“The Trump administration signaled a plan Friday to revoke a two-year-old tax rule designed to crack down on an arcane but highly lucrative tax avoidance tactic used by some of the largest and most complicated businesses.
If enacted, the Trump administration’s proposal would mean that large business partnerships no longer need to tell the IRS when they shift assets from one corporate entity to another. Those transactions, called “basis shifting,” have allowed businesses to dodge tens of billions of dollars in taxes, the Treasury Department alleged in the past, by illegally depreciating the same asset over and over again.
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the IRS workforce has shrunk drastically under Trump. In the first months of his term, more than a quarter of the agency took buyout offers or otherwise left their jobs.”
It’s not clear how many layoffs are caused by AI. Companies may want to have layoffs or not hire for business reasons, and just blame it on AI so they don’t look bad.
Trump says a lot of things, and a lot of it is nonsense. Some of it turns into serious policies with huge consequences. But even the things he says that don’t come true have large consequences because he is president. Investors, businesses, and consumers have to make decisions, and Trump’s actions can impact that, so they have to deal with his words and the potential consequences. Even dealing with just his words, costs companies tons of money.
“Regulation isn’t just an annoyance—it’s a prosperity killer. At the end of 2024, the MetLife & U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index found that “51% of small businesses say navigating regulatory compliance requirements is negatively impacting their growth” and that “almost as many (47%) say their business spends too much time fulfilling regulatory compliance requirements.”
With the affordability of housing a major concern, the National Association of Home Builders warns that “regulations account for nearly 25% of the cost of a single-family home.”
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“The real test ahead is whether deregulation will be made durable by Congress or be left to the whims of the executive officeholder,” Crews emphasizes. “Unfortunately for the Trump project, meaningful reform requires more than freezes and ratios. Congress needs to make the ‘Unrules project’ permanent, and to end the laundering of regulation by means other than the conventional rules featured in this roundup.””
“Trump has reportedly homed in on $50 a barrel as the price he’d like to see US oil prices trend toward, alleviating energy costs for US households.
The problem for the US oil industry? That math doesn’t check out.
In the Permian Basin, the largest collection of oil plays in the continental US and the crown jewel of American energy, breakeven prices hover between $62 and $64, according to data from the Dallas Federal Reserve.
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As a wave of global oversupply gluts the oil market, the Energy Information Administration expects that Brent crude (BZ=F) — the international benchmark — will fall toward an average of $55 per barrel within the first quarter of 2026 and remain at that depressed level throughout the year.
WTI prices would almost certainly move in tandem, pegging its value around $51.50.”
Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD makes everything in-house, which makes it more efficient. China also has much cheaper labor than the US, and heavy governmental subsidies.
“Electronic Arts, the maker of video games like “Madden NFL,” “Battlefield,” and “The Sims,” is being acquired for $55 billion in what could become the largest private equity-funded buyout in history.
Silver Lake Partners, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF, and Affinity Partners will pay EA’s stockholders $210 per share. Affinity Partners is run by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.”
“Interviews with more than a dozen technology executives over the past week revealed that the Trump administration’s announcements of government stakes in companies such as Intel have had a chilling effect, with executives now filtering many decisions through the prism of how the White House might respond.”