Saying “Happy New Year” is a reflex for many, though I am sincere when I do. But my personal outlook this year follows my mother’s advice to “hope for the best and expect the worst.” “Ominous” is the word I…
We must understand basic facts about federal finance before we can act rationally
Contrary to what many expected just two weeks ago, Congress passed a tax bill and President Donald Trump signed it. So we face the largest changes in our tax system since the Reagan administration of the 1980s. My own opinion…
Could the Fed undermine tax-cut stimulus?
Newspaper readers are smarter than politicians. Several readers have queried me about a key issue to which Congress and the White House seem to be ignoring: What will happen if GOP tax cuts stimulate the economy, but the Federal Reserve,…
In tax code, death by a thousand cuts
Restoring efficiency and reducing complexity must hurt all, at least a bit. Both houses of Congress have passed tax bills. Exactly what reconciliation will bring is unknown, but some bill will be signed. It will include substantial corporate rate cuts…