Funding the Future

Trump’s claim that he wishes Canada to be the 51st state of the USA has to be taken seriously, but what it threatens is a new era of brutal, anti-democratic, imperialism. How are we going to react to that?

The exponents of wealth taxes claim that they’re a great way of raising additional tax revenue. They forget just how hard it is for anyone to work out exactly how much they are worth. Such a tax would be an admin nightmare, and there are much better alternatives available.

The far-right might seem to be on the march, but in reality the majority of people in all countries cannot abide what the stand for. They are not the new normal.

It’s long been a US Republican dream to get rid of the IRS – the US federal tax authority. Now the goal is within their sights – and they want to starve the US government of funds, whatever the consequences might be. A starved beast does, after all, tend to bite back.

Economics is all about choices, but when most economic discussion is focused on almost irrelevant day-to-day minutiae and political tittle-tattle, who is there asking the questions that could really make a change right now?

Trump is trying to control all aspects of government in the US. The Federal Reserve is likely to be the last outpost of resistance. Who will win the battle to control it?

The Republicans in the USA always say they hate debt, except when it is massively increased by Donald Trump as a result of his tax cuts for the wealthy. Then it’s OK. But in a world increasingly hostile to the US they might have to think again.

BP might be the most obvious company to have given up on green energy and its sustainability programme, but it is not alone. In Trump’s world being green is out of fashion. What price will we pay for that?

There are precedents for dictators making friendships of convenience until they decide to fall out, when the human cost of that happening is horrendous. Is that possible in the case of Putin and Trump?

Trump is staging a coup in the USA and the last four living presidents are doing nothing to save the country they served. Why is that? When will they act to save their country?