What Mike Tyson and the Bond Market Can Teach Trump on Debt
'Everyone has a plan, till they get punched in the face,' the former heavyweight champion and ear gourmand Mike Tyson once said. Swapping the boxing ring for the government arena, everyone has a plan for whittling down America's debt, until they get punched by the bond market.
President Donald Trump's own plan for managing the debt can be boiled down to something like this. On the spending side, make drastic cuts to the government workforce and pare back programs such as Medicaid and clean energy subsidies that don't align with his political priorities. On the revenue side, extend the tax cuts from his first term, with money collected from higher tariffs filling in most of the gap. Following the logic of the infamous Laffer curve, tax cuts will stimulate the economy, so that government income rises even as rates fall.
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Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Industrial firms to face £685m property tax hit after energy support pledge
Industrial firms are to be hit with nearly £700 million in new property taxes, offsetting some of the Government's move to slash their energy bills to boost competitiveness, experts have warned. Just a week after the Government's industrial strategy revealed electricity costs for about 7,000 energy-intensive businesses would be cut by scrapping green levies, estimates suggest many of the larger firms are set to see their business rates bill soar. Around 4,300 large-scale industrial properties in England – across manufacturing sectors such as automotive, aerospace and chemicals – will face a new business rates levy costing them around £685 million a year, according to tax and software firm Ryan. The levy, which comes into effect in April, is part of next year's business rates revaluation and is being used to fund tax breaks for high street retail, leisure and hospitality sectors, Ryan said. Alex Probyn, a practice leader of property tax at Ryan, said that while the industrial strategy move to reduce energy bills was welcome, 'it's perverse to then ask those very same businesses to foot the bill for high street tax cuts through higher business rates from 2026, a year before the energy support will come into effect'. He added: 'If the goal is to boost UK competitiveness, we need a coherent strategy that tackles the total burden of fixed costs — not one that gives with one hand and then takes with the other.' It follows Sir Keir Starmer's 10-year industrial strategy, which includes a measure to cut bills by up to 25% to help firms compete with foreign rivals. Under the new plans, a new British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme from 2027 will cut costs by up to £40 per megawatt hour for over 7,000 manufacturing firms by exempting them from levies on bills including the renewables obligation, feed-in tariffs and the capacity market. Around 500 of the most energy-intensive firms, including the steel industry, chemicals and glass-making, will also see their network charges cut. They currently get a 60% discount through the British Industry Supercharger scheme, which will increase to 90% from 2026. But Ryan is calling for more coherence in strategy from the Government, cautioning that any benefit from lower energy bills risks being undermined by increased property taxation. UK firms already face the highest property taxes in the developed world and more than double the European Union average, according to the firm. Mr Probyn said: 'We're seeing two opposing policies rolled out simultaneously. One aims to support industry by reducing energy costs. 'The other increases a key fixed operational cost — property tax — on the very same businesses to subsidise other sectors. 'There is no coherent strategy; it's a contradiction.' A government spokesperson said: 'We are making it easier and quicker for businesses to invest and grow by cutting British industrial electricity costs with unprecedented new support which will cut electricity costs by around 20-25% for thousands of businesses. 'Our reform to the business rates system will also create a fairer business rates system that protects the high street, supports investment and levels the playing field. 'A new, permanently lower business rates in 2026 will benefit over 280,000 retail, hospitality and leisure business properties and will be sustainably funded by a new, higher rate on the 1% of most valuable business properties.'
32 minutes ago
Trump vowed to deport the 'worst of the worst' -- but new data shows a shift to also arresting non-criminals
President Donald Trump campaigned for president on the promise of mass deportations that targeted criminals -- and while ICE agents have arrested over 38,000 migrants with criminal convictions, new data shows a recent shift toward also arresting those who have not been accused of crimes. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has arrested an increasing number of migrants with no criminal convictions, according to an ABC News analysis of Immigration and Customs Enforcement data. The numbers, which were obtained through a public records lawsuit and released by the Deportation Data Project at the University of California Berkeley, give the first real glimpse of how Trump's immigration enforcement policy is playing out in the streets. Over the first five months of the Trump administration, ICE has arrested over 95,000 individuals, according to data analyzed by ABC's owned television stations' data team. At the start of the administration, ICE tended to target migrants with pending or criminal convictions. From Inauguration Day to May 4, 2025, 44% of those arrested had a criminal conviction, while 34% of those arrested had pending charges and 23% had no criminal history, according to the data. But beginning May 25, the data appears to show there was a shift in enforcement -- with individuals with criminal convictions making up only 30% of those arrested. Those arrested with pending criminal charges accounted for 26% of the individuals arrested and 44% had no criminal history. "It looks like there's been a shift from about Memorial Day this year up until now, to an increasing number of people who have been detained who have no criminal charges," said Austin Kocher, a professor at Syracuse University who reviewed the data. "We hear a lot about the administration deporting the worst of the worst. And as far as we can tell from all available data up to this point, the data has not really supported that," Kocher said. The data is largely divided into three groups of individuals: those who have criminal convictions, those with pending charges, and those who may be facing civil immigration charges, labeled as "other immigration violators." However, the data provides no indication of what kind of crimes the individuals may be accused or convicted of. In Los Angeles, where ICE raids recently sparked large demonstrations, and in the New York City area, almost 60% of those arrested by ICE in the first ten days of June had no criminal convictions nor any pending criminal charges, according to the data. Asked about the shift, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told ABC News, "We are not going to disclose law enforcement sensitive intelligence and methods. 70% of the arrests ICE made were of criminal illegal aliens." "We are continuing to go after the worst of the worst -- including gang members, pedophiles, and rapists," McLaughlin said. "Under Secretary [Kristi] Noem, we are delivering on President Trump's and the American people's mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe." The majority of administration's migrant arrests have taken place in Texas, the state with the longest southern border. But the data also shows that enforcement has largely shifted away from apprehensions at the southern border to apprehensions in the interior of the country. John Sandweg, the former acting director of ICE under President Barack Obama, told ABC News that the shift in enforcement is not a surprise, considering that illegal border crossings are down dramatically. "For the last probably 15 years at least, the majority of ICE arrests, people booked into ICE custody or ICE apprehensions, were individuals apprehended at the border. But now, the administration is very sensitive to the numbers and has started putting ICE under pressure," Sandweg said, referring to Trump's call for more migrants to be deported. "The problem is that you are now engaged in operations that are, frankly, more likely to find non-criminals than criminals," Sandweg said. As ABC News previously reported, ICE's latest tactic has been arresting individuals at immigration courts. In most cases, when a deportation case is dismissed, it is a positive outcome for a migrant, attorneys told ABC News -- but according to immigration attorneys and advocates, immigration enforcement officers have been waiting in immigration court buildings and coordinating with DHS lawyers to arrest migrants promptly after their cases are dismissed, after which the migrants are placed into expedited removal proceedings without allowing them to fight their case. "If there's anything that says this isn't about serious criminal enforcement, it's this wholesale dismissal of cases of the people who are showing up in immigration court," Sandweg said. "I mean, you want to find the place where you're least likely to find dangerous criminals -- it's the people who show up for their immigration court hearings." Sandweg said these new types of enforcement, including courthouse arrests, are being made in an effort to achieve quotas set by the Trump administration. "It's another way to just quickly make some arrests," Sandweg said. The administration, meanwhile, says it's continuing its efforts to target accused criminals. At a press conference on Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said federal authorities have arrested 2,711 alleged multinational gang members since Trump re-took office in January. "You should all feel safer that President Trump can deport all of these gangs and not one district court judge can think they're emperor over this Trump administration and his executive powers," she said.
Washington Post
37 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Democrat Colin Allred is running again for US Senate in Texas
DALLAS — Former Texas congressman Colin Allred launched another run for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday after the Democrat's challenge against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz last year broke records for spending but did not deliver his party the breakthrough it has sought for decades in the state. This time, Allred is seeking the seat of Republican Sen. John Cornyn , who is facing a primary challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in what is likely to be one of the GOP's most contentious contests in 2026. Allred's announcement comes just seven months after he lost by nearly 9 percentage points to Cruz. That race was one of the most expensive in the country last cycle, with Democrats spending more than $130 million trying to unseat Cruz. A former NFL linebacker and attorney, Allred is the first high-profile Democrat to declare himself a candidate in the race that Democrats see as their best shot next year at ending a 30-year drought in statewide elections in Texas. Another former Democratic congressman, Beto O'Rourke , who came within 3 percentage points of defeating Cruz in 2018, also hasn't ruled out a run. In a video announcing his candidacy, Allred took aim at both Cornyn and Paxton and cast himself as a fighter for those struggling to get ahead. 'I get it. Real change might feel impossible,' Allred said. 'But I'm not giving up.' Allred tried to position himself as a moderate in last year's race and made protecting abortion rights a centerpiece of his campaign. His supporters included Texas women who had serious pregnancy complications after the state's abortion ban took effect. But his campaign drew criticism early on from some Democrats who grew restless with Allred's strategy of not packing his schedule with raucous rallies or investing more in smaller corners of Texas, including cities along the border with Mexico. In the end, Texas Democrats' streak of losses in statewide races continued while Republicans kept making gains along the predominately Hispanic border with Mexico, which had long been a Democratic stronghold. Allred played four seasons in the NFL, all with the Tennessee Titans, after being undrafted out of Baylor University. He entered Congress after flipping a Republican district in Dallas in 2018. Former astronaut Terry Virts also entered the U.S. Senate race as a Democratic candidate. Looming over the GOP primary between Cornyn and Paxton is whether and when President Donald Trump will make an endorsement. In April, Trump praised both candidates and said he would make a decision later.
