Tag: taxes

RFK Jr. pulls $500 million in funding for vaccine development

The Department of Health and Human Services will cancel contracts and pull funding for some vaccines that are being developed to fight respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and the flu.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary and a longtime vaccine critic, announced in a statement Tuesday that $500 million worth of vaccine development projects, all using mRNA technology, will be halted.

The projects — 22 of them — are being led by some of the nation’s leading pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and Moderna to prevent flu, COVID-19 and H5N1 infections.

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Senators Blackburn, Warnock team up on bill to give entertainment industry some tax relief

U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Raphael Warnock are usually on opposite sides of the aisle, but they are teaming up on a bill that would give the entertainment industry some tax relief.

The Creative Relief and Expensing for Audio and Television Enterprises Act, dubbed CREATE, would extend a $150,000 tax credit for production expenses incurred by entertainers, singers and songwriters through 2030. The credit is set to expire at the end of the year with an extension from Congress.

“Thousands of singers and songwriters call Tennessee home, and they should be able to write off recording production expenses that are critical to their work,” said Blackburn a Tennessee Republican. “The CREATE Act would support creators and keep America’s music industry strong by ensuring they can still count on this tax relief.”

Georgia has become a hub for filming television series and movies. More than 550 productions were made in Georgia in the past three years, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development. During fiscal year 2025, which ended June 30, film and television productions spent $2.3 billion.

“From productions like The Color Purple, to The Hunger Games, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Georgia has become a national leader in the arts and entertainment industry,” said Warnock, a Georgia Democrat. “Our continued investments in incentivizing domestic production for film, television, and music benefit our culture and our economy.”

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Company advised by Trump sons said it hoped to benefit from fed money, then took it back

A public document filed by a company that just hired President Donald Trump’s two oldest sons as advisers included a sentence early Monday that said it hoped to benefit from grants and other incentives from the federal government, which their father happens to lead.

But when The Associated Press asked the Trump family business about the apparent conflict of interest, the document was revised and the line taken out.

Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are getting “founder shares” worth millions of dollars in New America Acquisition 1 Corp., a company with no operating business that hopes to fill that hole by purchasing an American company that can play “a meaningful role in revitalizing domestic manufacturing,” according to to the filing. The president has geared his trade policy toward boosting manufacturing in the U.S.

The original version of the securities filing said the target company should be “well positioned” to tap federal or state government incentives. That reference was taken out of the revised version of the filing.

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Boston Democrats Opened Housing to Illegals Who Can’t Pay the Rent

The state of Massachusetts resettled thousands of migrant families into apartments at the expense of $30,000 per family to the taxpayers, but now many of the migrants cannot afford to pay their rent.

Starting in 2023, the state began pushing migrants into apartment complexes as an adjunct to the state’s emergency assistance shelter program and at least 5,000 families have been the recipients of the program, according to the Boston Globe. But little thought seems to have been given to the sustainability of the housing.

The paper noted that many of the migrants have used up their $30,000 allotment before even being able to begin paying rent regularly on their own. The money went for moving, furniture, security deposits, and other living start-up costs. And for many migrants, that left them without enough time to gain legal employment that could allow them to afford rent payments.

The cash shortage sent many of the migrants to move right back out of their new apartments before they were able to stabilize their income. According to the program, the migrants are not required to pay the entirety of the rent on their own. The state’s HomeBASE program only requires them to fork over 30 percent of their income for rent with the rest being pulled from the program’s initial $30,000 stipend.

The problem is, many of these families have been unable to gain jobs that can bring in enough cash to make paying rent sustainable. That means their $30,000 allotment runs out quickly as the fund pays most if not all of the monthly rent fees. And soon enough, that $30,000 allotment is eaten up and the families have to move right back out of their apartments in a matter of only a few months.

State officials have hailed the HomeBASE program because they can use it to show that migrants have been moving out of the controversial free shelter system. Officials try to use that to show they are successfully putting migrants into jobs and homes. But the reality seems to be that the “homes” are short term, leaving many migrants out in the street when their $30,000 funding dries up.

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NYT Admits Trump’s Tariffs Are Generating ‘Significant’ Federal Income — Already Generated $150 Billion in Revenue

The New York Times has admitted that President Trump’s policy of tariffs is already generating a lot of income for the federal government.

In an article published on Sunday, the Times acknowledged that the federal government may soon become dependent on this revenue because of the ballooning fiscal deficit.

The Times explains:

President Trump’s extensive tariffs have already started to generate a significant amount of money for the federal government, a new source of revenue for a heavily indebted nation that American policymakers may start to rely on.

As part of his quest to reorder the global trading system, Mr. Trump has imposed steep tariffs on America’s trading partners, with the bulk of those set to go into effect on Aug. 7.

Even before the latest tariffs kick in, revenue from taxes collected on imported goods has grown dramatically so far this year.

Customs duties, along with some excise taxes, generated $152 billion through July, roughly double the $78 billion netted over the same time period last fiscal year, according to Treasury data.

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Mamdani Already Owes New Yorkers $1.3 BILLION

New York City is crumbling under failing schools, surging homelessness, and unsafe streets. But Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, in his time as a state legislator, decided to sink the state even deeper—by wasting another $1.3 billion on ideological vanity projects with no measurable benefit for ordinary New Yorkers.

As a co-author of the so-called “People’s Budget” proposed by the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus, Mamdani has backed spending proposals that read more like activist wish lists than responsible fiscal policy. Every dollar demanded in the name of “equity” is a dollar stripped from basic needs—needs that millions of New Yorkers, especially working-class families, continue to go without.

Take, for example, Mamdani’s push for an $8 million recruitment and training initiative to make New York’s teachers “more diverse.” 

The irony here is hard to miss. In New York City’s public schools—the largest district in the country—Black teachers already make up roughly 42% of the workforce, despite the city’s Black population being only 22%. The goalpost for “representation” has shifted away from proportionality and toward performative politics. 

What Mamdani labels as reform is, in practice, just another unnecessary layer of bureaucracy driven by race-based metrics instead of educational ones.

Mamdani’s caucus also proposed spending $250,000 to promote “racial and cultural inclusivity” in K–12 classrooms—without ever explaining how this helps students learn to read, write, or do math. Another $351,500 was allocated for conventions supposedly designed to help “underrepresented” educators, which is another way of saying the funds will go toward political networking events with no tangible classroom results.

Mamdani also supports an additional $8 million for a Fair Housing Testing Program—money that would go toward “paired testing” for housing discrimination that is already illegal under both state and federal law. 

New York already invests billions in housing and tenant protection. If discrimination occurs, there are legal pathways for enforcement. This new testing program is redundant and unnecessary. 

Meanwhile, New York City continues to face a staggering homelessness crisis. That $8 million would be far better spent building shelters or expanding emergency housing than funding an academic experiment in bureaucratic redundancy.

One of the largest items in Mamdani’s wish list is the $1 billion proposal for climate mitigation and adaptation over five years. This includes $75 million for electric school buses and another $80 million for centralized procurement of zero-emission buses and infrastructure. 

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Cloward-Piven Strategy: How Mamdani and Other Socialists Could Overload the Welfare System Until the Country Collapses

During her failed bid for the U.S. presidency, Kamala Harris made free-market economists and freedom-loving Americans cringe when she said, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” This fundamental Marxist slogan openly signals that if Kamala or her socialist-leaning allies were elected, those who work harder or earn more would be forced to subsidize those who refuse to work, or people who spend their days protesting, or make unsustainable life choices.

Kamala is gone, but Zohran Mamdani and several others in government are taking up the socialist banner. Among the self-proclaimed democratic socialists currently in Congress are Bernie Sanders, who serves in the U.S. Senate; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a former DSA; Summer Lee, a DSA member serving in the House; and Greg Casar, also a DSA member in the House.

Some recent changes in the landscape include Jamaal Bowman losing his Democratic primary in June 2024, and Cori Bush losing hers in August 2024. Rashida Tlaib continues to serve, though her DSA membership status is currently unclear. Meanwhile, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani openly pushes socialist policies, with what appears to be the intent of destroying New York City through economic collapse, following a strategy reminiscent of Cloward-Piven.

Policies like state-owned grocery stores, government seizure of rental properties, rent control, universal basic income, debt forgiveness, and arbitrary wealth taxes are classic tools of socialism that ultimately break the economy. These and similar proposals have been pushed by various DSA politicians, including Mamdani.

All of these tools are part of the Cloward-Piven strategy, a Marxist framework designed to trigger economic collapse and usher in radical political change and authoritarian control. The concept originated in the 1960s with sociologists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, who advocated for expanding the welfare state by lowering eligibility criteria to enroll more people. They believed that overwhelming the system would force a crisis, ultimately leading to reforms like guaranteed income and a universal social safety net.

This idea of dismantling the current system, rather than encouraging individuals to thrive within a free-market society, is rooted in Marxism, which centers on the conflict between the working class (proletariat) and the owning class (bourgeoisie). Marx believed capitalism would inevitably exploit workers to such a degree that they would revolt, overthrow the ruling class, and establish a classless society.

While Marxists claim their goal is to improve life for citizens, the real outcome of the Cloward-Piven strategy is to flood entitlement programs, welfare, unemployment, and more, until the system becomes financially unsustainable. The resulting collapse would spark widespread chaos, including violence and unrest, creating an opportunity for radical leftists to seize power and impose authoritarian rule under the pretext of “martial law.”

Open border policies can be used to accelerate systemic collapse by overwhelming public services. The system is further strained by the influx of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers who receive government-funded benefits without paying income taxes. At the same time, the creation of a large illegal workforce drives down wages and reduces job opportunities for Americans, pushing more citizens onto welfare rolls and increasing the burden on public assistance programs.

Socialism, supported by propaganda, often gains ground by identifying real problems and offering government solutions. For example, high rents are a genuine concern for many, making proposals like rent control or government-owned housing appear attractive. However, imposing rent control reduces the supply of available apartments while increasing demand, worsening the housing shortage.

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Origins of Medical Harm

The level of compensation doctors receive from Medicare is currently under renewed scrutiny; these standards are mirrored by health insurers. The quantity of reimbursement weighted to specialists is likely to shift towards primary care physicians. Reconfiguration of doctors’ fees is overdue, although they are determined by a secretive American Medical Association committee. 

Analysis and debate about the ongoing healthcare crisis emphasize misdirected funding rather than considering how to revitalize the ethics of medicine. The Hippocratic Oath clarifies the priorities essential for the mindset of a physician. Despite its primary warning, first, do no harm, damage done to patients is rampant. Resolution of this tragic dynamic appears insoluble. 

When decisions are made by any medical organization with financial interests, the primary impetus of the Oath is lost; the AMA’s control over payment schedules reinforces and exemplifies a corrupt institutional flaw. The harm done by the business of medicine needs to be evaluated and controlled.

The seemingly intractable conflict of interest undermining medical care is directly tied to a profit-oriented model in mitigating human suffering. Dispensing treatments with earnings in mind is a form of profitable planned obsolescence and ultimately a methodology that degrades patient autonomy and vitality. 

Although there is often consensus among critics of the healthcare system about its numerous faults, approaching the central issue of profiting from illness is virtually avoided. 

In an attempt to broach the topic of money and medicine, the AMA’s Journal of Ethics presents a self-justifying analysis. The following excerpt exposes how this inherently conflicted view of healthcare depends on the illness of the nation. 

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Corporation For Public Broadcasting Begins “Winding Down” As Taxpayer-Funded Propaganda Machine Crumbles

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced Friday afternoon that it will begin winding down operations after Congress stripped its funding from the Senate Appropriations Committee’s FY 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-H) appropriations bill, the first time in over half a century of operations. Recall lawmakers passed sweeping cuts, and President Trump signed off on slashing funding for the public broadcaster network, which has been infected with far-left misinformation and disinformation propaganda. 

“For nearly 60 years, CPB has carried out its Congressional mission to build and sustain a trusted public media system that informs, educates, and serves communities across the country. Through partnerships with local stations and producers, CPB has supported educational content, locally relevant journalism, emergency communications, cultural programming, and essential services for Americans in every community,” CPB wrote in a statement. 

What’s laughable is that CPB claimed above that its mission is to “build and sustain a trusted public media system that informs, educates, and serves communities across the country.” That was abandoned years ago as taxpayer dollars increasingly funded biased news coverage. There’s no reason for the public to foot the bill for leftist PR operations masquerading as “news” or other media content. 

For context, CPB is a nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967 under the Public Broadcasting Act. It serves as the primary federal funding vehicle for public broadcasting networks nationwide. Congress’ rescinding of $1.1 billion in CPB funding marks a significant blow to the left-leaning public broadcaster network, namely PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) and NPR (National Public Radio)

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Trump’s Russia Sanctions Ultimatum Will Blow Up In America’s Face: Jeffrey Sachs

Economist and longtime adviser to the UN Jeffrey Sachs has issued a scathing critique of President Trump’s decision to unleash yet more anti-Russia sanctions, giving Moscow just ten days to negotiate for peace with Ukraine or else the new punitive measures will go into effect.

Sachs called the new policy “dangerous” and a sign that the Trump administration is plagued by contradictions and lack of a coherent strategy for ending the war, despite constant early boasting that Trump would rapidly achieve peace. The ‘secondary sanctions’ aimed primarily at those nations still trading with Russia are doomed to be ineffective anyway, the Colombia University professor pointed out.

“If the sanctions are actually applied, they are an escalation of the conflict, and therefore very dangerous. I do not believe that they will be effective,” he said in an interview with Russian media.

“For example, I do not believe they will stop Russia from selling oil, gas, and other commodities to Asian markets. Yet, provocations and escalation often have unpredictable negative effects, and that could be true here as well,” he added.

The new restrictions are likely to backfire regardless, as they “could expose” the “incompetence” or even “accelerate the breakup” of US-led geopolitical and economic blocs.

“This is, in short, the wrong approach. We need diplomacy and negotiation to get to the root causes of the conflict, and solve them, not unworkable ultimatums based on the idea of an unconditional ceasefire,” Sachs added.

He further highlighted the West’s inability to acknowledge and come to terms with the real underlying causes of Ukraine war, such as historic NATO expansion east, the sham Minsk accords, or the coup events of 2014.

“Instead, the Western powers now demand an unconditional ceasefire. Russia will not agree to this, nor will a new round of US sanctions compel Russia to agree to this,” Sachs emphasized.

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