When Veronica Sanchez called a Social Security hotline Thursday, she waited two hours before her call was abruptly disconnected. On Friday, she was on hold for six hours and still did not get through to anyone. Elderly and disabled people " and those who care for them " are encountering a knot of bureaucratic hurdles and service disruptions after the Trump administration imposed a sweeping overhaul of the Social Security Administration system. No field offices in California have closed. But there is rising frustration across Southern California and the nation as many seniors experience crashed webpages, endure jammed phone lines and are turned away at offices. Social Security officials have downplayed the problems and said some of the issues predate the Trump administration and the government efficiency push headed by Elon Musk. read more
The problem is the White House used 0.25 as the elasticity of import prices. Per the research paper the USTR cited in the tariff determination, the elasticity is actually closer to 1, or 0.945 to be precise. The AEI authors say the White House may have used the elasticity of retail prices instead of import prices. read more
VD Prance