The NYT reports on plans to use unspent TARP money to pay jobless benefits and other purposes. The TARP money was appropriated as loans, not expenditures. The Congressional Budget Office assumed that the vast majority of this money would be repaid and therefore returned to the Treasury. If some of this money is instead spent on unemployment benefits or other purposes, it has the same impact on the budget as if new money was appropriated for these purposes. Reporters should point out this fact.
A second Trump administration will cement a right-wing majority on the Supreme Court for a generation, and put our collective future in the hands of someone who will be virtually unchecked by our institutions. The country has shifted rightward, and the reverberations will ensue for potentially the next few decades. In this climate, a robust independent media ecosystem will be more important than ever. We're committed to bringing you the latest news on how Trump's agenda will actually affect the American people, shining a light on the stories corporate media overlooks and keeping the public informed about how power really works in this country.
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