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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 20:03:20 GMT
Once the primaries start in the congressional districts of the GOP assholes who voted "Aye!" on this s***-and-anchovy "tax reform" bill, it may be an entirely different story. F**K 'EM ALL! Let's hope so however they have gerrymandered their districts and suppressed the vote so much they will be hard to beat even if they are unpopular. GOP on the verge of huge tax overhaul _ with one hiccupSTEPHEN OHLEMACHER and MARCY GORDON, Associated Press•December 19, 2017
www.yahoo.com/news/gop-set-roll-1-5t-083058348.htmlThe Senate still expected to pass the legislation Tuesday night, but the plan to send it on to Trump for his signature had to be scrapped. Democrats noted that three provisions violated Senate rules and had to be removed. So the massive bill will be hauled back across the Capitol for the House to re-vote on Wednesday. GOP House members roared and applauded as their chamber passed the $1.5 trillion package largely along party lines, 227-203. Ryan declared, "This was a promise made. This is a promise kept," as he and other GOP leaders convened a victory news conference moments later. Democrats called the bill a giveaway to corporations and the wealthy, with no likelihood that business owners will use their gains to hire more workers or raise wages. And they mocked the Republicans' contention that the bill will make taxes so simple that millions can file their returns "on a postcard" — an idea repeated often by the president. "What happened to the postcard? We're going to have to carry around a billboard for tax simplification," declared Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee. Tax cuts for corporations would be permanent while the cuts for individuals would expire in 2026 in order to comply with Senate budget rules. The tax cuts would take effect in January, and workers would start to see changes in the amount of taxes withheld from their paychecks in February. For now, Democrats are planning to use the bill in their campaigns next year. Senate Democrats posted poll numbers on the bill on a video screen at their Tuesday luncheon. "This bill will come back to haunt them, as Frankenstein did," said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. The bill would slash the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. The top tax rate for individuals would be lowered from 39.6 percent to 37 percent. The legislation repeals an important part of the 2010 health care law — the requirement that all Americans carry health insurance or face a penalty — as the GOP looks to unravel the law it failed to repeal and replace this past summer. It also allows oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The $1,000-per-child tax credit doubles to $2,000, with up to $1,400 available in IRS refunds for families who owe little or no taxes. Parents would have to provide children's Social Security numbers to receive the child credit, a measure intended to deny the credit to people who are in the U.S. illegally. Disgruntled Republican lawmakers from high-tax New York, New Jersey and California receded into the background as the tax train rolled. They oppose a new $10,000 limit on the deduction for state and local taxes. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., was among those who voted against the bill. Frelinghuysen chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee, and it is rare for committee chairmen to oppose major legislation. GOP Rep. Peter King conveyed what people in his Long Island, New York, district were telling him about the tax bill: "Nothing good, especially from Republicans. ... It's certainly unpopular in my district." The bill is projected to add $1.46 trillion to the nation's debt over a decade. GOP lawmakers say they expect a future Congress to continue the tax cuts so they won't expire. That would drive up deficits even further. The bill would initially provide tax cuts for Americans of all incomes. But if the cuts for individuals expire, most Americans — those making less than $75,000 — would see tax increases in 2027, according to congressional estimates.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 20:03:43 GMT
Fortunately for me, our congressional representative, Judy Chu, is a Democrat and thus was a "NO" vote (she represents, for the record, a large chunk of the San Gabriel Valley, just east of Los Angeles). As to Kevin McCarthy's quote of " Did you ever believe we would be here on this day?", he may represent a largely GOP district (northern L.A. and southern Kern counties, including Lancaster, Palmdale, and Bakersfield), but this bill doesn't benefit a heck of a lot of people in that district, which means that he may be asking that question next November in an entirely different context.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 20:04:10 GMT
Trump and Republicon leadership are so out of touch with the reality which most in the country exist. Republican leadership is willfully ignorant and is bending over for their own survival as corporate whores to please their campaign donors. They know exactly what they are doing and they just don't care especially given the fact this will harm BLUE STATES that are donor states and reward RED STATES that are taker states. And they are shamefully out in the open about it now.
Trump (like Reagan) is just ignorant no matter which way you look at it. He never cared either. The party of the bottom line....their bottom line. Not America's.Trump Asks ‘How’s Your 401(k)?’ But Most Voters Don’t Have OneToluse Olorunnipa Toluse Olorunnipa 18 hours ago .
President Donald Trump is trying out a new campaign slogan: “How’s your 401(k) doing?” The answer for more than half of Americans is that they don’t have one.
Trump has tested out the line this month at a fundraiser, a campaign rally and in a White House meeting, predicting that the rising U.S. stock market will help him win re-election. But only about 45 percent of private-sector workers participate in any employer-sponsored retirement plan, and the lower-income workers in Trump’s political base are the least likely to hold money in such an account, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Trump mentions the stock market almost daily in tweets or public remarks, taking direct credit for record highs by the Dow Jones Industrial Average and other indexes. But only about 14 percent of U.S. families directly own stocks, an asset class dominated by the country’s top earners, according to the Federal Reserve.
Meanwhile, the president has also rolled back efforts to expand retirement savings options to more middle-class and low-income workers.
For a president propelled into office in no small part by resentment that a broad swath of the country has been left behind while an entrenched establishment prospers, continual references to the stock market and 401(k) accounts risk alienating his supporters, said Austan Goolsbee, a former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under PresidentBarack Obama.
How America’s Inequality Machine Is Firing the Dow Into Orbit www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-15/how-america-s-inequality-machine-is-firing-the-dow-into-orbit
“As a political slogan, ‘how is your 401(k) doing?’ suggests he’s most interested in the one-third of people who have a 401(k),” said Goolsbee, who teaches economics at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. “The more you highlight how great that group of financial winners is doing, you at least run the risk of angering and irritating the very people who revolted against what they perceived as the financial and political elites in the first place.”
White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said Trump’s statements reflect “a strong economy” that is “good news for everyone.”
“For the Americans that don’t have the opportunity to invest in a 401(k) plan or who choose not to, the Trump agenda of lower taxes, higher wages, and better jobs allows them to save more on their own, and potentially have a better chance of finding a job in the future that provides those benefits,” Walters added in an emailed statement.
Unpopular Tax Plan
An October Politico/Morning Consult poll found that only a third of voters think Trump “cares about people like me.” Trump’s tax overhaul, which Congress may send to his desk this week, is opposed by a two-to-one margin because independent analyses have found it largely benefits the wealthy, according to aQuinnipiac University poll released Dec. 13.
More from Bloomberg.com: Everything You Need to Know About the GOP Tax Bill www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-18/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-gop-tax-overhaul-plan?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=bd&utm_campaign=headline&cmpId=yhoo.headline
Trump said he stumbled upon the new campaign slogan as he was preparing to speak to donors at Cipriani restaurant in New York earlier this month. Trump said that a law enforcement officer backstage at the fundraiser sparked the idea, but he didn’t identify the person by name.
“One great gentleman came up and he said, ‘Sir, I want to thank you.’ I said ‘what did I do for you?”’ Trump said on Dec. 2. “He said, ‘my 401(k) is up 40 percent.’ And I never thought of it. You know, I tell you, he gave me one of the great campaign lines. It’s called ‘How is your 401(k) doing?”’
Since then, Trump has tested the line at a Florida campaign rally and even asked members of the media about their own retirement accounts during a meeting in the Cabinet Room at the White House.
‘Privileged Few’
“And, by the way, how are your 401(k)s doing?” Trump said during a Dec. 8 rally in Pensacola, Florida, where median household income is about $46,000. “ Not too bad, right?”
The line was met with light applause.
“I’m not sure he understands that only a fraction of the population has 401(k)s,” saidAlicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. “So he just may not realize that he’s speaking to the privileged few.”
Only a third of people contribute anything to their retirement accounts, according to a Census study released this year. Among workers in the bottom half of the income scale, less than 25 percent participate in a retirement program, according to the GAO.
Not Enough Money
With wages largely stagnant for most Americans in recent years, saving for retirement has been crowded out by other expenses. Student debt and auto loans are at record levels, according to Federal Reserve data released in February, and overall consumer debt is rising at the fastest pace in three years.
“You can give people all the tax-deferred accounts you want, but if they don’t have enough money it’s not going to work,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, and former chief economist to the Council of Economic Advisers underGeorge W. Bush.
Trump’s proposed tax cuts could help some people save more money for retirement by boosting their take-home pay, Holtz-Eakin said.
During debate over the legislation, Trump blocked efforts by Republicans in Congress to scale back tax preferences for retirement savings.
“There will be NO change to your 401(k),” Trump said on Twitter on Oct. 23, after reports that lawmakers were considering drastic reductions in the amount that could be deposited tax-free in the accounts. “This has always been a great and popular middle-class tax break that works, and it stays!”
Ending myRA
But Trump’s administration has rolled back Obama-era proposals to expand retirement savings to the millions of low- and middle-income Americans who don’t have them.
Trump signed legislation in May repealing a regulation that would have made it easier for states to automatically enroll workers in retirement programs.
In July, the Treasury Department announced it was ending the myRA program begun under Obama to provide retirement savings options to those without access to traditional 401(k) plans. Treasury said the program suffered from low demand and high costs.
“We are committed to promoting retirement savings, and, as Treasurer, I plan to devote a substantial amount of my time to ensuring more Americans have the tools and know-how to save for retirement,” U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza said in a July 28 statement.
The Trump administration hasn’t announced any significant effort since then to expand access to retirement savings plans.
(This reminds me of the 1980s when Reagan and his Republican cronies began to destroy pension plans in favor of 401K's and by the time their 401K's were worth anything the Republicans crashed the economy in 2008 and people lost everything. Nice going dickheads.)
More from Bloomberg.com
How Republicans’ Tax Promises Stack Up to Their Actual Plan www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-18/gop-tax-plan-s-uneven-benefits-don-t-align-with-trump-s-promises?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=bd&utm_campaign=headline&cmpId=yhoo.headline
These Are the Tricks States May Use to Get Around the SALT Deduction www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-18/finance-gurus-devise-funky-workarounds-to-loss-of-salt-deduction?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=bd&utm_campaign=headline&cmpId=yhoo.headline
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 20:04:37 GMT
But again, this brings up the inevitable question: Who in the hell is surprised at all by this piece of s***ty legislation? This is, in all likelihood, the single worst piece of legislation that is going to become law in the history of this nation, case closed!
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 20:05:11 GMT
Ronstadt Fans,
The wealthy and powerful in this country have never had it so good.
While the very rich get richer and the middle class shrinks, the Republican majority has passed a deeply unpopular tax bill that would make income and wealth inequality much worse. This legislation, at the end of ten years, would provide 83 percent of the tax benefits to the top 1 percent and the largest corporations. Incredibly, 60 percent of the benefits would go to the top 1/10th of one percent. Meanwhile, by 2027, taxes on 92 million middle class households would increase. Further, 13 million people will lose their health insurance and premiums on the individual market will increase by 10 percent.
Having passed this horrific legislation, the Republican leadership now wants to shut down Congress and head home for the Christmas break.
Well, I respectfully disagree.
Maybe, just maybe, before Congress adjourns for the holidays they should pay attention to the needs of the working families of our country and not just the billionaire class.
Maybe, just maybe, before Congress goes home they might want to address the incredible anxiety that some 800,000 Dreamers are facing who are on the verge of losing their legal status, and face the possibility of deportation. Can you imagine being 20 years old, having spent virtually your entire life in the United States, and now worrying about being forced out of the only country you have ever known because of Trump's incredibly ugly decision to repeal DACA? Despicable.
Congress must act NOW to protect the Dreamers.
The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Community Health Centers, whose funding expired on September 30, must be reauthorized and fully funded. Before Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan shut down Congress for the holiday season tens of millions of Americans and their kids must be guaranteed that they will not be thrown off of the health insurance they currently have.
Congress must act NOW to protect health care for children and working families.
If Congress does not act now, 1.5 million workers and retirees in multi-employer pension plans could lose the pensions they were promised by up to 60 percent. People who have worked their entire lives for guaranteed pensions should not be forced to live in poverty because Congress broke the promise it made to them.
Congress must act NOW to protect the earned pensions of 1.5 million American workers.
While members of Congress return home for holiday celebrations, many people in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands will not be able to turn on their Christmas lights because they continue to have no electricity as a result of the devastation caused by the recent hurricanes. Congress must pass significant disaster relief to help the people of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Texas and Florida.
Congress must act NOW to provide financial disaster assistance to those communities hit hard by recent natural disasters.
Sisters and brothers: Our message is simple. Congress cannot simply close shop, go home and leave millions of working people in desperate anxiety.
Please send a message to Speaker Ryan and Senate Leader McConnell. Sign my petition telling them don't shut down Congress for the holidays until you address the pressing needs of the American people. Don't give tax breaks to billionaires while ignoring the suffering of working families.
Thank you for making your voice heard. The struggle continues.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 20:05:33 GMT
Great letter. Maybe, just maybe I couldn't have written a better one myself!
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 20:06:13 GMT
Alex Shephard newrepublic.com/authors/alex-shephard
The only way to defend tax reform is to lie about it. ( www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/20/16674640/gop-tax-plan-lies ) For the last six weeks, as they rapidly moved a tax reform package through Congress, Republicans lied through their teeth about the contents of the bill. They claimed that they were simplifying the tax code, when in fact they were making it more complicated and keeping many deductions—particularly those abused by the rich—in place. ( money.cnn.com/2017/12/17/pf/taxes/gop-tax-plan-simplify/index.html ) They claimed that cutting the corporate tax rate would create unprecedented economic growth, even though that has never happened before. ( www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-09-28/economists-have-no-use-for-republican-tax-cuts ) Cutting the corporate tax rate, they argued, would also translate to higher wages and more jobs, even though corporate leaders have made it clear ( www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/15/16653698/ceos-investment-tax-reform ) that they will either hoard their savings or pay them out to stockholders in dividends. They claimed it would be a tax cut for everyone, even though many middle-class taxpayers would see tax increases ( www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/28/upshot/what-the-tax-bill-would-look-like-for-25000-middle-class-families.html ) within the next ten years. And Donald Trump claimed that he personally would be paying higher taxes, even though he, his businesses, and his children will make out like bandits. ( www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/trump-his-family-could-save-more-1-billion-under-house-n821491 )
Theoretically, all of these claims will be put to the test in the coming months and years. As The Wall Street Journal wrote today ( www.wsj.com/articles/tax-cuts-to-test-gops-economic-pledges-1513715049 ), “The U.S. economy is about to become the proving ground for GOP tax-cutting theories.” Voters, this thinking goes, will be able to match up the heated rhetoric surrounding the bill to reality. But judging the effects of tax cuts is tricky. We can now say, with some certainty, that the Bush tax cuts increased the deficit ( www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/01/02/the-legacy-of-the-bush-tax-cuts-in-four-charts/?utm_term=.3b123d8d3ae7 ), fueled income inequality, contributed to the 2008 financial meltdown, and disproportionately helped the wealthy—but none of these consequences factored into the debate over tax reform. Furthermore, it takes a long time to judge the effects of legislation like this.
Republicans are looking to exploit that ambiguity. Just as Trump has claimed credit for a stock market bull run that began in the Obama presidency, the GOP will be able to claim that any positive changes in the economy are the result of this bill. And if it all goes south, well, don’t be surprised to see them argue that the solution is more tax cuts.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 20:06:47 GMT
This is disgusting sociopathiconservatism at its worst. Pence groveling begins around 13:40 or so into this video:
Jeet Heer newrepublic.com/authors/jeet-heer
Mike Pence groveling before Donald Trump is painful to watch. In 2016, Trump supporter Omarosa Manigault-Newman, who would go on to become a short-lived White House adviser, divulged why Trump gets so much satisfaction from displays of bootlicking. “Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump,” Manigault-Newman said in an interview with Frontline. “It’s everyone who’s ever doubted Donald, who ever disagreed, who ever challenged him. It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.”
This insight was vindicated today in a remarkable cabinet meeting. After Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson offered a prayer, Trump invited his Vice President Mike Pence “to say a few words.” Pence prostrated himself with relish. “You’ve restored American credibility on the world stage,” Pence gushed. “You’ve signed more bills rolling back federal red tape than any president in American history. You’ve unleashed American energy. You’ve spurred an optimism in this country that is setting records.”
There have long been rumors that Pence is angling for Trump’s job. But with the president on the verge of signing a big tax reform package, it looks like he’s firmly in charge—and taking his revenge on his doubters.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 20:09:00 GMT
I recently met a grandmother who had raised a developmentally disabled grandchild to adulthood. He has received disability but for some reason unknown to her the small check from Disability Services STOPPED this past summer with NO explanation. Now I know why. This is a sign of things to come for ALL of those who find themselves in poverty, ill or elderly. Republicans will in short order begin to openly cut these people OFF. Up to now it has been a silent cut off or blaming bureaucracy for delays. We heard those cut off grumblings from Speaker of the House Ratboy PAUL RYAN and the Republicons in the House once they passed their tax cut reform scam. They have been empowered.
I have reported on this before but when Conservatives rule countries, including the US people die, Republicans rule, people die. Suicides go up as well and even abortions rise. Go figure huh? That is what I call compassionate conservatism. I truly believe there is an inherent sadism and contempt for the poor and ill by conservatives. They are of the belief that those down and out are to blame for their lot in life. Likewise they have a belief that the healthy and wealthy are God's chosen people. That is clearly evidenced by their policies, their support from Fundamentalists and Evangelicals and their adherence to the principles of "the FAMILY" which is a sick Christian cult that a great number of Republican politicians seem to belong.
It is a part of the vast right wing conspiracy Hillary Clinton spoke and warned about back in the 1990's. It is very real. Combine that with the right wing network of FOX News propaganda and FAKE NEWS outlets, magazines, newspapers, blogs and conservative funded think tanks all darkly connected to deep state intelligence agencies and military intelligence and we American's have a real fascist oligarchy on our hands. They also have quite a voter suppression and election theft network going on. Ironically, the easily fooled right wing white trash types believe the propaganda these people push yet they are the abused masses and don't even realize that their own chosen leaders are the abusers. Trump especially has them all fooled. Enlisted military types also fall into this category. It is all quite sad but it all goes back to WWI and WWII but became heated up after they killed JFK. I call this cabal THE NETWORK. Others have called it the Octopus.
( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family:_The_Secret_Fundamentalism_at_the_Heart_of_American_Power ) Millions Of Children Set To Lose Health Care As Federal Funds Run Out | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC
Eric Armstrong The New Republic
While Republicans celebrate their tax bill, millions of poor kids are in danger of losing their health care. Almost nine million children across America rely on the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for health insurance, which fills the gap for families who make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to buy private insurance. And because congressional Republicans have neglected to fund it in favor of more pressing issues—like cutting taxes for corporations and literally enriching themselves—16 states are set to run out of money for CHIP by the end of January, leaving potentially millions of kids without care.
It has been 80 days since the Republican-controlled Congress let funding expire. And thousands of families are already being notified that their kids may not be covered next year. The good news is that this is an incredibly easy fix. The bad news is that it will require Republicans to do the fixing.
CHIP enjoys broad bipartisan support, but the details of the policy negotiations to reauthorize its funding mechanism are instructive. Despite happily adding more than $1 trillion to the deficit to finance their tax cuts, Republicans disagree over how to pay for CHIP, stalling reauthorization bills in both the House and the Senate.
"The Family" - Fundamentalism, Friends In High Places (Fresh Air - NPR) 3/3 Published on Jul 10, 2009
Recorded from NPR's Fresh Air from WHYY, July 1, 2009 · In the book "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power", author Jeff Sharlet examines the power wielded by a secretive Christian group known as the Family, or the Fellowship.
Founded in 1935 in opposition to FDR's New Deal, the evangelical group's views on religion and politics are so singular that some other Christian-right organizations consider them heretical
The group also has a connection to a house in Washington, D.C., known as C Street. Owned by a foundation affiliated with the Family, C Street is officially registered as a church; in practice, it serves as a meeting place and residence for politicians like South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, Nevada Sen. John Ensign and Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn.
The Family, Sharlet writes, is responsible for founding the annual National Prayer Breakfast, a supposedly ecumenical — but implicitly Christian — event attended by the president, members of Congress and dignitaries from around the world. These foreign delegations are often led by top defense personnel, who use it as an opportunity to lobby the most influential people in Washington — and who repay the Family with access to their governments.
The group's approach to religion, Sharlet says, is based on "a sort of trickle-down fundamentalism," which holds that the wealthy and powerful, if they "can get their hearts right with God ... will dispense blessings to those underneath them."
Members of the group ardently support free markets, in which, they believe, God's will operates directly through Adam Smith's "invisible hand."
The Family was founded in 1935 by a minister named Abraham Vereide after, he claimed, he had a vision in which God came to him in the person of the head of the United States Steel Corporation.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 20:10:16 GMT
I myself have already felt the pinch. My health insurance from Blue Shield of California went up from $432.80 for December 2017 to $517.40 come the New Year, a jump of roughly 18%.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 20:10:52 GMT
Looks like they may have extended the CHIP program, at least for a short while. The Republicans are playing craps with our economy and our future. Look at the damage supply side has done to us already, since Reagan. Hopefully they will be voted out but gerrymandering makes that quite difficult and not too many are up for reelection anyway.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 20:11:30 GMT
Here is a calculator made just for figuring your tax refund based on the crappy new Republicon tax cuts for the wealthy reform bill that Trump just signed into law:
taxplancalculator.com/
No math calculator needed... right now most homeowners itemize AND use the personal exemption. It means they just lost $4000 in personal exemption deduction for single and $8000 for a married couple. A single person would need at least 4 kids to try and offset that loss and a couple 8 kids.
Not only do I personally LOSE my usual meager few thousand dollar refund that I count on to live BUT I will OWE several hundred dollars!!! This is outrageous. I only hope the Left can muster up enough wins to take back the house and senate and override any bill that will be vetoed by Trump to turn out this awful law written by the corporate whores in Washington DC. But because of Republican gerrymandering and conservative voter suppression that is unlikely to happen.
And if all that isn't enough my monthly healthcare payment rose to $800 per month, copays went up, urgent care copay went up and emergency rooms visits rose to $200 per visit. My car insurance rose another $50 per month with the lame excuse of hurricane damage in Florida, Texas and fires in California. Car insurance??? Can't wait to see what they do to my home insurance when that comes up for renewal.
It is only going to get worse especially when Trumpublicans start their next war. It will be a repeat of 2008 all over again but this crash will be worse than ever. And already ratboy ryan is talking about cutting social security, medicare and Medicaid and untold welfare programs. That will only increase the crime rate and cause great unrest among the masses. The greedy spiteful, hateful agenda of today's conservatives is despicable. It's like that movie throw mama from the train. Better yet, why not put us all on icebergs to drift away and die at sea. Oh wait, I forgot about global warming which these same people are in denial about. Can't even die in peace.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 20:12:33 GMT
White House Finally Admits Donald Trump Will Benefit From Tax Bill | The Last Word | MSNBC
Published on Dec 21, 2017
President Donald Trump insisted for months that he wouldn't benefit from the tax bill, but his press secretary has finally admitted he will. Jason Johnson predicts a 2018 "boondoggle" for the GOP after the tax bill. He joins Joy Reid with David Cay Johnston.
Don Lemon mocks Trump's 'festival of flattery'
Published on Dec 21, 2017
CNN's Don Lemon discusses the praise fellow Republicans heaped on President Trump after passing the GOP tax bill with two presidential historians.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 20:13:13 GMT
GOP tax scam: How corporations and the rich are fueling inequality Political and economic power are now inseparable. We must dismantle not just this abysmal plan but also the structural conditions that wrought it. Nell Abernathy and Steph Sterling | Opinion contributors Updated 4:53 AM Dec. 18, 2017
After months of debate, Congress has released a final tax reform bill. The bill eliminates some personal exemptions while increasing the standard deduction.
The tax plan that Republican congressional leaders passed this week and to President Trump will soon be regarded as the zenith in a story nearly 40 years in the making, where corporations and a handful of America’s wealthiest families — some of whom now hold positions in the government directly — leverage their outsized economic power into political power. It is what happens when corporate and political power become inseparable. It is a call to arms to dismantle not just the plan itself, but the structural conditions that wrought it.
The compromise House-Senate plan, like the separate bills each chamber passed earlier, so lacks a clear policy or economic justification that it can only be explained as pure pander to Republican donor interests. Though have some tried to marshal policy arguments in favor, each fails on its merits.
Economists and CEOs on both the left and right have been clear that the massive corporate tax cuts will not create jobs. The Tax Policy Center, the Joint Committee on Taxation, and every other credible analysis has indicated only a small share of the corporate windfall will reach workers. Even CEOs themselves admitted they would not use the money to invest. And the most damning evidence that the GOP's purpose is to appease donor interests came from senators themselves, who admitted their financial contributions would dry up if they didn't pass a tax package.
Like the multinational corporations that demanded it, the Republican tax bill is extractive, taking money from middle-class Americans in order to finance tax cuts for the rich. In much the same way that corporate executives leverage their power to outsource jobs, borrow money, close plants, and squeeze supply chains in order to provide pay-outs to the company’s wealthy shareholders, Republicans have leveraged their power to raise taxes on workers, cut Medicare, borrow money from future generations, and outsource jobs in order to provide pay-outs to the corporate interests that are, in effect, congressional Republicans’ wealthy shareholders. When Senate Democrats offered an amendment to require corporations benefiting from the tax cut to raise wages at the same rate they reward shareholders and CEOs, every single Republican senator opposed it.
The process that led to its passage earlier this month also evinced the raw exercise of those with power over those without. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell dispensed with the usual Senate pretense of legitimacy, steam-rolling his Democratic colleagues. With mere hours of debate and parts of the bill written on the legal equivalent of the back of a napkin, the Senate ignored centuries of tradition and rushed the vote. When you are looting the Treasury, it’s smart to do it quickly and in secret.
As further evidence of the aggregation of corporate and political power that brought us to this point, Republicans are determined to pass this plan over the objections of the vast majority of voters. According to FiveThirtyEight’s average of polls just before the Dec. 2 Senate vote, less than a third of voters supported the tax bill and 46% opposed it. In a new Quinnipiac poll asking voters about "the Republican tax plan," 55% were opposed and only 26% were in favor.
The economic paradigm of the last several decades may not have started as an effort to turn our policies and politics over to the richest Americans and largest corporations. But that is a natural consequence of the paradigm's failure to recognize the ways power works in our economy.
In free market thinking, large firms are just as subject to competition as small firms. Workers can negotiate just as well as their bosses. White people are as likely to lose jobs in recessions as people of color. Free market economists and politicians, enabled by the few that would benefit, pursued almost 40 years of policies and flawed arguments that allowed the rich and corporations to dominate markets and take home a larger and larger share of profits.
More: Senate tax bill is life or death for Obamacare and millions who need it
Today, the economic winners no longer need an ideology to win in politics. Shielded by their own power, they can simply write the rules — nonsensical as they are — to shore up their own wealth and power. We are in a self-fulfilling and self-perpetuating cycle, where political and economic power are inseparable.
The American people should stop this bill from becoming law — or, if that fails, at every turn challenge and question those who voted for it. But that is not enough to reverse the trend. The majority of people who oppose this bill and the orthodoxy that led to it must now demand a new economic agenda designed to reallocate power. This could start with a sweeping new ethics act reigning in the ways corporations influence government, as well as a new anti-trust act for the 21st century that cracks down on anti-competitive corporate power that keeps the cycle going.
It also means policy leaders need to start affirmatively calling for higher taxes on corporations and the super-rich and their heirs — not because it’s the fair thing to do, but because it’s one of the most effective ways to rein in corporate power and take our own power back.
Nell Abernathy is the vice president of policy and research at the Roosevelt Institute. Steph Sterling is the institute's vice president of advocacy. Follow them on Twitter: @nellabernathy and @stephlovessoup
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 20:13:50 GMT
Quote by ronstadtfanaz: We also need to find a way overturn that deplorable Supreme Court decision called "Citizens United", get dark money out of politics, and forever absolve this notion that corporations are "A Person".
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