NJ_letters

[Bobby Kogan @BBKogan]

This profoundly incorrect statement inspired me to make a new graph.

This shows primary deficits from 1790-2054. The orange line shows what would happen without the Bush tax cuts, TCJA, and OBBBA.

If not for the 21st century tax cuts, we wouldn't have a fiscal gap.

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

"In the end, American consumers paid $159 billion in temporary national sales taxes for which most will never be reimbursed a penny. And rather than those taxes being used by the federal government to, say, repave roads or build bridges, most of the money will instead provide corporate windfalls." https://t.co/gkdRAzPBz5

[Bobby Kogan @BBKogan]

Great new stat from @SenateBudget: of the $140 billion that Trump & Republicans gave ICE & CBP in the Big Beautiful Bill, $103 billion is still unobligated as of the end of March.

Now they’re asking for another $70 billion even though about 75% of the OBBBA money remains unused.

[Jon Favreau @jonfavs]

No drugs on the boat and no crimes committed by anyone except the United States government.

Horrific.

[Bull Theory @BullTheoryio]

🚨 THIS IS INSANE.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's sons could be making 3 to 5x returns on every dollar they spent buying tariff refund rights.

Cantor Fitzgerald, now run by Lutnick's sons Brandon and Kyle, was buying tariff refund claims from companies at 20 to 30 cents on the dollar.

The firm told clients it had "capacity to trade up to several hundred million" in these claims.

They confirmed at least one $10 million trade was already executed as of July 2025. They said they expected that number to "balloon in the coming weeks." That was 9 months ago.

Today those claims are worth 100 cents on the dollar. The refund portal is live, $166 billion in refunds are being processed.

If Cantor bought $100 million in refund rights at 25 cents on the dollar, they spent $25 million.

They now collect $100 million from the government. That is a $75 million profit. A 300% return.

If they scaled to "several hundred million" as they told clients they could, the profits run into the hundreds of millions.

Howard Lutnick was the architect of the tariff policy.

He pushed Trump to impose them. He fought against officials who wanted to limit them. Then he left Cantor Fitzgerald to his sons and transferred his equity into a trust benefiting them.

Tax free under government ethics rules. He received $360 million from the buyout.

His sons positioned the firm to profit from the exact policy their father built.

Their father publicly championed tariffs he knew could be struck down while his sons were buying refund claims betting they would be.

[Senator Andy Kim @SenatorAndyKim]

This is insane. All because Donald Trump launched a war with no plan and took away your healthcare. 

Americans deserve relief now. We’ve paid enough.

[Josh Mound @JoshTBVO]

The idea of “low-tax” red states is a myth. Lower-income and working-class people pay higher taxes in Texas than in California. Middle-class people pay about the same in both states. Rich people pay much lower taxes in Texas.

[The Budget Lab @The_Budget_Lab]

@politico's Weekly Tax features the new @The_Budget_Lab report on the reduction in workforce at IRS.

“Weakening the IRS by starving it of resources has significant consequences,” said the Budget Lab’s @NatashaRSarin. “As our work shows, gutting the IRS drains public finances, undermines tax fairness, and erodes the quality of services that an agency which touches every American each and every year is able to provide."

[Max Flugrath🗳️ @MaxFlugrath]

This is the most important story of the year so far.

ProPublica found 75 officials in key election protection roles across federal agencies have been fired, resigned, or reassigned.

They've been replaced by two dozen political appointees – 10 tried to reverse Trump's 2020 loss.

[Joni Askola @joni_askola]

Watching fiscal conservatives defend Trump is mind-blowing.

The man is single-handedly responsible for almost a third of all US public debt ever accumulated.

By every financial metric, he is the least fiscally conservative president in the history of the country

[Timothy Snyder @TimothyDSnyder]

We fought and lost a war in Iran so that both the Iranians and the Russians could make far more money from oil—the Iranians from tolls, the Russians from higher prices and the end of sanctions. That isn’t just strategic defeat; it’s self-destructive foolishness at a level unknown to military history.

[Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @AdamKinzinger]

Just flagging this again for. @FoxNews so they can begin their year long coverage of the “pallets of cash” since this is 5 times bigger than Obama did

[Fuck You I Quit @fuckyouiquit]

Not only has Big Oil been intentionally deceiving the public for decades on the harms caused by its products, but it also pays off our policymakers to suppress solutions to the problems it causes. This could be us but the US is just 7 oil companies in a trenchcoat.

[Heather Long @byHeatherLong]

JUST IN: Inflation soared in March to 3.3% y/y--> the highest annual rate since May 2024. The war in Iran is squeezing middle income and lower income households.

**Inflation in March alone rose 0.9%. That’s the biggest one-month jump since June 2022**

Gas jumped +21% in March
Fuel oil soared +31% in March
Airfares +15% in March
Food was flat for the month, but is likely to go up later in the spring/summer.

[Secular Talk ([email protected]) @KyleKulinski]

BRO I’M FUCKING DEAD

[Tommy Vietor @TVietor08]

One expert analysis I saw calculated that if Iran charges a $2mm per ship toll, and Hormuz transits return to average levels, it would earn Iran up to $71B annually. Even just a toll on oil/gas earns $21B, which is 3x Iran's current defense budget. This is a huge win for Iran.

[Qasim Rashid, Esq. @QasimRashid]

Iran Deal By Obama:
•Strait of Hormuz open for free
•Iran limits Uranium enrichment
•Iran agrees to make no nuclear weapons
•Iran allows Int'l inspectors to ensure compliance
•Inspectors confirm Iran's full compliance

Iran Ceasefire By Trump:
•Strait of Hormuz closed, only open for $2M Per Ship
•Iran makes no guarantee of limit on uranium enrichment
•Iran makes no guarantee of no nuclear weapons
•Iran makes no guarantee to allow Int'l inspectors

MAGA: Trump Playing 5D Chess! Art Of The Deal!!

[Charlie Sykes @SykesCharlie]

10 years after Trump vowed to erase the national debt, it has doubled https://t.co/qIqdn0GMJh

[Americans For Tax Fairness @4TaxFairness]

You really have to stop and wonder how the hell everything can be so expensive when all we’ve done for 40+ years is give corporations the tax breaks they swore they needed to hire workers, cut prices, and give everyone raises.

[Tom Malinowski @Malinowski]

If corporations paid the same share of their profits in taxes as they did under Reagan, that alone would eliminate almost half the federal budget deficit (or pay for massively more affordable health and child care, or vastly better infrastructure for every American).