Eileen Appelbaum

1 week ago | cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Eileen Appelbaum |Brandon Novick

Elon Musk and his “super-high IQ” DOGE team have apparently put the IRS’s Direct File program in their gunsights. Direct File is a free and simplified program that would allow the vast majority of taxpayers to quickly do their taxes without paying fees to a tax preparation service. The program saves taxpayers time and money, as well as much anxiety.

2 weeks ago | cepr.net | Data Bytes |Eileen Appelbaum |Alex Richwine |Dean Baker

It’s no secret that the private equity industry wants to get into the personal retirement business. The investment giant BlackRock is pledging to “open up private markets to millions of everyday investors.”BlackRock president Larry Fink claims the company wants to give ordinary people access to risky assets and high returns. Risky assets? Yes. High returns? Well, let’s ask the sophisticated investors at the nation’s largest university endowment funds how that worked out.

3 weeks ago | cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Peter Hart |Eileen Appelbaum

I was saddened to hear that Robert McChesney died this week after a long bout with cancer. McChesney was not nearly as well known as he should have been. He was one of the few progressives who seriously thought about the media and its importance for our lives and politics. To my mind, it is absolutely bizarre that the structure of the media doesn’t feature front and center in every progressive’s plans for advancing a progressive agenda, and in fact preserving democracy.

3 weeks ago | cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Peter Hart |Eileen Appelbaum

Sorry to step away from my usual economics beat, but this is important. And to be clear, I am not all a fan of the war on the Houthis, but that is beside the point. The Trump administration had a meeting with all its top national security staff, except Trump, planning a war against the Houthis on an unsecured system. They also managed to unknowingly include a senior editor/reporter from Atlantic Magazine in the meeting. This was an incredible breach of any normal security protocols.

4 weeks ago | cepr.net | Data Bytes |Eileen Appelbaum |Dean Baker |Jordan Billings

Courtesy of the so-called carried interest loophole, private equity partners pay lower taxes than their secretaries on a good chunk of their income. But greed is an addiction, and the wealthy are always looking for new ways to get even richer: The new plan they are backing, first reported by Bloomberg, would increase the amount of debt that they are allowed to deduct from their business income.