Tripping Through the Triangular Tax Tango – by Oren Cass

The tax trainwreck that was obviously coming is now upon us. In the wee hours of Sunday night, the House Budget Committee frantically reconvened to advance the proposal that it had voted down on Friday. The proposal had not been improved, nor were the members who had blocked it now in support. Rather, as Congressman Chip Roy explained on Twitter:

Tonight, after a great deal of work and engagement over the weekend, the Budget Committee advanced a reconciliation bill that lays the foundation for much needed tax relief, border security, and important spending reductions and reforms. & We can and must do better before we pass the final product. As such, I joined with 3 of my colleagues to vote present out of respect for the Republican Conference and the President to move the bill forward. It gives us the opportunity to work together this week to get the job done in light of the fact our bond rating was dropped yet again due to historic fiscal mismanagement by both parties.

One need not be an expert in congressional procedure to discern that all this represents a futile kicking of the can down the road. The participants quite clearly cannot come to agreement but continue to postpone any reckoning with that reality. Congressman Roy s warning that the bill increases the likelihood of continuing deficits is entirely accurate but has the awkward caveat that his own preferred framework, with steeper spending cuts that still come nowhere close to offsetting the proposed tax cuts, also increases the likelihood of continuing and, indeed, growing deficits. As of this writing, bond yields have surged higher than their peaks in the chaotic days after President Trump s Liberation Day tariff announcements, and the 30-year Treasury has cracked 5% for the first time, a couple of blips aside, since before the Great Recession in 2007.

via www.understandingamerica.co

So I guess all that DOGE stuff was just a sideshow? Oh well. Maybe AI will save us. Actually, it looks like it might, if it doesn’t destroy us. But don’t worry. Be a stoic! Think of all the things you can’t control and don’t worry about them. That’s how you start. How you finish I’ll get back to you on.