themarketswork

a common sense approach to a liberal world

A Destination-Based Tax & the Border Adjustment

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The United States utilizes a “Worldwide” tax code – and that’s a problem.

Most other nations use a “Territorial” tax system – companies are taxed by the country where the economic activity takes place. This territorial system is better suited to the multi-national landscape companies operate in today – which is why all other G-7 nations use the “territorial” approach. Under a territorial system, a multi-national company pays taxes to each of the nations it does business in according to the amount of economic activity done in each nation’s borders and according to the particular nation’s tax rate. This has the obvious advantage of placing all companies operating within a given nation on the same economic footing from a tax burden perspective. Under our current Worldwide system, U.S. corporations are taxed at the same 35% federal tax rate – less taxes paid to foreign governments and allowed deductibles – no matter where their profits are made.Continue Reading

Pendleton Act – Federal Employment for Life

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The Spoils System has been around as long as politics – to the victor goes the spoils – political appointments. President George Washington attempted to push back on this effect during his two terms as President. He utilized “fitness of character” as the primary litmus test for government employees. Washington’s efforts were noble in practice, but under subsequent Presidencies many desired positions in government were simply being paid for through bribes. The election of Andrew Jackson brought about a reversal, as Jackson employed a completely partisan approach to staffing. The stated motivation was to ensure a more representative cross section of government employees – not just the rich and powerful. And so the Spoils System became the official staffing policy in our government. And the level of corruption was exactly the same as before – and perhaps even intensified.Continue Reading

Super Bowl Ads, Audi & the Gender Pay Gap

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Football, and indeed all sports, is a form of escape – a place of bonding – and a platform for common ground. Despite the often intense rivalries, football provides an immediately connectable point for conversation amongst perfect strangers. The Super Bowl is a uniquely American creation, with all the pageantry, spectacle and larger-than-life performances that link the entire nation – at least to some degree.

And yet the NFL took a backseat to politics this year – and had the ratings to prove it. So, I thought it was wonderfully timely that this year gave us the greatest Super Bowl I have ever seen. It also gave us an unusually political  – and sometimes controversial – overtone to the commercials.Continue Reading

Congressional Review Act – A Regulatory Killer

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A little-known law has suddenly been getting a lot of attention in our nation’s Capital. The Congressional Review Act (CRA) – put into law in 1996 as part of Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America – is an oversight tool that Congress may use to overturn a rule issued by a federal agency.

The CRA was put into law as a means for Congress to oversee and control regulations issued by agencies, yet it has only been successfully used one time – during the start of the Bush Administration. The reason for this is simple. The law requires a Presidential signature for final approval – or a veto. A sitting president is unlikely to sign a resolution overturning regulations issued by his own agency and would therefore veto any CRA resolution passed by Congress.

The CRA applies to rules implemented in the last sixty legislative working days.

The Obama Administration issued literally tens of thousands of regulations (see: Trump’s Deregulation Gift). The 2016 Federal Register (the daily depository of rules and regulations) contains 97,110 pages, the highest page count in its history – dwarfing the previous record set in 2010 (also Obama) of 81,405. The Federal Register page count stood at 81,640 at the start of December 2016 when I wrote the Trump deregulation article – 15,470 pages were added in the last month of 2016 alone. There has never been a time more primed for the revival of the Congressional Review Act.Continue Reading

A Voter Fraud-Friendly Environment

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“No doubt realizing that he was losing the cable-news message war, President Trump has called for a witch hunt in an attempt to prove the voter fraud lie he has been telling himself about why he lost the popular vote in November.” – There’s a Reason Trump Keeps Lying About Voter Fraud – The Washington Post – Jason Kander

“There are varying degrees of absurdity in the fallacies President Trump peddled during his first week in the Oval Office. Perhaps the most damaging was his insistence that millions of Americans voted illegally in the election he narrowly won.” – The Voter Fraud Fantasy – NY Times Editorial Board

Democrats are out in force stating that Voter Fraud and illegal voting is not only non-existent – it is a lie – an attempt to undermine our Democracy.

Now consider the following voting requirements by state as detailed by the National Conference of State Legislatures (National Map included):Continue Reading

Avoid the Nuclear Option

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President Trump will put forth a Supreme Court nominee for confirmation by the Senate as soon as next week. The process will likely prove lively. The future of the Supreme Court was the overarching issue I remained focused on throughout the election (See: Supreme Issues). This institution shapes our national character more than any other – and its presence is felt far past any president’s time in office. I am greatly heartened by President Trump’s list of potential nominees. But we need to navigate the nomination process first. And nuclear issues lurk.

Here is an abbreviated exchange between Fox News’ Chris Wallace and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell:

“As Senate rules now stand, because the nuclear option was extended by the Democrats, you can confirm lower court judges with just 51 votes. If the Democrats block a Supreme Court nominee, are you going to extend the nuclear option to Supreme Court nominees?” – Chris Wallace

“Well, let me just say, I’m confident we’ll get a Supreme Court nominee confirmed. I expect an outstanding nominee sometime soon. We think our nominee ought to be treated the same way (no filibuster). If he is not treated that way, then, under the current Senate rule, we would have to get cloture. That is, we’d have to get 60 votes.” – Mitch McConnell

“But would you consider extending the nuclear option for Supreme Court justices, just a simple majority?” – Chris Wallace

“The nominee will be confirmed,” – Mitch McConnellContinue Reading

Term Limits or Bust

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While watching the various Senate Confirmation Hearings I found one short phrase constantly repeating itself in my head.

Term Limits… Term Limits… Term Limits…

John Conyers, House Member from Michigan, is the longest serving current Congressman. He has held his position for…52 years. The record holder, John Dingell, retired late last year with 59 years of “service”. Fourteen current members of Congress have held their posts for 36 years or longer. The average tenure at the start of the 114th Congress was 8.8 years for House Members and 9.7 years for the Senate – but these numbers are low as they do not count years of service by members of the Senate when they were members in the House and vice versa. And 53 of our 100 Senators were House Members before they became Senators. These numbers also do not capture how many Congressmen are effectively career politicians – having risen to their Congressional Membership through positions as political aides, lobbyists or by holding other political office.

You get the point.Continue Reading

De-Funding the United Nations

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The United Nations (UN) was created in 1945 as a replacement for the ineffectual League of Nations. Membership was originally comprised of 51 nations – today there are 193 member nations. The UN has five primary organizational branches: the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat and the International Court of Justice (a sixth branch – the Trusteeship Council – has been inactive since 1994). These five branches comprise the “core” United Nations. The UN also has numerous agencies that are often autonomous or semi-autonomous. These agencies include the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Program, the Education, Scientific and Cultural Foundation (UNESCO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).Continue Reading

Obama’s Betrayal of Israel

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“Israel can either be Jewish or democratic – it cannot be both” – John Kerry

“The entire Middle East is going up in flames, entire countries are toppling, terrorism is raging and for an entire hour the secretary of state attacks the only democracy in the Middle East.” – Benjamin Netanyahu

“There are roughly 50 majority-Muslim countries in the world. There is one — only one — Jewish state. The Israeli Knesset has 17 elected Arab members. It has Muslim members and Christian members. In contrast, one searches in vain for Muslim countries that have elected Jewish representatives. Obama and Kerry choose to attack the only inclusive democracy in the Middle East, while turning a blind eye to the Islamic terrorism that grows daily.” – Ted Cruz

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The Syrian Cost of Obama’s Iran Deal

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“We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized.” – President Barack Hussein Obama – August 20, 2012

On July 14, 2015, six world powers – United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, France and Germany – reached an agreement with Iran on Iran’s Nuclear Program. When Obama decided to assume personal leadership of the Iran nuclear negotiations, the Iranian economy was straining under a decades old series of economic sanctions. Rather than support Congressional wishes to further tighten sanctions, thereby maintaining pressure on the ruling Mullahs, Obama decided to loosen economic restrictions as a prelude to his negotiations. The Iranian economy began growing again in 2014 and so did Iran’s negotiating power. And so, in 2015, the U.S. signed a deal with Iran that allowed the Iranians to hide much of their nuclear activities, lacked any semblance of enforcement and penalties, ended all economic sanctions, ended embargoes on ballistic missiles – and begins to expire in ten years – on January 2027 Iran can replace and upgrade its centrifuges. Obama himself has admitted that Iran will have full nuclear capability almost immediately after the deal expires. And for this we gave the Iranians access to almost $120 billion – perhaps more – Iran itself says it has already accessed $100 billion. It has been called the worst agreement in diplomatic history.Continue Reading