Monday Open Thread | Latest on the GOP Tax Scam

Posted on November 27, 2017 by rikyrah

This is from FORBES, of all place:

FORBES: GOP Tax Bill Is The End Of All Economic Sanity In Washington

. . . If it’s enacted, the GOP tax cut now working its way through Congress will be the start of a decades-long economic policy disaster unlike any other that has occurred in American history.

There’s no economic justification whatsoever for a tax cut at this time. U.S. GDP is growing, unemployment is close to 4 percent (below what is commonly considered “full employment”, corporate profits are at record levels and stock markets are soaring. It makes no sense to add any federal government-induced stimulus to all this private sector-caused economic activity, let alone a tax cut as big as this one.

This is actually the ideal time for Washington to be doing the opposite. But by damning the economic torpedoes and moving full-speed ahead, House and Senate Republicans and the Trump White House are setting up the U.S. for the modern-day analog of the inflation-producing guns-and-butter economic policy of the Vietnam era. The GOP tax bill will increase the federal deficit by $2 trillion or more over the next decade (the official estimates of $1.5 trillion hide the real amount with a witches brew of gimmicks and outright lies) that, unless all the rules have changed, is virtually certain to result in inflation and much higher interest rates than would otherwise occur.

The GOP’s insanity is compounded by its moving ahead without having any idea of what this policy will actually do to the economy. The debates in the Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees and on the House floor all took place before the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis and, if it really exists, the constantly-promised-but-never-seen report from the Treasury on the economics of this tax bill. . . .

 

https://twitter.com/TopherSpiro/status/934904687207370755

https://twitter.com/bobrackleff/status/933445889057734656

https://twitter.com/TopherSpiro/status/934933195912564736
https://twitter.com/TopherSpiro/status/934907047556079622

This entry was posted in Economics, Open Thread, Politics and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

79 Responses to Monday Open Thread | Latest on the GOP Tax Scam

  15. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 9:07 pm

    Ira Madison III
    ✔
    @ira

    Can’t wait for Trump’s pressed tweet about how he’s turning down an invitation to the royal wedding and Buckingham Palace’s subsequent tweet that they never invited him
    6:52 AM – Nov 27, 2017

    35 35 Replies
    845 845 Retweets

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      November 28, 2017 at 7:10 am

      Does anyone think this might be related to the passive aggressive behavior of someone who isn’t too pleased with what has happened to her life?

      Reply
  23. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 8:48 pm

    John Wiswell @Wiswell

    *Shockingly*, Comcast has dropped its promise not to create paid lanes after Net Neutrality is killed. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/11/comcast-quietly-drops-promise-not-to-charge-tolls-for-internet-fast-lanes/ …
    12:09 PM – Nov 27, 2017

    Reply
  33. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 8:34 pm

    I was watching the Harry/Meghan interview, and Peanut looked over asking about who was Harry..
    After I explained who he was..
    SHe looked at Meghan and asked…

    ” He’s marrying a Black woman?”

    HOLLERING 😅😅

    ” WE ” know “US”

    9 and she has her Black detector already 😄

    Reply
  35. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 4:22 pm

    Breaking news: Colorado announces that it has started sending letters out to CHIP families warning them that their coverage is in jeopardy. This is the first state I am aware of.https://t.co/OE70sKaddJ

    — Joan Alker (@JoanAlker1) November 27, 2017

    Reply
  36. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 4:02 pm

    O’Keefe tried to sting the Washington Post about Judge Pedophile.
    Didn’t work.

    Reply
  37. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 3:57 pm

    Manu Raju‏Verified account
    @mkraju
    Follow Follow @mkraju
    More
    Sarah Sanders doesn’t say when asked about specific ways the CFPB has overreached; says she’ll provide list after briefing

    Reply
  39. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 3:47 pm

    Elizabeth Warren in an interview with @AliVelshi right now about Trump’s comments: “It is deeply unfortunate that the president of the United States cannot make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without throwing out a racial slur.”— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) November 27, 2017

    Reply
  42. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 2:15 pm

    rump calls Elizabeth Warren ‘Pocahontas’ at event honoring Native Americans code talkers

    Daniel Dale @ddale8 6m6 minutes ago
    !!! Trump, at event honoring Native American code talkers, calls Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas.” Full quote:
    “You were here long before any of us were here. Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas.”

    Reply
  43. SouthernGirl2 says:
    November 27, 2017 at 2:06 pm

    Look at this fuckery, y’all. He’s clearly unstable.

    https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/935235170487201794

    Reply
  44. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 1:46 pm

    A #TrumpRussia Confession in Plain Sight
    by Martin Longman
    November 24, 2017

    At about 11:14pm on November 6th, 2012, enough states were called for President Obama that he was declared the winner of the election by NBC News. That was quickly followed up by a similar call on Fox News and finally by CNN. At 11:29pm, Donald Trump blasted out the following defiant tweet:

    We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!

    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012

    Somewhere in Russia, Konstantin Rykov saw Trump’s tweet pop up in his Twitter feed.

    Almost exactly four years later, on November 12th, 2016, Mr. Rykov explained what happened next in a pair of Facebook posts. In the first post, Rykov explained how he first made contact with Trump:

    [Trump] lifted his plane to the sky and flew between New York and DC, calling the whole world through his twitter — to start a march on Washington!

    Without a moment’s thought, I wrote him a reply, which sounded like this in Russian: “I’m ready. What should I do?”

    Suddenly! There was a thin squeak of warning in the DM.

    It was a message from Donald Trump. More precisely a picture. In the picture he was sitting in the armchair of his jet, smiling cheerfully and showing me the thumb of his right hand.

    https://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/11/24/a-trumprussia-confession-in-plain-sight/

    Reply
  45. SouthernGirl2 says:
    November 27, 2017 at 1:34 pm

    The media is going after Al Franken aggressively but wimps when it comes to the fraud in the White House & he bragged about grabbing women’s private parts. There will be no double standard. If you’re going after Al Franken you better investigate the fraud too.

    Reply
  47. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 12:18 pm

    Action Alert:
    South Dakota is looking into revoking the Keystone pipeline permit after last week’s 210,000+ gallon spill. This is a relatively new pipeline and has already experienced three major leaks one just on the border with North Dakota and two in South Dakota in a short period of time. Please call South Dakota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) member Gary Hanson and let him know you support revoking the Keystone pipeline permit because the operator violated its license by promising state-of-the-art pipeline construction. This promise was broken based on the continuous leaks/spills occurring in a short period of time. Please call (605) 773-3201 and email the three commissioners at kristie.fiegen@state.sd.us, gary.hanson@state.sd.us, and chris.nelson@state.sd.us. Comment “Yes” below if you call. We are trying to estimate the number of phone calls.

    Reply
  48. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 11:57 am

    BREAKING: Leandra English has filed suit, seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent Mick Mulvaney from taking control of the CFPB. pic.twitter.com/zSBWyYDZI1

    — Pete Schroeder (@peteschroeder) November 27, 2017

    Reply
  49. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 11:55 am

    WHY?

    Because Vlad told him to, that’s why.

    Why is Tillerson hollowing out the U.S. State Department?
    11/27/17 11:00 AM—UPDATED 11/27/17 12:00 PM
    By Steve Benen
    For much of 2017, much of the world has watched Secretary of State Rex Tillerson slowly hollow out the U.S. State Department, but even for those who’ve followed the developments closely, the New York Times’ latest report on this was striking.

    It began by noting that Bill Miller, the cabinet agency’s chief of security, seemed to be the kind of official Tillerson would want to keep around – at least in theory.\

    But in his first nine months in office, Mr. Tillerson turned down repeated and sometimes urgent requests from the department’s security staff to brief him, according to several former top officials in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Finally, Mr. Miller, the acting assistant secretary for diplomatic security, was forced to cite the law’s requirement that he be allowed to speak to Mr. Tillerson.

    Mr. Miller got just five minutes with the secretary of state, the former officials said. Afterward, Mr. Miller, a career Foreign Service officer, was pushed out, joining a parade of dismissals and early retirements that has decimated the State Department’s senior ranks.

    The picture painted by the Times is alarmingly bleak. Senior Foreign Service officers are leaving in droves; career diplomats and civil servants are being bought out; and Tillerson and his team have forced many to resign “by refusing them the assignments they wanted or taking away their duties altogether.”

    Reply
  50. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 11:51 am

    Republican tax plan imposes ‘large, harmful effects on the poor’
    11/27/17 12:41 PM
    By Steve Benen

    The Republican tax plan is already a caricature of Montgomery Burns-style policymaking. We are, after all, talking about a proposal that would slash taxes on the richest Americans, give permanent tax breaks to big corporations, increase taxes on many in the middle class, and leave millions of vulnerable families without health security.

    …………………………..

    The Senate Republican tax plan gives substantial tax cuts and benefits to Americans earning more than $100,000 a year, while the nation’s poorest would be worse off, according to a report released Sunday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. […]

    By 2019, Americans earning less than $30,000 a year would be worse off under the Senate bill, CBO found. By 2021, Americans earning $40,000 or less would be net losers, and by 2027, most people earning less than $75,000 a year would be worse off. On the flip side, millionaires and those earning $100,000 to $500,000 would be big beneficiaries, according to the CBO’s calculations.

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      November 27, 2017 at 4:27 pm

      Based on this article it sounds like M.Trump thought that Donald needed to run for president to get it out of his system, basically. That in itself, if true, should make people angry. It is as though the welfare of the entire nation was secondary to Donnie needing to act out his fantasy. F*** these people.

      Reply
  59. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 8:27 am

    Uh huh

    Uh huh

    Senate GOP tax bill hurts the poor more than originally thought, CBO finds

    Source: The Washington Post

    By Heather Long November 26 at 9:08 PM

    The Senate Republican tax plan gives substantial tax cuts and benefits to Americans earning more than $100,000 a year, while the nation’s poorest would be worse off, according to a report released Sunday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

    Republicans are aiming to have the full Senate vote on the tax plan as early as this week, but the new CBO analysis showing large, harmful effects on the poor may complicate those plans. The CBO also said the bill would add $1.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, a potential problem for Republican lawmakers worried about America’s growing debt.

    Democrats have repeatedly slammed the bill as a giveaway to the rich at the expense of the poor. In addition to lowering taxes for businesses and many individuals, the Senate bill also makes a major change to health insurance that the CBO projects would have a harsh impact on lower-income families.

    By 2019, Americans earning less than $30,000 a year would be worse off under the Senate bill, CBO found. By 2021, Americans earning $40,000 or less would be net losers, and by 2027, most people earning less than $75,000 a year would be worse off. On the flip side, millionaires and those earning $100,000 to $500,000 would be big beneficiaries, according to the CBO’s calculations. (In the CBO table below, negative signs mean people in those income brackets pay less in taxes).

    Reply
  60. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 8:26 am

    Getting out while the gettings good?

    JUST IN: White House ethics lawyer resigns https://t.co/lnl1VjIU0z pic.twitter.com/8JuLgqutWx

    — The Hill (@thehill) November 27, 2017

    Reply
  61. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 8:25 am

    Well well well

    Former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray’s successor sues the White House over Trump’s appointment of Mick Mulvaney to head the agency https://t.co/fwQtsHR7Du pic.twitter.com/PM35bJJgw9

    — CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 27, 2017

    Reply
  62. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 8:25 am

    TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO REGISTER TO VOTE, ALABAMA!!

    Reminder: 1 day left to register to vote.

    You can use the mobile app (Vote for Alabama) to register to vote up until 11:59:59 on Monday, November 27!

    You can also register and get more information at:https://t.co/SvogxZwWbC pic.twitter.com/iW97akoks5

    — Doug Jones (@GDouglasJones) November 26, 2017

    Reply
  63. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 8:24 am

    The #GOPTaxBill would trigger $2.1 billion in annual Medicare cuts in Florida starting next year, $1.7 billion in New York, and $1.8 billion in Texas, while raising taxes on millions of middle-class people in those states. #OneSentence https://t.co/lOV8lbXOAJ https://t.co/rGBO6G8AKB

    — Seth Hanlon (@SethHanlon) November 27, 2017

    Reply
  64. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 8:23 am

    Trump’s tax plan contains anti-abortion language that could potentially have far-reaching consequences for women’s health. The Republicans literally put anti-abortion language in a tax bill! The #GOPTaxPlan is a #BadDealForWomen https://t.co/Tl3FgSCgLY

    — Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) November 27, 2017

    Reply
  65. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 8:22 am

    New TV AD exposes the truth about GOP tax plan: it benefits Trump family & people like him. pic.twitter.com/2P0HlODEbc

    — Jesse Ferguson (@JesseFFerguson) November 27, 2017

    Reply
  66. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 8:22 am

    Prince Harry’s future mother-in-law is a black woman with dreadlocks. There are no words for this kind of joy.

    — S. (@Samara_Linton) November 27, 2017

    Reply
  68. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 8:11 am

    I believe they attack it because they believe too many Non-Whites have used education to pull themselves up in this country. Can’t have the Non-Whites as competition, now can we?

    Uh huh
    Uh huh

    Nicklaus: Republican tax bills put a big bull’s-eye on higher education
    Nov 26, 2017
    …………………………..

    Higher education, though, seems to be the target of an unusually large number of revenue-raising provisions. The House bill does away with the deduction for student-loan interest, trims tax credits available to students and parents, taxes graduate students on the value of tuition waivers and taxes workers for employer-paid tuition.

    Both the House and Senate also are proposing a new tax on some universities’ endowment income. In addition, colleges and other nonprofit institutions worry that a higher standard deduction will leave Americans with less incentive to make charitable donations.

    It looks like a multipronged attack on what some Republicans view as an academic elite. According to a survey by the Pew Centers this summer, 58 percent of Republicans believe universities affect the country negatively, while just 36 percent say the effect is positive.

    Among Democrats, 72 percent see colleges having a positive effect, while just 19 percent view them negatively. The divide is striking, but we can’t afford to have higher education become a partisan battleground.

    Reply
  69. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 8:08 am

    Call call call!!
    Your Rep and Senators about the GOP Tax Scam 😠😠

    Reply
  72. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 7:58 am

    The Tweet:

    The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle. pic.twitter.com/zdaHR4mcY6

    — Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) November 27, 2017

    Reply
  73. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 5:27 am

    It’s official.
    Prince Harry is getting married 😍😍😍

    Reply
  74. rikyrah says:
    November 27, 2017 at 1:51 am

    Good Morning, Everyone 😄😄😄

    Reply

Leave a Reply to rikyrahCancel reply