Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen signaled on Monday that she has no doubt the U.S. could fund Israel and Ukraine in their ongoing military conflicts despite America&#8217;s rising gross national debt.
In an <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/we-can-certainly-afford-two-wars-us-treasury-secretary-says-12985335" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with Britain&#8217;s Sky News, Yellen told the outlet that the U.S. could &#8220;absolutely&#8221; afford to provide military aid to Israel in its war against the militant terrorist organization Hamas while funding more support to Ukraine in its ongoing struggle with Russia.
&#8220;America can certainly afford to stand with Israel and to support Israel&#8217;s military needs, and we also can and must support Ukraine in its struggle against Russia,&#8221; Yellen said in an interview with Sky News.
Last month, America&#8217;s gross national debt <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/us-national-debt-surpasses-33t-for-first-time-in-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">surpassed</a> $33 trillion, which didn&#8217;t draw heavy concern for Yellen, who said at the time that the net interest as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) remains under control by the federal government.
In her interview with Sky News, she emphasized the U.S. economy is doing &#8220;extremely well.&#8221;
&#8220;Inflation has been high, and it&#8217;s been a concern to households, it&#8217;s come down considerably,&#8221; she said. &#8220;At the same time, we have about the strongest labor market we&#8217;ve seen in 50 years with 3.8% unemployment. And at the same time, America — the Biden administration — has passed legislation that is strengthening our economy in years to come for the medium term,&#8221; referring to the Fiscal Responsibility Act that claims to reduce budget deficits by $1.5 million over the next decade.
Yellen said the economic impacts of the Israel-Hamas war were too early to gauge, as volatile oil prices remain a concern while other Middle Eastern countries, including Iran, could get involved in the conflict.
Still, the nation&#8217;s top treasury official said Israel and Ukraine remain a &#8220;priority&#8221; for the U.S. and called on GOP House lawmakers to fill the vacant speaker position after the lower chamber of Congress removed former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) nearly two weeks ago.
&#8220;It&#8217;s really up to the House to find, seat a speaker and to put us in a position where legislation can be passed,&#8221; Yellen said, adding that &#8220;it shows that there&#8217;s a problem in the Republican party in terms of being able to effectively govern the country.&#8221;
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/15/world/middleeast/israel-ukraine-aid-biden-congress.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" data-analytics-product-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="100" data-mrf-link="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/15/world/middleeast/israel-ukraine-aid-biden-congress.html" data-uri="fd1de9296c2b0e847f627d67f44e2411">told</a> reporters during his visit to Israel that he would not wait for the House to get in order before drafting legislation with the “most generous package” for Israel.
&#8220;We believe if we put together a strong package and pass it with an overwhelming, strong bipartisan majority, it will put pressure on the House, one way or another, to act,&#8221; Schumer said.
An <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-selects-2000-troops-for-potential-deployment-to-support-israel-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">estimated</a> 1,400 Israelis have been killed since Hamas launched a brutal terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, including more than 280 soldiers, while roughly 3,200 more Israelis have been injured. In addition, Hamas is believed to have taken nearly 200 hostages. Iranian officials reportedly said Hamas would release hostages held captive in Gaza but said that making preparations to free civilians is &#8220;impossible&#8221; under Israeli bombing.
U.S. officials said on Sunday the American death toll in Israel reached 30, and more than a dozen remain missing. It is unclear how many are being held hostage in Gaza after Biden said last week that some U.S. citizens were among those taken.
During the Sky News interview, Yellen stressed the importance of sparing civilian lives &#8220;to the maximum extent possible.&#8221;
U.S. officials, including President Joe Biden, have reiterated their &#8220;unwavering support&#8221; for Israel&#8217;s right to defend itself in its war against Hamas.
Biden rejected the claim that the U.S. could not financially support Israel and Ukraine in their ongoing conflicts during an <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-joe-biden-2023-60-minutes-transcript/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with &#8220;60 Minutes,&#8221; adding that both could impact the safety of America.
&#8220;We&#8217;re the United States of America for God&#8217;s sake, the most powerful nation in the history — not in the world, in the history of the world,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We can take care of both of these and still maintain our overall international defense,&#8221; he said.

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank Annual Meetings

Yellen Says U.S. Can ‘Certainly’ Afford To Provide Military Support For Israel And Ukraine

Yellen Says US Can 'Certainly' Afford To Provide Military Support For Israel And Ukraine

Biden Administration

Chuck Schumer

Department of the Treasury

Hamas

House Republicans

Israel

Janet Yellen

Ukraine

Ukraine-Russia War

House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) announced a breakthrough on Tuesday in his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/james-comer-says-hunter-biden-probe-critical-for-legislative-fix" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investigation into the Biden family&#8217;s business dealings</a>.
&#8220;After two months of dragging their feet, the Treasury Department is finally providing us with access to the suspicious activity reports for the Biden family and their associates’ business transactions,&#8221; Comer said in a statement.
House Republicans hope the <a href="https://www.occ.treas.gov/topics/supervision-and-examination/bank-operations/financial-crime/suspicious-activity-reports/index-suspicious-activity-reports.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suspicious activity reports</a>, which financial institutions can use to flag possible criminal behavior, will help root out any evidence of international influence peddling schemes that may involve President Joe Biden.
&#8220;We are going to continue to use bank documents and suspicious activity reports to follow the money trail to determine the extent of the Biden family’s business schemes, if Joe Biden is compromised by these deals, and if there is a national security threat,&#8221; Comer said.
In recent weeks, Comer accused the Treasury Department of making <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023-02-24-Letter-Treasury.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;several excuses&#8221;</a> for delaying compliance with his demands for information and began to increase pressure by seeking a transcribed interview with the agency official tasked with communicating with Congress. Now with the Treasury Department providing an &#8220;in camera&#8221; review of the suspicious activity reports, Comer said plans for an interview had been postponed.
The Daily Wire reached out to the Treasury Department for comment.
The White House has painted Republican probes into the Biden family, including Hunter&#8217;s art sales, as being steeped in politics. &#8220;Instead of working with President Biden to address issues important to the American people, like lower costs, congressional Republicans&#8217; top priority is to go after President Biden with politically motivated attacks chock-full of long-debunked conspiracy theories,&#8221; <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63665351" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said White House spokesman Ian Sams</a>.
Democrats in Congress vociferously oppose the probes run by Republicans into the Biden family, including the president&#8217;s brothers and his son, Hunter Biden, whose financial dealings are also being scrutinized by federal prosecutors.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to Comer over the weekend <a href="https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/FINAL%202023.03.12.%20JBR%20to%20Comer%20re%20Mazars%20BofA%20Subpoena.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raising concerns</a> that a subpoena the chairman sent to Bank of America seeking 14 years of records involving people linked to Hunter Biden was geared toward giving former President Donald Trump an edge in a possible 2024 election rematch.
&#8220;I fear this wildly overbroad subpoena suggests that your interest in this investigation is not in pursuing defined facts or informing public legislation but conducting a dragnet of political opposition research on behalf of former President Trump,&#8221; Raskin wrote.
Comer defended his subpoena this week, saying that his committee learned John “Rob” Walker, who has been identified as a business associate of Hunter Biden in a venture with executives from CEFC China Energy, received a $3 million wire from two individuals associated with the Chinese Communist Party about two months after Joe Biden left the office of vice president.
Within a day, Walker&#8217;s account started transferring money into three different Biden family members&#8217; accounts, including a &#8220;new&#8221; member who has not yet been part of the GOP investigations, Comer said during an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EScaBsWMJz4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview on Fox News</a> on Tuesday. Although Comer did not reveal the identity of that &#8220;new&#8221; Biden family member, he stressed that this discovery &#8220;really changes things.&#8221;

James Comer

Biden Family Probe Reaches Breakthrough With Treasury Department

Congress

Executive

Hunter Biden

Politics

Treasury Department

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/internal-revenue-service-irs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IRS</a> said on Friday it had removed from its website confidential information on over 100,000 Americans it had exposed through a mistaken disclosure. 
In a letter from the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/treasury-department" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Treasury Department</a> to House Committee on Homeland Security Chair <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/bennie-thompson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bennie Thompson</a>, the agency said that the data of about 120,000 Americans had been exposed through an “inadvertent disclosure.” 
“This notification follows the IRS discovery that some machine-readable (XML) Form 990-T data made available for bulk download section on the Tax Exempt Organization Search (TEOS) should not have been made public,” <a href="https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/IRSBREACH.pdf">wrote</a> acting Assistant Secretary for Management at the Treasury Anna Canfield Roth. “In some instances, the data did include individual names or business contact information.”
Roth said the information did not include Social Security numbers, individual income information, or information that would impact a person’s credit. She also said that the agency had taken “immediate action” to take down the confidential information. 
The IRS generally uses Form 990-T data to collect information about individual retirement accounts and their investments into entities like real estate or master limited partnerships, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/irs-says-it-exposed-some-confidential-taxpayer-data-on-website-11662145232">according</a> to the Wall Street Journal.  
The tax enforcement agency will also be conducting a review of their operations per the Treasury Department’s direction following the mistake. 
“The Treasury Department has instructed the IRS to conduct a prompt review of its practices to ensure necessary protections are in place to prevent unauthorized data disclosures,” Roth’s letter says. 
The mistake is another hit for the embattled agency, which has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/god-help-us-lindsey-graham-blasts-plan-to-add-87000-new-irs-agents-vows-to-redirect-funding-to-the-border">criticized</a> by Republicans over concerns that the nearly $80 billion in funding given to the IRS through the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” will increase audits on middle class Americans. 
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that the audit rates for middle class Americans will not increase, but some remain skeptical of her claims and point to her language about comparisons to audit levels in the past. 
“I direct that any additional resources — including any new personnel or auditors that are hired — shall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels,” Yellen said last month. “This means that, contrary to the misinformation from opponents of this legislation, small business or households earning $400,000 per year or less will not see an increase in the chances that they are audited.”
With the funding from newly passed legislation, the IRS could hire up to 87,000 new employees, some of whom are expected to be enforcement agents.

IRS Headquarters

IRS Admits To Exposing The Confidential Data Of Over 100,000 Americans

IRS Admits To Exposing The Confidential Data Of Thousands Of Americans

Bennie Thompson

President <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/biden-administration">Joe Biden</a> announced on Tuesday that he would appoint Marilynn Malerba, chief of the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/native-americans">Mohegan Tribe</a>, as the next <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/department-of-the-treasury">treasurer</a> of the United States.
Malerba will serve alongside Treasury Secretary <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/janet-yellen">Janet Yellen</a> as she oversees the U.S. Mint, Fort Knox, and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. She will also advise Yellen on “community development and public engagement” and lead the newly created Office of Tribal and Native Affairs.
The U.S. treasurer role has been vacant since January 2020, when Trump appointee Jovita Carranza departed to lead the Small Business Administration.
Malerba, who is carrying out a lifetime appointment as chief of the Mohegan Tribe in Southeastern Connecticut, worked as a registered nurse before her current role as a member of the Treasury Tribal Advisory Committee, according to the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/21/president-biden-announces-intent-to-appoint-marilynn-malerba-as-treasurer-of-the-united-states/">White House</a>. She advises Yellen on the taxation of Native Americans.
“Chief Malerba’s appointment as Treasurer of the United States will also mean that for the first time in U.S. history, a Tribal leader and Native woman’s signature will soon be seen on the nation’s currency,” according to a <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0824">Treasury Department</a> statement.
“I am deeply honored that Chief Malerba will serve as the nation’s Treasurer and spearhead the department’s new Office of Tribal and Native Affairs. This is an historic appointment,” Yellen remarked. “Her leadership and experience will deepen our commitment to help expand economic opportunities for all Tribal communities.”
After her confirmation in January 2021, Yellen <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0003">told staff members</a> at the Treasury Department that she intends to “address inequality, racism, and climate change.”
“I know that many of you… see economic policy as a way to improve people’s lives; you see the humanity beneath the data,” she wrote. “I cannot be sure about the future, but I expect that when economists look back at this period in American history, they’ll conclude that perspective helped us leave behind a stronger, more prosperous country.”
More recently, however, Yellen and other top officials in the Biden administration have been forced to contend with high inflation and other economic bottlenecks. Earlier this month, the U.S. <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm">Bureau of Labor Statistics</a> announced that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 8.6% between May 2021 and May 2022, meaning that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inflation-reaches-8-6-setting-new-four-decade-high">inflation hit new four-decade record highs</a> and once again surpassed economists’ expectations.
Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite fell 4.8%, while the S&amp;P 500 was down 5.8% — marking its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/investment-banks-predict-how-much-more-stock-market-could-plummet">worst week</a> since 2020, according to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/16/stock-market-news-futures-open-to-close.html">CNBC</a>.
Yellen acknowledged the economic woes while remaining <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/yellen-recession-not-inevitable-russias-war-to-blame-for-soaring-inflation">as optimistic as possible</a> during a recent interview with ABC News host George Stephanopolous. “I expect the economy to slow,” Yellen explained. “It’s been growing at a very rapid rate, as the economy, as the labor market, has recovered. We have reached full employment. It’s natural now that we expect a transition to steady and stable growth, but I don’t think a recession is at all inevitable.”
Nevertheless, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/expect-higher-unemployment-as-federal-reserve-tackles-inflation-warns-top-policymaker">cautioned</a> on Saturday that efforts from the central bank to combat inflation would lead to higher unemployment, which could rise from 3.6% to 4% or 4.25%. Last week, the Federal Reserve <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/federal-reserve-takes-most-aggressive-action-to-fight-inflation-in-three-decades">hiked interest rates</a> by 0.75% — the most aggressive move to combat inflation since 1994.
“If the data comes in as I expect, I will support a similar-sized move at our July meeting,” Waller explained. “The Fed is ‘all in’ on reestablishing price stability.&#8221;

Treasury Secretary Yellen Meets With German Finance Minister Scholz

Biden Taps Native American Chief To Serve As Next Treasurer Of The United States

Native American Chief To Serve As Treasurer Of The United States

Native Americans

Former Obama administration economic adviser <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/larry-summers">Larry Summers</a> warned Sunday that all precedents in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/economy">economy</a> are pointing to a recession happening in the next two years. 
Summers, appearing on “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/fmr-treasury-secretary-larry-summers-says-recession-likely-by-end-of-next-year-142416965792">Meet The Press</a>,” told NBC News host Chuck Todd that “a whole range of indicators” — including markets, relative levels of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/interest-rates">interest rates</a> at different durations, consumer expectations, and supply and demand — are pointing toward a recession, which is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. 
“All of that tells me that, while I wouldn’t presume whether to judge the timing, the dominant probability would be by the end of next year we will be seeing a recession in the American economy,” said Summers, who also served as treasury secretary in the 1990s. He also said that this perspective had become the common view among a number of statistical models and forecasters. 
Noting economic precedents, Summers said in a different <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-14/podcast-summers-predicts-a-u-s-recession-more-likely-than-a-soft-landing?srnd=premium">Bloomberg</a> interview, “If you look at history, there has never been a moment when inflation was above 4% and unemployment was below 5% when we did not have a recession within the next two years.”  
The Biden administration, for its part, has been acknowledging the challenge of the economy but has also echoed in lock-step that an economic downturn isn’t inevitable. Department of Energy Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jennifer-granholm">Jennifer Granholm</a> and Department of Treasury Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/yellen-recession-not-inevitable-russias-war-to-blame-for-soaring-inflation">Janet Yellen</a> both spoke to this point on Sunday morning news shows, as well. 
“I expect the economy to slow,” Yellen told George Stephanopolous on ABC News. “It’s been growing at a very rapid rate, as the economy, as the labor market, has recovered. We have reached full employment. It’s natural now that we expect a transition to steady and stable growth, but I don’t think a recession is at all inevitable.”
According to a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-survey-reveals-when-ceos-expect-a-recession-to-hit">Conference Board survey</a> of 750 CEOs released on Friday, a majority of top company execs foresee a recession in the next 12 to 18 months. A small minority, 15%, said in the same survey that the region in which their company operates is already in a recession. In a National Association of Manufacturers Survey, nearly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/majority-of-manufacturers-predict-recession-within-the-next-year">6 in 10 business leaders</a> indicated that a recession was more likely in the next year due to inflationary pressures. 
President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a> himself has suggested Vladimir Putin is partly responsible for rising costs and accused businesses of price gouging. On Thursday, in an interview with the Associated Press, Biden encouraged Americans to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-claims-recession-not-inevitable-tells-americans-they-shouldnt-believe-economist-warnings">wait and see</a> whether economists were correct about their recession predictions. 
“They shouldn’t believe a warning. They should just say: ‘Let’s see. Let’s see, which is correct.’ And from my perspective, you talked about a recession. First of all, it’s not inevitable,” said Biden.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers

Top Obama Economic Advisor: ‘Whole Range Of Indicators’ Point To Coming Recession

Larry Summers Says 'Range Of Indicators' Point To Recession In Next Two Years

Economy

Inflation

Joe Biden

Larry Summers

Recession

With persistent inflation eroding Americans’ buying power and tightening their budgets, one may think that the nation’s fiscal policymakers would be all-hands-on-deck to resolve the problems. But for the Biden administration, “Pride Month” takes priority.
Consumer price inflation is currently at 8.3% — the metric’s highest level in four decades. Gas prices are soaring past $4.75 per gallon — with no end in sight. Yet Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen found time this week to raise the rainbow flag.
“For the first time in our history, Treasury is displaying the Pride Flag to express our solidarity with LGBTQ+ Americans during Pride Month,” Yellen announced on Thursday, adding that her department “remains committed to diversity, equity, and equal opportunity for all.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
For the first time in our history, Treasury is displaying the Pride Flag to express our solidarity with LGBTQ+ Americans during Pride Month. <a href="https://twitter.com/USTreasury?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USTreasury</a> remains committed to diversity, equity, and equal opportunity for all. <a href="https://t.co/QJK5o2yuGn">pic.twitter.com/QJK5o2yuGn</a>
— Secretary Janet Yellen (@SecYellen) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecYellen/status/1532434489498030105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2022</a></blockquote>
The data speak louder than Yellen’s words. The <a href="https://www.bea.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/gdp1q22_2nd.pdf">United States economy shrank</a> at a 1.5% annualized rate in the first quarter of 2022, with two consecutive quarters of negative growth constituting recession territory.
But it is worth remembering that real people living paycheck-to-paycheck are getting hurt while Yellen plays activist.
Over the past few days, I interviewed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/everything-is-too-high-right-now-in-west-philadelphia-residents-battle-inflation-and-gas-prices">several residents of West Philadelphia</a> — a Democrat-run, majority-minority neighborhood where median household income is 43% of the national average — on behalf of The Daily Wire. The consistent story was that skyrocketing inflation and gas prices are severely impacting their lives.
“It’s too high. I don’t know what happened, because the price of everything is too high now,” Mohamed, a West Philadelphia resident and immigrant from French-speaking Africa, explained.
“I drive to work and I go home. And anything else in between, I try to do it as I’m going home from work,” added Art, a maintenance worker who lives in Delaware, but commutes to West Philadelphia. “It’s just too expensive.”
“The way prices with everything have gone up, I’ve had to start cutting back on what I spend money on,” Kahil, a high school student, remarked. “There’s only one simple answer. Prices need to go where they used to be.”
“I was using maybe $30 per week. Now I use almost $100,” said Iliassou about his struggles to fill his gas tank. “People don’t have money in their pockets anymore.”
However, it seems that Yellen has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/janet-yellen-admits-she-was-wrong-about-inflation-being-small-risk">thrown in the towel</a> altogether on fixing the economy. “I was wrong,” she confessed earlier this week — forgetting that she was seemingly fully aware that the policies she has been pursuing would create a high price level environment.
I am old enough to remember when Yellen <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/despite-skyrocketing-inflation-janet-yellen-will-keep-pushing-for-biden-spending-agenda">insisted last year</a> that “we’ve been fighting inflation that’s too low and interest rates that are too low now for a decade,” promising any potential inflation “spurt” from Biden’s policies would fade away by 2022.
Yet here we are in 2022 — and the same top fiscal policymaker who entered office on a <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0003">vow</a> to battle the “crisis of systemic racism” in the economy has nothing better to offer than “I was wrong” on her inflation forecasts — even as disadvantaged Americans suffer the most.
“Economics isn’t just something you find in textbook,” she told her staff at the dawn of the Biden administration. “Nor is it simply a collection of theories. Indeed, the reason I went from academia to government is because I believe economic policy can be a potent tool to improve society.”
Perhaps Secretary Yellen needs to hit the streets of West Philadelphia and see whether society has improved because of her work.

Yellen Delivers Speech On Economic Outlook And Monetary Policy In Philadelphia

The Economy Is Toast, But At Least The Treasury Department Is Flying A Pride Flag

Yellen Raises The Rainbow Flag As Inflation Soars

LGBTQ

Pride Flag

Pride Month

The boxing management company MTK Global announced that it will be ceasing operations on Wednesday, days after the United States Treasury Department announced sanctions against the co-founder of the company, Daniel Kinahan.
&#8220;It is a matter of public record that Mr Kinahan&#8217;s involvement in MTK ceased in 2017, and despite repeated reassurances in this regard, unfounded allegations about his ongoing association with us and our fighters persist,&#8221; MTK Global said in a statement on Wednesday.
&#8220;Since leading promoters have now informed us that they will be severing all ties with MTK and will no longer work with our fighters, we have taken the difficult decision to cease operations at the end of this month,&#8221; the statement continued.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
MTK Global to cease operations
Official statement: <a href="https://t.co/BFk7J6Em38">https://t.co/BFk7J6Em38</a> <a href="https://t.co/mniw1siMyR">pic.twitter.com/mniw1siMyR</a>
&mdash; MTK Global Boxing (@MTKGlobal) <a href="https://twitter.com/MTKGlobal/status/1516776134054236161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Last week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Kinahan Organized Crime Group (KOCG), as a “Blocking Property of Transnational Criminal Organizations.”
“The Kinahan Organized Crime Group smuggles deadly narcotics, including cocaine, to Europe, and is a threat to the entire licit economy through its role in international money laundering,” <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0713">said</a> Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “Criminal groups like the KOCG prey on the most vulnerable in society and bring drug-related crime and violence, including murder, to the countries in which they operate. Treasury is proud to have coordinated so closely with our international counterparts, and the U.S. government will continue to use every available resource to dismantle these criminal networks.”
The U.S. and Ireland have claimed that Daniel Kinahan is the leader of the KOCG. According to OFAC, “Each member of the KOCG reports to Daniel Kinahan, who is believed to run the day-to-day operations of the organization. Daniel Kinahan has instructed KOCG members to send money to a variety of individuals serving prison sentences, including a person convicted of attempted murder on behalf of the KOCG, and an individual imprisoned for murder on behalf of the KOCG.”
“Daniel Kinahan, who sources large quantities of cocaine from South America, plays an integral part in organizing the supply of drugs in Ireland, and is attempting to facilitate the importation of cocaine into the United Kingdom,” OFAC continued. “Daniel Kinahan is known to have used false identity documents.”
According to <a href="https://www.si.com/boxing/2022/04/20/mtk-global-folds-amid-daniel-kinahan-sanctions">Sports Illustrated</a>, Kinahan sold his interest to the company in 2017, though he has remained active with the fighters MTK represents.
Last week, Irish police commissioner Drew Harris said that anyone who works with Kinahan is “involved in a criminal network.”
&#8220;If you deal with these individuals who have been sanctioned, or these entities who are being sanctioned, you are involved in a criminal network,” Harris <a href="https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/33724757/prominent-boxing-names-urged-cut-ties-promoter-sanctioned-us-ties-organized-crime">said</a> at a news conference in Dublin.
&#8220;I&#8217;d ask them to look to their own business, at the probity of their own business and the relationship with their fans and, really, is this something they want to be involved with in terms of their legitimate business,” Harris continued. “I think the answer to that is a resounding no.&#8221;
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to sports@dailywire.com.

Boxer Trafficked Into Slavery Makes His Professional Debut

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On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to review a challenge brought against a tax deduction limit which was implemented by the Trump administration and has continued through the Biden administration. 
The SALT (state and local tax) cap doesn’t allow people to deduct more than $10,000 of specific state and local taxes from their federal income taxes through 2025.
As the Tax Foundation <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/tax-basics/salt-deduction/">explained</a>, the “deduction permits taxpayers who itemize when filing federal taxes to deduct certain taxes paid to state and local governments,” noting that the current cap “[consists] of property taxes plus state income or sales taxes, but not both.”
The deduction provision was included as a way to increase revenue in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in order to make sure it would not add more than $1.5 trillion to the federal deficit over a 10-year period, a House reconciliation necessity, per <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/finance/3271661-supreme-court-wont-hear-challenge-to-salt-tax-deduction/">The Hill.</a>
New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Maryland previously challenged the 2017 policy, calling it an overreach into state’s independent rights. 
In a court filing from March, the states <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/scotus-turns-away-salt-cap-challenge">said</a>, per Fox News, &#8220;Congress’s taxing authority (as set forth in Article I, Section 8 and the Sixteenth Amendment) is cabined by the structural requirements of federalism, which prevent the federal government from directly interfering with the States’ ability to generate revenue to sustain their operations.”
“The long history of federal income taxation demonstrates that Congress and the States equally understood that a deduction for all or nearly all state and local property and income taxes was constitutionally required to preserve state sovereign taxing authority,” the filing added.
Lower courts sided against the states, and decided the deduction was allowed, leading the states to bring the issue to the high court. 
Last month, the Treasury Department weighed in, asking the court to reject the appeal of the states. 
“Congress has acted well within that power both in establishing, and in placing limits on, the deduction for state and local taxes,” the department <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/finance/3271661-supreme-court-wont-hear-challenge-to-salt-tax-deduction/">said</a> in court documents. “As the courts below observed, no constitutional provision compels Congress to provide any SALT deduction, let alone a deduction of a particular amount.” 
The SALT tax debate isn’t going away anytime soon. 
As Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/scotus-turns-away-salt-cap-challenge">reported</a>, the House passed legislation last year that would bring the cap up to $80,000 until 2031, when it would be limited once again to $10,000. The Senate has not acted on the measure yet, but Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has a plan to limit the tax break according to income levels.
In November, Sanders spoke out against Democrats’ considerations to get rid of the $10,000 cap. 
In a statement, Sanders <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/579710-sanders-proposed-five-year-salt-cap-repeal-beyond-unacceptable/">stressed</a> that the potential move by House Democrats at the time would mean “the top 1% would pay lower taxes after passage of the Build Back Better plan than they did after the Trump tax cut in 2017. This is beyond unacceptable.”
In the past, Sanders noted that an adjustment to the SALT deduction limit should be centered on helping the middle class. 
“There are middle-class families in states where property taxes are very high that are paying a whole lot in state and local taxes. And I think we have to support them,” Sanders reportedly <a href="https://www.sanders.senate.gov/in-the-news/sanders-proposed-five-year-salt-cap-repeal-beyond-unacceptable/">said</a> during an interview in June.
&#8220;On the other hand, if you got some billionaires who own a massive mansion, should they be able to write off their state and local taxes? The answer is no, they should not,” he added.

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Supreme Court Declines To Review SALT Tax Cap Challenge From States

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The Treasury Department is implementing harsher reporting requirements for shell companies.
“The rule will help close the loopholes that undermine US national security, bolster economic fairness and protect the integrity of our financial system,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-treasury-corruption-idUSKBN2IM202">Reuters</a> explained:
<blockquote>A new rule would implement reporting provisions under the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, aimed at expanding data on who actually owns or controls a company and closing loopholes in existing US law.
The proposed rule would require affected companies to report their identity to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), as well as the name, birth date, address and a unique identifying number for each of its owners.
FinCEN said the proposed rule reflected the Biden administration’s push to crack down on shell companies used to launder the proceeds from corruption, drug and arms trafficking or terrorist financing.</blockquote>
A Treasury official told Reuters that recent laundering activity through shell companies includes a Russian arms dealer selling weapons to a terrorist group and a Venezuelan treasurer receiving over $1 billion in bribes. The official added that White House officials will highlight their regulatory efforts at the upcoming “Summit for Democracy,” which has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-summit-for-democracy-sparks-questions-over-invite-list">provoked</a> controversy over the attendance — and absence — of certain nations.
Pakistan, for instance, will be invited, although the State Department noted in 2020 that the country witnesses “unlawful or arbitrary killings by the government or its agents, including extrajudicial killings; forced disappearance by the government or its agents; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government or its agents.” 
Among Eastern European nations, Poland was invited while Hungary and Turkey were not — a decision that the Hungarian Embassy in Washington called “disrespectful.”
“Hungarian-American relations were at their peak during the Trump presidency, and it is clear from the list of the invited countries that the summit will be a domestic political event,” the embassy said in a statement. “Therefore countries that were on friendly terms with the previous administration were not invited.”
Other landmark moves by Yellen during her first year in office <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/treasury-department-appoints-first-counselor-for-racial-equity">include</a> the nomination of the Treasury Department’s first “Counselor for Racial Equity.” Appointee Janis Bowdler will “be charged with coordinating Treasury’s efforts to advance racial equity including engaging with diverse communities throughout the country and to identify and mitigate barriers to accessing benefits and opportunities with the Department.”
“The American economy has historically not worked fairly for communities of color,” explained Yellen. “The pandemic threw a spotlight on this inequity; people of color were often the first to lose their jobs and businesses. Treasury must play a central role in ensuring that as our economy recovers from the pandemic, it recovers in a way that addresses the inequalities that existed long before anyone was infected with COVID-19.”
“I could not be more humbled by the historic opportunity to serve as the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s first Counselor for Racial Equity,” said Bowdler. “I have spent my entire career working in solidarity with Black, Latinx, AAPI, Native communities, and other communities of color to dismantle the structural and institutional racism that perpetuates the racial wealth divide.”

Treasury Secretary Yellen And Fed Chair Powell Testify Before House Financial Committee On Coronavirus And CARES Act

Treasury Department Cracks Down On Shell Companies

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen revealed the department&#8217;s first “Counselor for Racial Equity” on Monday, announcing the appointment of Janis Bowdler. 
A <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0431">press release</a> indicated Bowdler “will be charged with coordinating Treasury’s efforts to advance racial equity including engaging with diverse communities throughout the country and to identify and mitigate barriers to accessing benefits and opportunities with the Department.”
The department described Bowdler’s resume, noting that “[m]ost recently, Janis served the President of the JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co. Foundation. Under her leadership, the firm launched several critical initiatives that have expanded capital for entrepreneurs of color, improved access to banking products and services, expanded access to new job skills, and built more inclusive neighborhoods. Janis played a critical role in developing the firm’s incremental $30 billion racial equity commitment.&#8221; 
“The American economy has historically not worked fairly for communities of color. The pandemic threw a spotlight on this inequity; people of color were often the first to lose their jobs and businesses. Treasury must play a central role in ensuring that as our economy recovers from the pandemic, it recovers in a way that addresses the inequalities that existed long before anyone was infected with COVID-19,” said Secretary Janet Yellen. “I’m excited that Janis will join us and devote her efforts to that mission.” 
“I could not be more humbled by the historic opportunity to serve as the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s first Counselor for Racial Equity,” said Bowdler. “I have spent my entire career working in solidarity with Black, Latinx, AAPI, Native communities, and other communities of color to dismantle the structural and institutional racism that perpetuates the racial wealth divide.”
“Addressing racial and gender disparities and giving underserved communities greater access to opportunities creates more broadly shared prosperity for all. Thank you to Secretary Yellen for entrusting me with this position to help contribute to the Biden Administration’s commitment to centering racial equity in its work,” Bowdler added. 
Yellen came under harsh criticism on Monday after she stated over the weekend that Senate Democrats are looking into imposing a tax on unrealized capital gains of the richest Americans. 
As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/treasury-secretary-janet-yellen-democrats-considering-to-impose-a-tax-on-unrealized-capital-gains">reported</a>, “Yellen made the remarks in response to a question from Tapper about whether a wealth tax should be part of how Democrats look to pay for Biden’s $3.5 trillion social spending bill.”
“Well, I think what’s under consideration is a proposal that Senator Wyden and the Senate Finance Committee have been looking at that would impose a tax on unrealized capital gains, on liquid assets held by extremely wealthy individuals, billionaires,” Yellen responded. “I wouldn’t call that a wealth tax. But it would help get at capital gains, which are an extraordinarily large part of the incomes of the wealthiest individuals, and right now escape taxation, until they’re realized, and often they’re unrealized in the death benefit from a so- called step up of basis.” 
“So, it’s not a wealth tax, but a tax on unrealized capital gains of exceptionally wealthy individuals,” she added.

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Treasury Department Appoints First ‘Counselor For Racial Equity’

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President Biden’s appointee for a key Treasury Department position has failed to provide her thesis about Karl Marx to the Senate Banking Committee.
Biden recently tapped Saule Omarova — a law professor at Cornell University and a 1989 graduate of Moscow State University — to serve as <a href="https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/office-of-the-comptroller-of-the-currency">Comptroller of the Currency</a>, which “charters, regulates, and supervises all national banks.” The Kazakh-American’s past remarks about purported gender equality in the Soviet Union are worrying many Republican lawmakers.
“Until I came to the US, I couldn’t imagine that things like gender pay gap still existed in today’s world,” Omarova <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-bank-regulator-nominee-say-what-you-will-about-old-ussr-there-was-no-gender-pay-gap">tweeted</a> in 2019. “Say what you will about old USSR, there was no gender pay gap there. Market doesn’t always ‘know best.’” 
After Omarova was criticized for her tweet, she added: “I never claimed women and men were treated absolutely equally in every facet of Soviet life. But people’s salaries were set (by the state) in a gender-blind manner. And all women got very generous maternity benefits. Both things are still a pipe dream in our society!”
On October 6, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) — the Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee — asked Omarova to turn over her thesis, entitled “Karl Marx’s Economic Analysis and the Theory of Revolution in The Capital.” Toomey’s <a href="https://www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/minority/toomey-calls-on-omarova-to-turn-over-her-moscow-state-thesis-on-marxism">letter</a> to the professor noted that the thesis was completed at Moscow State University, where Omarova was on the V.I. Lenin Personal Academic Scholarship.
“While it appears that you have deleted any reference to your thesis in the version of your curriculum vitae (CV) that is currently available on the Cornell Law School website, the paper appeared on your CV as recently as April 2017,” Toomey observed, asking her to submit a copy to the Senate Banking Committee by October 13.
A spokesperson for the Senate Banking Committee Republicans confirmed to <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/biden-comptroller-omarova-moscow-state-university-thesis-marxism">Fox Business</a> that Omarova has not yet submitted the document.
&#8220;Ms. Omarova has time to attack Republicans in an interview with the Financial Times, but she can’t bother to comply with a Banking Committee requirement that nominees — regardless of their political party or ideology — submit copies of their writings,&#8221; said the spokesperson. &#8220;We certainly hope she reconsiders so Senators have the information necessary to fulfill their constitutional duty to advise and consent on appointments.&#8221;
In a <a href="https://lpeproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Peoples.Ledger.DRAFT_.pdf">paper</a> published last year, Omarova <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=18281">argues</a> for ending “banking as we know it.” Specifically, she suggests creating a “People’s Ledger” by expanding the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet to include consumer bank deposits.

Secretary Yellen And Chairman Powell Testify On CARES Act Oversight In Senate Hearing

Biden Nominee Who Praised Soviet Union’s Lack Of ‘Gender Pay Gap’ Hasn’t Turned Over Karl Marx Thesis To Senate

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Larry Summers, who served as Treasury Secretary under former President Bill Clinton and director of the National Economic Council under former President Barack Obama, warned during multiple interviews this week that inflation is even worse than he suggested it might be when he commented on the matter earlier this year.
Speaking to a virtual conference organized by the Institute of International Finance, Summers also warned that woke bankers were an issue because they are focusing on the wrong thing.
“We have a generation of central bankers who are defining themselves by their wokeness,” Summers said. “They’re defining themselves by how socially concerned they are.”
Summers, who is now a professor at Harvard, warned that &#8220;we’re in more danger than we’ve been during my career of losing control of inflation in the U.S.&#8221;
“We’ve gone even further towards losing it in Britain and I think we’re at some risk in Europe,&#8221; he added.
Summers&#8217; remarks come as new consumer-price index numbers show that inflation is continuing to remain high. Price levels have surged 5.4% over the last 12 months and 6.5% on an annual basis so far in 2021, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-inflation-tax-rises-consumer-prices-joe-biden-jerome-powell-11634163000">The Wall Street Journal</a>.
Summers said earlier this year that the size of Democrat President Joe Biden’s economic stimulus was causing the economy to “overheat” and that it may melt down if Democrats did not start pumping the brakes.
“The main risk is that our economy’s going to overheat,”  Summers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-democrat-economist-warns-of-biden-inflation-hard-to-put-out-fire-without-doing-a-lot-of-damage">said</a>. “And then once it overheats, it’s going to be hard to put out the fire without doing a lot of damage and causing a lot of problems. And so I’d like to see us shift towards a policy concern. I mean, let me give you another example.”
During a separate interview with Australian media this week, Summers gave a stark warning about inflation.
&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid things have come in worse than I expected on inflation,&#8221; Summers said. &#8220;My view is, in February, was that we had a lot of demand coming down the pike that eventually the bathtub was going to overflow. And we were going to have inflation because of the combination of fiscal and monetary policies and a big savings overhang. What is surprised me is how tight the labor market has become, how fast. How many supply-side bottlenecks have returned, and how rapidly inflation has accelerated. And that seems to be translated into increases in inflation expectations.&#8221;
&#8220;Well, I think we now have a gathering storm of inflation,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;And we&#8217;re likely to see some combination of that storm coming to fruition, or the central bank being forced to act to contain inflation with potentially serious financial consequences, or some combination of those two things. We&#8217;ve had labor market inflation wages at a seven and a half percent rate in the last month, we&#8217;ve had consumer price inflation close to a 6% rate over the last six months. We&#8217;ve had houses causing price inflation at over 20% over the last year, and almost none of that has yet been reflected in the price indices. I think they&#8217;re very serious reasons for concern.&#8221;
Summers later added that he believes that the U.S. is facing &#8220;a pretty unstable financial environment&#8221;

Obama Senior Economic Advisor Lawrence Summers Interview

Top Obama Economist: Inflation ‘Worse’ Than Expected, ‘Very Serious’ Cause For Concern, ‘Wokeness’ An Issue

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