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**APRIL 7, 2023**
Kuttner on TAP
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**** Biden's Worst Appointee
Hint: Fed Chair Jay Powell is a close second.
There is something seriously amiss when the first criminal prosecution
of Donald Trump is for paying hush money to a porn star, even if New
York DA Alvin Bragg was able to creatively bootstrap a misdemeanor into
a felony. The prosecution makes it look like Trump's political enemies
are on a fishing expedition. It gives ammunition to Trump, in high
victim mode, to rally his MAGA faithful. Trump could even beat the rap.
Trump is of course guilty of far more momentous misdeeds, the gravest of
which is attempting to overthrow the 2020 election by violent
insurrection combined with explicit pressure on Vice President Pence to
reject duly certified electors.
This was all carried out in broad daylight. In case the Justice
Department needed a little help, the House Select Committee on January
6th provided a detailed prosecutorial memo. It has been 27 months since
our democracy narrowly averted a coup, and ten months since the House
Committee laid out Trump's seven-part plan to overturn the election.
So where in hell is Attorney General Merrick Garland? Only now are
prosecutors even getting around to interviewing Pence. The old saying is
that justice delayed is justice denied, and never was that truer.
Instead of the spotlight and the obsessive media coverage being on Trump
held accountable in criminal court for trying to overthrow an election,
it is on the relatively trivial offense of paying off Stormy Daniels.
And yes, Trump did commit violations of law, even felonious ones. But is
this the high crime for which America should be holding Trump criminally
accountable?
The Democratic political class is taking some perverse comfort in that
the hush money prosecution reinforces Trump's hardcore support among
the MAGA base, which in turn all but seals his status as the likely 2024
nominee. Why is this comforting? Because Trump will bomb in the swing
states and be the easiest Republican for Biden to beat.
That may be so, but the more consequential fact is that Trump needs to
be held criminally liable for trying to steal this republic, and not for
one more tawdry act of the sort that has marked his whole career. An
attorney general worthy of the name would have gotten on with that
prosecution long ago.
______________________________________________________________________
In case you missed it, as part of our April issue on the failed economic
models that in turn lead to bad policy advice, I have a feature piece
called "Is Economics Self-Correcting?
<[link removed]>"
The article assesses the state of a profession too wedded to unreal
assumptions about the economy and the society, and asks whether the new
openness of some economists is around the edges or at the heart of the
discipline.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
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Is Economics Self-Correcting?
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There are more economists doing useful real-world work. But the closer
you get to the pinnacle of the profession, the less has changed. BY
ROBERT KUTTNER
The Bureau of Prisons Proposes to Raid Incarcerated People's Bank
Accounts
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Advocates are left in the dark as the agency ends public comment on a
rule that could garnish up to 75 percent of someone's wages to use on
fines and fees. BY JAROD FACUNDO
'Zero Interest in Doing Business': TSMC Snubs Phoenix Construction
Workers
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The building trades just won a surprise victory through the city
council. But despite the hot labor market, securing manufacturing jobs
is an uphill battle for organized labor. BY LEE HARRIS
'How to Blow Up a Pipeline' and the Case for Radical, Direct Action
on Climate
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A new film considers what to do when those in power fail to take the
problem seriously. BY NICHOLAS SLAYTON
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