Middle Class Dismissed

The End of the Tea Party

"The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 permanently erases those spending limits, while authorizing far more spending than would ever have been considered while the Tea Party movement held sufficient political influence to stop it. As a result, the U.S. government’s budget deficits for 2018 and 2019 appear set to grow the levels that the Congressional Budget Office had projected for its more realistic alternative fiscal scenario following President Obama’s spending proposals back in 2010."

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Nomura “Sincerely Apologizes” For Blowing Up Investors

"Overnight, realizing it is facing an avalanche of lawsuits even though it explicitly laid out the possibility of the ETN getting 'terminated' should VIX explode, Japan's biggest brokerage issued an apology after investors in its $300 million vol-linked ETN were all but wiped out during this week’s stock-market turmoil."

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Tractor Hacking: The Farmers Breaking Big Tech’s Repair Monopoly

"When it comes to repair, farmers have always been self reliant. But the modernization of tractors and other farm equipment over the past few decades has left most farmers in the dust thanks to diagnostic software that large manufacturers hold a monopoly over. In this episode of State of Repair, Motherboard goes to Nebraska to talk to the farmers and mechanics who are fighting large manufacturers like John Deere for the right to access the diagnostic software they need to repair their tractors."

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401(k) millionaires are bragging and posting their balances to social media

"In what many will see as the latest sign of investor euphoria — and of our society’s oversharing epidemic — sharing your 401(k) balance on social media seems to have become a thing. With the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index hitting record after record since President Trump’s election in November 2016, the question, 'How’s your 401(k) doing?' has become a staple in his speeches at campaign-style rallies and fundraisers. And 401(k) balance shoutouts have become a staple among his supporters — and detractors — on Twitter."

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Professor Maintains List of 400,000 “Far-Right Extremists” For Antifa, SPLC

"The anonymous left-wing activist, states Wired, posts the identities of the people whose information she gives him, along with their photographs, 'for the public to do with what it would.' Squire also shares her data with the far-left militia group, Redneck Revolt, where it reportedly 'gets used in somewhat less official ways.'"

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Peak Cantillon Effect: Swiss National Bank Prints Its Way To Prosperity

"The SNB raked in ENORMOUS investment profits because they printed hundreds of billions of francs, which inflated the prices of assets that they themselves were buying. And today, because of those artificial investment gains that they engineered for themselves, the SNB is now the most profitable company in the world. Oh, and just so you know the other half of the story, while the central bank is raking in record profits, total debt in Switzerland has skyrocketed."

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There Will Be No Viking Longboats Cruising the Mississippi

"Switzerland-based Viking Cruises, which wanted to build and send small cruise ships up the Mississippi River, leaving new tourism dollars for river towns in its wake, is backing off its plan. Our own federal laws are to blame. More specifically, President Grover Cleveland's Passenger Vessel Services Act (PVSA). The 1886 law requires that in order to ferry passengers between ports in the United States, the ship must have been built in the United States and be owned and operated by Americans."

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Give Haircuts To Homeless Veterans, Receive Threats From Licensing Board

"A cosmetology license requires '25 weeks [of training], more than an EMT, certified nursing assistant or truck driver.' Ducey views the cosmetology board as 'bullies' and is urging the passage of Ugenti-Rita’s bill, which would make it easier to obtain a license."

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