Solar credits

Solar tax credits are non-refundable. This means you can only get the credits if you owe taxes and this eliminates the lower half of all those earning an income. Once again it is a tax break for the rich. If you spend $60,000 on solar panels you get a 30% tax credit which means you can deduct $18,000 from the taxes you owe. If you owe $5,000 in taxes that is your maximum credit. If you own zero taxes you get zero credits. Some tax credits are refundable. The child tax credit of $2,000 per child is given if you don't own any taxes.

DACA or not

Presidents use executive orders when they cannot get congress to pass laws they want. The downside is that the next president can negate these orders. When this happens the court steps in and the results show that Carter won 68% of his challenges, Reagan 75%, Bush 41 77%, Clinton 63%, Bush 43 60%, and Obama at 45%. One of Obama's orders called DACA is being reviewed by the court. The congress refused to pass this into law and now Trump is asking the court for review. Trump does not want to deport these people but wants to use it as a bargaining chip to negotiate immigration reform.

China and the NBA

The dust up with China and pro basketball ended quickly as the NBA capitulated. This follows the American companies who cower in fear whenever China speaks and this follows the US government allowing China to enter the WTO on promises they never kept. It's all about the dollar and has cost millions of good paying jobs as manufacturing moved overseas. It is time to reverse this trend.

Kurds

Foreign policy experts are facing another dilemma. The choice is to pull out of Syria and leave our allies, the Kurds, to defend themselves or to send troops to keep the Turks from killing the Kurds. Those who say we should not be the police force for the world say to pull out but others say we must stand by our friends.

Eye of the beholder

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder is a phrase attributed to an early Irish lady but in today's world of politics it can be changed to truth is in the eye of the beholder. Facts no longer matter. Opposing sides can look at the same situation and be worlds apart in their interpretations. The result is nothing can be resolved and people decide they would rather not talk about the issues. The old adage of we can disagree without being disagreeable is no longer operative.

Non-elected

For the past three years the press has denied the concept of the deep state so it was quite a surprise when a writer from the New York Times explained the deep state in a book. He could do this because he found a way to make the deep state look acceptable. He said that the deep state consist of bureaucrats who are concerned that Trump is stomping on the constitution and it is their responsibility to expose his activities. First off the author admits that there is a deep state. Second he feels that these non-elected people should keep tabs on the elected president. Over the years the bureaucracy has gained powers to the point where they feel they can bring down a president with whom they disagree.

Fox

Some people want to close down Fox News because they express opinions which are contrary to these people. Some speakers are shouted down because of the same reason. Some people want to censer talk radio because they don't like what is said. This concept has spread into the words used by ordinary citizens and political correctness is limiting free speech. This is the old idea of burning books. History shows that this usually back fires. The best way to counteract what are considered bad ideas is to come up with better ideas.