The U.S. Treasury was today renamed “A Citigroup Subsidiary, Jack Lew, Inc. CEO,” as Robin Hood and a merry band of 2,000 hoisted a banner with the Treasury building as backdrop on the corner of 15th St. NW in Washington, D.C.

“Who does Secretary Lew work for?” asked Jennifer Flynn of Health GAP, one of the founding organizations of the Robin Hood Tax Campaign.

“The people,” answered all.

I am hosting the Firedoglake discussion of my colleague Randy Wray’s new “Primer” on macroeconomics. Macroeconomics is the study of the overall economy – economic growth, recessions, depressions, inflation, unemployment, and employment are big issues that macroeconomics studies. The key policies it addresses are usually divided into fiscal (tax and spending) and monetary policies (the growth of the money supply and setting interest rates).

The concept of monetary tools has broadened as we have seen the Federal Reserve change what had been a severely constrained “lender of last resort” function of the central bank into the most massive bailout program in history. Similarly, the central bank’s interest rate setting function that was long focused on short-term rates has expanded into large experiments that attempt to lower long-term interest rates (“quantitative easing”).

Sadly it is not unusual for politicians to lie; but when most politicians lie, they don’t do so in ways that can be immediately proven to be lies.

When the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act one political silver lining for Republicans is that the Court effectively declared the individual mandate a tax. The problem for Republicans, though, is that Mitt Romney championed a near identical mandate in Massachusetts. As a result, Republican efforts exploit this tax issue have been extremely awkward.

I’ve noticed that many of you have become rather careless with the English language, and frankly, it’s just confusing the children. Recognizing the threat to the next generation’s ability to understand the news on Fox, America’s Family Man, Mitt Romney, bravely came forward today to clarify when a tax that isn’t a tax is really a tax.

Roberts declared that the sole reason the individual mandate is constitutional is because it is a tax and Congress has the power to levee taxes.

As you file your taxes this week, before complaining about how much you’re forking over to Uncle Sam, bear in mind that the tax man might not be the only one you’re writing a check to: Your boss might be getting a big cut, too.

The imposition of a new “tax” is usually unpopular, so Congressional Democrats always claimed the mandate was a “penalty” and not a “tax.” But this monetary “penalty” would be collected by the IRS in conjunction with individual income tax returns. This clearly sounds like a case of something walking like a duck and quacking like a duck. This is why justices in the lower courts have been divided on whether or not the Tax Anti-Injunction Act should apply.

The IRS has ruled that Harborside Health Center, one of California’s largest medical marijuana dispensaries, owes $2.5 million in taxes, because it took ordinary business deductions when Congress said such facilities can’t. Such a large tax bill could potentially force Harborside out of business.

Much to the dismay of the Teabaggers, no doubt, Bruce Bartlett points out — again — that taxes are low in the United States.