Issue October 14, 2016 - The Week Magazine (2024)

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IN THIS ISSUEEditor’s letterI have always suspected I was a chump and a loser, but it wasn’t until this past week that I realized the full magnitude of my stupidity. For my entire working life, I have paid income taxes— even when I was making $7,500 a year. As my salary climbed over the years, the tax percentage went up and up. Like a moron, I paid the full rate. My employers reported my income directly to the IRS, so I couldn’t hide a penny of it; as a mere working stiff, I couldn’t write off my lunches, my car, my clothes, and my hairdresser as business expenses. Pathetic! By failing to keep Uncle Sam’s greedy mitts off my earnings, I failed in my fiduciary duty to my family and future heirs, and…2 min

NEWSA brutal week for TrumpWhat happenedWith just over a month until Election Day, Donald Trump endured one of the worst weeks of his presidential campaign, with a series of setbacks that included a leaked tax return showing he once lost nearly $1 billion in a year, an angry feud with a former Venezuelan beauty queen, and a sharp decline in the polls. Three pages of Trump’s 1995 tax return, which was anonymously mailed to The New York Times, showed that Trump declared a $916 million net operating loss in 1995—a loss so great he could have legally avoided paying federal income taxes for the next 18 years. The Republican nominee didn’t deny that he hadn’t paid income taxes during that time, and said his deep understanding of the tax laws made him “the only…5 min

NEWSPence bests combative Kaine at veep debateWhat happenedVice presidential candidates Sen. Tim Kaine and Gov. Mike Pence sharply attacked each other’s running mates in a contentious debate in which Kaine called Republican Donald Trump “a maniac” and Pence parried with scathing critiques of Democrat Hillary Clinton. The event at Virginia’s Longwood University was marred by cross-talk—Kaine frequently interrupted the Indiana governor, whose controlled demeanor offered a stark contrast to his often incendiary running mate. The Virginia senator zeroed in on Trump’s volatile temperament, saying that as the father of a son in the U.S. Marine Corps, “the thought of Donald Trump as commander in chief scares [me] to death.” Kaine condemned the businessman for questioning President Obama’s citizenship and recited a litany of Trump’s insults against women and minority groups. Pence met Kaine’s salvos by shaking…5 min

NEWSThe election: Should Trump revive Bill Clinton’s sex scandals?Ready for a sleazy “trip back to the ’90s?” said Kevin Drum in MotherJones.com. After Donald Trump’s disastrous first debate against Hillary Clinton, the Republican nominee bragged that he’d shown great restraint in not raising “extremely rough” questions about former President Bill Clinton’s sex life. Now that he’s trailing in the polls with the election only weeks away, Trump has evidently changed his mind—and is signaling he’ll go there in the next debate. All week, Trump’s media surrogates have hammered Hillary for supposedly “enabling” her husband’s past indiscretions and helping him “smear” his accusers. In one bizarre and rambling speech this week, Trump even suggested that Hillary was not “loyal to Bill,” adding, “Why would she be?” This new focus on the Clintons’ marriage is “an odd strategic move” for…5 min

NEWSThe U.S. at a glance ...Flint, Mich.Obamacare attack: Bill Clinton committed an awkward gaffe while on the stump for his wife, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, this week, attacking President Obama’s signature healthcare policy as “the craziest thing in the world,”before quickly walking back his remarks. Speaking at a Democratic rally in Flint, Mich., the former president said the Affordable Care Act had flooded the health-care insurance market with new customers and inflated premiums for middle-class Americans. “So you’ve got this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have health care and then the people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half.” As Republicans pounced on the criticism, Clinton tried to clarify his remarks. Obamacare…4 min

NEWSThe world at a glance ...WarsawMarch for abortion rights: After tens of thousands of women protested in cities across Poland this week, the government backed away from its proposal to ban all abortions. The “Black Monday” protests in Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw, and elsewhere drew women wearing black in symbolic mourning for the loss of their rights. Abortion is already illegal in almost all circ*mstances—allowed only if the fetus is severely damaged, the mother’s life is at risk, or conception occurred through rape or incest. Under the law that was being considered by the ruling Law and Justice party, both the woman seeking an abortion and her doctor would have gone to jail. Science Minister Jaroslaw Gowin said the protests “caused us to think and taught us humility.”ParisU.N. climate pact goes live: The international Paris climate…7 min

Issue October 14, 2016 - The Week Magazine (2024)

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