Charlie and I have been on the road for a couple of weeks, enjoying this wonderful country. We are blessed.
Our Nation, in a political sense, is not so blessed. We have a narcissistic, heartless, fascist liar running the Country, and we have a legislative branch of government that is willing to look the other way while it connives with him to improve the lot of the 1 percent of Americans who earn 25 percent of the Nation’s income and already control 40 percent of the wealth of the country. President Trump is already one of that group, and he is Hell-bent on further enriching his family.
If Trump and his Republican cohorts succeed in their efforts to manipulate the tax code, our children and grandchildren will pay a tremendous price.
The first act of this Republican farce was the attempt to deprive 20 million needy Americans of health care. The savings from this ploy was going to help disguise the chicanery of their Tax Reform plan. Luckily for the Nation’s poor, that cold-hearted endeavor was stymied…at least for the time being. I’m sure President Trump and his uncaring conspirators in Congress haven’t yet given up on that campaign goal…to further subjegate America’s disadvantaged population. At this writing, the President’s goal, in the absence of repealing Obamacare, is to sabotage it.
Now, the American public is starting to get barraged by our Republican friends (and Fox News) about the wonderful Tax Reform plan that is being cooked up.
Unfortunately for the 99 percent of Americans who are not driving this train, the immediate gains of this Tax Reform plan will be minuscule for the Average Joe, and he’ll pay dearly for it for decades. But, for the super-wealthy 1 percent, there will be an immediate bounty, and those gains will be protected over the long haul. “The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer” goes the saying; that’s how the shameful imbalance between rich and poor was achieved in this country in the first place. And, it’s about to get worse.
The sales pitch that the Republicans are making to the American public is the tired “Supply Side Economics/Trickle Down/Reaganomics” theory that sounds great, but that has never worked when tried. The Republican plan professes that large tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations will unleash tremendous economic growth, and the benefits of that will trickle down to all Americans. You know, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” Accordingly, life will be wonderful, there will be full employment…it will Make America Great Again!
Excuse me, but we’ve heard this song several times before, and…just in my lifetime. Republicans pull this steaming turd out of the tool box about every generation, hoping that the new folks will be ripe for the pickin’.
Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts for the the rich and corporations had a short term boost to the economy, but taxes had to be raised in succeeding years, and the National Debt doubled during his Presidency. That means that the Nation had to borrow money in order to benefit the already wealthy elite.
President George W. Bush tried the same thing, but many economists believe that the modest spike in economic activity was caused by lowered interest on borrowing (the Fed rate was lowered from 6 percent to 1 percent). Low interest money always stimulates the economy. Again, the “benefits” of the trickle-down plan were, essentially, smoke and mirrors. And, remember what happened when lots of easy money was laying around…the banks started lending money to vagrants without jobs, and we got the stock market crash and…the Great Recession.
And, then, we bailed out those banks with taxpayer money!
Kansas voters fell for the “supply side economics” scam a number of years ago, hook, line, and sinker. A conservative Governor and Legislature slashed taxes dramatically, with the promise that unburdened corporations and the rich would stimulate unprecedented economic growth. The Governor’s goal was to eliminate the income tax entirely; his campaign was called the “March to Zero”. It turned out to be a sprint to bankruptcy. Within four years, the State was staring at a budget shortfall of $350 million, with a projected shortfall of $1 billion in another three years. Bottom line: the economic growth didn’t materialize, and now Kansas is in the same boat as Puerto Rico…screwed.
But, the tricke-down idea sure sounded good at the time. People want to believe in Santa Claus.
Take it from a guy (me) who used to prepare billion dollar local government budgets: there is no magic Silver Bullet. Reduced taxes without reduced spending equals deficit spending. Projected economic growth based on faulty assumptions does not equal more jobs. Never has, never will. Only on Fox News and in Donald Trump’s fertile imagination.
Over the past ten years, the so-called “Tea Party” conservative component of the Republican Party has championed reduction of the national debt and Federal deficit spending by reducing government cost. Accordingly, Tea Party adherents have strenuously opposed optimistic (“pie in the sky”) estimates of Federal revenue based upon wishful thinking. Because why? Because when that projected revenue doesn’t materialize, and the spending continues unabated, budget deficits occur, resulting in more national debt. Finally, some common sense!
All of that sounded good to these fiscally-conservative Republicans, particularly when Democrats were pushing the National agenda, or when Democrats controlled Congress. Why? So that the Tea Partiers could use this common sense to thwart Democratic policy aims.
However, now that the tables are turned, and the Republican Party is driving the train, unhindered, the proposed Tax Reform plan (from those same, sensible legislators) is turning out to be the “Same Ol’, Same Ol'” flim-flam that got us in a mountain of National Debt.
The proposed Tax Reform plan alleges that very generous tax cuts to the rich and to corporations will spur tremendous economic growth, and the resultant bounty, spread out to all Americans, will easily cover the lost tax revenue. Most economists believe this to be…hogwash. Why? Because it’s never worked in the past.
These economists believe that the projected increased revenue will not occur, at least as it is projected by the Republican optimists, and that the “plan” will have a $1.5 trillion net shortfall over the next ten years. Tax increases, paid for by average Americans, will have to pay for it, in the end, and the value of the U.S. dollar will suffer.
And, yet, Republican fiscal hawks are now eager to hop on board. Why is that? Because it is THEIR pet projects that will receive priority in the Federal budget…the deficit be damned. There will be payoffs for their corporate campaign donors, Defense projects in their Districts, and large tax breaks for their rich friends.
Decreased Federal funding will be applied to watchdog agencies, rewarding the Republican Party’s banking, Coal, Big Oil, NRA, and Bible Belt lobbies. The big boys will get big tax breaks, and, as an added bonus, no one will be watching the hen house, because the Federal regulatory agencies will be underfunded.
The D.C. “swamp” will remain undrained, and America will not be made any greater. Just more of the same shit in a newly wrapped bag. Except, in this case, more income and more wealth will accumulate to the top 1 percent of Americans. And, the National Debt will skyrocket, just like it did under the so-called “Reaganomics”.
The tax benefits to the wealthy will be real, but will not necessarily produce more jobs…which is the touted goal of Tax Reform. The rich folks who get large tax breaks could hire more employees. But, but they have other options that could be more enticing to them. In 2008, when the Bush Administration lowered taxes and gave TARP bailouts (to failing financial institutions which had demonstrated bad judgment), instead of creating jobs with this windfall, businesses saved the money, sent it to stockholders as dividends, repurchased stocks and invested overseas. So, rather than creating jobs, the rich benefactors increased their wealth…at taxpayer expense.
We all know that it happened, because we saw it with our own eyes and were furious about it. But, people have short memories, and they want to…believe. And, as P.T. Barnum said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
That’s how Trump became President. But, I digress.
The economy has changed since Ronald Reagan’s days. More and more jobs have been lost to automation, the economy as a whole has become more capital- and technology-intensive. So, businesses are more disposed to use tax cuts to buy computers and other labor-saving equipment than to hire new workers.
The bottom line is that many Blue collar Americans who believe Tax Reform will spontaneously re-generate their old industries (coal, Rust Belt manufacturing, etc.) are going to be sorely disappointed. Congress is going to throw them a bone while picking their pocket on behalf of the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.
Congress has been there, done that several times before. Just a little sleight of hand…it’s the old promise of “a chicken in every pot”, “it’s a no-brainer”, etc.
The fact of the matter is that while Average Joes vote to elect politicians, successful political campaigns are funded by the 1 percent. And, those guys always get what they pay for.
And, as Sonny and Cher said, “The Beat Goes On”.
The Chief Executive has been on a roll lately.
His Secretary of State was quoted as calling him a “moron”. Trump then challenged his appointee, the fifth in the line of Presidential succession, to an I.Q. test.
Two hurricanes devastated Puerto Rico, so Trump flew down there and tossed rolls of paper towels to the crowd, and then declared that the Federal response to the disaster was a “10+”.
Meanwhile, American citizens in Puerto Rico have been without electricity for a month now, food and water are limited, and things continue to look bleak. They can wipe their tears with those paper towels, I guess.
Then, the Commander-in-Chief lied about sending condolences to the families of four killed servicemen. Rushing to cover that lie up, the President called one of the bereaved wives. Trump being Trump, he told her that her husband “knew what he signed up for”… as a nice way of expressing the gratitude of the country, I guess. (Gee, that’s how he treated ex-POW, now Senator John McCain. There must be a pattern here.)
If the doofus keep this up, no one will want to serve in our Nation’s …volunteer armed forces! Talk about a guy having no clue…I think that the Secretary of State had a legitimate point.
In the aftermath of the horrible massacre in Las Vegas, President Trump didn’t want to get into any discussion about gun control…lest he offend one of his biggest supporters, the National Rifle Association.
Meanwhile, the President continued in his personal vendetta to abrogate, tear up, or water-down any and all international agreements made by his predecessor. This, despite admonishments by both Democrats and Republicans…and our allies.
One wonders who, if anyone, would want to enter into an agreement with this idiot. “Allies”? Who needs them?
Not surprising, the Nation’s press has been having a field day, lampooning the President for the chaos in his Administration, his false steps, stupid moves and lies that he tells virtually every day.
Our President, the defender of the Constitution and our democratic way of life, has lashed out…by proposing that the Press’ ability to criticize him should be curtailed. Yeah, he wants to limit the right of Free Speech. (What’s next…we have to salute him? Heil Donald!)
To paraphrase a famous moron…”America, you knew what you were signing up for!”
Don’t blame me; I didn’t vote for the guy.