Last month's economic news has been far from encouraging for most Americans, with a continuation of an uneven and unpredictable job market, rising consumer prices, and declining earnings. Yet, despite the grim realities faced by most working families in the U.S. the recovery period has been very good to business, with corporate profits up over 15 percent since it began. A survey of indicators shows the Bush administration's economic policies, specifically how they value profits for corporations over the bottom line for average Americans, have further eroded the country's economic health.

The long run-up to legislative action in the Senate on the estate tax appears to be coming to a close. The day before the chamber recessed in July, Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) filed a motion to proceed to consider H.R. 8, the House passed estate tax repeal bill. This bill will be one of the first items the Senate is expected to take up when it returns in September, and it is quite likely that this repeal bill will ultimately serve as a vehicle for a bad estate tax reform proposal by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ).

Although Senate Republicans still lack the 60 votes needed for estate tax repeal, they may schedule a procedural vote, in order to assess where each Senator stands on the issue, according to media reports late last week. The vote would come after weeks of Senate negotiations on possible reform specifics that have yielded little in the way of a compromise. If a vote does occur this week, it would likely serve to increase pressure on Democrats to reach a compromise, and also, according to a July 22 Wall Street Journal article, to "smoke out reluctant senators" just before the August recess.