Greta's Green Revolution Spreads | Tax Reform Part II

As far-right parties grow across other parts of Europe, Green parties are stalling that march in Austria and Switzerland.

Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenage environmentalist, seems to have done more than just inspire students to take to the streets: Her Fridays for Future revolution is increasingly moving to the European ballot box.

From the EU parliamentary elections in May to the coming Swiss national elections on Sunday, Green parties are emerging as unlikely political winners, gaining dramatically — often at the cost of far-right parties that have in recent years been on the rise. Ireland sent its first Green representatives to the European Parliament this year while other countries saw advances of up to 30 percent in vote shares for Green candidates.

In September, Austria’s Greens gained more than a 10 percent increase in vote support, giving them 26 seats in Parliament where they had none earlier. They’re now the third strongest party and a contender for coalition talks with winner Sebastian Kurz’s Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP). The right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) dropped 20 seats in the elections.

Men have long had a monopoly in writing about female wrestling. Now that’s finally changing.

Female fighters in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) — the largest wrestling company in the world — were once called Divas and had 30-second sideshow matches. This past April, they main-evented wrestling’s biggest show, WrestleMania, and are increasingly the talk of the industry. But women’s wrestling itself isn’t the only thing that’s evolving. Writing about women’s wrestling is now changing too — with women beginning to finally grab control of their narrative.

The 2020 election result will have huge implications for your tax bill.

What comes next for tax reform?

And when is that future? It was a 31-year wait between the bipartisan tax reform act of 1986 and the Republican-only Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017.

Will America wait another 30 years?

Both parties have strongly held and public positions on what is to be done, but neither party can enact their vision until they win the trifecta — one-party control of the House, Senate and White House. Even a narrow majority in the House and Senate suffices as budget reconciliation rules allow a simple majority in the Senate to enact tax reform without the threat of a filibuster. The limit placed on reconciliation legislation is that after a stated period of time — Republicans picked 10 years in 2001 and 2017 — any tax cuts vanish unless they are “paid for” with real budget reductions or real tax hikes.