Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Deficits only matter to Republicans when Democrats are in control and Republicans aim to hamstring the Democrats. When Republicans are in power they want to give tax sops to the wealthy; their only real constituency despite speaking of God and Jesus and embryos and where to pee, as mere diversionary theater to lull the gullible (tax-haven Whelan coming to mind).

Read all about it. WaPo. This link. Another. Bloomberg. CNN Money. CNN Opinion. Bloomberg, again. Chicago Tribune. Yahoo Finance. Bloomberg again.

Can you say, "Shell game by a shill?"

Reuters, here, reports:

The tax plan announced by Trump and fellow Republican leaders would cut the top tax rate for individuals and cut the corporate rate, but it offered scant details on how to pay for the cuts without dramatically driving up the federal deficit.

Stocks and the dollar gained on hopes that the lower tax rates would spur faster economic growth, while bond yields soared on concerns tied to inflationary pressures stemming from more federal borrowing to finance a bigger government deficit.

The dollar index .DXY hit a one-month high. Wall Street share prices .DJI .SPX .IXIC moved closer to their all-time peaks, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield US10YT=RR rose to its highest level since early August.

“You are seeing some optimism coming back into play” in the wake of the tax proposal, said Julien Scholnick, portfolio manager at Western Asset Management Co in Pasadena, California.

And Emmanuel Cau, executive director of global equity strategy at JP Morgan & Co in London, said the reflation trade was back.

“Clearly there’s a sensation that the reflation trade is coming back on the agenda,“ Cau said. “Most of our positioning is based on a reflation trade happening again.”

But the uncertainty clouding the tax proposal’s prospects could result in the reflation trade fading almost as quickly as it reappeared. Democrats, who were not consulted in drafting the proposal, are hostile to it and Republicans are divided over it.

Bonus image, an indulged complacent fat cat portfolio tender. Any questions?