Latest from Scott Tong

• Nov 6, 2017

  Are military contracts a path to more American jobs?

  President Donald Trump prides himself on being deal-maker-in-chief, and that includes arms sales to foreign militaries. In Japan for his Asia trip, the president said the Japanese could shoot North Korean missiles out of the sky when they buy “lots of additional military equipment” from the U.S. He also said that would mean lots of […]

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• Nov 1, 2017

  EPA head shifts makeup of panel science advisers

  Pruitt is installing new science advisors who have a history of being more industry friendly.

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• Oct 18, 2017

  Tax cuts are not likely to make or break the stock market

  The stock market has been on quite a run since the election. The workings of the Federal Reserve have indeed had an impact on the economy, investors and companies. But recent comments from the Treasury secretary suggest that continued stock successes hinge on tax reform. Most Wall Street analysts will tell you something quite different. […]

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• Oct 12, 2017

  Do rising stock prices help the nation’s debt?

  The stock market has surged for much of the last year, and the president — like all presidents — is trying to take credit. Fair enough. But last night, he suggested the stock market can help fix the country’s national debt problem. Which got a lot of people scratching a lot of heads. Is there even any […]

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• Oct 12, 2017

  Many countries help people prepare their taxes for free. Why doesn’t the U.S.?

  

  Two decades ago, Congress voted to have the IRS help Americans file their returns but it never happened.

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• Oct 10, 2017

  If there has been a war on coal, Obama’s Clean Power Plan was never the main front

  The Environmental Protection Agency has started the process to repeal the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era measure to reduce emissions from power plants. In his announcement, Scott Pruitt characterized the repeal as an end to a “war on coal.” But in the real world of energy markets, not a whole lot is expected to change. […]

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• Oct 3, 2017

  The Clean Power Plan is a zombie that will be hard to kill

  The Obama-era regulation known as the Clean Power Plan is expected to be the next target for the White House to cut back regulations. It’s something of a zombie, since the Supreme Court halted its rollout, yet the EPA is required to take measures to regulate carbon pollution (due to an agency finding that greenhouse […]

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• Oct 2, 2017

  Coal and nuclear power stand to gain from new Department of Energy moves

  The Trump administration is asking for new regulations in the name of grid reliability. Specifically, it wants to support coal and nuclear power to make sure the U.S. always has a  supply on-hand for possible times of need. But skeptics wonder if this is all a back-door bailout for power plants that simply can’t compete […]

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• Sep 28, 2017

  Delivering supplies across a ruined landscape is the biggest challenge in Puerto Rico

  U.S. military operations have ramped up in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria as word of worsening conditions has spread widely. The relief effort delays are less about getting supplies to the island, officials and workers have said, and more about getting what’s already there to the people who need it. Shipping containers with water, food, […]

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• Sep 13, 2017

  The agency investigating toxic chemical leaks could be axed by budget cuts

  The Chemical Safety Board is running at full tilt in the wake of hurricane damage this month. It’s a small federal agency that investigates toxic leaks from petrochemical plants, like the Arkema plant explosion in Texas, after Hurricane Harvey. But it’s on the president’s list of agencies to ax to make budget cuts.  Click the […]

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