Category: Economy
U.S. Budget Deficit Swells to $898 Billion, Topping Forecast
The U.S. fiscal gap has continued to balloon under President Donald Trump, raising concerns the country’s debt load, now at $21.5 trillion, is growing out of control. A combination of Republican tax cuts enacted this year — that will add up to about $1.5 trillion over a decade — and increased government spending are adding to budget strains.
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THE LOCALIST REVOLUTION
Change in a localist world often looks like a renewal of old forms, which were often more intimate and personalistic than the technocratic structures of the past 50 years. Localism stands for the idea that there is no one set of solutions to diverse national problems. Instead, it brings conservatives and liberals together around the thought that people are happiest when their lives are enmeshed in caring face-to-face relationships, building their communities together.
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Tariffs Imperil a Hometown Business in South Carolina: BMW
The Spartanburg plant is BMW’s biggest in the world. It has helped draw more than 200 companies from two dozen countries to Spartanburg County. And the German company — not an American icon like Ford or General Motors — is now the largest exporter of cars made in the United States, turning the port of Charleston, S.C., into a hub for global trade. But by setting off a global trade battle, President Trump is threatening the town’s livelihood. People aren’t happy.
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Trump wanted to cut arts funding. Instead, the spending bill he signed gives it a boost.
WE NEED THE ARTS NOW MORE THAN EVER
President Trump has shown he has a very particular dislike of criticism and dissent. He has repeatedly belittled his critics — and, accusers — while failing to answer their criticisms. His administration has, similarly, taken to hiding behind accusations of fake news in order to delegitimize his critics. Trump is, in a very real sense, the worst qualities of the classic internet critic distilled into presidential form.
The arts offer a means of countering this with the very best of what our connectedness can bring: elevating minority voices, fostering outsider thinking, providing careful deliberation of difficult subjects, and, perhaps most important in these divisive times, the arts allow us to meditate on the basic truths of our lives today.
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White House budget projects $1 trillion deficit in 2019
President Trump’s first budget (for FY 2018) projected a $526 billion deficit in 2019, under its policies. The FY 2019 Mid-Session Review released last Friday revises his current budget to a $1,085 billion deficit in 2019. That’s an increase of roughly $560 billion, or more than double.
Altogether, tax cuts and spending hikes account for more than four-fifths of the deficit increase between the President’s FY 2018 Budget and the recent Mid-Session Review. Moreover, CBO’s estimates show revenue will fall by $1 trillion, not rise by that amount.
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Growing our Local Economy and Community
On Friday, September 7, 2018 the Moving to Conservers group is gathering at Peaks & Creeks...
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WHITE HOUSE THREATENED TO ECONOMICALLY CRIPPLE ECUADOR FOR PROMOTING BREASTFEEDING
Though a 2016 study found that breastfeeding would prevent 800,000 child deaths a year worldwide and save $300 billion from reduced health-care costs for children given breast milk, the $70 billion baby-food industry, dominated by a handful of American and European companies, “has seen sales flatten in wealthy countries in recent years, as more women embrace breastfeeding,” per the Times. And the White House obviously can’t have that!
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Senate Defies Trump by Refusing to Cut $15 Billion in Spending
Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and and Richard Burr of North Carolina joined Democrats in voting against the measure, which passed the House earlier this month.
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Trump says trade wars are ‘easy.’ Here come the first American casualties.
President Trump believes that “trade wars are good, and easy to win.” So he started one.
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NC GOP in this Year’s Short Session… Self-Serving Reaches Shameless Depths.
The 2018 Short Session was a triumph for that part of the right wing that is attempting to create a permanent majority by changing rules to silence and diminish all opposition. Herein, current information and background, ignored legislative offerings, reading suggestions, and action notices. “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.” -Thomas Jefferson.
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US House Activity Excerpt
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US Senate Activity Excerpt
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NAACP’s Transylvania Together Podcast
- The Opposite of Addiction, with Jim Hardy
- Meals on Wheels of Brevard, NC, with Board Member Sasha Jones
- The Community Side of Recidivism - Meet Peter McKinney
- Meet Mark Burrows, Director of Transylvania County Planning and Community Development
- Meet Nicola Karesh, a Writer, Poet, Community Activist and a Playful Spirit
- Meet Kyle Tinsley, Graduate of Brevard High School and former leader of the Acceptance Club
- Meet Bobby Jones of Cedar Mountain, NC. His grandfather was Solomon Jones of Solomon Jones Road, the road to Pretty Place.
- Meet the founder of Transylvania Indivisible. David Williams.
- How the Affordable Care Act (ACA) helped Cedar Mountain, NC get a new cafe
- Meet Dal Davis, a student at Brevard College.