Taking Aim at Food Stamps

The Trump administration has proposed new restrictions on food stamps — namely, who’s eligible for them and who isn’t. More than 38 million low-income Americans rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, but 3.1 million of them would lose access under the new rule. Supporters of the measure say it closes a “loophole” that allows people to qualify for SNAP even when they “clearly don’t need it.” They also claim that the change would save taxpayers $2.5 billion a year — a slight dent in the ever-ballooning federal deficit. Opponents call the resolution “cruel, ideological and inhumane,” and say it will harm the country’s working poor.

Deutsche Bank’s Next Headache

The embattled German bank hemorrhaged money and jobs in a costly restructuring last quarter. Now, it’s dealing with another public relations nightmare: Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender who is facing new charges of human trafficking and sexual abuse. Mr. Epstein was a Deutsche Bank client from 2013 to 2018 and used its wealth management services to move money outside the United States — potentially to nefarious ends. The financial institution is already under scrutiny for suspected money laundering and its ties to President Trump. How did things get so out of hand? As part of an aggressive, 20-year push to expand internationally, Deutsche Bank took on many high-risk clients that others avoided. Now, it’s paying the price.

Image Credit... Giacomo Bagnara

What’s Next? (July 28-Aug. 3)

Tech Takes Center Stage

The top 20 Democratic presidential candidates will face off in their second round of debates on Tuesday and Wednesday. Expect more talk about how to better regulate the role of Big Tech in the next election. Or they could just cut to the chase and sue Google for $50 million, as Representative Tulsi Gabbard, the long-shot candidate from Hawaii, did last week. Ms. Gabbard claims that Google infringed on her free speech when it briefly suspended her campaign’s advertising account after the first Democratic debate in June. (Google says the shutdown was caused by the account’s “unusually high activity” — often a sign of fraud that its systems are designed to flag.) The lawsuit raises larger questions about the power of tech companies over candidates’ online exposure.