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Golden Gate Bridge officials voted Friday to raise tolls to $9.75 over the next four years, a plan that coasted along for months with little fanfare or hand-wringing. The rate proposal drew overwhelming approval from the board, with only one director, San Francisco Supervisor Vallie Brown, dissenting in the 15-1 vote. It will boost tolls by 35 cents a year for FasTrak users — from $7 to $7.35 in July, inching to $8.75 by July 2023. People paying by invoice, who are now charged $8 for every crossing, will pay $9.75 in 2023. One-time payments, also currently $8, will jump to $9. Bridge district General Manager Denis Mulligan marveled at commuters’ acceptance of the toll hikes, which will generate $100 million by the end of 2023 — enough to beef up ferry service while filling a $75 million budget deficit. Without the increase, officials would have had to make cuts to popular bus and boat lines. “We’re not getting a lot of pushback,” Mulligan said at a … [Read more...] about Golden Gate Bridge toll hike approved

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elizabeth Warren’s signature “wealth tax” would bring in at least $1 billion less in new government revenue than the Democratic presidential candidate estimates while ultimately shrinking the economy over the next 30 years, according to a new academic analysis. The Massachusetts senator wants a 2% tax on fortunes worth $50 million-plus and a levy three times that on anyone who has a net worth of more than $1 billion. She has pledged to use those to dramatically remake government, offering universal child care and free tuition at public universities while wiping out most student debt for 42 million Americans and helping to finance a “Medicare for All" plan providing government-sponsored health care nationwide. But the piggy bank that Warren wants to use to accomplish her sweeping policy promises won’t be nearly as flush with cash as she believes, the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Wharton Budget Model, which provides nonpartisan … [Read more...] about Warren ‘wealth tax’ estimates too optimistic, analysis says

FIE - In this Feb. 5, 2019, file photo a ramp worker guides a Delta Air Lines plane at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle. Delta says earnings and revenue will rise in 2020 because of continuing solid demand for air travel and no increase in spending on jet fuel. CEO Ed Bastian says Delta is getting a boost from strong spending by consumers, which he expects to spill into 2020. less FIE - In this Feb. 5, 2019, file photo a ramp worker guides a Delta Air Lines plane at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle. Delta says earnings and revenue will rise in 2020 because of continuing ... more Photo: Ted S. Warren, AP Photo: Ted S. Warren, AP Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Image 1 of 1 FIE - In this Feb. 5, 2019, file photo a ramp worker guides a Delta Air Lines plane at … [Read more...] about Happy contrails … Delta sees strong 2020 profit, revenue

MEXICO CITY - Two years ago, as negotiators from Mexico, Canada and the United States were beginning to overhaul the NAFTA treaty, Luis Rossano had a choice. The 38-year-old engineer could expand his Mexican company, a thriving business producing high-tech car parts and medical devices in the southern city of Puebla. Or he could take his plans to Europe. "You have to decide: What is your legacy?" he said. The entrepreneur bet on his homeland, doubling investment in the firm. But what followed, he said, were months of "convulsion." No one knew how Mexican manufacturing would be affected by the trade talks. That question exacerbated the economic uncertainty resulting from Mexico's election of its first leftist president in decades. Mexico's politicians and business community breathed a sigh of relief this week that the country would maintain its free trade system with the United States, its No. 1 trade partner. "Every last one of us wanted an agreement," said Rossano. That's not to say … [Read more...] about After feeling Trump’s wrath, Mexico breathes a sigh of relief at USMCA

Bombs not food. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images President Trump’s new budget would increase defense spending by $54 billion — while slashing funding for medical research, climate science, public housing, education, aid to the indigent, infrastructure, and many, many other things. On Thursday morning, the White House’s budget director Mick Mulvaney explained that these changes were inspired by one, simple question: “Can we ask the taxpayer to pay for this?” Here’s what he said: “When you start looking at places that we reduce spending, one of the questions we asked was, can we really continue to ask a coal miner in West Virginia or a single mom in Detroit to pay for these programs? The answer was no,” Mulvaney told MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “We can ask them to pay for defense, and we will, but we can’t ask them to continue to pay for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.” This was a bizarre defense of the Trump … [Read more...] about White House Says Cutting Meals on Wheels Is ‘Compassionate’