Bharat Ramamurti @BharatRamamurti Twitter profile

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

Broad student loan debt cancellation via executive order is good economics and politics. A thread (with lots of data). 1/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

A Republican witness testified today that federal aid to states wouldn’t produce much economic growth. This is what happened next.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

For 55 cents, USPS will deliver a letter anywhere in the country quickly and reliably. It offers more than half a million workers — 40% Black, Hispanic, and Asian — good wages and a dignified retirement. Private businesses should act more like USPS, not the other way around.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

I’m shocked that slashing unemployment insurance didn’t compel people to take jobs that don’t exist.

Heather Long

@byHeatherLong

4 years

BREAKING: 1.1 million Americans filed *new* unemployment claims last week, an increase of 135,000 from the week before. This is a red flag that layoffs remain high. 28 million Americans were receiving UI benefits at start of August --when Congress let the $600/week aid expire

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

With all the focus on inflation, did you know that @POTUS signed a bill into law yesterday that could help reduce the cost of a variety of products? Here's a brief explanation. 1/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

I don't want this to get lost in all the numbers: The President-elect's plan would cut child poverty in half.

Jeff Stein

@JStein_WaPo

3 years

NEW on Biden $1.9T plan: -- $2K checks (adds $1,400 to $600). Adult dependents IN -- $400/week UI thru Sept, will push 4 "triggers." Not retroactive -- CTC to $3,000/yr per kid, fully refundable -- $15/hr min. wage -- Eviction moratorium thru 9/21

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

A few facts on Pell Grant recipients who have student debt: -They make up 60% of student loan borrowers (27M) -Nearly all come from families making under 60k; two-thirds come from families making under 30k -98% currently make under 100k a year 1/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

One downside of @ewarren 's universal free college plan is no more Dr. Pepper halftime challenge, where college students throw footballs through large, inflatable soda cans for $100k in tuition money.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

Let's address this argument: A big reason gas prices are up is because companies cut refinery capacity in 2020 *under the last administration.* US refinery capacity went down by 800,000 barrels/day that year. Refiners are now making bigger margins, raising prices at the pump. 1/

Financial Services GOP

@FinancialCmte

2 years

Joe Biden's war on American energy production has pushed the price of gas to near $5 per gallon nationally. Families and job creators are reeling from this pain at the pump, and Democrats have no one to blame but themselves.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

An annual wealth tax on Jeff Bezos could singlehandedly fund hundreds of free preschools each year.

CNN

@CNN

4 years

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is opening the doors of his first preschool, the Bezos Academy. It's the first location of a network of tuition-free preschools serving children in underserved communities spearheaded by Bezos' philanthropic arm, Day One Fund.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

We took a look at the most recent earnings statements and earnings calls of the big meat processing companies, and here's what we found: they are raising prices far more than any cost increases they're facing, resulting in skyrocketing profit margins.

Meat packers' profit margins jumped 300% during pandemic - White House economics team

Four of the biggest meat-processing companies, using their market power in the highly consolidated U.S. market to drive up meat prices and underpay farmers, have tripled their own net profit margins...

www.reuters.com

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

This is just an incredibly damning graph about the public policy decisions we’ve made over the last thirty years.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 months

Since the media seems more focused on other topics, I'm launching a new recurring feature: Biden v. Trump on the actual issues -- what they did as president and what they would try to do in a second term. First up: taxes. 1/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 months

So much wrong with this it’s hard to know where to start. Two sets of student loan borrowers are currently getting relief. The first: public servants, like members of the military. Under a law signed by President Bush, they get loans cancelled after ten years of service. 1/

Brian Sullivan

@SullyCNBC

3 months

Remember no loans are “cancelled”. The costs are just passed through to others via tougher credit or higher rates to others down the line. But if we’re going down this road, let’s wipe off truckers debt. The money they borrowed to buy the trucks that build America. Blue…

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

Feb. 2021: Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects we will get to 4.6% unemployment by the end of 2023 Mar. 2021: Democrats pass the American Rescue Plan Oct. 2021: Economy reaches 4.6% unemployment two years ahead of schedule

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

Big health care news: the FDA has finalized a rule allowing hearing aids to be sold over the counter, potentially saving millions of people with mild-to-moderate hearing loss thousands of dollars. Look for hearing aids in your local drug store as early as mid-October.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

This is outrageous. The public deserves to know what happened to half a trillion dollars of its money. If the Administration won’t release this information, Congress should require them to do so.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

There’s an odd strain of argument that doing things to help people is somehow nefarious or an illegitimate gift, rather than one of main goals of government.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

This is my favorite Republican statement since far, because not only does he abandon his earlier position, he accuses you of being stupid for thinking he would be principled.

Jake Tapper

@jaketapper

4 years

. @LamarAlexander backs McConnell moves re SCOTUS: “No one should be surprised that a Republican Senate majority would vote on a Republican President’s Supreme Court nomination, even during a presidential election year. The Constitution gives senators the power to do it.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

The US is the only leading economy where real household income (which accounts for inflation) and real GDP are higher than before the pandemic. Every country is struggling with supply chains and inflation but our economic response has let us weather it better than anyone else.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

Sorry, I couldn't resist:

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

How can anyone read this and not see the seeds of a ruling next week that even validly cast ballots shouldn’t be counted simply because it’s taking too long to count them?

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

. @ewarren won the caucus held at the Wells Fargo Center in Des Moines. Appropriate.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

. @ewarren used a few minutes to question *two different CEOs* of Wells Fargo so effectively that they both were forced out of their jobs for cheating customers. Just noting that tonight.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

Common question: will student debt relief be considered income and subject to federal income tax? Answer: No -- thanks to a measure Democrats included in the American Rescue Plan last year.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

17 days

🚨The FTC is finalizing a rule banning noncompete clauses for *all workers* regardless of income or industry. It will increase pay, new business formation, innovation -- and cut health care costs. It's one of the most important things the Biden Administration has done.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

Re-reading the Shelby County opinion and I’m struck once again about just how flimsy it is. Five Republican appointees throwing out a law Congress reauthorized overwhelmingly, in an area where Congress has wide discretion to legislate, because they decided racism was over.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

The bottom line is that broad debt cancellation via executive order is popular, economically potent, and -- most importantly -- life-changing for millions of Americans struggling through this crisis. We can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. END

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

I can’t overstate how radical this is: Senate Republicans are threatening to blow up an agreement to provide basic relief to Americans now if they can't cripple the ability of Biden Administration and the Fed to offer more help next year.

Bloomberg Politics

@bpolitics

3 years

A GOP senator is pushing to include language in the relief bill that would explicitly terminate the Fed's emergency lending program by the end of the year, which would limit the Biden administration’s flexibility in addressing the economic crisis

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

Student loan debt cancellation also has positive wealth effects. Student debt loads are part of the reasons we’re seeing declining home ownership and small business formation rates. Canceling the debt will have mean more jobs and growth. 4/

The impact of student loan debt on small business formation, by Brent

Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy and account for approximately one-half of the private-sector economy and 99% of all businesses. To start a small business, individuals need access

ideas.repec.org

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

Hi — here’s my unverified twitter feed. Please follow along if you’re curious about what’s happening to billions of your dollars and who it might be helping (or not).

Joshua Green (JoshuaGreen.bsky.social on 🟦)

@JoshuaGreen

4 years

NEW: The congressional panel policing the $500bn corporate bailout fund has only one member with no staff or support -- so he's using his unverified @Twitter feed as billions of taxpayer $$ race out the door. My new @bpolitics piece:

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

Trump’s panic is borne out by polls, which shows strong majority support for debt cancellation -- including from those who’ve never had student debt. (Perhaps the average American is less resentful than the median Twitter commentator.) 12/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

First, it’s important to remember that *a lot* of people have student loan debt -- 45 million or so. For context, 25 million people benefit from the EITC and 38 million people get SNAP. Fundamentally, one of the benefits of debt cancellation is that it helps a lot of people. 2/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

No one says it’s a “customer shortage” if companies only offer high prices and bad service. Yet some say it’s a “labor shortage” if companies only offer low wages and bad benefits. They’re both markets. And as @POTUS said, companies should have to compete for workers too.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

PS—This is why it’s galling to hear many refer to borrowers as slackers. These are typically people from lower-income families—often first-gen college students—trying to get a degree, and then using their income to help their families as well as pay down their own debt. Slackers?

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

One study has found that canceling all debt would have a big stimulative effect. The impact would be less if less debt were canceled, but debt cancellation one of the relatively few ways to really stimulate the economy without Congress. 5/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

Won’t people be taxed on their canceled debt? No, there are several ways to avoid that, including: -Deem forgiveness as a disaster payment relating to Covid under IRC 139 -Deem it a qualifying scholarship under IRC 117 -For insolvent taxpayers, exclude under IRC 108 7/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

I’m shocked — shocked! — that while frontline workers lost their jobs or took steep cuts in pay, CEOs sacrificed almost nothing.

As the Pandemic Forced Layoffs, C.E.O.s Gave Up Little (Published 2020)

Some corporate bosses offered to cut their pay, but most did not. Those who did gave up less than 10 percent of what they received last year.

www.nytimes.com

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

Sec. Mnuchin admitted yesterday that he had not even obtained a written opinion from his lawyers before claiming the CARES Act required terminating trillions in potential aid this year. I look forward to reviewing that legal memo whenever his lawyers get around to writing it.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

Canceling student loan debt has positive income effects. The median borrower making payments has a monthly payment of more than $200. Canceling debt could reduce or eliminate those payments -- which is like sending those people a check every month. 3/ .

Student Loans and Other Education Debt

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington DC.

www.federalreserve.gov

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 months

Final point: nearly 40 percent of student loan borrowers have no college degree. Lots of truckers attend or graduate from post-secondary programs, including CDL training schools. The idea that truckers don’t have student debt is wrong.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

This bill won’t fix inflation by itself, but it will help. And it’s just part of the agenda @POTUS is pushing Congress to enact that will reduce costs for families on everything from RX drugs to housing. These ideas have broad support with the public. We need to keep at it. END

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

7 months

The bill creating the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was signed by President Bush in 2007, when you served as his speechwriter.

Marc Thiessen 🇺🇸❤️🇺🇦🇹🇼🇮🇱

@marcthiessen

7 months

Also why are public sector workers more virtuous and deserving than those in the private sector. A bureaucrat in the AG department deserves his loan forgiven but a small business owner does not?

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

I'm honored to be joining the Biden-Harris Administration as Deputy Director of the National Economic Council. We have much to do to get through this crisis and create a stronger and fairer economy -- and I'm excited to get to work alongside this great team.

The White House

@WhiteHouse

3 years

The Biden-Harris National Economic Council will work to get Americans out of this economic crisis — and these individuals will help us build a strong, inclusive, and more resilient economy for the future.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

Earlier this week, Congress acted: it passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act. The bill will crack down on outrageous fees and give our leading regulator more authority to police bad behavior by ocean carriers. @POTUS signed it into law yesterday. 8/

Statement by President Joe Biden on Congressional Passage of Ocean Shipping Reform Act | The White...

Lowering prices for Americans is my top priority, and I applaud the Congress for passing the Ocean Shipping Reform Act on a bipartisan basis, which will help lower costs for American retailers,...

www.whitehouse.gov

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 months

For a long time, that law wasn’t administered properly. People did their ten years, submitted the paperwork, and didn’t get relief. The Biden Administration went back and fixed it, giving public servants the debt relief they’re entitled to under the law. 2/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 months

You can take issue with these laws if you want, but it seems fundamentally unfair to tell borrowers they will get relief if they follow certain rules, and then deny them that relief when they do everything they’re asked. 5/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

One line that stuck with me from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 DNC speech: “I sweat the details of policy . . . Because it's not just a detail if it's your kid -- if it's your family.” Just thinking about that again today.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

I can’t remember the last President who so clearly and unequivocally embraced full employment as their economic goal. From today’s @POTUS speech:

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

And here’s polling data by demographic. Debt cancellation has the highest approval among people making under $50k/year and among people who don’t have a college degree (many of whom have debt because they didn’t complete college or because they're co-signing for their kids). 13/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

13 days

Of all the things I was lucky enough to work on, this might be my favorite. You shouldn’t have to pay money to pay your taxes. As this program continues to grow, most people will get pre-populated forms and be able to file their taxes with a few clicks in a few minutes.

Andrew Solender

@AndrewSolender

14 days

The IRS says 140,803 people successfully filed their taxes with the agency's free direct file pilot program – exceeding their goal of 100,000.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

The latest data and research also show that broad debt cancellation will help narrow the racial wealth gap. 6/

Student Debt Is a Racial Equity Issue. Here’s How Mass Debt Relief Can Address It. - Roosevelt...

$75,000 in student debt cancellation would increase household wealth, help close the racial wealth gap, and boost our struggling economy.

rooseveltinstitute.org

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

This study is not an analysis of Elizabeth’s actual wealth tax plan. The reason the study finds less revenue is because of evasion. But the study admits that it does not account for the very strong anti-evasion measures Elizabeth built into her plan. It’s meaningless.

CNBC

@CNBC

4 years

Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax would raise $1 trillion less than she estimates, Wharton study shows

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 months

Next point: these are all loans provided by the federal government, not private lenders. The rates and terms are set by law. So it is not the case that providing debt relief will automatically cause rates to go up or credit availability to go down, as the original post claims. 6/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 months

Like the program for public servants, this law wasn’t well administered for a long time. People made their 20 years of payments and didn’t get their relief. What the Biden Administration is doing is going back and making sure those people actually get the relief they deserved. 4/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

For example, is it better to do $1 trillion in debt cancellation via executive order or do $500B in child allowances (good!) with another $500B in regressive tax cuts (bad!) to get Republican support? That’s the relevant comparison. 10/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

This shows the critical role that family wealth plays in student loan repayment. Borrowers from low wealth families often have to help other family members pay off their debts—in addition to their own loans. That’s why Pell Grant recipients get 20k in relief in our plan.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

In a set of recent calls, business leaders told @POTUS just how much their costs had risen because of higher ocean shipping prices and fees—and what that had meant for their companies and their customers. 7/

President Biden

@POTUS

2 years

One of the reasons prices have gone up is because a handful of companies who control the market have raised shipping prices by as much as 1,000%. It’s outrageous — and I’m calling on Congress to crack down on them.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

The Dow is the least of our worries. Trump killing any further economic relief means: -millions of state/local workers losing jobs (first responders, teachers, firefighters, etc.) -tens of thousands of airline workers losing jobs -widespread child care closures and much more

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

Some say debt cancellation isn’t well-targeted. Compared to what? Other approaches to provide big stimulus will require Congress, and if that requires negotiating with a R Senate, debt cancellation is likely to be more targeted than the package emerging from those talks. 9/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

Today is a big day. We're getting one step closer to giving every 3 and 4 year old in America a chance to go to free, high-quality pre-K.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

It's harder to create new jobs when the unemployment rate is already very low. If you look back since 1990 at the average rate of monthly job creation when unemployment was below 4%, you'd expect 175k new jobs last month. Instead, we got 428k new jobs. An astounding report.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

1 year

NEW: @POTUS announces progress on slashing junk fees, and calls for congressional action to address some of the most unfair and costly fees. A brief thread with the highlights—and the potential savings for you. 1/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

If you get a chance, please watch @ewarren ’s speech tonight, which was filled with heart and gratitude and optimism for our country.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 months

The second set of borrowers getting relief are people enrolled in income-based repayment plans. These plans, by law, cap monthly payments for low- and middle-income borrowers, and after 20 years of payments, cancel the remaining balance. 3/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 months

That claim turned out to be completely false. A new study from nonpartisan experts found that almost all the corporate tax cut benefits went to high-income executives and shareholders, and the bottom 90% of workers got almost no benefit. 4/

Six years later, more evidence shows the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act benefits U.S. business owners and...

New study further reinforces that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 benefited highly paid executives, not the vast majority of U.S. workers

equitablegrowth.org

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

7 months

On the occasion of today’s blockbuster jobs report, it’s good to look back on this prediction from almost exactly a year ago.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

Wondering why your kid’s school is closed but your local bars are open? The GOP refused to provide additional funds for state and local governments, forcing them to prioritize reopening revenue sources (bars, restaurants, retail). There’s no revenue in schools.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

5 years

This is what a rigged system looks like.

David Leonhardt

@DLeonhardt

5 years

Watch how radically taxes on the wealthy have fallen over the past 70 years: (Full column: )

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

Let's take a look at the actual text of these executive orders. Here's the heart of the one on evictions. As you can see, it doesn't create an eviction moratorium. It asks certain federal agencies to see if they can maybe do something on evictions.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

. @ewarren , July 2019: “I see a precarious economy that is built on debt — both household debt and corporate debt — and that is vulnerable to shocks....And the Trump Administration’s reckless behavior is increasing the odds of just such a shock.”

The Coming Economic Crash — And How to Stop It

By Elizabeth Warren

medium.com

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

-Although they make up 60% of borrowers, they make up 90% of the ~8M borrowers in default -The Pell Grant borrowers with the *highest* incomes are more likely to default than the non-Pell Grant borrowers with the *lowest* incomes 2/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

For those concerned about “targeting” student debt cancellation, you can vary the amount of debt cancelled by income level, should you want to. If you’re concerned it won’t help people who never attended college, you could pair it with executive actions that do that. 8/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

A lot of goods come to America from Asia on ocean carriers. During the pandemic, the major ocean carrier alliances raised the price of shipping by as much as 1000% -- that’s more than tenfold. 2/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

One phrase I can't stand is "everyday Americans." If some of you are living only every other day, please let me know.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

. @ewarren is the only candidate who has released a plan for dealing with the coronavirus threat and who has laid out, in detail, how we can protect our public health and our economy.

Warren rips Trump for ‘bungling’ coronavirus outbreak

She offers a point-by-point analysis of what she thinks the president should be doing.

www.politico.com

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

All of this shows why we need to transition to clean energy -- in part so that we're not dependent on oil prices that are set globally. POTUS is urging Congress to act on his plan for that. But in the meantime, let's live in the world of facts when it comes to gas prices.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

Those higher prices and fees were great for the ocean shipping industry, which made $190 billion in profits last year, a sevenfold increase compared to the year before. 4/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

This was the inevitable result of (a) operating the program through the banks and (b) giving banks bigger fees for processing bigger loans even though the loans are all risk-free and require the same paperwork.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

Workers are quitting to go take new, better-paying jobs. It's not the Great Resignation -- it's the Great Upgrade. And it's exactly the kind of economy @POTUS said he wanted to help build.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

The ocean carriers also charged really high fees – called “detention and demurrage" fees -- that further added to the cost of transporting goods to the US. 3/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

Congress should adopt Warren’s comprehensive coronavirus plan from earlier this week. It’s astounding to me that neither remaining candidate has offered a plan to address what is likely to be the biggest political issue over the next several months.

Protecting our People and our Economy from Coronavirus

Elizabeth has a bold plan to limit the spread of coronavirus and address the economic disruptions the virus will cause.

elizabethwarren.com

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

Noting the key role these higher costs play in inflation, in his State of the Union address in February, @POTUS announced a strategy for tougher enforcement of existing rules—and called for congressional action to strengthen the rules further. 6/

FACT SHEET: Lowering Prices and Leveling the Playing Field in Ocean Shipping | The White House

The President is announcing an historic agreement between the Department of Justice and the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to make sure that large ocean freight companies cannot take advantage of...

www.whitehouse.gov

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

But a lot of those higher shipping costs got passed along to American consumers in the form of higher prices for everything from appliances to apparel. Researchers have found shipping price increases of this size drive up overall inflation a lot. . 5/

The relation of ocean freight prices to inflation

If shipping costs continue to increase, higher import costs may put additional upward pressure on core inflation, even if typical import price indices remain low, affecting consumers in the long term.

www.kansascityfed.org

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 months

Those are the concrete stakes of the 2024 election on tax policy. The election results will likely mean trillions of dollars in difference in tax policy alone. The candidates have been clear about their intentions. Up next week on Biden v. Trump on the issues: higher education.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

Update: I've been verified. I'm still the only member of the Commission though. And thanks to everyone in the replies volunteering to help. Stay tuned for more questions for the Treasury and the Fed, reports on where your money is going, and ideas for how you can get involved.

Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

Hi — here’s my unverified twitter feed. Please follow along if you’re curious about what’s happening to billions of your dollars and who it might be helping (or not).

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 months

Despite narrow majorities in Congress, Biden succeeded in getting more revenue from large corporations. He enacted a new minimum tax on big corporations to ensure that no profitable corporation pays zero federal income taxes. 8/

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

1 year

This is a BFD. @POTUS has been pushing to crack down on noncompetes for years because they keep workers from taking better jobs with better pay. In his July 2021 Executive Order on competition, he encouraged the Federal Trade Commission to tackle noncompetes. And now they have.

The New York Times

@nytimes

1 year

Breaking News: The U.S. moved to ban so-called noncompete agreements in labor contracts, which companies use to limit employees’ ability to work for a rival.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

The toothless language on companies maintaining payroll — alongside the strong UI package Democrats fought for — makes this purely a $450B bailout for shareholders and executives, run by Steven Mnuchin with no oversight. It’s worse than TARP.

Jake Sherman

@JakeSherman

4 years

THE POSITIONING BEGINS — here are some problems with the bill, as flagged by a democrat. Big four plus mnuchin meeting this am.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

Anyway, the “Chief Justice Roberts is really a moderate institutionalist” argument begins and ends with Shelby County. One of the most shameful and harmful decisions of the last generation.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

20 million people lost their jobs in April. But the stock market had its best month in 33 years. Capital is recovering quickly. But workers are looking at years to get back to where they were in March -- which wasn't nearly good enough. We can choose a different path. 1/

Ali Velshi

@AliVelshi

4 years

BREAKING: the U.S. lost 20.7 MILLION jobs in April, the greatest monthly net loss on record. The unemployment rate rose from 4.4% to 14.7%, the highest since the 24.9% reached in 1933 during Great Depression

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

Finally, the politics. First, recall that Trump was so freaked about the popularity of broad debt cancellation that he directed his staff to come up with his own plan. 11/

Eyeing populist challenge from the left, Trump seeks plan to tackle student debt

Aides have failed to come up with proposal to counter Democrats’ expansive plans.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 months

In addition to the corporate tax cut, the Trump tax bill made a variety of changes to individual taxes that delivered huge cuts to rich households. The richest 1% got a $50,000 annual tax cut, while most of the poorest households got nothing. 6/

The Effect of The TCJA Individual Income Tax Provisions Across Income

The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) will reduce individual income taxes on average for all income groups and in all states. Unlike prior Tax Policy Center reports, this analysis focuses on the distribu...

www.taxpolicycenter.org

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 months

The Trump tax bill also increased the deficit – hugely. By nearly $2 trillion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. 6/

How did the TCJA affect the federal budget outlook?

At the start of 2017, congressional Republicans often spoke about revenue-neutral tax reform. The revenue losses from tax cuts would be offset by rolling back...

www.taxpolicycenter.org

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 years

Consumer confidence among lower-income families has absolutely soared since President Biden was inaugurated.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 months

When Biden came into office, experts were projecting a long, sluggish recovery. Instead, we've had the fastest and most equitable recovery since WW2. Why? In a new piece, I argue it's because Biden and Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan. 1/

The Fruits of the American Rescue Plan

America is in the midst of an economic boom that few predicted. After the crushing COVID-19 recession of 2020, the job market regained its pre-pandemic strength years faster than experts projected....

democracyjournal.org

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

The second big reason gas prices are up is Putin's actions in Ukraine and the global response raising oil prices. Pump prices are up more than $1.60 since then. Our response had the backing of Republicans, as Jesse details here:

Jesse Lee

@JesseLee46

2 years

The bottom line is that Putin’s war against Ukraine is driving up energy and food prices all around the world. The thing about Republicans in Congress blaming Biden is that they supported cutting off Russian oil. Rep. Jordan: Yea

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

4 years

🚨This is a significant victory for the public. You will now know on a monthly basis which companies are getting support and how much support they're getting. We will need to look carefully at the first report to see if other information is needed but this is a very good step.

Victoria Guida

@vtg2

4 years

BREAKING: The Fed just announced it will reveal monthly the names of companies and municipalities that borrow under its massive emergency lending programs, as it faces intense pressure to be transparent about its usage of bailout money.

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

3 months

Biden also passed a new tax on corporate stock buybacks, bringing in new corporate tax revenue and also potentially encouraging companies to dedicate earnings to investment rather than buybacks. 9/

Companies facing 1st tax on stock buybacks in Biden bill

Democrats have pulled off a quiet first in legislation passed this month: the creation of a tax targeting stock buybacks.

apnews.com

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Bharat Ramamurti

@BharatRamamurti

2 years

What about domestic production? In Biden's first year, we produced more crude oil than in the first two years of the last administration. We're projected to reach a record high as early as next summer. Data here:

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