Trump Cancels His Military Parade

Plus - Economic boom or blip? By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey No Military Parade in DC This Year President Trump said Friday that he has canceled plans for a military parade in Washington this fall due to rapidly rising costs. On Thursday, an unnamed source at the Pentagon told CNBC that cost estimate for the parade had ballooned from $12 million to [$92 million]( inspiring a blizzard of critical comments, many focused on the need to increase funding for veterans’ programs. Perhaps most notably, the American Legion released a [statement]( saying that it “appreciates that our president wants to show in a dramatic fashion our nation’s support for our troops. However, until such time as we can celebrate victory in the War on Terrorism and bring our military home, we think the parade money would be better spent fully funding the Department of Veterans Affairs and giving our troops and their families the best care possible.” By Thursday evening, a Pentagon spokesman said the parade would likely be postponed until 2019. Trump blamed local politicians for the escalating costs, [tweeting]( Friday morning, “The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it. When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade, they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I cancelled it. Never let someone hold you up!” Trump said that he will attend previously scheduled parades at Andrews Air Force Base and in Paris, adding, “Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN. Now we can buy some more jet fighters!” Health Insurance Premiums Stabilizing Stateline reports that insurance plans sold through the federal marketplaces are seeing much smaller price increases compared to last year. “Despite Republican efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act, insurance premiums will go up only slightly in most states where carriers have submitted proposed prices for next year. And insurance carriers are entering markets rather than fleeing them,” [says]( Stateline’s Michael Ollove. Insurers in the exchanges are turning a profit now, benefitting from several years of experience running their plans and from what turns out to have been excessive rate hikes last year. Premiums have already incorporated the increased costs resulting from the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act – including a reduction in federal outreach efforts and the expansion of short-term health care plans, which are expected to siphon some healthier customers away from the federal exchanges – and political uncertainty seems to be declining. Some states are also taking steps to make up for reduced federal support – including creating their own reinsurance funds, boosting promotional efforts and limiting the availability of short-term plans – that are producing more stable marketplaces. Republicans Still Running Against Obamacare, but What Will They Do if They Win? Many GOP candidates are campaigning against the Affordable Care Act, telling voters that they plan to do away with it entirely if Republicans are able to maintain control of Congress in November. The problem, [says]( Politico’s Burgess Everett, is that several key components of Obamacare – particularly the protections for pre-existing conditions – are extremely popular with voters across the political spectrum, and Republicans haven’t explained how they will get rid of Obamacare while keeping some its provisions. Several senators said that the party is not ready to handle a repeal, which could become an issue soon if a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the ACA is successful. “It may be good to have an exit strategy and I’m not sure there’s one in place,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). Susan Collins (R-ME) identified a problem that is likely to get worse in the wake of the election: the inability of the two parties to work together to pass meaningful legislation. “I do not have confidence that Congress could put together a bipartisan bill and get it done,” Collins said. Sam Baker of Axios [summed up]( the situation this way: “Republicans, as a whole, have never figured out how to reconcile their desire to lower premiums and reduce federal mandates with the fact that protections for pre-existing conditions are extremely popular.” Quote of the Day “Just nine years ago, during the debate over the Affordable Care Act, the notion of universal health care was itself considered radical — Obamacare was an enormous, complex compromise, and the public option was considered a bridge too far. Now there seems to be a spreading realization that the government needs to do more, not less — to simplify the U.S. health-care system, if nothing else.” -- Noah Smith, “Some of the Left’s Ideas Start Going Mainstream,” [Bloomberg]( Like this newsletter? Tell your friends they can [sign up here]( to get their own copy. We always welcome your feedback. Email yrosenberg@thefiscaltimes.com. Or connect with us on Twitter: [@yuvalrosenberg]( [@mdrainey]( and [@TheFiscalTimes](. Economic Boom or Blip? Most mainstream economists think the booming GDP growth recorded in the fourth quarter will ease toward the end of the year, but President Donald Trump’s chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow says those projections are “pure nonsense.” The current boom is in the “early innings,” Kudlow said Thursday at a cabinet meeting, according to the [Associated Press](. “The single biggest event, be it political or otherwise, this year is an economic boom that most people thought would be impossible to generate," Kudlow said to President Trump. “Not a rise. Not a blip. People may disagree with me, but I’m saying this, we are just in the early stages.” Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist of Northern Trust, told the AP that while economists would love to see an extended boom, they just don’t think it’s in the cards. “Economists are incredibly hopeful that the White House is right,” Tannenbaum said. “Unfortunately, most economic analysis and past historical patterns suggest that we’re in the middle of a sugar rush that will wear off.” That “sugar rush” is the product of the GOP’s $1.5 trillion in tax cuts over a decade and the roughly $300 billion increase in government spending this year, which helped GDP growth hit 4.1 percent in the second quarter. But headwinds including weak productivity growth, the retirement of the baby boomers, declining immigration and a soaring budget deficit threaten to reduce economic growth significantly over the next several years. The Congressional Budget Office said this week that it expects annual GDP growth to fall below 2 percent by 2020. On top of that, the tax cuts don’t appear to be laying the groundwork for a long-term boom, with little evidence so far of substantial capital investments by firms that would boost productivity – and wages – in the long run. “The tax cuts are really not moving the needle for businesses,” Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West, told the AP. Your Prize for Making It Through the Week Here are three awesome performances by Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, who passed away this week: * "[(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman]( – at the Kennedy Center * "[Bridge Over Troubled Water]( – live from 1971 * "[Think]( – from The Blues Brothers News - [Taxpayers’ Bill for Trump Jr.’s Business Trip to India: $32,000 and Counting, Documents Show]( – Washington Post - [Senate GOP Seeks Tax Law Fixes, Including ‘Retail Glitch’]( – Roll Call - [Asset Managers Eye $1.5 Trillion in Corporate Cash Coming to America]( – Bloomberg - [Some States Sitting on Piles of Cash, and Cities Want a Cut]( – New York Times - Syria Stabilization Funding, Cites More Allied Cash]( – Associated Press - [Officials Worry Trump May Back Erik Prince Plan to Privatize War in Afghanistan]( – NBC News - [Navy's Troubled $11 Billion Carrier Falters on Another Milestone]( – Bloomberg - [Space Force Could Be Compromised from the Get-Go, Watchdog Warns]( – Roll Call - [Rep. Rokita Introduces Reforms to Social Security Disability Insurance]( – Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget - [Most Economic Forecasts Have a Big Blind Spot: Climate Change]( – CNN Money - [America’s Prisoners Are Going on Strike in at Least 17 States]( – Vox Views and Analysis - [Has Revenue Risen in 2018?]( – Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget - [Get Ready: This Fall’s Federal Budget Debate Will Be A Real Cliffhanger]( – Stan Collender, The Budget Guy Blog - [Do Debt and Deficits Matter? It Depends on Who's Minding US Fiscal Policy]( – Roll Call (podcast) - [How Doctors Are Expanding Access to The Earned Income Tax Credit]( – Howard Gleckman, Tax Policy Center - [Pretending Single Payer Health Care Is Easy to Pass Doesn’t Make It Easy]( – Jonathan Chait, New York - [Why School Spending Is So Unequal]( – Mike Maciag, Governing - [Two Small Nudges Help Cut Back on Opioid Prescriptions]( – Cass Sunstein, Bloomberg - [To Make the House of Representatives Work Again, Make It Bigger]( – Israel Klein, The Hill - [Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Proposal to Remake American Capitalism Is Flawed at Its Core]( – Bill George, CNBC - [Why So Many People Who Need the Government Hate It]( – Sean Illing, Vox Copyright © 2018 The Fiscal Times, All rights reserved. You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed at our website, thefiscaltimes.com. 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