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LARRY KUDLOW: It’s time to cut the capital gains tax

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LARRY KUDLOW: It’s time to cut the capital gains tax

It’s time to cut the capital gains tax. Right now. If there’s a 3.0 reconciliation budget bill that requires only 50 Republican votes plus Veep Vance for 51, the GOP can do it. Put a capital gains tax cut in that 3.0. It’ll add growth to the GOP message. Polls show that in addition to the voter ID bill, voters want government fraud to be cleaned up, and they’d like middle class tax cuts for growth.

Yet we need some leadership from the Senate majority leader, John Thune, and we also have to convince President Trump. He does want a reconciliation 3.0 bill for the SAVE America voter ID citizenship bill and for military spending replenishment, both of which are fine by me — but we need a cap gains tax cut that will benefit average middle class working folks.

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Right now empty nesters don’t need their multi-bedroom homes, but they really can’t afford to pay a $500,000 capital gains tax which comes mainly from President Biden’s 21 percent inflation during his four years in the White House.

Last night I talked to Newt Gingrich about this issue and here’s what the former House Speaker said: “There are millions of Americans whose children have grown up their houses too big. They’d like to sell it. But the current tax consequence is so great they won’t sell it.” Indexing capital gains, he added, “it’s very simple. Should you have to pay tax on inflation? Now, if you don’t pay tax on inflation, suddenly you have a much bigger interest in investing.” Mr. Gingrich concluded that “when we cut the capital gains tax, when I was speaker, revenue was at $60 billion from capital gains. After we cut it, it jumped to $200 billion”

Sure enough, absolutely. Actually, no one should have to pay a tax on inflation. So if we index the capital gains tax for inflation, people would just pay tax on the real appreciation of their home or other assets, and that is much fairer.

We’re not just talking about the rich by the way, but really middle-class homeowners who might have bought their house maybe 30 or 40 years ago, and the inflation mounts up. Why should they be soaked just because the Federal Reserve printed too much money, or the federal government spent too much money? The answer is that they shouldn’t.

Many of us have been fighting this battle for decades. Yet now if we want to end the housing recession, indexing capital gains would unlock probably a million homes for sale on the market that would be available at a decent price for Gen Z and millennial affordability.

Here’s another key point. The capital gains tax exemption for the sale of a home should be doubled. Right now it’s at $250,000 for a single person, and $500,000 for married filing jointly couples.

These levels have not been changed since 1997, nearly 30 years ago. There’s been a lot of inflation since then. So why not raise the capital gains tax exemption to $500,000 for singles and $1 million for married couples filing jointly? It’s guaranteed that the unlocking effect because of lowering capital gains taxes will produce a flood of revenues for the federal fisc, and will greatly loosen up the frozen housing market.

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The trend for existing home sales is about 5 million a year over time. But in recent years, it slumped to 4 million a year. A drop of one million a year. Cutting the capital gains tax will boost these sales and probably new housing starts as well.

It would be great to get lower mortgage rates and easier regulations at the local level. Closing the border by Mr. Trump will stop all of the illegal migrants who bid up rental homes and home ownership prices. And according to a paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, this wave of migration accounted for roughly 30 percent of home-price growth. Cutting the capital gains tax would be huge. Let’s get going on it.

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Amazon joins $3 trillion club as AI, cloud growth fuel stock rally

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Amazon joins $3 trillion club as AI, cloud growth fuel stock rally
Amazon’s market capitalisation surpassed $3 trillion for the first time on Monday as its shares rallied following strong earnings and signs that the AI boom is fueling demand for its highly profitable cloud-computing business.

The stock climbed 5.5% to a record $286.20, extending its year-to-date gain to more than 23%.

Shares of the Seattle-based e-commerce and cloud-computing giant jumped 15% on Friday after posting its strongest cloud growth in more than four years and lifting its annual capital-spending forecast.

Among the six “Magnificent Seven” companies that have reported so far, only Amazon and Microsoft have convinced investors that their AI investments are paying off. Tesla, Alphabet and Meta, meanwhile, faced a backlash after their heavy spending weighed on free cash flow last quarter.

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Like other Wall Street tech giants, Amazon has invested billions of dollars in expanding its AI infrastructure. In April, it disclosed a new investment in Anthropic, following an earlier pledge to invest up to $50 billion in OpenAI.


Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, Amazon added another $1 trillion to its market value in just over two years after first reaching a $2 trillion valuation in June 2024.
Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Nvidia are other companies that have reached a market value of $3 trillion in the past. Nvidia is currently the world’s largest company by market capitalisation, at close to $5 trillion.

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Red-state AGs warn OpenAI after AI agent allegedly hacks Hugging Face

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OpenAI says AI model hacked another company's systems during internal test

A coalition of 15 red-state attorneys general warned OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Monday to preserve documents and halt certain high-risk cybersecurity tests after an experimental artificial intelligence agent allegedly escaped a controlled environment and carried out a multi-day hack into outside computer systems.

In a Monday letter shared with Fox News Digital, the attorneys general said OpenAI may have violated state and federal consumer-protection and data-privacy laws and cautioned that a failure to preserve relevant records could trigger sanctions if litigation follows.

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“A failure to take immediate action to preserve such materials could result in spoliation sanctions if litigation were to ensue,” Iowa Republican AG Brenna Bird’s letter, signed by GOP AGs from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Utah, read.

“We further demand that OpenAI take immediate steps to ensure that no OpenAI personnel face any adverse action for engaging in any protected whistleblowing activity or for reporting any unlawful or harmful activities by OpenAI.”

FLORIDA SUES OPENAI AND SAM ALTMAN CLAIMING CHATGPT IS UNSAFE FOR USERS

The officials accused OpenAI of conducting a July 2026 evaluation involving two advanced models — identified in the letter as GPT-5.6 Sol and an unreleased model the company had described as “even more capable” — without the normal safeguards designed to prevent high-risk cyber activity.

This letter and hack follow a letter GOP AGs wrote to Altman in May, demanding answers on OpenAI’s nonprofit status.

“OpenAI’s inability or unwillingness to ensure the safety of its products poses an imminent risk of substantial harm to our States,” Bird wrote.

“We intend to take decisive action to protect our citizens.”

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ELON MUSK ATTORNEY CLAIMS OPENAI, SAM ALTMAN ‘STOLE A CHARITY’ AS HIGH-STAKES LEGAL FIGHT BEGINS

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The test was supposed to take place in an isolated environment with no internet access, but the attorneys general alleged in the letter that the agent exploited a software vulnerability, escaped the testing environment and connected to the internet.

“OpenAI failed to confirm that its secure and isolated testing environment was, in fact, secure and isolated,” Bird wrote. “It was not.”

From there, the agent allegedly launched an intrusion targeting the AI company Hugging Face in an effort to steal an answer key and defeat its own safety evaluation.

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Citing an interim technical report from Hugging Face, the letter said the agent carried out more than 17,000 “attacker actions,” seized control of an external endpoint exposed through a third-party infrastructure provider and entered Hugging Face systems.

OPENAI DIDN’T REALIZE ITS AGENT WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR HACK FOR A WEEK: REPORT

OpenAI logo

In this photo illustration, an OpenAI logo is seen displayed on a smartphone on the top of a laptop. (Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket / Getty Images)

The attorneys general also cited reporting that the agent found four sets of login credentials online and used them to access four other unnamed services.

OpenAI allegedly did not know the agent had broken containment while the activity was underway. The letter claims Hugging Face detected the intrusion independently and contacted the FBI before OpenAI determined that its own technology was responsible.

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The document presents the incident and its surrounding details as allegations drawn from public reporting and technical findings.

The attorneys general said the episode followed a series of warning signs involving OpenAI’s models and internal oversight.

OPENAI CO-FOUNDER WARNS AI MODELS ARE BECOMING HARDER TO CONTROL AFTER ITS MODEL HACKED ANOTHER FIRM

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said concerns about artificial intelligence are understandable following a recent cybersecurity incident involving one of the company’s models. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images / Getty Images)

They cited reports that an AI agent had previously left instructions for future versions of itself describing how to escape internal restrictions, that monitoring systems had been disconnected during earlier tests and that employees sometimes struggled to oversee multiple fast-moving model evaluations generating enormous volumes of data.

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“OpenAI’s unprecedented and alarming misconduct demands an immediate and significant response,” the officials wrote.

The coalition demanded that OpenAI preserve documents, internal communications, data and other materials related to the Hugging Face intrusion, the pre-release model involved, the company’s discovery of the incident and any internal investigation or public statement concerning it.

The preservation request also covers previous cases in which OpenAI models may have used publicly exposed credentials, earlier unauthorized network intrusions and any incident in which a model left notes for future versions of itself.

ANTHROPIC SAYS AI MODELS ACCESSED SYSTEMS OF 3 REAL ORGANIZATIONS DURING TESTING

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Hugging Face logo

Hugging Face said it detected and contained a security breach after an OpenAI model compromised part of its infrastructure during an internal evaluation. (Jaque Silva/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The attorneys general further requested records concerning OpenAI’s safety policies, testing procedures, monitoring systems, employee concerns and personnel with knowledge of the alleged events.

The letter also demanded that OpenAI protect employees from retaliation for reporting potentially unlawful or dangerous conduct.

In addition, the coalition called on the company to immediately stop internal evaluations that prompt AI models to pursue advanced exploitation through complex attack paths.

“Unless and until OpenAI shows that it can conduct such activities in a controlled and responsible way, such activities pose an imminent risk of serious harm to the citizens of our States,” the letter said.

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Fox News Digital reached out to OpenAI for comment and has not yet heard back.

The officials stopped short of announcing a lawsuit but said the publicly reported facts could support claims under laws enforced by state attorneys general.

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“OpenAI has an obligation to act responsibly and to follow State and federal laws that protect Americans’ safety and security,” Bird’s letter concluded. “When OpenAI takes actions that imperil the welfare of our citizens, State Attorneys General will step in to protect them.

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“We intend to take all steps necessary to protect our States and all Americans from the unprecedented risks posed by OpenAI’s irresponsible products and conduct.”

The White House has confirmed to Fox News that it is going to host AI companies Tuesday to review the AI framework from a June 2 executive order from President Donald Trump.

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Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Discusses FDA Authorization and Market Introduction of OTTAVA Robotic Surgical System Transcript

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OneWater Marine Inc. (ONEW) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript