted.
Senate negotiators convinced their House counterparts to preserve two important middle-class tax breaks: the deduction on student loan interest and the exclusion for tuition waivers received by graduate students, reports The Hill magazine.
The bill would also cap the popular mortgage interest deduction at $750,000, a midpoint compromise between the Senate and House bills.
Negotiators were still working on how many tax brackets to set, said congressional aides. Republican senators said they expected the final bill to tilt toward the seven brackets they passed in their version.
Lawmakers were rushing to get the bill done before the Christmas holiday.
The legislation will repeal the federal mandate requiring people to buy insurance – a core piece of ObamaCare.
The bill also would give some relief to people in high-tax areas by allowing them to deduct up to $10,000 in state and local taxes.
Meanwhile, a provision to set a corporate alternative minimum tax – which would have raised $40 billion over 10 years – has been stripped out.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : US President Donald Trump has signed a nearly $700 billion annual defense policy bill in the White House, which authorizes the US military to add troops, ships, planes and other equipment.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was passed by the Congress last month, authorizes $626.4 billion for the base defense budget and $65.7 billion for a war fund known as Overseas Contingency Operations, Xinhua news agency reported.
The US President signed the defense policy bill on Tuesday. The money would go toward adding 7,500 active-duty soldiers to the Army, 4,000 active-duty sailors to the Navy, 1,000 active-duty Marines and 4,100 active-duty airmen to the Air Force.
It would also allow for a 2.4 per cent pay raise for troops, higher than the 2.1 percent requested by the administration.
Under the bill, the Pentagon will be allowed to buy 90 F-35s, 20 more than requested; 24 F/A-18s, 10 more than requested; and three littoral combat ships, two more than requested, among other equipment purchases.
Moreover, the bill folds in the administration’s November request for $4 billion more for missile defense and $1.2 billion to support sending another 3,500 troops to Afghanistan.
The US Army, Navy and Air Force would also see increases in the reserves and National Guard, according to a report by the Washington-based political news website The Hill.
However, the total money exceeds budget caps by more than $80 billion and the Congress has yet to pass a defense spending bill to make the buildup a reality.
—IANS
