In Order To Ensure You Can View All The Graphics, ([link removed])
Click Here To View The Hotline In Your Browser ([link removed])
[link removed]
Unleash Prosperity Hotline
Issue #1245
04/16/2025
New to the Hotline? Click ([link removed]) here to subscribe–it's free. ([link removed])
1) Tim Cook’s $60 Billion Payday at the White House
The Apple CEO just had the most lucrative visit to the Oval Office in American history. He traveled to the White House to meet with President Trump, got a special handshake deal with the President on tariff exemptions, and suddenly Apple's stock soared by $60 billion over the next few days.
[link removed]
Trump boasted "I helped Tim Cook, recently, and that whole business."
Understatement of the century!
Good for Apple - one of America’s iconic companies. But the problem is that the tens of millions of men and women who run small businesses can't make those kind of lucrative insider deals.
Just like any tax, tariffs - if applied at all - should be uniform at a low rate and with no carve outs for those with powerful lobbyists.
Meanwhile, the FTC is suing Meta for making too much money and being too popular with consumers.
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
View on Website ([link removed])
2) Republicans for Higher Taxes?
We are alarmed that Republicans refuse to slam the door on rumors of a millionaire surtax in their tax plan. The official line now seems to be that "everything is on the table":
[link removed]
This is the GOP’s tax day message?
We remind elected Republicans in the House and Senate that the vast majority signed a written promise to voters never to raise tax rates. We provide the full lists of pledge takers courtesy of ATR, in case some of them forgot:
* U.S. House (191 signers) ([link removed])
* U.S. Senate (44 signers) ([link removed])
It's also miserable economics, as your Unleash Prosperity Now (UP’s 501 (c)(4) affiliate) co-founders wrote in a letter yesterday to President Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune:
Raising the top income tax rate now would send the wrong message to job creators, small business owners, and investors--most of whom file as pass-through entities and would be directly impacted. Penalizing this country's very engine of job creation would be an economic misstep with far-reaching consequences...
We urge you to stay true to the Republican Party's long-held commitment to low taxes and a vibrant free market economy. Rather than backpedaling on these core principles, now is the time to double down on policies that promote growth, competition, and entrepreneurial dynamism.
And what is the point of raising the top tax rate when the Trump tax cut (which lowered the rate to 37%) led to the rich paying more of the tax burden?
This is a weird form of GOP virtue signaling that will weaken the American economy. We thought only the Left did that.
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
View on Website ([link removed])
3) Congress Must Take Back Its Taxing Power
Imagine for a moment that Kamala Harris had won the election and the first thing she did as president was declare a "climate emergency," and then unilaterally ordered a stiff carbon tariff on products imported into the United States.
Conservatives would be enraged by this unconstitutional power grab.
For good reason.
Article I Section 1 is the very first thing in the Constitution after the famous "We the People" preamble, so it must be pretty important:
"All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”
And when the specific powers of Congress are enumerated in Article I Section 8, the taxation power is the very first thing listed:
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises...
Regardless of how one thinks about the Trump tariffs, they ARE taxes. And they could surpass hundreds of billions of dollars in revenues.
Yet Congress had delegated its tariff power to the president for "emergency" purposes - such as in times of war.
Can anyone honestly argue that the current situation is an emergency as originally intended by the Framers?
A Congressional vote on taxes that could run into the hundreds of billions of dollars seems imperative. And yet… there has been just one Senate vote (on the Canada "emergency") and no vote in the House.
[link removed]
Ironically, the Supreme Court, at the urging of Republicans in Congress and conservatives around the country, through the Loper Bright decision, reined in the power grab of executive branch regulatory agencies to make laws without congressional approval.
But now, these same Republicans are assigning Congress's taxing power over to the Executive Branch when it comes to tariffs.
This isn't what our Founding Fathers had in mind.
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
View on Website ([link removed])
4) Chicago Teachers Union Wins; Kids Lose
When you see this headline, you just know the mayor from the Chicago Teachers Union, richly rewarded his former employer for funding his campaign:
[link removed]
Chicago already has some of the worst test scores in the country at a cost of over $30,000 per student. And that's about to go way up.
We have no problem paying more for great teachers, but these pay raises to more than $120,000 a year are not based on merit or performance. You can't fire bad teachers in Chicago. You have to pay them a six figure salary. What a way to run a school system
[link removed]
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
View on Website ([link removed])
5) Anything That Says the Trade Deficit Is Bad Is Completely Wrong
UP co-founder Art Laffer explains:
Trade deficits are capital surpluses. That's when you bring the capital home. So anything that says the trade deficit is bad is completely wrong. The US needs a trade deficit because that's a capital surplus.
When Reagan's tax cuts took effect on January 1, 1983, the US went into a huge trade deficit as the economy boomed beyond belief. Everyone was trying to invest in the United States, Larry.
And what do you want? Capital lined up in your borders trying to get into your country or trying to get out of your country. Of course, you want them to come into the country, and that's what happened with Reagan. By the way, that's what's going to happen with Trump with his phenomenal policies.
[link removed]
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
View on Website ([link removed])
6) School's Out Forever!
Know anyone else who would appreciate the Hotline? Please direct them to subscribe at: [link removed] ([link removed])
Have an idea for an item that should be in our newsletter? Send us any charts, statistics, heroes/villains, or humor that you’d like to see featured!
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
Copyright (C) 2025 Unleash Prosperity. All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.
Our mailing address is:
Unleash Prosperity
1155 15th St NW Ste 525
Washington, DC xxxxxx-2706
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences ([link removed]) or unsubscribe ([link removed])
