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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump put new details on a much scaled-back tax plan on Thursday, one that is projected to cost the federal government less money but also to deliver fewer benefits to taxpayers than Trump's original proposal. Trump's economic team estimated that the complete tax plan, combined with rollbacks to some federal regulations and new initiatives to open up more public and private lands for oil and gas drilling, would deliver 3.5 percent growth per year for the next decade and produce 25 million new jobs. The changes also appear to be an attempt to reduce what analysts...

Donald Trump on Thursday shared his economic vision with supporters gathered at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan, promising trillions in tax cuts, energy reform, a crackdown on trade, and a reduction in the number of tax brackets. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, estimated his plan would create 25 million in new jobs, and that the massive tax cut would be offset by gross domestic product growth of at least 3.5%, on average, each year for the next decade. "This is the most pro-growth, pro-jobs, pro-family plan put forth perhaps in the history of our country," Trump said, according to...

So who is Alan Greenspan suggesting is crazy? We ask because, according to the Bloomberg news ticker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve refused comment when asked to whom he was referring... ...a country to be undermined by — how should I say it — crazies.” No doubt the Democratic Party press is going to start suggesting that the crazies to whom Mr. Greenspan was referring are the Republicans lead by Donald Trump... ...might be prepared to see America default on the federal debt. He said he’d “borrowed knowing that you can pay back with discounts.” That drove the...

The White House race could be decided in the Rust Belt – a vast, decaying former industrial powerhouse in the US Midwest and Northeast where Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are battling for the support of working class white voters. The region, also typified by a declining population and urban decay, forms an arc around the Great Lakes, running mainly through Pennsylvania and Ohio. If those two states – each won twice by Democrat Barack Obama – swing to Trump in November, the Republican stands a good chance of becoming president. Major cities such as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Cleveland are...

They call him Dr. Doom and for good reason. Dr. Marc Faber, author, investment adviser, and publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, usually emphasizes the risks in the financial system and never minces his words. However, his views are more nuanced than most people think, and his advice for investors is more pragmatic than idealistic. Epoch Times spoke to Faber about central bank manipulation of financial markets, the reasons for income inequality, and how to invest in this environment.

After more than a decade of stagnation and decline, average incomes rose significantly in 2014. Good news—in fact, terrific news—permeates the newest government report on the incomes Americans report on their federal tax returns. After more than a decade in the economic doldrums, with too few jobs and stagnant wages afflicting the vast majority of Americans, average incomes rose significantly in 2014, though the average income remains below the level in 2000. Investors did especially well. Overall, Americans reported significantly more income in 2014 than in 2012 and 2013, my analysis of a new Internal Revenue Service report shows. The...

John D. Rockefeller was the richest man the world had ever seen.But for most of his adult life he didn’t have electric lights, air conditioning, or sunglasses. And he never had penicillin, sunscreen, or Advil. This is not ancient history: One in twenty Americans were born before Rockefeller died.The majority of Americans think the next generation of adults will be worse off than their parents.I think of two things when I hear this.One, the pessimists are probably wrong, extrapolating a bad decade into infinity. Two, progress is like compound interest – you don’t even notice it in the short run,...

Each year the U.S. Census Bureau releases its data on poverty. And each year the news seems even worse than the year before. This year is no different, with Census informing us in its annual report that some 43.1 million Americans, or about 13.5% of us, were officially poor in 2015. The number of poor fell during the year as the nation continued to climb out of the economic crater left by the economy's financial implosion in 2008... ...contrary to the rhetoric of the left and the misleading data from the government, the 43 million in poverty number is vastly...

Middle-class Americans and the poor enjoyed their best year of economic improvement in decades in 2015, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday, a spike that broke a years-long streak of disappointment for American workers but did not fully repair the damage inflicted by the Great Recession. Real median household income was $56,500 in 2015, the bureau reported, up from $53,700 in 2014. That 5.2 percent increase was the largest, in percentage terms, recorded by the bureau since it began tracking median income statistics in the 1960s. In addition, the poverty rate fell by 1.2 percentage points, the steepest decline since 1968....

Today marks the last day of speeches from Federal Reserve officials before they gather to discuss monetary policy and a potential rate hike at the Sept. 20-21 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. In the final speech before the quiet period begins, Fed Governor Lael Brainard assured the markets that she wasn’t in a hurry to raise rates. Given that low unemployment has failed to increase inflation “the case to tighten policy preemptively is less compelling,” Brainard said. “My main point here is that in the presence of uncertainty and the absence of accelerating inflationary pressures, it would be unwise...

Election year politics generates much rhetoric and confusion. And the media often adds its spin. But, fortunately, there are some books around that deal with reality and can cut through the nonsense. Most of these books were not written during this election year, but what they presented can be very eye-opening on the issues raised by politicians this year. If you are concerned about issues involved when some people want to expand the welfare state and others want to contract it, then one of the most relevant and insightful books is "Life at the Bottom" by Theodore Dalrymple. It was...

Just like during the last economic crisis, homeless encampments are popping up all over the nation as poverty grows at a very alarming rate. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than half a million people are homeless in America right now, but that figure is increasing by the day. And it isn’t just adults that we are talking about. It has been reported that that the number of homeless children in this country has risen by 60 percent since the last recession, and Poverty USA says that a total of 1.6 million children slept either in...

It's no secret that the post-crisis recovery hasn't been so great for the average American. Growth has been uneven. Job gains, while strong, have often been concentrated in areas like bars and restaurants. Wage inflation has been tepid. And yet, costs for things like health care, education and housing have soared. Policymakers have focused, for better or worse, on driving down interest rates and boosting the price of financial assets, lifting corporate profits and the stock market to record highs in the process — but also widening the income and wealth inequality gaps. At long last, there is evidence a...

Are you prepared for the unthinkable? Is your portfolio prepared in case Donald Trump, rather than Hillary Clinton, wins the White House on Nov. 8? Very few are. But after this weekend they need to be. The video footage of Hillary Clinton’s health “episode” on Sunday morning is not good. A member of the public, using a cellphone camera, filmed the former secretary of state being helped into a van by aides after apparently being overcome by heat at the 9/11 ceremony. She had left the event abruptly. The so-called “optics” are damaging... ...she is 68 and the Trump campaign...

Published on Aug 13, 2016 WikiLeaks' Assange - TPP Not Only Trade, 83% Is Fascists Controlling Our Daily Lives - Once We're In, We're Stuck Forever WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange knows more about the contents of the TPP than most members of Congress and is doing much more to inform the American public than any of our so-called representatives with the lone exception of Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL). He has no restrictions other than his politically-motivated confinement to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on his freedom to disclose the truth to the world and he is sounding the alarm. Assange...

The problems that sank South Korea’s Hanjin Shipping last week could be just the tip of the iceberg, with the long global downturn leaving the industry burdened by excess capacity. With growth refusing to budge and consumer demand still slack, the world’s freight carriers have more ships than they can fill — a quarter of cargo space lies empty. That has led to fierce price cuts and cut-throat competition, badly impacting the bottom lines of some of the giants of the seas. Those problems played out last week when Hanjin, the world’s seventh-largest shipping firm, filed for bankruptcy in Seoul,...

"I think this might be the beginning of a correction," said Chuck Self, CIO of iSectors. "When you look at the sectors, it's a decently broad decline." He added that Monday "could be a pretty ugly day as well" since stocks were on track to end the week on a negative note. "Intraday support has been violated, which increases risk of downside follow-through today. We believe September will be characterized by a healthy pullback, true to its seasonal influences," Katie Stockton, chief technical strategist at BTIG, said in a note to clients.

German imports and exports unexpectedly shrunk in July, with a sharp export contraction causing a surprise narrowing in Germany's trade balance. Federal Statistical Office data showed seasonally adjusted exports fell by 2.6% - analysts had expected about 0.3% growth - whereas imports fell by 0.7%, as against expectations for a 0.8% rise. On the year exports slumped by 10% and imports shriveled by 6.5%. The foreign trade balance shrunk to €19.4 billion ($21.9 billion) from €21.4 billion in June, as against expectations for a balance of €22 billion. The Federal Statistical Office said the pace of German exports to other...

Speaking in Homewood, PA on Friday, Bill Clinton criticized the “coal people” in West Virginia for supporting Donald Trump .“We all know how [Hillary’s] opponent has done well down in West Virginia and eastern Kentucky,” the former president told the crowd at the Greater Pittsburgh Coliseum. “The coal people don’t like any of us [Democrats] anymore.” Clinton added that “they all voted for me. I won twice, and they did well.” “They blame the president when the sun doesn’t come up in the morning now.”

America has a long-running crisis in manufacturing employment. Quite simply, year after year, the number of people employed in making things declines — the figure is down by nearly 5 million since 1996. And in election years like this one, it is common to hear politicians talk about how they will bring manufacturing jobs back. Across the board — on both sides of the aisle, in every part of the country — there is an overwhelming desire to have more manufacturing jobs. This is partly due to nostalgia and symbolism. But it’s also driven largely by economics: Generally speaking, the...