Dave Cooper

This is awful. Reliable economic data is a key strength of the US economy.

When Argentina and Greece faked economic data it contributed to major crises.

I don't think Trump will be able to fake the data given the procedures. But there is now a risk plus an awful appearance.

The funding increase for arrests, detentions, deportations will cause widespread harm to the labor market and destroy millions of jobs held by immigrant and US-born workers

www.epi.org/blog/the-rep...

A bar chart titled "If Congress approves the Republican budget bill, Trump's mass deportation agenda will destroy nearly six million jobs." The chart displays the "Employment reductions after four years of one million annual deportations" across three categories: Immigrant: 3,316,000 jobs lost US-born: 2,571,000 jobs lost Overall: 5,887,000 jobs lost A note at the bottom states: "Assuming 670,000 additional annual deportations for four years above a baseline annual deportation rate of 330,000." The source is cited as "Analysis of East et al (2023) as described in the text."

Now that Congress has passed the Republican spending bill, "[if] Trump succeeds in carrying out his deportation goals...5.9 million workers will lose their jobs over the next 4 years"--3.3 million immigrants and 2.6 million US-born workers.
-@benzipperer.org @epi.org

www.epi.org/blog/the-rep...

Chart showing that raising the federal minimum wage to $17 would provide $700 bn to workers, compared with only $39 bn from no tax on tips policy.

As Congress debates no tax on tips, important to recognize just how unserious an effort to help working people it is. Raising the federal minimum wage would deliver nearly 18x as much income to workers. www.epi.org/blog/increas...

NEW analysis by the Congressional Budget Office shows the "One Big Beautiful Bill"

1.) Makes the bottom 30% worse off

2.) Finances tax cuts that make the top 10% in particular better off.

This is not shared sacrifice--it's a fiscal transfer from the bottom to the top

www.cbo.gov/system/files...

No, not directly. The deduction is only against their federal income tax liability, not their FICA (social security/medicare) tax.

Chart showing that raising the federal minimum wage to $17 would provide $700 bn to workers, compared with only $39 bn from no tax on tips policy.

As Congress debates no tax on tips, important to recognize just how unserious an effort to help working people it is. Raising the federal minimum wage would deliver nearly 18x as much income to workers. www.epi.org/blog/increas...

The craziest thing about this fight between Trump and Elon Musk is that Republicans are trying to take away health care from 16 million people to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.

Column | ‘No tax on tips’ could backfire amid growing tip fatigue The legislation has implications for those who give gratuities and those who pocket them, with the potential to leave both sides feeling shortchanged.

‘No tax on tips’ could backfire amid growing tip fatigue

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

In DC an average of $44k will go to the top 1% (those w/inc over ~$1.3m) while the bottom 20% (inc under $26k) get $90 (until the tax cuts for lower inc folks expire). Paid for in part by the biggest ever cuts to health coverage and food assistance. Some serious reverse Robin Hood 💩.

There's a lotta concern about the short run (ie recession or not) implications of Trump's agenda. Dani is right to point to the long run as far far more consequential.

Labor cancels unemployment modernization grants for states The grant dollars — which the agency has been doling out since Congress allocated funding for fraud and access work in 2021 — don’t align with department priorities anymore, Labor says.

www.nextgov.com/modernizatio...

Americans favor labor unions over big business now more than ever, analysis of new data @epi.org from me & Adam Reich of Columbia Labor Lab.

In data back 60 years, Americans' sentiments are both warmer toward unions & cooler towards big business than ever before.
www.epi.org/blog/america...

🧵 (1/4) There are four fundamental flaws of the House tax bill.

#1 It is fiscally irresponsible; all reputable sources agree. Bond markets & downgrades show US financial fragility; this is a bad time to take on trillions in additional debt toward no useful policy rationale.

This reported SALT deal and accelerated Medicaid cuts would make the bill even more effective at transferring resources from low-income to high-income households.

Official CBO analysis confirms the obvious: House Republican tax and budget bill isn't shared sacrifice.

It makes poor people poorer and rich people richer. It does this by cutting health care & nutrition to help finance tax cuts skewed to the wealthy.

www.cbo.gov/publication/...

Shame on Gov. Polis for vetoing legislation to restore collective bargaining rights CO workers have been denied for 80 years under arcane anti-union state law.

New @centeronbudget.bsky.social analysis of the draft GOP tax plan released yesterday:

Unsurprisingly, it provides enormous tax cuts for the wealthy—including an average annual $65k cut for the top 1%—while doing little for low- and moderate-income families in 2027 (and even less by 2029).

Southern and Midwestern districts are the most vulnerable to Social Security cuts and disruptions Recent attacks on the Social Security Administration (SSA) by Elon Musk’s DOGE team and others in the Trump administration threaten the stability of this critical agency. In addition to endangering th...

Southern and Midwestern districts are the most vulnerable to Social Security cuts and disruptions www.epi.org/blog/souther...

D.C. Budget Fix Stalls in the House as Conservative Republicans Balk

It sure would be great if the party that purports to prioritize individual liberty would let the residents of the District of Columbia decide how they want to spend their own money. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/07/u...

100 ways Trump hurt workers in his first 100 days The frenetically chaotic first 100 days of the Trump/Musk (DOGE) administration have been an onslaught of actions to dismantle the federal government and eliminate crucial services and benefits for wo...

Trying to document all the ways that the Trump administration has harmed working people is hard. But @epi.org tried. See here: www.epi.org/publication/...

Check out the distribution by income--it's egregious and remember that this will be compounded by plans for cuts to health care, food assistance, education, and every other good thing, to make way for tax cuts for the wealthy.

The unlawful abduction and imprisonment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia puts all workers in peril The Trump administration’s unlawful removal of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to a prison in El Salvador—and willful defiance of court orders to facilitate his return—are demonstrating a flagrant disreg...

Important piece from my @epi.org colleagues @jensherer.bsky.social and Daniel Costa: The unlawful abduction and imprisonment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia puts all workers in peril www.epi.org/blog/the-unl...

The unlawful abduction and imprisonment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia puts all workers in peril The Trump administration’s unlawful removal of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to a prison in El Salvador—and willful defiance of court orders to facilitate his return—are demonstrating a flagrant disreg...

Important piece from my @epi.org colleagues @jensherer.bsky.social and Daniel Costa: The unlawful abduction and imprisonment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia puts all workers in peril www.epi.org/blog/the-unl...

Missouri Republican state lawmakers are pushing a radical anti-worker tax plan The piece has been updated to reflect the latest version of the bill passed by the Missouri Senate, which no longer eliminates the state earned income tax credit, reduces the corporate income tax, or ...

Missouri Republicans are pushing a radical, anti-worker tax plan that fully exempts all capital gains from taxes ⚠️

The top 1% would get 320x the tax cut of a middle-class taxpayer, according to @itep.org

Exempting capital gains is unambiguously bad for working people

www.epi.org/blog/missour...

Missouri Republican state lawmakers are pushing a radical anti-worker tax plan The piece has been updated to reflect the latest version of the bill passed by the Missouri Senate, which no longer eliminates the state earned income tax credit, reduces the corporate income tax, or ...

Missouri Republican state lawmakers are pushing a radical anti-worker tax plan www.epi.org/blog/missour... h/t @itep.org for analysis of the bill.

Trump tries to restore a grim era for American workers Make Black Lung Great Again.

"People look back on the golden age of American manufacturing with fondness because it provided the elusive 'good jobs at good wages.' To the extent that was actually true, it was thanks to an interlocking series of policies that MAGA Republicans happen to hate." -- @snipy.bsky.social

Missouri Republican state lawmakers are pushing a radical anti-worker tax plan The piece has been updated to reflect the latest version of the bill passed by the Missouri Senate, which no longer eliminates the state earned income tax credit, reduces the corporate income tax, or ...

Missouri Republican state lawmakers are pushing a radical anti-worker tax plan www.epi.org/blog/missour... h/t @itep.org for analysis of the bill.

The topline numbers in the latest #NumbersDay report on Job Openings and Labor Turnover for February showed little changed in February, but we can see the fingerprints of recent policy decisions on the federal workforce. The data show 18,000 laid off federal workers in February.