In the US, we are a nation of immigrants; our prosperity was and is built on immigration, and historically we welcome immigrants and refugees; we admit about one million annually. Yet in times of economic decline and turmoil that welcome has turned to hostility and far worse.

Impeachment of the President is once again on people’s lips for the third time in my lifetime. Impeachment is an extraordinarily serious undertaking requiring a strong bi-partisan consensus to be successful. It requires a majority vote in the House and a 2/3rds vote in the Senate.

The early Pilgrims came to escape religious persecution in England. They came to practice their religion. They had no permission from the Native Americans to settle here and ultimately destroy their tribes, their communities and their way of life. They did not even have the permission of the British Government to leave England.

The GOP is in charge of the House, the Senate, the Presidency and the Supreme Court. It has control of the governorships and the state legislatures in over 30 states. What is it doing with all this awesome power to make our nation a better place to live, work and raise a family? What is it doing to make the world a better place for all who live on this planet? 

President Trump has succeeded in many of the ways his supporters wanted. He has withdrawn from trade and climate pacts, cut corporate tax rates and regulations, nominated and elevated conservative judges and made life very hard for immigrants and people of color in this country and far better for the patrons of his golf courses and luxury hotels. He has finished his first year with a government shutdown, which he has been extolling as a necessity since last fall.

In the United States public and private financing of the nation’s health care are split 50/50. In California in 2015, a total of $292 billion was spent on personal health care services. Of that total, $104 billion was spent on private insurance), $62 billion on Medicaid, $64 billion on Medicare and $61 billion comprised all other health spending (including a range of expenditures from the Veterans Administration, Prisons, personal out of pocket, Workers Compensation and Auto insurance).

As Martin Luther King reminds us “Let us celebrate the contents of our characters, not the colors of our skins”.

So really treason is trying to overthrow the government, aiding and abetting its enemies, or trying to kill the nation’s leaders on behalf of another power and losing. This is not a term to be casually thrown about.

The Governor’s Proposed Budget for the coming year (2018-19) will spend $190 billion from state General Funds ($135 billion) and state Special Funds ($56 billion). General Funds may be spent on any state or local programs; whereas Special Funds (e.g. the Highway Fund financed by gas taxes) must be spent on their designated purposes.

Are we still a functioning democracy? Are we heading towards a kleptocracy? A kakocracy?

President Donald Trump’s first year is nearly in the history books. It is unclear whether he will complete his four-year term due to the Russia probe, which might lead to his impeachment. While there is a lot of circumstantial evidence, there is as yet no smoking gun on the President’s involvement in his campaign’s apparent relationship with the Russian efforts to sway the American electorate against Hillary Clinton. Let’s keep our eye on the ball, which are the 2018 mid term elections in the House and the Senate.

The snapshot provides cumulative individual plan selections for the 39 Exchanges using the HealthCare.gov platform. Individual plan selections for the Exchanges using the HealthCare.gov platform include:  

The GOP tax cut bill has passed both the House and Senate and is headed for President Trump’s desk. The tax cuts for individuals are for the most part temporary. They will begin in 2018 and continue until 2025 when most will revert to existing law.

The House and Senate Conferees have completed their horse trading and agreed on a final package. The Tax Policy Center and the Joint Committee on Taxation completed their analyses Monday, December 18. The House and Senate are voting today and Wednesday. With this info, you can explain what they did to your holiday guests should you wish to provoke an argument and spoil an otherwise lovely family dinner.

The House Senate Conferees have cooked the final product, and it is ready to be voted on next week. Some important deductions survived, but over-all the package increases the deficit and further tilts/rigs the economy towards the highest income individuals.

Cincinnati was the center of my universe growing up. I could not imagine a better or more loving community.

Mitch Katz is leaving Los Angeles and California and returning to New York City. This is our final moment to say thanks for his extraordinary work in making San Francisco, Los Angeles, and California a far healthier place for all of Los Angeles’ and all our state’s residents.

The House and the Senate have passed tax packages with the same basic framework, but some key differences. They will now meet in a Conference Committee to reconcile their differences. There are multiplying dangers for health care for every American in the GOP Tax Reform Package that can be mitigated or worsened in the Conference Committee.

Today’s analysis from the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) says that the proposed tax cut does not stimulate the economy enough to offset the tax cut. It will grow the economy by 0.8% and this will add $400 billion in revenues over the next decade. The other $1 trillion will be added to the national debt. In other words, they are saying the exact same thing as almost every economist “the GOP tax reform” will not pay for itself.

The CBO estimate is dated November 26, 2017. It finds that the proposal would increase the federal deficit by $1,441 billion over the next ten years. Revenues would be reduced by $1,663 billion and spending by $219 billion. Of the total, $1.1 trillion would be individual tax relief. Those changes are about $140 to $150 billion annually between 2019 and 2025, then many of them would be sunset so that the corporate tax changes can be made permanent.