The IRS finalized a regulation Friday making clear that owners and shareholders of insurance agencies and brokerages organized as pass-through entities can fully benefit from a new tax deduction. Under the regulation, owners and shareholders of insurance agencies and brokerages can take up to a 20 percent tax deduction on qualified business income.

The government shutdown is moving into week five and the damage is beginning to show. The direct economic damage is estimated at around 0.50 percent so far, which is material in an economy expected to grow around 2.5 percent in the first quarter. Slower growth is an inevitable result of the slowdown.

The House intelligence committee chairman said he will “do what is necessary” to confirm a published report that President Donald Trump directed his personal attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations over a real estate project in Moscow during the 2016 election. Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff of California says the allegation that Trump asked Cohen to lie “to curtail the investigation and cover up his business dealings with Russia is among the most serious to date.”

United States Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Timothy J. Sloan, CEO and President of Wells Fargo& Company requesting more information about the exorbitant fees Wells Fargo charged students for financial products marketed to them through agreements with their colleges. The CFPB examined bank fees at 573 colleges. “Wells Fargo has a history of…

The House will try again next week to pass a stopgap funding bill members had initially approved by voice vote Thursday, after Republicans said Democrats didn’t give them a chance to ask for a recorded vote. The procedural snafu won’t affect the prospects of the legislation, which was already facing a White House veto threat and was basically dead on arrival in…

The U.S. economy remains healthy, and Vanguard is sticking with its prediction for only one more interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in 2019, chief economist Joseph Davis said. Vanguard’s model predicts a less than 50 percent change of recession in 2019, he added.

But the auto show’s backstory is clouded by potential economic stumbling blocks at every corner– ranging from pinched pocketbooks to stormy trading on Wall Street to a highly volatile trade war between the United States and China, among other countries. It’s possible that “the auto business will create the next recession, not housing,” Jonathan Smoke, chief…

Today, Congressman Bobby Scott, chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, joined House and Senate leadership to introduce the Raise the Wage Act of 2019. The bill would gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 in 2024, index future minimum wage increases to median wage growth, and ensure all workers are paid at least the full federal minimum wage by phasing…

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, delivered the following remarks during her first policy speech in the 116th Congress:. CAP’s research and policy work are highly respected and a valued resource for Members of Congress and our staffs. I am very pleased to be here with you today to discuss the new…

Some of the Democrats considering running for president in 2020 say they plan to ignore personal needling from President Donald Trump. Sen. Corey Booker of New Jersey tells The Associated Press that he doesn’t want to waste his time on negativity when voters want to hear a positive message. Another potential Trump opponent, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, says it’s a tricky challenge to stand your ground but not allow Trump to define the agenda every day.

Congress is planning to skip next week’s planned recess if the partial government shutdown continues. And there is every indication it will drag on. Neither side is showing signs of backing down. President Donald Trump told supporters in a conference call Tuesday that the shutdown will continue “for a long time” if it has to. And the president says people are impressed at how well the government is working. Democrats remain opposed to Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion to build a border wall.

The Trump administration’ s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law December 2017, and it brings a number of significant changes to how taxes will be filed beginning this tax season. Here are some key changes that will impact clients.

The preliminary injunction from U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam applies to 13 states, plus D.C. Judge Gilliam, presiding in California, noted strong arguments on both sides of the debate over former President Barack Obama’s mandate, which devout business owners and religiously affiliated nonprofit employers have blasted as a violation of their…

Friday marks the 21st day of the federal government shutdown 2019– a tie for the longest in U.S. history. The impasse between Congress and President Donald Trump over his call for $5.7 billion to build a wall along the U.S.- Mexico border shows no sign of abating. As federal workers and contractors, state and local governments, and members of Congress call for an end…

Chuck Grassley, R- Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, issued the following news:. Following the adoption of a Senate resolution ratifying committee leadership today, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa released the following statement outlining his committee agenda for the Congress. We must also ensure that the laws passed…

A later White House negotiating session with congressional leaders ended in acrimony. –Chad Pergram January 9, 2019. He said that after a contentious White House meeting that reportedly began with Trump offering candy to Democratic leaders, and ended soon after with the president storming out.

Just for a change, I thought you might appreciate some good news- well nominally good news at any rate. The US job creation figure for December has come in at nearly twice the level anticipated by analysts: 312000 against expectations of 177000. However, despite this strong level of performance, unemployment in the USA has edged slightly higher to 3.9%.

The National Federation of Independent Business issued the following news release:. “Optimism among small business owners continues to push record highs, but they need workers to generate more sales, provide services, and complete projects, said NFIB President and CEO Juanita D. Duggan.” Two of every three of these new jobs are historically created by the small…

Shares are mixed in Asia as officials remain silent on talks underway in Beijing aimed at resolving trade tensions with the U.S. The talks were due to wrap up Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.8 percent while the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.2 percent lower. The middling trading session followed gains on Wall Street spurred by encouraging economic indicators.

Jan. 07– ONETIME Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, in a column in The Washington Post, recently said President Trump “has not risen to the mantle of the office.” He was right to align U.S. corporate taxes with those of global competitors, to strip out excessive regulations, to crack down on China’s unfair trade practices, to reform criminal justice and to…

NEW YORK— Small business issues often win bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, but given the divisions in the incoming 116th Congress, advocates for companies have low expectations. Even after lawmakers deal with the partial government shutdown, a Democratic House, a Republican Senate and ongoing investigations of the Trump White House and campaign are…

Though I now support the construction of a border wall— it’s the only way to keep unauthorized visitors from setting foot on U.S. soil, applying for asylum and then slipping into the general population— President Trump doesn’t have the votes in Congress. All presidents have issues with the Federal Reserve— higher interest rates make wage gains and votes tougher…

To prevent the federal government shutdown from continuing until the 2020 election I propose a solution that both Democrats and Republicans will equally love and hate. Congress gives the president $5 billion for Trump’s wall. In exchange, the federal government immediately grants U.S. citizenship to all DACA registrants and anyone who has been illegally in…

Chuck Grassley of Iowa was nominated today by his majority-party colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee to serve as chairman for the 116th Congress. Grassley announced in November, 2018, that he would opt to serve as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee after four years as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Senate Finance Committee has…

According to Senior Petroleum Analyst Dan McTeague, a mid-December outage in BP’ s Olympic Pipeline system– which delivers gasoline, diesel and jet fuel the length of the state from Blaine to Portland– caused a temporary rise in state fuel prices that Washington residents are now seeing some relief from. Washington has the third-highest state gasoline taxes in…

The U.S. stock market took a major nosedive last month, finishing as the worst December since 1931, during the Great Depression. On Christmas Eve, the stock markets suffered their steepest decline. That all comes as job creation has slowed, and optimism among manufacturers 2019– a critical voter base for President Donald Trump– has slipped.

Whether Democrats are openly obstructionist corporatists like Pelosi, or liberal sounding like Warren, they will not consider any meaningful systemic reforms. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is the first to officially announce the formation of a campaign exploratory committee. Unfortunately there has been little examination of the 2016…

As a new Congress takes office Thursday amid a partial government shutdown, most Americans see quite a few key issues as important for Congress and the White House to tackle this year. While education, healthcare and the economy once again rank as their top three priorities, majorities of U.S. adults also desire to see leaders tackle a host of pressing issues such…

The legal framework for firing a Fed chair remains subject to debate. Fed scholar Peter Conti-Brown argues that the president could try to demote Powell from Fed chairman back to a governor, but that would potentially still leave Powell as chairman of the interest-rate setting Federal Reserve Open Market Committee.

On Tuesday, President Xi Jinping on China sent a message to US President Donald Trump to mark 40 years since the establishment of open diplomatic relations between the countries. In his note, he urged cooperation between the US and China, and lauded the historic progress made between the two countries in the past 40 years. US WTI futures were down 1.08 percent to…

Donald Trump may watch the stock market more closely than any day trader. For a president who underlined the increasing importance of working-class whites to the GOP coalition and who trampled so much bipartisan economic orthodoxy during the campaign, to be so overtly obsessed with the stock market is a strange disconnect. In fact, no president in memory has so…

Dec. 27– The three Democrats in Palm Beach County’s U.S. House delegation say they’ll use their newly won majority status to push for health care legislation, an infrastructure bill, immigration reform, gun control and other issues when the 116th Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3. And if the Republican-controlled Senate and President Donald Trump don’t go along,…

A lot of factors have driven the correction, including President Trump’s trade wars, his government shutdown and a surprise court ruling declaring Obamacare unconstitutional. So instead, he declared the villain to be Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, a man Trump personally chose for the job a year ago. Under such circumstances, it’s unsurprising that…

Roaring 20 s– The first stock market crash in the U.S. hit in October of 1929, bringing an end to the Roaring 20 s. Great Depression– By 1933, nearly half of the banks in the U.S. failed. Importantly, in the 1930 s, in the Great Depression, the Federal Reserve, despite its mandate, was quite passive and, as a result, financial crisis became very severe, lasted essentially from…

But what really might have pushed stocks over the top was a signal from Washington D.C. that President Donald Trump would not try to oust the chairman of the Federal Reserve. On Monday, Trump tweeted another critical volley about the central bank’s policy, rattling markets over the possibility the White House might interfere with the traditionally…

Economists and other such experts have expressed their worries with the continuous trade war between two of the biggest economies- the United States and China, with the US President seemingly to back down of his decision. Of all the interviewed economists, one agreed with the suggestion of the US president that the Federal Reserve was the biggest threat to the…

WASHINGTON- President Donald Trump says he has confidence in Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, calling him a “very talented guy” and a “very smart person.” Dysfunction in Washington isn’t helping the situation, with a budget impasse between President Donald Trump and Congress triggering a partial U.S. government shutdown that could last into the new year.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says President Donald Trump has denied he ever suggested firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Trump has been attacking the Fed _ and Powell personally _ for the central bank’s interest rate increases. Trump blames the independent agency’s hikes for recent stock market turmoil and signs of economic weakness. Mnuchin says he spoke with Trump and Trump said he “never suggested” firing Powell and doesn’t believe he has the right to do so.

Now in its 10th year, America’s economic expansion still looks sturdy. Yet the partial shutdown of the government that began Saturday has added another threat to a growing list of risks. The stock market’s persistent fall, growing chaos in the Trump administration, higher interest rates, a U.S.-China trade war and a global slowdown have combined to elevate the perils for the economy.

The Federal Reserve is expected Wednesday to raise its benchmark rate for a fourth time this year despite President Donald Trump’s repeated assertions that doing so would be a terrible idea.

A leaked memo circulating in the White House calls for electricity consumers to bail out struggling coal and nuclear plants by mandating that a portion of energy be purchased from certain failing suppliers. Following through would undermine the market-driven forces that have boosted U.S. energy production, saved money for consumers, and helped the…

A shutdown happens when Congress and the White House can’t agree on a deal to fund the federal government. Most employees at the US space agency NASA would likely be furloughed and might not get paid for that time, although Congress usually grants pay retroactively after a shutdown is over. Congress already approved funding this year for about 75 percent of the…

Washington— The White House and Democratic congressional leaders are at an impasse over negotiations to avoid a partial shutdown of the federal government at the end of the week, with both sides unwilling to budge from their positions on President Donald Trump’ s proposed border wall. White House senior adviser Stephen Miller said Sunday the administration…

—Bickering in the Oval Office. Shouting at the Houses of Parliament. In France, people who feel left behind by a globalizing world have spent the last few weeks marching and rioting to protest a government they call elitist and out of touch.

NEW YORK- U.S. stocks couldn’t hang on to a big gain Wednesday, but they still finished broadly higher as technology and health care companies rose. Stocks initially rallied after the Wall Street Journal reported that China’s government could make changes to its “Made in China 2025” economic development plan. The hour-to-hour changes reflect investors’…

Congress has a lot of its plate, but financial services would like to see a retirement income security bill get passed before the end of the year.

Republicans released a revised end-of-year tax package this week that includes tax relief for victims of recent natural disasters, delays or repeals several Obamacare-related taxes, and jettisons the extensions of many expired breaks that had been included in an earlier bill.

The new head of the U.S. consumer watchdog agency says she doesn’t have immediate targets in mind for rolling back actions taken by her controversial predecessor, and will put protecting consumers in the forefront. Kathy Kraninger, nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate last week on a narrow, party-line vote, has replaced Mick Mulvaney as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

“I am a Tariff Man,” Trump tweeted last week.“ When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so…. We are right now taking in$ billions in Tariffs. About half the $200 bn worth of goods you’ ve already put tariffs on come almost exclusively from China, which means American consumers are taking a hit this…

WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump’ s intensifying legal troubles are unnerving some of his fellow Republicans. For some Republicans, the implication that the president may have directed a campaign finance violation, which would be a felony, could foreshadow a true turning point in the Republican relationship with him when special counsel Robert Mueller…

Major global stock indexes are mostly lower Monday morning, though losses are milder than last week’s rout. The British pound is falling and U.K. stocks are higher following reports that a key vote on Britain’s departure from the European Union could be scrapped.

That likely took a toll elsewhere, even as lawmakers and policymakers in Maryland, along with some other states, worked to protect their insurance markets and make insurance more affordable. For example, the Trump administration cut funding for enrollment assistance to about $10 million, down from $63 million two years ago. Maryland has doubled its paid…

The U.S. economy added 155,000 jobs in November and kept unemployment at 3.7 percent, the lowest in almost 50 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. Average hourly earnings for private workers rose by 6 cents to $27.35 per hour. General Motors cited tariffs as one of the main reasons why it’s laying off thousands of workers and closing several plans.

White House political director Bill Stepien and deputy Justin Clark are leaving the administration to work on President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign. Their plans were confirmed by two people with knowledge of their thinking who weren’t authorized to speak publicly before an official announcement. Stepien oversaw Trump’s midterm campaign push, which included rallies intended to help limit GOP losses. Republicans kept control of the Senate, but lost their House majority.