1) Trump Corporate Tax Cuts Did NOT Cause the $2 Trillion Biden Deficits
Democrats say the number one reason for the stratospheric budget deficits under Biden is the Trump tax cut of 2017. A major feature of that tax law was to lower the U.S. corporate tax rate from the highest in the world rate of 35% down to a slightly above the world average rate of 21%.
This and other incentive features of the bill brought some half trillion dollars back to the United States. This money was taxed here not in offshore hideaway accounts.
Here are the most recent corporate tax collection totals in billions of dollars:
Does that look remotely like a revenue LOSS to you?
Here’s a headline on chipmaker Nvidia’s astonishing ascent:
Shares of Nvidia rallied to record highs on Wednesday, with the AI chipmaker's stock market valuation on the verge of hitting the $3 trillion mark and overtaking Apple to become the world's second most valuable company.
Nvidia's stock has surged 145 percent so far in 2024, with demand for its top-of-the-line processors far outstripping supply as Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Google-owner Alphabet race to build out their AI computing capabilities and dominate the emerging technology.
And here's a stunning market cap chart:
Some dubbed the phenomenon “Jensenity,” a reference to the company’s leather jacket-wearing CEO Jensen Huang, who has commanded a rockstar-esque following.
Isn’t free enterprise a marvelous thing?
The worry is that Lina Khan will see these profits and scream for more antitrust action. In 2021 she and global antitrust regulators blocked Nvidia's 2021 merger with Arm.
We live in a strange upside down world where successful companies are torn down by regulators and industries that perpetually lose money - battery companies, EVs, solar panel, some chip producers - are propped up by government.
Europe was supposed to be at the epicenter of global climate change action, but now the voters are revolting against higher prices, lower living standards, and economies that have stalled out.
Over 200 million Europeans across 27 countries voted in elections for 720 members of the European Parliament over the weekend, and the result was a stinging defeat for Left and Green parties.
As the Wall Street Journal summarized:
Among the evening’s biggest losers were Europe’s green parties, which performed well five years ago on the back of mounting concerns about climate change. Continent-wide protests from farmers and rising voter concerns about the costs from green policies have since shifted the political mood.
The continent’s most powerful Green Party, the junior coalition party in Scholz’s government, picked up just 12% of the vote, down from over 20% in 2019.
The Green faction in the EU Parliament is falling to 53 seats, down from 71 in the last elections in 2019.
In addition, the liberal Renew Europe grouping in the Parliament, which supports greater EU control over national governments, was slammed. It fell to only 82 seats, down from 102.
CNBC characterized this as a revolt of the "far right." That’s untrue. It was a revolt of normal working class people, and especially young European voters who are facing a bleak future of low growth, higher taxes and fewer jobs.
What’s scary is that the most radical climate change government in the world today is in Washington DC.
The latest jobs reports still shows government employment surging. Government should be shedding jobs and slashing expenses and they are doing just the opposite.
This chart, from EJ Antoni, shows that the number of Americans employed making things - manufacturing, construction, warehousing, mining, drilling, etc - has stalled out over the past year.
A government worker can only have a job if there are private sector workers to support their salaries.
When government is one of the fastest growing industries in America - we’ve got a big problem. Trump should call for a government hiring freeze and a 20% across the board reduction in force (RIF).
5) Photo of the Day – Mr. Gorbachev Tear Down This wall!
CTUP co-founders Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore spoke at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA last week on the 20th anniversary of Reagan’s death. This is by far the most visited presidential library and we highly recommend a visit next time you are in Southern California.
Reagan helped bring down the Berlin Wall, now our next highest economic and national security priority as a nation is to tear down the "Berlin Wall" around the government schools and let kids OUT.
