20/20 Vision

Fin. Market Treasury Report, Pt. 2 (Oct. 10)

Update 212 — Fin. Market Treasury Report, Pt. 2: Regulatory Agenda Clear, Legislative Not So Much Last Friday, the Treasury Department released the second of four promised reports on financial regulation and capital markets.  This installment features a serviceable recitation of industry complaints, endorsements of portions of GOP legislation such as the CHOICE Act, and …

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FY18 Budget Resolution Advances (Oct. 5)

    Update 211:  FY18 Budget Resolution Advances; Tax Policy via Reconciliation on the Horizon.  Today saw two major steps toward Congressional approval of a FY 18 budget resolution.  The House passed its 2018 budget resolution providing reconciliation instructions, paving the way for tax reform, on a 219-206 vote, 18 GOP members voting against.   …

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FSOC De-Designation Decision (Oct. 3)

Update 209 — FSOC’s De-Designation Decision: AIG De-Listing Leaves Only One Nonbank SIFI The Update takes its own “tax holiday” to look at last Friday’s Financial Stability Oversight Counsel under-the-radar vote to de-designate AIG as a Systemically Important Financial Institution (SIFI) and the rationales provided by seven of the ten FSOC members. The council’s 68-page …

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GOP Puts Tax Outline on Table (Sep. 28)

Update 208 – GOP Puts Tax Outline on Table; Many Details and Months of Debate to Follow Yesterday, after several false starts and months of manufactured distractions, GOP leadership in Congress and the Trump Administration finally tabled a framework for a tax plan that would lower rates across the board and cost the nation billions of dollars, possibly …

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On Monetary Policy, Much Ado (Sep. 20)

Update 206 — On Monetary Policy, Much Ado; Rates Steady, But Yellen Says 4 Hikes in Queue In a press conference this afternoon, Federal Reserve Chair Yellen announced no surprises.  The Fed will maintain a federal funds target rate of 1 to 1.25 percent.  Yellen described inflation levels below the central bank’s two percent target.  She …

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Sen. Finance Tax Reform Hearing (Sep. 15)

Update 204 — Sen. Finance Tax Reform Hearing: Hatching Bipartisan Possibilities or Pipe Dreams? Today’s Senate Finance Committee hearing on individual income taxes marked the first indication that we may be witnessing an administration-directed, or influenced, shift from partisanship to triangulation, this time on tax reform.  The  tectonic shift under the ground of American partisan politics was …

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Median Income Hits New Record But… Who Has Seen the Wage Gains? (Sep. 13)

Update 203 — Median Income Hits New Record But… Who Has Seen the Wage Gains? The news out of the Census Bureau yesterday that median household income has reached record heights — $59K — following an average growth rate of more than four percent over 2015 and ’16 — was an unambiguously good and a …

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