Senate

Authored by Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org,

On Aug. 9, 1974, Richard Nixon bowed to the inevitability of impeachment and conviction by a Democratic Senate and resigned.

The prospect of such an end for Donald Trump has this city drooling. Yet, comparing Russiagate and Watergate, history is not likely to repeat itself.

First, the underlying crime in Watergate, a break-in to wiretap offices of the DNC, had been traced, within 48 hours, to the Committee to Re-Elect the President.

U.S. equity index futures point to a higher open, having rebounded some 10 points off session lows with the VIX stuck on the edge between single and double digits, while European and Asian shares decline as investors assess central banks’ shift toward tighter monetary policy and concern over tax overhaul ahead of final plan. 

It has been a groggy end to what is still set to be a third week of gains for MSCI’s global stock index following more upbeat data and signs that central banks including the Federal Reserve will keep treading carefully with interest rate hikes.

On Wednesday, Congress Republicans were said to reach a deal on final tax legislation, clearing the way for final votes next week on a package that, if approved, would be sent to President Donald Trump to sign into law. While the formal language of the legislation has not been released, the following are the known provisions on which House of Representatives and Senate tax writers have agreed, based on Reuters reporting.

Here is a full summary of what we know as of this moment is in the Republicans' final tax bill:

BUSINESSES

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley fired off a letter late Wednesday to the DOJ, asking Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to explain several disturbing revelations contained within anti-Trump text messages sent between FBI investigators Peter Strzok and his FBI-Attorney mistress Lisa Page - both of whom were central to the Clinton email investigation and the Trump-Russia probe, and both of whom were removed from Robert Mueller's Special counsel when their text messages came to light.

One month ago, we speculated that in order to pass the GOP tax plan, Congress would end up having to raise the proposed corporate tax rate from 20% to 25%, because as it stands now, there is simply not enough sources of funding.

In the end corp tax will be agreed upon at 25% starting 2018, as per the Goldman plan

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 9, 2017