https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-19-2023

Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American

'As Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned..., the U.S. hit the debt ceiling, although it can avoid default for a few months with...“extraordinary measures.”...Most of the media discussions of the crisis... focused on whether the Democrats would agree to negotiate with the hard-right Republicans, who want cuts to domestic spending before they will agree to raise the debt ceiling to access money that Congress has already appropriated.

...since 1981, the Republicans have made cutting taxes the centerpiece of their economic policy, arguing that putting more money in the hands of the “makers,” rather than the “takers,” will enable those makers to invest in production and hire more workers, thus expanding the economy...But forty years of so-called supply-side economics have demonstrated that this system does not, in fact, create extraordinary economic growth. Instead, it moves wealth upward, really quite dramatically, and creates deficits.

...one of the reasons we need an increase in the debt ceiling is that the 2017 Trump tax cuts, especially the cut in the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, dramatically increased the deficit without promoting growth. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2018 that the tax cuts would increase the deficit by about $1.9 trillion over 11 years. It seems like repealing those 2017 tax cuts, at least, would be factoring into discussions of addressing the deficit.'

'Federal inspectors fine Amazon $60,269 for putting workers at risk
Workplace safety has been a key motive for Amazon workers to unionize'

https://qz.com/amazon-fined-for-warehouse-safety-violations-1850005916?utm_source=email&utm_medium=daily-brief&utm_content=

'According to OSHA assistant secretary of labor Douglas Parker, Amazon consistently prioritized meeting delivery quotas over the health of its workers. “While Amazon has developed impressive systems to make sure its customers’ orders are shipped efficiently and quickly, the company has failed to show the same level of commitment to protecting the safety and well-being of its workers,”...'

The...penalty of $60,269 for the violations,.. is a tiny fraction of the $503 billion in revenue the company made last fiscal year. Yet Amazon still intends to fight it.'

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-18-2023

Thank you Heather Cox Richardson for keeping us informed about how the past informs the present:

'One of the promises House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) made to the extremist members of the Republican conference to win his position was that he would let them bring the so-called Fair Tax Act to the House floor for a vote....The measure repeals all existing income taxes, payroll taxes, and estate and gift taxes, replacing them with a flat national sales tax of 30% on all purchased goods, rents, and services.

The bill says the measure will “promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity.”...But a 30% sales tax on everything doesn’t seem to do much for fairness or economic opportunity for all, since it would, of course, hit Americans with less money to spend far harder than it would Americans with more money to spend...

But the measure is illuminating. It explicitly rejects the position, and the principles, of the original Republican Party....Members of the Republican Party invented the U.S. income tax during the Civil War, and they created the precursor to the IRS to collect it....Such a bill is not going to pass this Congress, and if it did, President Biden would not sign it.'

Why the US is always hitting a "debt ceiling"

'Trump's DOJ nemesis indicted presidents, mafia before job deciding Trump indictment I MSNBC report'

Meet the real Jack Smith.

&t=1s

I don't know about you, but I'm sick and tired of Republicans playing chicken with the jobs, services, resources and investments of the American people. There should be consequences for their actions.

I don't know about you, but I'm sick and tired of Republicans playing chicken with the jobs, services, resources and investments of the American people. There should be consequences for their actions.

Dr. King speaks a truth that is difficult to ignore. It's way past time to make amends for this great cruelty.

https://hartmannreport.com/p/the-governed-in-america-arent-getting

Just read it, people. (my words)

“We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have
wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
— Former US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/16/gina-lollobrigida-obituary