Even the most cynical among us are startled by Paul Krugman's (yes that Paul Krugman) complaint that the GOP tax plan will add $1 trillion to the national debt. (He doesn't mention over what period -- it is a decade).
Why, didn't the same Krugman teach us "don't worry be happy" when the national debt shot up by $9.3 trillion over 8 years under the last President. If we have learned to love the deficit, it is partly the fault of Paul Krugman.
There is a difference though. The GOP plan holds out the promise that its predecessors didn't -- that it will eventually reduce the deficit by growing the economy. That is the only way we can pay for the bills that will come due for Medicare, Medicaid and probably Social Security too. Probably 70% of the budget is mandatory and interest spending -- because of profligacy egged on by you know who.
The plan not only tries to goose the economy and bring back the animal spirits that slumbered through the Obama years. It is a start on the Herculean task of cleaning up our tax code -- simplifying and streamlining it. (Guess which party still supports all those loopholes and deductions for special interests.)
I admit the GOP plan is a experiment. But let's give it a chance.
2
Orrin Hatch....what a hypocrite! He supports Trump who is taking millions of acres of Native American land to appease the ranchers and oil interests of Utah!
20
Let's just admit that the "Public-Be-Damned" platform of the Republican Party resonates with enough self-hating voters to keep the GOP in perpetual majority. As Stalin explained, "It doesn't matter who CASTS the votes, only who COUNTS them." Republicans and their plutocratic malefactors have established themselves as the vote counters, and the GOP has established a permanent majority on the Supreme Court, which upholds the system. Abandon all hope, ye who live here! Hope that helps!
8
Are you mad enough to vote right this time around? By right, I mean support the candidate who can beat the Republican. That's gonna be the Democrat. DO NOT throw your vote away on a "statement vote" for some unicorn candidate. You Bernie voters. You gave us Trump. Thanks a heap. Don't do that again.
Your friends who wanna go third-party with their vote? They aren't your friends. harass them into voting correctly. This is war. Take no prisoners.
20
Grassley is a throwback to the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Mean spirited and obnoxious: a true Republican.
13
I looked at the accounting of the hearings held this year in the Senate Finance Committee related to tax reform and this is what I found:
5/25 – “FY 2018 Budget proposals for Treasury and Tax Reform.” The only witness was Sec Mnuchin. Total time: 2:16
7/18 – “Comprehensive Tax Reform: Prospects and Challenges.” The witnesses were 4 former assistants secretary for tax policy (Treasury Department). Time: 3:30
9/14 – “Individual Tax Reform” Time: 2:55 - testimony from two fellows at the American Enterprise Institute, a VP of a real estate group, and a NYU professor of law and public policy.
9/19 – “Business Tax Reform” 2:07 Four witnesses: from Real Estate Roundtable, a big CPAs group, Urban Institute fellow, somebody from the tax foundation.
10/3 – “International Tax Reform” 2:39 - the committee heard from three lawyers and an economist.
That was it for hearings. Thirteen hours and 20 minutes, two hours of which were spent with Sec. Mnuchin.
The actual Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was not introduced in the House until 11/2. Prior to that it seems that everyone was working from the Trump one-pager he was handing out. From 11/13 to 11/16 there were executive open sessions with no witness testimony.
I reject assertions that all parties had an opportunity to have their say and to participate in deliberations.
14
So what we now, beyond any doubt, on multiple levels, is that Republican leadership is dominated by total moral cowardice...up to and including MoConnoll, Pence and tRump. Utterly disgusting.
8
I subscribe to the NYT to read your columns--and those of Charles Blow and Gail Collins. The rest of the paper has really gone down the tubes in my opinion. So keep writing the truth. Times readers need you.
7
Of course we can see this coming, but until this informatiion comes from the mouths of sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh it won't make much difference.
4
Destroy the healthcare system AND explode the budget deficit in one fell swoop. HARD TO DO.
The talk about extending the tax cuts in 10 years? It's more likely the opposite. We will need to shove the knife in deeper on poor children and the elderly as well as hike taxes bigly on the middle class to staunch the gaping, bleeding hole in federal finances.
I wonder if we will see the crime rate spike, now that people will have no legitimate way to pay for healthcare for their sick children and grandparents.
Congrats to the Republican fat-cat donors. You narcissistic creeps.
11
I want to cry, then scream when I read these cruel comments from Republican Senators. It kills me that we somehow elected these clowns.
8
One has to wonder what the Republicans will do when there is nothing left to squeeze from the poor, the middle class and the elderly on fixed incomes, internment camps?
17
Kids who grow up in alcoholic dysfunctional families talk about the moment that they realize that their father is a terrible human being, and really doesn't care about them or their mother. Some withdraw inside, some act out, some turn to stone.
And some arrogantly ally with a truly evil man, Putin, to steal the White House.
There is no hope for Trump, no hope for the Republican Party, and, in the short term, no hope for the poor and the powerless. We are led by greedy jerks who just want to steal from the poor and grind the broken into the dirt, all so the American Oligarch billionaires will send them the millions in political "charity".
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
11
Mean spirited is too tame a term for the GOP's absolute hatred and contempt for anyone not in the donor class. I don't know what world they live in but most Americans are scraping by (some working two or three jobs) to pay for the basics, much less a movie! Fifty percent of the members of the two chambers are millionaires (or more) while a total of one percent of the entire population falls into that classification. There is something very rotten in the DC swamp; we need good candidates in '18 & '20 to eject Hatch, Grassley, Cotton, Ryan, McConnell, the racist King from Iowa and the traitor fake forty five.,.and about 300 more of these louts.
17
What seems insane to me is the people that will be hurt the most are the people who keep voting for these fascists. The blue collar worker that will be without health care and no access to education. Is it possible that part of the plot is to keep people poor, and uneducated so they will keep believing all the outrageous lies that the Republican Party spew?
17
It is difficult to decide who is more scary , the madman in the Oval Office or the mean spirited Republicans in Congress .
10
Paul seems to have forgotten how many millions were added to the food stamps rolls under Obama.
It is mind boggling to imagine the ignorance that keeps electing these people.
13
I guess the end game is not to "Make America Great" but to "Make America like India" with shacks next to million dollar homes and choking pollution. Then we're all dying of lung cancer or asthma, there won't be any money to pay for it!
I think it's time for Americans to become migrants themselves. Australia, do you want me? Canada, oh Canada?
7
Okay. Those of us who read are aware of the recent execution brought down on our heritage by old white men and a couple of old white women. Caused me to ponder John McCain, Hero. Yes, I'd give him the courage vote sense of that word. But in the long run, he has voted twice to favor filthy lucre over human lives––choices that are disgusting. Once with Lincoln Savings out in California, and once again just the other night in DC. Those two votes disqualify him for the "outstanding achievements" or the "noble qualities" that are usually a part of the package. Shame.
8
As a fallback Blue States can secede and earn admission to Canada or the UK. It will be fun to watch the Red States go bankrupt after they lose the revenue transfers from Blue States which keep them afloat.
13
Why isn't Professor Krugman trying to get this message to the many Americans who don't understand what's going on, rather than just the readers of the NY Times, who already do?
8
exactly! like they need the money. Grover has been pretty silent these days. I see his fingerprints.
The pitiful dems need to stop their tantrum and screaming no fair. Didn't work for me with the parents. Present a clear comprehensive alternative and let the public decide. Not these repub PHDzzzzzzzzz
Here's an alternative.
1) $750B for infrastructure
2) $750 for middle class tax CREDITS and biz tax cuts phased in and made permanent.
3) Ajsutable $15/hr minimum wage phased in with 2
Longer essay on this. email [email protected] for the pdf.
Andy
3
Good case study in Alabama -- keep voting for the Roy Moores and DJT's -- you will get exactly what you so richly deserve.
5
Given what we see with the tax bill and now plans to chop benefits we have paid for (!) to support us in old age and if and when we are ill, I do believe the GOP is intent on creating a NorthKoreaNorthAmerica state. They care not if we live or die. And if we live, we can eat dirt and be infested with parasites. We must serve our masters, the GOP, and work out fingers to bone to support them. An oligarchy and kakistocracy now, with kratocracy around the corner. We must resist and these criminals must be removed,.
4
The Republican's goal is to return the US to slavery. It's what they've wanted all along.
4
The Koch Bros, thankfully and hopefully, will be dead soon. There is a rush to satisfy their agenda before they go. The theft of social security and the heart of our nation will be accelerated until then. Is there anyone in Kansas who can help?
1
We know.
All of us who foresaw a Trump presidency knew this was coming. Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell have been itching for this all their lives.
And yet...."emails!" "Benghazi!"
5
Maybe professor Krugman can explain how after the rapture of Obamacare, we still need S-CHIP?
1
Keep the pressure on Paul! Not that their policies were legitimate before, (trickle down economics anyone?) but now it's like the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Who are these guys?! If I wrote what I really want to say, the NY Times wouldn't print it.
2
I guess Americans voted for this. Oh democracy.......
1
December 10, 2010
Obama capitulated but the Republicans would not take 'yes' for an answer and Dr. Krugman's column was entitled THE DEAl and I wrote:
"As the continued revenue shortfall makes the National Debt expand there will be calls for action. Guess who will be saddled with the chore of reducing the deficit. There seems to be a reluctance on the part of many Americans to recognize that tax burdens taken off the wealthy will fall on the heads of the middle class through attacks on all of the support systems, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, unemployment benefits etc.
Idiot Americans have been busy shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to themselves and still do not realize it."
comment received 575 recommends
Not much has changed.
wh
2
Mr Krugman has it right. And further, how can any of this be a surprise if you were paying the least bit of attention. The concept of "Starve the Beast" has been republican doctrine for decades.
The only mystery is why is it so hard for Democrats to convince voters that they are being shafted by the Republicans who will very soon destroy Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid???
The destruction of the "safety net" or "entitlements" will not be blamed on the Republicans, they have advertised their intent to do just that for years. The destruction should be blamed on the failure of the defense.
Where are you Democrats????? We need you!
Republicans Hate America, Help us!! Save us from the party of child molesters, liars, and creepy old men only interested in padding the pockets of plutocrats.
6
How do you know when Republicans are lying?
See whether their lips are moving.
4
why don't you hear a word from the Democrats? this is the nail in the coffin of America.
3
Our country is sick. I doubt we will recover in time to address the most pressing priority, overpopulation of the planet and climate change. Adios!
Retired Republican in a Red State: "First they came for the SALT deductions in the high tax Blue States and I did nothing ......."
9
The inhuman and inhumane Republicans need the repellent and revulsive Donald J Trump to cover up their con job.
Good thing is Donald J Trump is no Wile E Coyote, however cartoonish he is when he styles himself a super genius.
The Republicans like all evil and greedy tyrants will fall and they will not take down the rest of America because we will make America America again, not greedy but great for all of us
2
They forgot to dig up Fort Knox to give the gold to the rich.
1
They have contempt for us. They think we are chumps. Are we?
2
Orrin Hatch and Donald Trump's values are Utah values.
1
Republicans are coming after our benefits, just as The Treasury Department announced this week it's withdrawing U.S. funding from an Obama-created program for upgrading food security in the poorest countries of the world.
Known as The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, or GAFSP, it was created after the 2009 G-20 summit.
Obama wanted to expand health care without discrimination and work in concert with other nations for addressing global starvation.
Trump wants to destroy healthcare, shake up insurance markets, actively sabotaged Obamacare this entire year, and has no interest in humanitarian programs, nor has he filled state dept. positions in this area. And is killing GAFSP.......What comes to mind is the photo of his Treasury Secretary photographed holding money, as his wife stands basking in the image.
What a difference a year makes.
6
And how did YOU accumulate your (mostly unearned) wealth, Mr. Hatch & Mr. Grassley? How about fat salaries, lobbyist handouts, lots of little congressional perks, fat retirement pension, lifetime gold-plated health insurance, tons of vacation & "recess" days, stock portfolios filled with MIC, Big Pharma & oil stocks carefully picked after passing self-serving legislation, etc, etc. I guess you didn't have to "lift a finger" when working class taxpayers did that for you.
12
ENTITLEMENT BENEFITS are called that because we are absolutely entitled to them -- we who work are paying into social security -- that is why we are entitled. The money does NOT come from the government. It is a forced savings program full of working people's earnings run by the government. That the Republicans twist and weasel and speak in pompous, moralistic terms like Grassley and Hatch makes me want to vomit.
The Republicans are coming for your benefits -- the operative word is YOUR, not benefits.
9
Just in time for Christmas! "'Are there no prisons?!' roared Mr. Hatch, 'Are there no workhouses?!'"
6
Sen. Grassley says we'd all be rich if we didn't blow our paycheck on women. Um, Senator, half of your constituents ARE women. And many of those who are male may feel that sharing their worldly wealth with their spouse is the best investment they ever made. Is Grassley now opposed to hetero marriage, or does he just think all women are floozies and tarts? I hope the women of Iowa are paying attention.
7
So Republicans do think people are deplorable...
6
But Orin and Chuck are sincere. Sincere liars that is.
1
Heavens! Hatch and Grassley going after “the deplorable”!?
They've been waiting to do this for years. Now, they're positioned to explode the deficit, rediscover their fake fiscal discipline, and come after Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And dollars to donuts, the old, white guys who put them there, will vote to keep them there.
3
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?!
5
What, the GOP congress worry? Their leader in the White House sets no standards or precises guidance, anything goes that will trickle or pour up. It's like a bunch of student cheaters having a teacher that advocates cheating.
2
An indifferent, uninformed, misinformed, obtuse, non-wealthy citizenry oblivious to threats to their own long term financial security, health and happiness is at the root of this mess we're in. When they insist on electing the likes of Trump and the GOP legislators that are unraveling our society with impunity, one can only expect a severe shock to our society in the near future that would, that might, bring some sanity to this situation. Can't blame these dangerous characters alone (Trump, Ryan, McConnel, et al), millions of unthinking voters put them there. What a shame!
2
I'm not a social media maven, but we need a hashtag for the tax bill: #laststraw We need to funnel our anger and dismay into inspiring others to make the Repubs pay for this in the next elections. We them out, before they completely destroy our country.
3
You've hit the nail on the head, Mr. Krugman. Please keep it up. These guys are reprehensible and immoral.
4
Sen. Chuck Grassley is an even bigger moocher than Hatch. He positively must have sinned off the proceeds from taxpayers of first Iowa and then America since 1959, starting at age 26. He doesn't acknowledge that though, from his high moral perch: “I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”
It can't be possible, though, can it? Going bankrupt on women....and.....booze....and....movies!
Still, I dare say that in the past 58 years, he has spent at least a pittance from public coffers on women, starting with his wife and daughters. Next, unless he's an absolute teatotaler, he has imbibed something with the proceeds of his government salary. And then, most offensively, he must have spent at least something on movies.
This all means that all of are, in fact, spending wildly on such vices.
5
The public's intelligence deserves all the contempt that is possible to throw.
1
You cheered as Obama added $10 trillion to the national debt.
What's a measly $1 trillion?
The next step in the GOP plan is to get us fighting with each other over how much to cut Medicare and Social Security, and how fast. Do not accept their false premises. The US can easily afford Medicare for all from general revenues by restoring Nixon era tax rates, and Social Security would immediately become solvent forever by eliminating the FICA income cap and setting a wealth cap for benefits.
Some say we should line up the plutocrats against a wall and shoot them, but I think it's still too soon for that.
4
Krugman is correct: We don't tolerate the idle poor and unfortunate, but we reward the idle rich.
4
This entire scenario could change over the next four years if the American electorate would simply decide enough is enough and vote all Republicans out of office. There are many more working-class voters in this country than there are investment-class voters - like maybe 95%. The investment class vote according to their interests, and that is understandable. The working-class? I can't understand how any wage or salaried worker would vote Republican. Religious values? Republican leaders have proven that to be a lie. Strong on crime? Only if you don't count pederasty. Strong on military? Look at how our veterans are being treated. The economy? Only if you favor a plantation state.
The power of the vote can change it all, and in short order. All we have to do is quit believing the Republican lies. We need to make the Republican Party fade into history. We've done it before. Anybody remember the Federalist Party? We can end the Republican Party. It's not rocket science.
5
Republicans believe that the government is evil, broken, and cannot function. They work to get elected so they can prove this true.
2
Orrin Hatch , part of the cabal of Republicans with sociopathic tendencies , has a problem spending billions and billions of dollars ( of our money, not his) to help people who won't help themselves but , he certainly has no problem getting the salary and cadillac health plan for life that they have granted themselves on our tax dollars. I have a problem with that . Disgusting , they know no shame ! They are going the way of the french nobility , who lost their heads in the process , except this time it won't be spades and pitchforks but all those AR 15s they enable the gun lobby to sell . Karma has a way of happening and comes back to haunt those of ungenerous hearts.
Republicans draw Social Security and Medicare, too. They'll wake up real fast if the GOP goes after those. Just like when W tried to privatize SS a generation ago.
4
Orrin Hatch's support of the GOP failure to fund the Children's Health Insurance Program is nothing less than disgusting. What sane human being could be so cruel and misguided? Sick, needy children paying for the Koch Brothers tax cuts. It cannot be any more embarrassing for this country.
Mr. Krugman needs a Charismatic Democrat to take this true message to the masses beyond our progressive bubble. The Fox news fearful and angry crowd is not hearing the message that would, through its implementation, reduce fear and anger and create a more unified citizenry.
1
Dog gone it, Paul. The 1%ers are the best people we have in this country. We should always look for ways to honor and reward their awesomeness. What is more, trickle down theory has a proven track record. Like in Kansas most recently. That state's economy shot off to the moon with the rocket fuel of tax and spending cuts.
1
Many have been well aware the of the long-term "starve the beast" Republican plan to cut social programs. Must we do this? When do we start cutting the extremely bloated military budget?
2
George Carlin pointed this out a few years before he died. The man was wise beyond his years.
1
"Hatch declared his support for the program, but insisted that “the reason CHIP’s having trouble is because we don’t have money anymore” — just before voting for a trillion-and-a-half-dollar tax cut that will deliver the bulk of its benefits to the richest few percent of the population."
--------
Hatch is a hypocrite. And it's he who's whispering in Trump's ear to decimate the national monuments in Utah. Trump couldn't care less about public lands.
3
And yet, these greed mongers continue to be elected.
The first paragraph is solid gold...of course...but it’s also 71 words long, about 65 words longer than Trump voters can wrap their heads around, apparently.
Well I, for one elderly SSA recipient, have seriously stopped shopping. I don't buy clothing, cars or anything else beyond my minimum needs. More and more people will be forced to limit expenditures. I spend the minimum to be in my house and eat. Meanwhile, companies will accumulate fake profit numbers because of stock buybacks and increasing prices. We are under the gun as gas, water and electricity goes up in cost. I am an expert in avoiding many of these costs. I know how to adjust the thermostat under adverse economic conditions. I refuse to be ripped off by these rapacious companies who only want more money for themselves and shareholders.
19
(How many times must this be said?) If you don't like it, vote Democrat starting next November. That's "November 2018" for those who haven't been paying attention. 2020 will be much too late.
29
Start sooner – vote Dem in any upcoming local election, too.
3
See if you can find anything about SS and Medicare being teed up next on the Fox website. I can't.
Wait until Republican seniors find out.
20
See if you can find anything about Medicare and Social Security in the new tax proposals. I can’t.
GREED, my friends, is joined with absolute power. There are no brakes to the GOP destruction of America. We are toast.
11
The Rs are corrupt and we have at least another year of this stuff to come if we get lucky and take either the house or the senate(hopefully the senate and better if both). This should have been understood ever since 2010. They see a window in which to hurt the country for their friends. The hope is the Dems get all three branches in 2020 and reverse it all and then some. Ten years of righteous development is long over due.
7
Please tell us where’s you see corruption. Conyers? Charlie Rangel?
Great pic accompanying the article of Ron Wyden shaking Hatch's slimy hand - after all the noise Wyden made about deficits - hypocrisy knows no limit!
5
The Democratic party has plenty of grist for the mill. What will they do with it?
I'm pessimistic as I think back to Mitch appearing on the capital steps and smoothly telling lies about SS. Then Harry Reid steps up and stutters and stammers and doesn't seem to know much. It was embarrassing but emblematic of our party at the time. Now we have EW who is articulate and proactive so I have hope that the stench of the GOP will not be hidden under a party unable to promote its values.
3
Sometimes I wish I were an American so that I could legitimately organize, protest and work to defeat the commonwealth stealing GOP. This is not ideology at work, just plain greed given the thin veneer of a political ideology. The GOP is robbing you people of America. Wake up and act!
12
Too bad the democratic party is keeping pretty quiet while our world is slowly, piece by piece, being taken away from us. The republican party sold out a long time ago; i guess the democratic party doesn't have to; they gave up a while ago; there is not too much to sell anymore.
4
When you're a Democrat, no one can hear you scream!
1
A robust middle class is not only essential to a thriving economy, but also to a successful democracy. Conversely, a declining middle class and the subsequent burgeoning of the poor is a recipe for revolution. The rich once ignored these lessons, and the results were the bloody up-risings in France and Russia and the end of the aristocracy. Perhaps it's time to provide them and their lackeys in congress with a refresher course.
14
Didn't America fight the War of Independence to get rid of tyranny? It looks like you are going to have to do it all over again.
What's most striking to me is the absence of even a single politician that can orate Mr. Krugman's thesis to the affected population (many of whom are in the 38%). What will it take for someone two generations younger than Hillary and Bernie to step forward and challenge these hypotheses that have no empirical foundation? I cannot believe there are no leaders left in America to fight for the betterment of our society rather than remain intoxicated on mega-billionaires' donations.
11
Two years younger means nothing if they're owned m by big money.
Bernie Sanders was correct on all counts regarding this issue. The SC approval of Citizens United has already done and probably will do even more to systematically destroy democracy in America than any other Supreme Court decision made in at least the last 50 yrs.
1
Everyone seems to recognize how we have all been snookered. So start talking to your neighbors and friends and people on line at the post office. 2018 is coming and the Republicans should be going. SOMEBODY elected them, and somebody is paying the price. Now we have to change hands in Washington.
14
Currently under Obama era tax rates, Medicare and Social Security receive 70% of ALL federal income tax receipts. Think about that, 10% of the nation’s population receives 70% of all federal income tax receipts under current Obama rates. Can anyone look at that and say entitlements don’t need to be reformed?
1
Social Security = 2016 = 24% of the budget.
Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and marketplace subsidies = 26% of the budget.
Big difference than your 70% statement. Now is where you say, "Yeah, but..."
16
Yes, I can. The priority for Republicans was enormous tax breaks for corporations that are making record profits and enormous tax breaks for the wealthy. This will blast a hole in the deficit of at least $1.4 trillion with some estimates going up to $2.2 trillion.
Why wasn't Congress concerned with the deficit? Why give away all of this money to the rich? That did not help the government, the deficit or the debt, and in fact took away major revenue.
The problem is the entitled so-called "donor class" of billionaires like the Kochs, Mercers and Adelson and the entitled wealthy and the entitled Republicans in Congress and the White House. It is their entitlements that need to be reformed. They waste the money on their indulgences and luxuries. At one point, Trump was put on a budget by his banks due to his loans and bankruptcies. The banks limited his monthly budget to $450,000 and his annual salary to $200,000. That is entitlement. Who needs $450,000 per month for their household?
1
No. Social Security receives 24% ($928 billion) and Medicare and Medicaid together receive 27% ($1,052 billion) per the last fiscal year. That money has been deducted from the recipients income throughout their working lives and is only returned, with interest, after their presumed retirement or disability. It is "earned and paid for" by the elderly. They certainly do not need reform.
Military spending, including veterans benefits, totals $770 billion, a figure which approximates the total of all military spending by every other country in the world. THAT requires reform.
3
The Economist does not seem to think this is a tax scam. Its analysis of pre-2027 redistribution benefits also differs from Krugman's.
It would however more sense to spend more time on welfare reform than complain about "booze, women and movies". Investing money in education and training instead of tx cuts to the 1%.
4
Professor Krugman's hatred for all things Republican continues. He cannot just disagree with the GOP without citing them as evil malefactors bent on destroying America. He has set up Republicans as the classic straw man so that he can just rage against them. After a while it gets rather tiresome.
Both parties are guilty of ignoring the vast debt that America is building up. The GOP wants to cut taxes and the Dems want to raise taxes. The GOP wants to cut spending and the Dems want to increase spending. It has always been thus and will remain so until the American people decide how expensive a government they want and how many programs they are willing to pay for.
It's so easy to demonize the GOP for wanting to cut the growth of some programs and not fund others since it is obvious that we can't keep going like we are, piling up debt that must be paid sometime. The problem is that the American people want to continue to expand government programs without raising taxes to pay for them. And at the forefront is the baby boomer generation that has benefited from the American economy like no other generation in our history. And it looks like our immediate descendants will pay heavily for the excesses of this generation.
The GOP is probably wrong to cut taxes now without a consensus regarding the scope and expense of government. But this country really needs to seriously consider what we want our government to do and how we are to pay for it.
4
This tax bill increases the deficit at least $1.4 trillion. Different estimates have been put out by different analysts. The Joint Committee on Taxation found that the tax bill will cost $1.63 trillion which when offset by estimated growth would still cost $1 trillion. The Penn Wharton budget model found the Senate tax bill will cost $1.64 trillion which will end up costing $1.39 trillion with estimated growth, and the Tax Foundation found it will cost $1.78 trillion, ending up with $516 billion.
Cutting taxes for the rich and for wealthy corporations cuts revenue. The Republicans just destroyed this country's future. Note: This is a purely Republican bill that ignored deficit warnings and economists' warnings. They absolutely raised the deficit. At the same time, they are deeply hurting education, home ownership, healthcare, and many other programs.
Republicans just broke the budget. Blame them.
2
" ...citing them as evil malefactors bent on destroying America. "
That's just what they're doing. You say Democrats are piling up debt. Do you realize the irony of those words? Your beloved Repubs are adding 1.5 trillion to our debt and have the temerity to blame Dems?
1
KRUGMAN: "Hatch declared his support for the program, but insisted that 'the reason CHIP’s having trouble is because we don’t have money anymore.'”
If there is one word to characterize Hatch and his colleague Grassly, it would disingenuous. Both are deficient in sincerity, but very calculating.
9
Through all the discussion and debate, what little there was, there was one bipartisan thing that everyone agreed on. One essential thing that every citizen was earnestly looking forward to. Whether you raise my taxes, or lower my taxes, AT LEAST, PLEASE, simplify the process. Make it so I can understand it. So I can do it myself. So I no longer have to dread that time of the year . . . But it was not to be.
4
One thing Republicans seem to not understand is that in order for the rich to stay rich, they need a public that can afford to pay for things like booze, women, and movies. Putting the squeeze on the middle class in favor of the rich is going to make it harder and harder for the rich to sell their products. Republicans also like to refer to things like social security as 'entitlements' to make it sound like these are things we average Americans haven't really earned and don't really deserve. But the reason we average Americans feel entitled to things like social security is that we have noticed that our paychecks are always a bit smaller than they could be because of a social security deduction. Some of us are audacious enough to think we are entitled to something we've been paying for our entire lives. I know I am.
22
A day late and a penny short. It's a done deal. SS will be all but out-of-funds when the ten-year individual tax cuts sunrise. The continuance of the corporate and wealthy giveaways, however, are permanent and so is their damage.
Does anyone in his right mind think American taxpayers are going to okay the large increases in taxes that will be necessary to keep any of the big 3 programs afloat? This, mind you, AFTER the recession that is an historical certainly w/in the next decade.
Also, let's not forget, a considerably larger voting block will be struggling with college loans that today average $30,000 of debt.
Meanwhile, of course, unchecked medical costs will have impoverished many more Americans, leading to anger that most easily is channeled in the wrong direction by masters-of-deceit such as Trump.
Not all problems have solutions. There hasn't been one to Reaganomics and that, in the end, is what has ended the great American experiment.
6
i "waste" my money not on booze, women (except myself) and movies (although I occasionally buy used DVDs at Goodwill.) I waste my money on rent, food, gasoline, electricity, and water/sewer in one of the highest-cost American cities. When I retire, if I retire, if there is some safety net -- if those so-called "entitlements" that I've paid into for going on 50 years are still intact -- it won't be in a city. Too expensive.
Senator Grassley needs to get out more among us mere, non-billionaire American citizens. Happy to entertain him at my local McDonalds or a local Chinese restaurant where the hot-and-sour soup is to die for. Lunch for 2 is around $12.
15
Dr. Krugman, Could you help me understand how social security qualifies as an "entitlement?" I know that my payments and my employers' matching payments into the system while I was working went to pay benefits to those who retired before me and that could be considered a form of an entitlement. And that my current social security benefits are likely paid by today's workers not yet retired. That I get.
However, the 6.2% that workers now pay and the 6.2% matching payments that corporations pay come out of our own pockets - not the government's. We the people are funding social security, so why all the fuss?
16
"The taxes paid by today’s workers and their employers don’t go into dedicated individual accounts (although 32% of Americans think they do, according to the 2014 Pew Research survey). Nor do Social Security checks represent a return on invested capital, though you might be forgiven for thinking so since the “personalized Social Security statements” that used to be mailed out once a year and now are available online detail your payment history and projected monthly benefits. Rather, the benefits received by today’s retirees are funded by the taxes paid by today’s workers; when those workers retire, their benefits will be paid for by the next generation of workers’ taxes...Your benefit amount is based on your earnings history and age at retirement, not on how much you and your employer paid in Social Security taxes (although for most people, taxes paid are closely tied to their earnings)."
-Pew Research Center
1
It's an entitlement because you are entitled to it, having paid for it through years of payroll taxes. The Republicans have made it into something it's not - that somehow people who get "entitlements" are getting something for nothing, that we haven't earned it. So corrupt.
15
The programs are referred to as "entitlements" to slur them (just as the ACA is Obamacare.) They aren't entitlements or a slush fund. But they are used that way. One reason SS and Medicare are in a bit of trouble is that the funds were siphoned away (to pay for wars I think.) The only entitlement is the rich senators think they are entitled to use our money to squander. IMHO.
3
"Yet even the most cynical among us are startled both by how quickly the bait-and-switch is proceeding and by the contempt Republicans are showing for the public’s intelligence.
"In fact, the switch began even before the marks swallowed the bait."
I fail to understand how so many people can be so uninformed and emotionally involved with a man who lies to them constantly and has done so since before he ran for office.
At the same time, even the dimmest Democrat gets it immediately, no matter how much their representatives and senators lie to them, as they do in my state, mostly through lies of omission, as in "You'll pay $2000 less in taxes, middle American."
They fail to mention that decrease, which doesn't exist for all lower income earners is only temporary. They fail to mention that they are doing away with the exemption for seniors. They fail to mention that they are giving away money to the wealthy while hitting the poorest among us.
And then they switch to saying that the deficit they just created demands reductions in Medicaid and Medicare. And maybe Social Security.
I guess people will wake up when they have to move granny from the nursing home to their own homes, change her diapers and turn her and treat bedsores.
11
"I fail to understand how so many people can be so uninformed and emotionally involved with a man who lies to them constantly and has done so since before he ran for office. "
They're frightened white people who see their privilege crumbling and look to the White mesmerizer to assuage fears. I'm white but I look to facts to determine meaningful solutions.
2
Watch Fox news for a few days and you'll get it, if you can stand it. Fox news is the main news outlet for much of the country.
2
The problem with any program attempting to deprive the rich of their fair contribution to America is monitoring illegal cash flow. This goes for corporations as well. The underground, illegal dark cash flow grossly exceeds the legal one and has for many years. That is why the GOP plan will fail.
Secondly, any tax program that fails to tax corporations and the rich where they make their profits instead of the tax haven of their choosing will fail.
Putting the two ideas together: tax corporations based on where they sell their products and prevent them from hiding money by going after countries, like the UK that hide money for them. That is the only way to bring jobs back to the US. You can't coax them back as politicians believe on both sides of the aisle.
1
The mind boggles at the assumptions underlying Sen. Grassley's insult.
Half of the population is women. They are not spending their money on women but on their households, and yes, if they are single, perhaps on women, or if they are mothers perhaps on daughters or perhaps on their own mothers.
Booze? Movies? Has Grassley heard of the 21st century?
Even if people were, why is it Grassley's business how people are spending their money? So far taxpayers have paid for more than 100 out of 300 days of Trump's presidency to have him on his own resort golf courses. That is not a very good use of taxpayer money. Private jets for cabinet members and all of those trips as Trump flies to his golf courses are not a good use of taxpayer money. Or when his adult children fly around the world to enrich themselves on business trips with taxpayer-paid security, etc.
When was the last time that Trump lifted a finger to help himself? One excellent way to save government money is have Trump operate within a normal presidential budget. Resigning would be even better. Perhaps if child molesters, sexual assaulters or harassers, those with conflicts of interest, those under FBI investigation, those in constant touch with a hostile enemy state or covering up for them, or those with moral failures of their own in Congress or the Trump White House would all resign, the budget would benefit.
19
Yes! It's horrible (although sadly not that surprising) that Sen. Grassley, a man whose full-time job is to represent the inhabitants of his state, thinks of women as some kind of immoral luxury instead of as his constituents. It sounds like he's the first one who should undergo the sexual harassment training he proposed for Congress earlier this month.
6
I am a 61 year old who recieves Social Security Disability. I am one of the people Hatch and Grassy describe as worthless and undeserving. I began paying into Social Security when I was 12 years old working in my Grandparents grocery store.
It is devestating to me that half of this country consider me unworthy of life because I suffer from disabilities that prevent me from working. The stress of this past year has taken a terrible toll on me and the millions of people like me. Despair has taken hold. Life can be unbearably long without hope.
26
Don't despair. And please don't take to heart the noxious words of the likes of Hatch and Grassley.
Don't forget one half of this country(true Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and humanists) understand your despair. It has been the common plight of people throughout the ages. Those who currently are well off in America do not possess the wisdom to understand that all is temporary. The day comes when one's fate may take a 180-degree turn. Will they be heard when they call for compassion in their time of need?
1
Some of this is about race. Trump voters see people who benefit from CHIP as the "other." Usually they have faces of color. They forget that grandma is in the assisted living and it's paid by Medicaid.
10
By the time all of this happens, the Dems will be back in control and the GOP will be able to piously blame them (once again) for the huge deficit. And will be able to obstruct any attempts to do anything about the deficits.
13
Right. It's an "entitlement." I'm getting my huge social security check, and medicare benefits off the back of hard working Americans while I sit back and waste it on wine women and good times. Except, I've been paying lots of money into both funds for 55 years. Every paycheck for well over half a century. Under, it turns out, false pretenses. So, why don't you give me back every penny I've put into social security and medicare, with compound interest (as I would have gotten in a fund) for that time.) After all, you are stealing it to give rich people another yacht to water-ski behind. Plus give it back to everyone else who payed into those funds only to see you hijack them. Then you can give us lectures about getting something for nothing.
25
The life expectancy in USA is about 80. Republicans want to bring it down to about 75. The way to achieve that is reduce benefits, so they won't eat healthy or starve and if they get sick, they won't have medical treatment. So, they die early bringing down the life expectancy. That saves spending on social security and Medicare. Survival of the fittest shows up in one form or other. Fighting it is a loosing proposition.
6
Arn’t you somewhat glad to get this all out in the open. People will have all the information they need to decide if they want republicans running our country.
5
With this tax bill I now realize that Republicans have always been about "starving the beast" the "beast" meaning the elderly, the inform, needy children, and the other unfortunates of society.
This is some serious Dickensian villainy. When will we wake up as a country? I am ashamed to say I was once a Republican. No longer. And it's not just Trump, it's the whole lot of them.
The Republicans must be thrown out of power. ASAP!
20
This tax bill is the first big step to destroying Social Security and Medicare.
The necessary revenue killer known as "starve the beast".
8
Possibly the GOP's mantra is the winning approach: don't save for your kids education, spend more than you earn, exceed your credit limit so they'll be increased, and don't buy medical insurance, let the state/county/city take care of you. Remember the less money you make, the less money the GOP can take from you. Can you imagine how worse off the banks would be if they didn't have our $5.5 trillion of 401k deposits?
5
Bingo! That 401k was a gift to Wall Street. People need to realize that while your 401k contribution reduces your current tax liability, it also lowers your future SS payments, thus lowering the overall amount available to pay out now. Then of course the Rs will want to raise tax on your SS benefits.
Rs never wanted SS (originally called Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance), fought it from day 1, and have constantly worked to get rid of it.
We must NOT let them get away with this! Federal income tax is OUR money, and it should be spent on us!
2
The statement that "Republicans are coming for your benefits" should be a tagline for every Democratic candidate for the House and Senate. It is true, catchy and just perhaps get through to the millions of Americans who cannot be bothered to learn the issues and engage.
11
This is the beginning of a social revolution, the masses will not sit idle by and see this happening. I just hope it does not develop into a bloody revolution. It is sad indeed that the Republicans have decided to take away all social programs and relegating the US to future unemployment, starvation, diseases, and chaos.
7
For me, this is 'back to the future'. We are rushing headlong back to a place where I grew up, to the deep rural South pre-Brown v Topeka Board of Education. Tenant farmers lived in dirt floor cabins they didn't own and hoed and picked cotton and tobacco in the broiling sun. Land owners played golf at the country club while their wives and children lolled around the swimming pool. I played on the floor of a darkened screened porch amid squeaking rocking chairs and smelled cigarette smoke and listened to planters rail against FDR and his New Deal and the curse he brought down on the nation.
The planters are mostly gone now but the privileged are still with us and they haven't let go of their hatred of FDR. They are wreaking their revenge. This is their Restoration of Proper Order. Welcome to their world.
23
This is why we of your generation feel so broken-hearted. The struggles for economic and social justice seemed worth the sacrifice of individual gain.
We heard a call worthy of our humanity.
10
I'm glad somebody is finally putting this into print. The real targets of the tax bill are Medicare and Social Security. And Republicans don't care about the voters because they know that it is the big-ticket donors who control which candidates even have a chance at getting elected.
We are not living in a democracy anymore.
22
No question about it. Since "trickle down economics" has NEVER worked wherever it has been attempted, this bogus tax cut bill has realistically little to do with improving the economy and creating jobs(it won't). Once the deficit remains and grows, the Republican's excuse and ultimate goal is to dismantle the entire social safety network and privatize it. In a commitee meeting about the bill, Bernie Sanders forced a group of Republicans to actually admit it. Ayn Rand lives again.
It is too bad so many Americans have such a short memory and never seem to learn from history.
7
The social benefits were the end game all along. It has been 60 year process and strategy of the right. Progressives are generally late to understand this was a a false tax cut, and that the resulting shortfall would make the social net next. The Republicans are really good at messaging. We better get more creative opposition labeling.
9
Senators Hatch and Grassley have a net worth of approximately 5 million and 4 million, respectively.
Hatch and Grassley have been in the senate since 1977 and 1981, respectively, feeding at the taxpayer trough.
Funding for CHIP? They say, let them eat cake.
21
The Trump-Republican game plan has been clear for some time now: Increase taxes on those they hate---colleges, graduate students, and people who live in or near big cities, particularly in "blue" states.
Lower taxes on BIG corporations and the people who are ALREADY extremely wealthy, relying on the Big Lie that somehow they'll be so very grateful for the additional millions and billions that they'll reward the other 99% of us---who they patronizingly giggle at in private as "the little people"---that they'll "reward" us by creating lots and lots of new jobs.
And if you're naive enough to buy that one, I have multiple bridges and tunnels to sell you, ASAP.
And now, for "The Icing On The Cake" Trump and his faithful Republican servants in Congress will cynically claim, "We'd like to keep Medicare and Social Security like they were---BELIEVE ME!---but unfortunately, despite our most sincere efforts, we can't anymore. Haven't you heard? We're now oout of money!' And that's such a shame...we all agree." (Chuckle)
8
I've been sayin' since Bush/Cheney, the Republicans are not going to stop taking benefits away from middle income and poor folks until people are dying in the streets. Their ruthless ideas are fueled by voter apathy, among other things, and liberals are not countering with anything of substance. The top leaders of the Democratic Party are old, worn out, and out of touch with the times. The Dems need new blood in the worst way, but things will need to get worst before people realize they are getting bamboozled.
6
It is tempting to think at times that we have unlimited funds and an unlimited government, held back only by our dreams and wishes. However, that is not what our constitution says, nor is it a concept of the State that our personal Liberty will flourish under. Our nation's reason for being, its motivating and guiding force, has been the understanding that Liberty and the freedom to organize ourselves without interference from the State is central to our well being. Even in the Republican's wildest dreams, they are not thinking about a constitutional sized government, but perhaps they should? Or it is time to change to change the Constitution.
1
On the whole most of these social programs don't help the needy, they create an under class of the needy. Look at how many hundreds of billions of dollars have been sunk into the Great Society programs without any discernible positive results.
You probably know that President Franklin Roosevelt initiated the original "Contract with Americans" back in the 1930's with his creation, The Social Security Act" that has endured for 80 some odd years saving people from despair in poverty and early death. It was a remarkably empathetic and righteous example of a truly benevolent Government caring for the welfare of it's people, deeply Constitutional as dictated by our founders to assure peace, tranquility, and unwittingly, prosperity. Then along came then Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich in 1994 with his Republican led "Revolution" and "Contract with America". Now I wonder what that entailed. Why were Republicans revolting and why do they insist on abandoning Americans under a veil of revolt? Why do they insist on destroying the government from within? Why do they follow right wing zealots in exercises of anti-government fantasy? Why do they want all Americans to suffer because they are angry and hateful of the Government? The Republicans are inclined to send America back to a stone age to satisfy their tantrums of Ideology. It just does not compute. Why so much hatred and anger that they would destroy the social safety net that saves millions of lives? I just cannot comprehend their cold hearted nature. As an adult in the room, I promise to remain composed during this attack and further efforts to turn out millions of voters. We will win in 2018 and 2020 and I dub it the Movement to Justice and Peace.
8
Realistically, how Republicans view America and its direction, over the decades, has never really changed that much. When implementing his New Deal and with the majority of Americans behind him, FDR still had to fight Republicans every step of the way and luckily his leadership and strength of will prevailed. Does anyone honestly think that someone in the current group of democrats has the strength of political will to meet that challenge?
Since most democrats are catering to their corporate donors, I doubt that individual exists, so, in reality, your hope for a 2018 and 2020 is certainly no guarantee.
1
Hatch and Grassley don't have the money anymore because they didn't manage our funds correctly.
4
When Mr. Krugman states, "offsetting those deficits will require going after the true big-ticket programs, namely Medicare and Social Security" may I suggest that the truest big-ticket program is instead everything in the Pentagon?
18
.There is now a significant possibility that disruptions to specific sectors in the economy could be more important than the negative macroeconomic impacts of the Republican tax bill. Eliminating the Obamacare individual mandate, as is currently in the Senate version, would cause there to be 13 million less people with health insurance. Uninsured people spend less on healthcare than those with insurance. Most studies indicate a 25% difference. Thus, fewer insured people will result in less spending on healthcare than would have been the case otherwise. Other than the direct impact on GDP from lower expenditures, there could be financial distress as some firms in the healthcare become unable to pay their debts.
The risks of defaults stemming from weakness in the housing-related sectors probably exceed that of healthcare. The homebuilders are correct in their complaints that most of the tax advantages of home ownership will be eliminated in all of the Republican tax bills. The bill allows deduction for real estate taxes up to $10,000. As the homebuilders point out, many more middle- and low-income people will no longer itemize, since the standard deduction has increased, and many other deductions will be reduced or eliminated. Additionally, a lower limit on mortgage interest deduction for new home purchases reduces tax advantages of home ownership..."
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4127862
2
It's time for Orrin Hatch to go. He can take Chuck Grassley with him. They are old men with tired, mean ideas.
31
Almost every modern country on earth has a program similar to SS, but most pay much, much, much more livable benefits than US SS does. http://www.businessinsider.com/almost-every-other-advanced-country-has-h...
Why are US "millennials" complaining about today's seniors receiving the starvation level benefits they indisputably PAID FOR, while working age people in other countries are not complaining?
10
Looking around church this past weekend, I imagined the collection was largely made up of leftovers from Social Security checks. The church does a lot of neighborhood work. Cuts to Social Security will surely cut our church's sustainability. Look for a lot of fallout.
7
Paul is not the only one who sees the hypocrisy here. Anyone who remembers the Reagan administration knows this shell game. But to be fair after slashing taxes (and the resulting recession) dashed hopes of an economic boom he asked for, and got 8 tax increases that partially offset the initial cuts. Not enough, but it had the intended effect. Reagan doubled the national debt in 2 years (and increased it far more later), all while whining about Democrat's deficit spending. This is more of the same.
9
I will watch the 1946 classic "It's a Wonderful life" again this season, and I will hiss and boo as Lionel Barrymore gives his chilling performance as Henry F. Potter, the miserly, scheming, thieving, hateful, misanthropic banker who hopes to destroy all the good work that our hero has done in his lifetime. Potter is an outrageously cartoonish villain with no redeeming qualities.
In 2017, the Republicans want to take our depleted treasury - depleted since Reagan drastically dropped taxes on the super-rich - and give even more to the super-rich. Then they want to use the deficit it causes to justify taking away the social security and medicare benefits that middle class folks have been paying into for years, and who depend on this. And then at press events ,Ryan and McConnell smile and laugh at their triumph over working people and declare it as a victory for working people.
The GOP is exhibiting such cartoonish villainy, that I may watch Potter this Christmas and declare him a moderate.
11
I just hope that when Democrats eventually take back control of the federal government that they are more than equally ruthless in grabbing back all that money from the 1%. No mercy.
11
If I were a betting man, I'd give you pretty long odds on that one.
My guess? They'll talk about "coming together" and "bipartisan solutions," pitch a program that includes pre-compromises to hopefully appease the increasingly radical Republicans on the other side, then compromise more from there even though they'll end up legislating with out a single opposition vote anyway.
Then they'll get booted out of power again after 2-4 years because they don't stand for anything and their policies are watered down so much that their voters become disaffected and stop bothering. (Coupled with idiotic measures like Obama's well-intentioned payroll tax cut, which registered with almost nobody because he didn't make a big deal about it and hid it in the fine print of people's regular paychecks instead of mailing them a big check in April - HOW ARE THEY SO BAD AT THIS?)
At which point the Democrats who lose their seats to Republicans will become lobbyists or go to work in the industries they largely failed to regulate effectively when they were in office.
I hate hearing when Republicans talk about the Social Security "entitlement" program. I never realized that asking for my own money back is an entitlement. I guess withdrawing money from my bank account is also an entitlement.
12
SS is an "entitlement," in the sense of something you have a certain degree of "title" to, that you are owed, given the fact that you've paid into it your whole working life. You're falling into the propaganda game the GOP has been playing for decades -- turning a word 180 degrees into a negative that is a perfectly logical term that accurately describes payments due you later in life.
It's the propaganda around it, not the term itself. In its plain language, it carries NONE of the baggage the GOP deplorables have made you and so many others believe it deserves.
Its not just Republicans.
10 Democratic Party members are backing the deregulation of the Wall Street Banks.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/2155/cosponsors
One has to love the wording of the bill...
S.2155 - Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act
SMDH, facepalm...
6
So people may be inclined to dismiss Krugman as just spouting hyperbole from his ideological foxhole here. He's seconded completely by Reagan economic advisor Bruce Bartlett: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/20/republican-tax-cut...
7
Perhaps it is time for folks to take care of THEIR OWN FAMILIES AND SELVES, eh?
Totally. Like we did in like 10000AD before we remembered there were far better ways to run complex societies.
It's not like we live in a complicated and unpredictable world that virtually requires us to narrowly specialize and be dependent upon one another in order to thrive.
10
Not so long after George W. Bush enacted enormous tax cuts for the rich in 2001, Republican legislators wanted to enact another big tax cut for the 1%, and W famously asked "Didn't we already do this?"
Stay the course, his esteemed, Christianist, moral, holier-than-thou colleagues said. Republicans of recent decades have had no moral core, only greed, greed, greed. They are not conservatives, they are radicals, and they made Donald Trump. He is no aberration, and if we don't find a way to oust this horrendous cabal, our democracy is over.
"You can have democracy, or you can have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few ... but you can't have both."
- Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
14
The Republicans opposed all the benefit programs when they were proposed and despite the fact that most Republicans have benefitted from those programs, they want to replace them with non-government programs or to simple reduce all the benefits that they provide.
For most of the donors, the reason for opposing the benefit programs is just hubris, they think that they and their families are so special that they would never have and need for them, that if they lost all their wealth they would replace it in a short time. Instead of considering how significant luck has been in acquiring their wealth, they think it's a fulfillment of some overall purpose determined by God or providence. Those who are not rich are not because of those same kinds of forces. They are control freaks who cannot live with uncertainty for long.
The rank and file are people who benefitted from Social Security, Medicare, public educations, et al suddenly felt that these programs were no good because they gave equal access to people who did not deserve it. Some felt this way because they are cultural conservatives who want to believe that God rewards and punishes people with their material circumstances. Some felt that the equal access to there programs which followed from Civil Rights legislation and courts decisions meant that less deserving people, racial minorities, were taking more than they deserved. To them this meant that the undeserving were taking their tax money.
4
The last six weeks have made explicit the utter contempt that republicans in the house and senate harbor toward all but the top earning 5000 or so families in America.
A president is endorsing a child molester running for senate, half the country is nodding in approval. We are some distance beyond an alarming situation.
The contempt for the poor exhibited by the words of Hatch and Grassley, the contempt for the judiciary exhibited by the president, the contempt for the environment and education (evident from appointments of Pruitt and Devoss), the contempt toward immigrants exhibited by half of all Americans - ought to trigger defcon I alarms. It isn't.
We are now a country where a third is inseparable from social media, staring into mirrors; and a third of the country is intent on destroying about half of us. And they are winning. This move is very strategic; it takes money away from those who need it, and gives it to people who are interested in solidifying an oligarchy in an unjust, unfair, uneducated, drugged up, obese, illiterate society.
We worry about Russia's influence on American elections. Fair enough. But what we are doing to ourselves, all on our own, as a result of white christian tribalism, is well beyond anything any of our adversaries could have imagined. We are short distance away from yet another distracting war started by those in power to keep us further in high anxiety mode, and quell all dissent by calling it treason.
Kalidan
14
Consider a phrase used by a Canadian political party years ago: "corporate welfare bums".
12
As technology advances, fewer and fewer workers are needed for just about everything. But the ultra rich, who mostly "work' in Ponzi scheme "industries" need someone to buy their scams. Impoverish all but the very few, and they will lose their buyers.
In truth, only when the fools who voted for Trump and the GOP start to feel the bite of all these "reforms" will there be any kind of call for change. If even then.
As long as they can ridicule minorities, women, abortion advocates, liberals, educated people, and keep getting their meth and opioids on, I suspect they'll be happy to die faster and dumber than ever before. That's the genius of the criminals running our country. They have managed to make the "culture" war "trump" economic issues.
Our country deserves to fail, and become part of the third world. We have done it to ourselves, allowing the plutocrats and their bootlickers to manipulate enough of us to cause a total disaster. Well, for those not in the criminal plutocratic class, that is. We disgust me.
4
Can States Impeach their U.S. Representatives in the House and Senate?
8
Mr. Hatch reminds me of the kid who killed his parents and then asked for mercy from the court because he was an orphan.
14
So, can Congess retroactively reclaim the social services benefits that Paul Ryan got as a child/youth ??
15
Majority of Americans are not as intelligent like you, sir. The earlier you acknowledge this face starring fact the better it will be for you, sir. Many of us do not participate in the electoral process. We are busy working so hard to pay our bills while abandoning the administration of the country to gaping sycophants called GOP.
6
Those Republicon quotes from Grassley and Hatch are priceless, and historic. They should be etched in the stones of the halls of Congress. Future Americans will study the words of this most contemptuous, least productive Congress in history.
15
My comment didn't even see the light of day on Friday. I'll try it again today. Since I've heard similar on NPR, I hope the Times will have some spine and run it today.
It is time to demonstrate. It is time to make in no certain terms clear that while we are outnumbered in dollars, we hold more power in sheer numbers and the ability to shame and punish politicians who have shown no limit to the heinous betrayal of the 99.09% of citizens whose interests they have not just thrown away but set on fire and laughed while watching the flames.
I in NO way advocate violence, riots or even name calling. The facts repeated loudly and with unwavering confidence by everyone whom has been shafted will be sufficient. The question is, is everyone, like the Times, too cowardly to act, be a good person doing nothing that in passivity constitutes evil?
Why is the Times afraid of people speaking out? If the Times is so afraid, how can it expect people to stand up for themselves? The last time social pressures came to such a boiling point, our president declared "we have nothing to fear but fear itself."
Is the .01% donor classes victory that they have made us all cowering mice?
9
My pink hat is by the door. This tax bill needs a response—people by the thousands. Get your sneakers and trail bars and get ready. All we need is the signal.
1
The super-rich like Trump and the Kochs and Adelsons are, in fact, lifting a finger. It's the middle one.
17
Mr. Krugman I appreciate you looking out for us as you always do. At least someone is--in spite of Trump and the Republican Party's lies that they are doing that, too. So who are you describing when you say, "...anyone paying attention" and the "public's intelligence"?
When will guys like you finally have the courage to point out that the American voters did this to themselves for supporting all the lies from both Trump and the Republican Party that have got us where we are with a lying self serving deranged con man for a president and his party of gangsters like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConell who work only for their rich pimps like the Koch Cartel.
5
"... the contempt Republicans are showing for the public’s intelligence."
As we saw in the election results from November, 2016, there is some merit to the Republicans' stance. The mistake that Krugman and many NYTimes commenters make is to believe that people will not cut off their noses to spite their faces.
It does no good spout facts and figures, their knives are at the ready to do it again.
3
They've hijacked our treasury, national parklands and children's futures. My four-year-old was right, when she told her kindergarten class she was voting Democratic "because Republicans steal from the poor to give to the rich."
8
Grassley pretty much said it all when he said they spend their money on women. In his warped view, women are a commodity to be bought and sold.
10
How apropos that Senators Hatch and Grassley would let their inner Ebenezers fly during the holiday season.
"Are there no prisons...workhouses?"
"Many cannot go there; and many would rather die."
"If they would rather die," Scrooge said, "they had better do it and decrease the surplus population..."
Thank you Charles Dickens.
6
Insulting to the public's intelligence? Which public? The American public who is 100% fine with children, the elderly, the mentally ill and disabled starving and out on the streets, that intelligent public? Because that is the only explanation for why we have Republicans in charge of all branches of the government.
15
What an awful disgrace Trump is as President of the USA.
and just last week Susan Sarandon said HRC would have been as bad or worse.
1
Would it be profitable for the New York Times to create a digital version of the paper for Red State readers that is deeply sensitive to Red State lifestyles and culture? Having an electronic version that reached every Red State email address with articles from Krugman, Brooks & Freidman would change votes.
Currently, High school educated residents in the Red States have no intelligence. They have Fox News, Fox Sports, silent envy of the Blue States and an identified position in the culture wars that fogs-up their position in the class wars.
1
Any look at history shows that the 'haves' can have only so long before the 'have nots' pick up torches and pitchforks to physically evict castle-dwellers from their castles.
5
Exactly! The contempt Republicans are showing for our intelligence proves that they think only numbskulls would ever have voted them into office. Hope they aren't right, and that voters are about to wise up and send them packing.
3
Not so fast! Remember P T Barnum's supposed quote: "No one ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American people!"
1
Grassley's comments are overtly sexist (spending money on "women"? How many working women are doing this?).
The drinking and "the movies" are just time-honored dog-whistle racism: welfare queens buying steak with food stamps. He should just out-and--out say what he's thinking about the poor who deserve their poverty -- and the rich plantation owners who deserve their wealth.
5
The Democrats just had 2018 handed to them on a platter. "Trump and the Republicans will take your Social Security." Blanketed, plastered on every pole, repeated endlessly. It's manipulative, to be sure. But its intent would be to save those who have proved that they are too stupid to save themselves. Sad but teue.
5
Do they really think we're that stupid? Yes. And the answer is for the DNC to stop the incrementalism (sorry), and promote a full-blooded left wing opposition.
3
The upside these days is that the GOP has rid itself of any pretense to governing whatsoever. They remind me of the preacher who takes the money from the congregation, tosses some in air and proclaims "what stays up is the Lord's, what comes down is mine!" This is the Ryan, McConnell, Trump show.
Being so obvious though will raise the 'rabble's' (us) awareness which will then begin the end of this plutocratic, fascist reality show. I will willingly give up "booze, women, and movies" if we can reclaim our country, well maybe the movies.
If a Roy Moore can make it to the Senate with the assistance of Trump and the RNC, we will have a 'nail' in the reality show coffin. That will amount to a disgusting show of the GOP disregard for the rest of us. Mueller may provide some much needed icing on the cake.
1
Harsh judgement on republican stupidity and cruelty gratis...but how true, a despicable runaway party prostituting itself for the distinct pleasure, and benefit, of the 'rich and powerful'. That they can be this shameful and thoughtless remains a mystery for some of us, who would like to give them the benefit of the doubt, and just call them mentally decrepit...instead of deviant ogres towards the public they claim to represent. Remember the famously sad phrase from the IRS "we are here to help you" evoked in us skepticism if not disregard? Well, the republicans in congress have become famously unrepresentative in trying to resolve the needs and wants of their constituents; failing miserably on purpose, as they pale in importance, compared with their rich donors...that keep them in their petty stinking seats. The rich (and all congressmen are rich) are stealing from the poor with a vengeance. So, what's new? It's capitalism in it's crudest form, unregulated, faithful to it's god, Greed!
None of this would be possible if the Democrats fought half as hard for workers as Republicans fight for the rich.
Republicans have one principle, tax cuts for the rich, They never compromise on that principle, even shutting down the government for it, and going against 75% of the population for this tax cut.
Democrats, on the other hand sacrifice their principles first, just to start negotiations. They worship compromise for the sake of compromise. Where has that gotten you?
You lose 2/3 of all elections and can't stop the Republicans from stealing your supreme court seat or slamming this insane tax cut through.
The corporate centrists are traitors, as dangerous as Trump, because they are more subtle.
Stop whining about workers that don't vote an give them something to vote FOR.
3
If it weren't for the taxpayers Orin Hatch would not have Health Insurance or meals on the taxpayers dime.
What has he done to lift a finger or do a full week's work for the people who pay his way? The Federal Government, of which he is part of, seems only to pay for his excessive meaness and his donors tax loop holes.
And as for Grassley, has he forgotten that we the taxpayers have paid for the booze, women and movies that so many of our Senate and Congress have enjoyed not to mention payoffs to some of those women, with again, taxpayers money.
These two are sorry examples of human beings, never mind leaders.
At this point it sounds as if the Republicans who serve in the Senate and the Congress should all be impeached.
7
It's quite telling how Grassley characterizes "women" as a commodity, an entertainment, a discretionary throw-away expense.
In his mind, only men are genuine, full-value humans. This attitude explains a lot of the sexual depredations done by men in positions of power.
I recommend removing any such men from places where they can affect other lives.
9
I hope the estimated 23 million liberals who didn't bother to vote in 2016 will be energized to finally do so. I very much hope that the Gen X/Y/Z will increase their voter participation, because this tax bill is robbing them of a better future.
The GOP are achieving their goals with a successful long-term strategy that began decades ago. "Poor people don't vote" - so just push the middle class down financially, and voila!
6
Thank you. Turn out and none of this would have happened. And get over this idea that the candidate is not good enough to get you off your duff. This is about power blocks not purity. Republicans vote in reprobates and control the country. You can't bring yourself to vote for HRC.
1
We have lived in a dynamic and great wealth creating global civilization which is so vast that no individual or community can by itself control it. There is a lot of inherent uncertainty in this way of life which demands insurance and ways of sharing risk to assure material and social security in it. And that means that there must be a lot of government to make it a stable and predictable system. While they have greatly benefitted from this system, many are unwilling to accept the constraints which it demands to work well.
Republicans do not believe that all men are created equal, they believe that some men are better that others and they should not be constrained by their inferiors. Democracy would be a good idea if it were not for all the losers who are given an equal say with those virtuous and energetic individuals who make everything worthwhile and they do not mean the workers who make anything but the men who own the properties and businesses. Since the 1970's, they have included those who do not believe that men make anything but that those who are obedient and God fearing are rewarded with prosperity and power by God. So the Republicans have become a Party that is convinced that the country is made up of good people who are makers and who are prosperous and those who are corrupt or defective who are takers and are unable to take care of themselves. They simply refuse to accept that our way of life is really beyond the kinds of control they can exert.
1
As someone who has striven all his life to become part of the "elite" (educated, professional, financially independent, ethical), I have come to understand that, however empathetic and compassionate I might try to be, I will never be able to turn Trump's supporters away from their Make America Hate Again ethos. I have come to accept that the only solution will lie in their ratcheted-up suffering, and in watching their children increasingly suffer.The Republicans are obliging history by inflicting that suffering upon those little towns afflicted with "existential despair" and they are laying on the lashes with their unique blend of creatively sadistic cruelty and almost comical hypocrisy. If you suffer enough, you become desperate for relief - even if it means voting Democratic. 2018 is coming.
2
John, "even if it means voting Democratic."? The Democrats today are to the right of Nixon. Relax and welcome to the Democratic Party!
1
I hear you, but politics is the art of the possible. Bernie campaigned to be the Democratic nominee. You start with the opportunities that are at hand and build from there. During the aftermath of the 2008 financial meltdown, Democrats wanted to extend unemployment benefits, Republicans said no. Democrats are for funding CHIP, Republicans want to blow up the New Deal. Choices are obvious, even in an imperfect world. Idealism tempered by realism may be the ultimate compassion.
1
Perhaps a nation-wide strike of EVERYONE who works for a living might wake some of these people up.
7
This is their one, last, great opportunity to accomplish an oligarchy managed by the Republican Party. The control of Congress was important, made possible by gerrymandered districts and Citizen's United, and a hapless, inept Democratic Party. But the once-in-a-lifetime event that truly makes this possible was the election of a self-absorbed dolt to the Presidency.
He has no sense of history, decency, or regret. They needed only to give him a personal tax package so wonderful that the best accountants couldn't otherwise achieve legally, and, best of all, he can finally pass an audit.
Paul Ryan is on a Randian mission to disabuse the poor and Middle Class of any notion that they would share in this bounty bound for the top 1%. The legacy of the New Deal is in as much trouble as the artifacts exposed in Bear's Ears. They now have the wherewithal to gut everything from social insurance to public education, they can force Blue States to pare their own progressive agendas by sending their twice-taxed revenue to Brownbackistan.
It was all carefully planned. Meanwhile, what has anyone heard from that church mouse, Tom Pérez?
Bernie Sanders says the class war isn't just on, it's darned near over. You do remember that they've militarized the police, and now you know why.
2
Republicans believe everyone should get their money the old fashioned way, inherit it from their parents. Senator Grassley believes the only reason the poor and middle class are not rich like him is because they spent all their money on women, booze and movies.
5
Yes it is mind boggling how truly stupid Trump's supporters are. These folks will be hurt the most by the Republicans, and they are too dumb to know it. Oh well, survival of the fittest. If you don't care enough to even search for facts or truth, then am I supposed to care?
I'm not rich, but I am a high-earner, and the tax plan will help me. I am an informed voter. Even so, I am not a dummy, and I will never vote any Republican so long as I live. Not any! I have no room for hypocrites.
3
Here's a picture of my senator, Ron Wyden, shaking hands with crook.
The only solution is political: to vote out the GOP at every level, retake Congress, and reverse Trump's actions (including recalling Gorsuch). It will be interesting to see how the Stupids and Deplorables who voted for Trump react when they see themselves and their families severely damaged by GOP policies.
4
“I have a rough time wanting to spend billions and billions and trillions of dollars to help people who won’t help themselves, won’t lift a finger and expect the federal government to do everything.”
And there it is. Orrin refuses to help those children covered by CHIP because those 10yr olds should be out working, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, and being productive members of society. Once again, these people want to go back to the 80s. The 1880s. No unions, no minimum wage, no labor laws and no safety net. Make no mistake that IS what they are aiming for.
5
and much of the intended victims of paul ryan and ayn rand are just too dumb to realize what they supported.
3
I'm continuously forced to wonder if Republicans like Hatch and Grassley actually believe their own rhetoric? Is the information they are working with so different from what Mr. Krugman cites that they think they have all the facts?
My guess is that facts seldom trump personal prejudices for these men (pun intended). It's a shame we can't seem to reach the part of their worldview that drive that behavior.
2
An army of Republican operatives and partisans, pervasive throughout social media, even posting in the comment sections of the mainstream press, is saying how great this legislation is. What's remarkable is its faux populism, specifically class warfare. It'd be hilarious, if it wasn't so sad, as the Republicans forever attack the Democrats for every single initiative benefiting the working and middle class, including Social Security and Medicare, as class warfare. Now they are acting as if this legislation will actually hurt the rich, or rather, redraw the map so it hurts only the "wealthy elite" on the coasts. It's a Republican lie, but what else is new? Approx. 30 percent of all New York City residents make less than $29,000 per year, approx. 50 percent make less than $49,000 per year. States like Colorado, specifically Denver and Boulder, will get hammered. Infrastructure in Colorado is in dire need of upgrade and repair but Denver International Airport will either have to scrap its $3.5 billion capital improvement program, or find another way to finance it (like a massive increase in state taxes.) Republicans don't actually have to come for our benefits, this legislation already does it. As Margot Sanger-Katz detailed in "The Upshot" the legislation in creating an enormous deficit will decimate the middle class everywhere by forcing automatic cuts to virtually every program the middle class, the working class, the elderly, and the disabled, rely upon, including Medicare.
I have a simple solution to balancing the budget:
1) Never vote for any Republican ever again.
2) Cut 2/3 of the military budget.
See, that was easy.
3
The same people that are complaining about the deficit are the same people that were adding to it in the Obama administration.
1
Obama cut the deficit in half by the end of his administration. It was the Bush administration that created the debt.
The Bush Tax Cuts did NOT pay for themselves. They added to the debt.
The war for oil based on lies in Iraq did not pay for itself with their oil, as neo-cons promised. The oil was given to global corporations. And we are still paying for it and all of the disabled soldiers.
And the great recession came at the end of 12 years of Republican control of congress, and eight years of your control of the presidency, and it was that giant hole in the economy, compounded by your firing millions of police and teachers around the country, and refusing to use the opportunity of 0% interest rates to rebuild our infrastructure (because union WORKERS would get some of the money) that made the biggest hole in the debt.
I have no problem criticizing Obama, but he did not create the debt. Stop lying.
5
We need to slash health and social welfare programs. We can't afford them. As long there are no cuts for those of us who are already on Medicare and Social Security. We vote.
2
Richard, this is backwards. We can't afford them because we keep cutting taxes are are too frightened to move to Medicare for all.
As for as no cuts for you but everyone else, doesn't that make you a selfish hypocrite? Richard is very very very special thus he gets things we supposedly can't afford? Explain yourself.
1
The GOP Death Panels begin!! People will die (well, not the 1%, but many, many others) with the GOP Tax Scam Bill, the cuts to CHIP, & with the greedy GOP fingers reaching out for cuts to Medicare & Social Security (which are earned benefits from years & decades of hard work!)
3
Right, we liberals have understood this Republican goal for decades.
While Paul Krugman helped to elect Trump with is disparagement of basic liberal social welfare policies.
1
He help elect Trump by endorsing his opponent? Its not only Trump voters not in touch with reality.
2
No, you are missing something. This writer is arguing under the assumption that Sanders would have defeated Trump, which is by no means certain, but is not that far fetched.
Paul definitely argued extensively for Hillary's economic platform vs Bernie's during the democratic primary.
Many worried, regardless of her ability to do the job, or the worthiness of her agenda, that she was unelectable because of the 20 years of negative, ceaseless, withering propaganda directed at her from the fake news and fox news media circus. I leave it to you to decide if those of us who respectfully doubted her chances in a general election were proven correct. I am sure there are many who want to give her another chance, but I am not among them.
enzib:
Krugman also weakened Hillary by lying about her after she "won" the nomination.
His sins are not simply limited to the Democratic Primary.
I thought, Hillary would win, but knew it would be close--French TV even recorded me saying "Michigan is going to be hard for Hillary to win the day before"--don't suspect they used it, since I didn't predict a Trump win and I was just a guy on the street.
I'm pretty sure that Sanders would have easily beaten Trump--winning places like the Dakotas, Texas, Indiana, and Arizona.
What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time we still had a drama-free president running a relatively "normal" United States of America. Make no mistake about it, our country is under attack by a rogue president and his party. What will be left by the next election and/or the culmination of Mueller's investigation, is anyone's guess. I don't know about you, but I'm not counting on this congress to impeach the president.
3
Can we identify social security, medicaid, CHIP, etc., as legal rights provided to the people by the people; not as a gratuitous grant without a legal predicate.
Nobility has entitlements by reason of birth. No such thing here.
1
I don't know where you all live, but where I live, we need entitlement reform. There are generations of people living on entitlements. They have children by upwards of 7 children and never name the fathers and keep getting more benefits for every child. There is a permanent welfare class in this country that has confused emergency entitlements with a way of life. This is the truth in so many places in America. I wonder if anyone out there will be bold enough to agree? I know its not politically correct to say this, but its true. It is not about race either. Its about how they are raised. How many generations of the family are going on and on like this.
Mark, the states have a lot of control over the kind of support you are describing. At issue in the comments section are Social Security and Medicare.
2
The opinions of Senators Hatch and Grassley are striding headlong into Marie Antoinette territory. They should check their history before gloating and sneering at the people they've just kicked in the teeth.
2
Paul, thanks again for another attempt to shake your fist at the tide of futility that rises to drown those that appreciate your use of the term “public’s intelligence.” Sixty-three million voters unable to grasp the tragedy of picking the card with the bent corner.
2
Too bad centrist Democrats and global corporate mass media keep repeating Republican lies as of they are true.
The idea that there is no money was used by both the Democrats and The NY Times to call Bernie's policies "pie in the shy." Have you heard centrist Democrats say we can't afford tax cuts for corporations? No, they are FOR tax cuts for corporations.
We have been told over and over that there is no money for social security, Medicare, or Medicaid. Obama offered $4 trillion in entitlement cuts, and the only reason they didn't happen is that the Tea Party wouldn't take yes for an answer. They wanted more.
Global Corporate Mass Media keeps telling us that there is no money to invest in the People. They tell us Social Security is bankrupt. It would take minor tweaks to FICA payroll taxes to fully fund entitlements, which we are entitled to because we paid into them all of our lives.
Why do they keep selling us Republican policy as if it is the only "serious" policy, when it is the opposite. Why do Democrats always want to compromise with them?
Why?
Democrats did not vote for this legislation McGloin. More false equivalence.
Democrats have to compromise with them because Democrats do not turn out to vote in a 60 Democrat senate.
Based on Demographics and ones reality-testing, the GOP or Mugwump party (should be out of power soon in future national contests.) Citizens Union, the triumvirate of Trump/Bannon/Ryan, gerrymandering, The Court & this demented Congress keep it on life support; I say pull the plug. The only problem is the lasting damage they cause to the social contract & the economy as a whole with Supply-side v. New Deal entitlements.
This is what's confusing...folks complaining about losing tax deductions.
Is that not a tax increase?
Is that not what Liberals want?
Please help.
The question is tax increase for who JP? Since Reagan the tax burden has been pushed to the lower and middle classes. Look at the corporate tax contribution by corporations under Carter vs today.
3
The making of the United Corporate States of America.
Yes, yes the fight is on. Not over. More pain and sufferings are imminent, but that may, may focus our morality. I pray it does. We the People are a sad, lonely, lost bunch that thought we could just follow the capitalists through the meadow. But that was wrong.
We've been had by our leaders, whom we elected. We ruined America. And yes, you 'conservatives' are the worst offenders. You do understand that the richest are so happy about all the tax cuts they just got? You can see it in their faces, in the spring in their step. Happy, giddy, so rich and heading for so much more. So easily seduced we are.
But, wait, this is actually a community of souls. This will not last. The center, made up of billionaires, will certainly not hold. Too few in the nest, too many drowning in the water. No, this won't last.
It seems so strange that the Russians, their dictator and oligarchs, and American 'conservatives' are on the same page. Wow! What a life.
I'm so sorry for what we've done, but kind of glad about what we can do now. We can see more clearly and not so selfishly. We can create decent lives and housing and jobs for our people. We can. Our call. Our democracy. Don't forget that. It's okay to say 'I'm sorry' and try to do better. We all must do that with some regularity. And now, we have to do that politically. Rid this land of the vermin of the Electoral College and gerrymandering and Russian-lies. Be gone!
In the end, compassion must triumph. Love is the way. We are one.
When Senator Hatch says "He then went on to say, “I have a rough time wanting to spend billions and billions and trillions of dollars to help people who won’t help themselves, won’t lift a finger and expect the federal government to do everything.” He is actually referring to my conservative neighbors who think they deserve their benefits because they qualify and are white, over qualified non-whites.
Aside from preparing for the next elections, what do you consider the best tactics to oppose this colossal, continuing rip-off? What can we do NOW that will matter, in your esteemed opinion?
Prepare for the next election. It might be too soon to storm the Bastille, as it were.
2
Who cares about the Russians, its the Republicans the country - if there still is one - needs to worry about.
1
Ultimately it's not about the money; it's about conquest. Our oligarchs, not just Trump, yearn for mastery and impunity, the means and right to crush people. Enjoy the colorful times to come: flags and drums; knights, dukes, kings, and theologians to explain our place in that world. Court intrigue. Droit du seigneur? Ask Donnie.
But of course, the money is how they'll do it.
1
I no longer feel safe in my own country.
1
As the French can attest, we "cake" eaters have our limits: and pitch forks, too.
3
The favorite Republican writer is Jonathan Swift and his favorite work is “A Modest Proposal”
1
If we would send a copy of our NY Times posts to our local small papers, the message would get out to more people who do not think like us. Just summarize the article for context, then include your comments.
These are still the "good ole boys". There isn't a decent one among them. They are a me, myself and I group who don't care for anyone but themselves and what's in it "for me". They don't even care about their children and grandchildren The head of the pack is a proven sociopath. I cry for my country.
It Is interesting that people like Orrin Hatch, Louie Gohmert and Donald Trump and Roy Moore are on the same side of just about all the issues. As a group, they are ignorant, bigoted and somewhat crazy. And the interesting part is that theirs is a tyranny of the minority. About one third of the American people are being controlled by these types of people. It begs the question... what is the average IQ level of this 33%?
Bernie Sanders, you’re our only hope.
What never ceases to amaze me is that the good, god-fearing Mormons of Utah, people who fancy themselves Christian to the core, continue to send Orrin Hatch to the Senate. Wow. That's a different kind of Christianity than the one I heard about as a youth. Could someone explain that particular branch of the faith to me?
3
2018 2018 2018.
Vote every Republican OUT. If we do not, our country is headed for the ash heap.
I only have one question: Why do they hate us so much? And is this a plan to kill us off quickly? Is that the Endgame for them?
3
looks like the second amendment will be coming into play.
Bulltwinkies. I knew. I have known. I am right. I knew I would be right. Republicans of this current crop are mean as a bag of snakes. How can millionaires and billionaires be hurting? How is it they must receive tax cuts? Corporations? Tax cuts? The rich keep their money. These are not the wealthy who build schools or hospitals. They do not put up art museums to house their collections. They do not set up charitable organizations. They keep their money. And my question has always been: How freaking much is enough? How much more obnoxious is a person with five million versus a person with one hundred million? Five yachts? Three pied-a-terres, four condos, five homes? Do they produce or serve or create? What?
I hate how right you are, Mr. Krugman, I just hate it. I suppose all we can do it wait patiently for November 2018.
American democracy is already dead. Time to find an alternative.
Preach, Paul Krugman! This is what has me down about this debacle of a tax bill -- everyone keeps focusing on whether the middle class will pay higher or lower taxes, when in reality the amount saved for most of us won't make a huge difference in our lives. The real focus should be on how programs that help the needy -- which, let's face it, will be all of us when we're older -- will be funded once these cuts are enacted. Programs that we've all been paying into for our entire adult lives, but may not (probably won't?) realize the full benefit of when we need them. The eventual cutbacks in Medicare and Social Security resulting from a huge deficit will present an enormous problem that will affect the vast majority of people in the United States. And the rich will just get richer.
3
We need Mr. Smith to go to Washington again.
39
What Republicans are doing boils down to reducing the quality (and length) of life for the old, the poor, and those in a family where someone has expensive health problems. Talking about this in terms of entitlements, benefits, or even programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP) helps cover up what is really happening, turning it into bloodless bureaucratize. The Republican renaming of the inheritance tax as the death tax(also right to work and right to life) shows the importance of the battle over how we talk about things, and this is an area where they have been winning most of the battles.
2
The Sheep have been fleeced, repeatedly. Now, they're been lead to Slaughter. Thanks, GOP.
2
Any person who can justify voting for molesters of women and children for political gain is depraved in addition to being morally and ethically bankrupt. They've sold their souls to the devil for a couple pieces of silver.
These are the same people that voted for the largest tax increase and transfer of wealth to the rich in the history of this country. And they justified stealing the working person's hard earned money by saying that they would just spend it on liquor, loose women and other vices. So they're going to steal it and give it to the idle rich so that they can make money off the stock market.
These are the same people that endorse the largest land grab in US history to rape the land of it's natural resources so that they can enrich themselves and their cronies.
These people truly are deplorable. They are depraved. They are morally and ethically bankrupt. They deserve to be swept out of power before they do any more damage to the people and laws of this country.
5
elections have consequences and all those upset, need to vote next time based on what they will get, not what party they prefer. it is no longer, what's good for society but what's good for me! a good way to end stable democracy .
2
So Donald Trump said that he would eliminate or reduce all benefit programs and his electorate thought that was good for themselves. That is false. He promised to not let that happen.
We don't live in a democracy. If we did this wouldn't be happening. The people voted against this.
1
The NYT Smarter Living column published Six Ways to Be Better at Money in 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/03/smarter-living/6-ways-to-be-better-at...
For most Americans, there is a seventh way to be better at money in 2018. Don't vote for Republicans.
4
The disaster that would be the Trump or any other Republican presidency was perfectly foreseeable during the run-up to the election of November 8, 201t6. That Democrats needed to unite to prevent a Republican presidency was obvious to anyone with at least a double-digit IQ. Yet all the hypocrites in this forum who spent months savaging Hillary Rodham Clinton, doing the Republicans' dirty work for them, splitting the Democratic Party, and electing Donald Trump now engage in hand wringing about how terrible things are. Well, guess what, Naderites and Bernie Bots, you brought us this completely preventable mess, yet none of you ever admit to a whit of responsibility. Too late for demonstrations and letter writing. The time for action was on 11/8/2016, and you dropped the ball. Now enjoy the bitter fruits of your folly.
3
For our congressional "conservatives", I offer a coonservative text as warning: "“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. You devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite long prayers. Because of this, you will receive the greater damnation.” -Matthew 23:14
4
Funny thing, given that I'm a Democrat, but I can certainly see why Republican Hatch "has a rough time wanting to spend billions and billions and trillions of dollars to help people who won’t help themselves...and expect the federal government to do everything.”
I feel exactly the same way about Hatch himself, and his GOP congressional brethren. After all, they suck from the teat of American taxpayers harder than just about anyone. Hatch is the U.S. Senate's longest serving Republican. And given that he no longer cares to help Americans needier than himself, what exactly is he actually doing, feeding at our trough?
6
Funny thing, given that I'm a Democrat, but I can certainly see why Republican Hatch "has a rough time wanting to spend billions and billions and trillions of dollars to help people who won’t help themselves...and expect the federal government to do everything.”
I feel exactly the same way about Hatch himself, and his GOP congressional brethren. After all, they suck from the teat of American taxpayers harder than just about anyone. Hatch is the U.S. Senate's longest serving Republican. And given that he no longer cares to help Americans needier than himself, what exactly is he actually doing, feeding at our trough?
1
"Yet even the most cynical among us are startled both by how quickly the bait-and-switch is proceeding and by the contempt Republicans are showing for the public’s intelligence."
I guess I'm one of the more cynical. With the donor's promise to withhold funds, this was the way the R's saw their chance at retaining power. Give the 0.01% their big break, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead into 2018. It's a year away, and they can have their cake and eat it too if they can outspend the Dems in the TV markets. The rubes will buy it,and those who are paying attention will be drowned out by their constant yapping about God, Guns, and Gays. Goddess help us all.
1
Roads, bridges, ports, rails, electric grid, water supply, etc. are the factors that lead to true economic growth and will really put people to work and help prepare our country for the 21'st Century.
If the Repub. Congress is willing to add >$1T to the Nation's credit card to promote "economic growth", why aren't they focused on improvements to our infrastructure instead of short-term 'tax cuts'?
4
The brilliance of the GOP has been to systematically cut education spending so that the Deplorables can't think critically, and then snooker them with rhetoric that any idiot should be able to see through -- but only if they knew how to think critically.
Texas took this to the extreme -- schools aren't allowed to teach critical thinking skills. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/texas-gop-rejects...
1
The tax bill is already not especially popular. The economy is doing pretty well now. Even if this bill stimulates growth a bit will not change the distribution issue which is that 20% of the population gets 80% of whatever growth occurs. So most Americans won’t get much and most don’t expect to. I think they are somewhat resigned. But when this tax bill, which by itself may betolerated is combined with benefit cuts then people will get pretty excited. You will see a lot of pushback. Sen Rubio will be explaining to retirees in Florida why cutting Medicare is a really good idea and those retirees will notice that the tax cut hasn’t done much for them. The usual argument that we must curb the deficit will ring hollow. He and his fellow Republicans will have their work cut out for them.
In the spirit of Christmas---Why isn't Tiny Tim helping himself? How come those children are poor and cold but doing nothing about it? If only Scrooge got a bigger tax cut he could pay Tiny Tim's dad more. But then is Bob Cractchit really producing enough to get a raise? Or is he just a drain on society.
Aren't we all happy that we can all say "Merry Christmas" again. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
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Will we see quotes of disgusting Republicans on the front page? Why not?
“I have a rough time wanting to spend billions and billions and trillions of dollars to help people who won’t help themselves, won’t lift a finger and expect the federal government to do everything.” Hatch
Well, Senator Chuck Grassley explained it all last week: “I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.” Grassley.
Yes, these should be emblazoned across the front pages of all American newspapers because so many working Americans just do not understand that this is what their senators think of them. These attitudes are core beliefs in the circles these men travel in.
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It’s difficult to believe that Republican Senators live on the same planet. Drivel about poor people spending money on booze, women, and movies - many people cannot afford one meal a day. Why? Wealthy corporations pay minimum wage, profits go to CEOs or Republican coffers. They cut R & D - it’s called head count and now have nothing new in the pipeline. We pay for Trump to golf, his appointees to fly around on government planes, and to have fleets of black suburbans ferry them around. They refused to work with a black President, they support a man who went in for the women. they allowed themselves and their families to be ridiculed by their own candidate, and they deny Americans basic human rights. It is only appropriate that the US is now being investigated by the UN for these violations. These men need to look at Jimmy Carter - over 90 and still working to help the poor.
My questions to Orin Hatch and other Republicans is; why do you hate so many Americans and how can you claim to love America when you hate so many Americans. I mean to say that Americans who don't have big estates, don't have big estates because they spend all there money on "booze women or movies" is to hate all Americans without big estates. Republicans have no problem giving Government help to anyone making more than $1,000,000 a year yet they say that everyone getting help from the Government who makes less than $1,000,000 a year "won't help themselves, won't lift a finger and expect the federal government to do everything" is to hate Americans making less than $1,000,000 a year. I call anyone who has lived in America since they were infants and are now in their 20s or older "My Fellow Americans" yet Republicans want these Americans deported.
There is the only one conclusion that can be drawn from this contempt and hatred of so many Americans and that is that Republicans hate todays America.
The forthcoming attack on social programs will share another, insidious trait with tax reform: it will be carefully calibrated to hit residents of blue states far harder than those in red states.
This can be done in different ways, but whatever its specifics, the Republican attack on our social net will be an overwhelming, audacious, and SKILLFUL frontal assault that would make Robert E. Lee proud.
We can respond by complaining about how we’re supposed to play nice in the legislative sandbox. We can pour a glass of wine and applaud Stephen Colbert’s pithy takedowns of the President’s tweets. We can grasp at balls of string dangled by “moderate” Republicans. But if we don’t face the fact that we are in a bare-knuckles fight, not a high school debate, against a composed, focused and resourceful opponent, we are done for.
Democrats and Independents cannot stoop to the tactics of the current Republicans. But we must get ahead of the game. We must anticipate. We must plan. We have truth on our side, and we must harness it with tested, powerful messaging that reaches, convinces, and mobilizes Americans to fight back. We must unmask and defeat “moderate” Republicans, particularly in traditionally blue and purple states. We must draw a line in the sand for verifiable election integrity. We must win back the majority in 2018, and not break stride toward 2020. We must be clear-eyed about exactly what we’re up against. It is a very strong adversary.
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Is there no end to their neediness, the 1%?
Is there no depth the Republicans will not sink to in order to give the 1% what they want?
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Republicans are showing their contempt for Trump's base: Hatch's comments about CHiP and Grassley's comments about women, booze, and movies (movies?!). I should not be shocked - but I am somewhat shocked at how openly contemptuous they are toward the working class.
It’s easier to say what the venal GOP Congress does care about - the list is shorter than what they don’t care about. What they do care about is ... money. And money is forthcoming if they obey the wishes of their balmy billionaire backers. And the wealthy weirdos have told them what they want for their money. So they’re doing it.
It ain’t ideology folks. It ain’t for the future of America folks. It ain’t to help Americans. It’s about helping themselves. It’s about ... money.
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Glad to see that you put "entitlement reform" in quotation marks. Social Security and Medicare are not "entitlements'. They are earned benefits. As long as we allow the fascists to control the message they will control the outcome. Promise me that you will never say entitlements in reference to earned and I won't either.
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We can no longer refer tp our as "the land of the free and the home of the brave." Our freedoms are melting away like ice cream left in the hot sun and most Americans aren't brave enough to do anything about it.
When I was growing up, the USSR was our arch enemy and Joe McCarthy hit his stride. Lives were ruined and we started building bomb shelters and we looked for "Commies" behind every bush.
We now have a president who admires Russia and he and his Republican cronies are turning this country into the same kind of oligarchy they have going on over there.
Our dysfunctional Republican government is turning on most Americans with this so-called tax reform and it won't stop here. It's disheartening to know that people could vote Republican will continue to vote for the people who are trying to destroy them and the Democrats will continue sitting on their hands. The Democrats are in the minority right now, but they could do something if they had any guts. The few that do have guts, like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and a few others are looked at as crackpots, even by their own colleagues in this woebegone Congress.
So there we have it, savages on one side and cowards on the other. Americans should hang their heads in shame for abandoning the concept of government of the people, for the people and by the people.
If the GOP is coming for my hard-earned-over-a-lifetime benefits, to paraphrase Charlton Heston, they'll have to remove the applicable defensive device "from my cold, dead hands"....
In the long ago I spent my salary -- which I had earned, Senator Grassley notwithstanding - on wine, women and song, a libertarian choice.
Senator Hatch seems to hate children, the epitome of those who can't "lift a finger". Recalling a more generous Hatch leads me to believe that the Senator is drifting into garrulous senility, ripe to be primaried by Mitt Romney or some other genuine conservative.
They are about to stick a very small appendage into a very large buzz saw, if they think they will be successful in stealing from social security or medicare. They can go ask W: he touched the third rail of American politics and got his arm handed back to him in a basket. As the tea partier once said: keep the federal government's hands off my (prospective) medicare.
I am speechless.
Hypocrisy , immorality and deviousness are running this once Great Country.
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Just how much money do they want???!!! They are already wealthy beyond the ability to spend it generationally. They own the Congress and the Presidency. This tax cut issue is really a distraction because big corporations are going to employ where they can find the lowest wages. Why would a big corporation with tremendous amounts of money on hand suddenly "repatriate" the money and create jobs in America for $10.00/hour when they can go somewhere else and pay $3.00/day? This only step one in the move to drive wages down and eliminate the social contract. They are counting on our short attention span. They have us blaming the "other" like Grassley and Hatch did with their comments and rob us blind, all in the name of Jesus. Meanwhile, they have the Distractor-in-Chief to keep us looking the other way. Wake up people!
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Big corporations are not PATRIOTIC! They are global and will seek out the best return on the dollar for their shareholders. These people want to turn us into a third world nation. This is the "let them eat cake" mentality put forth by Marie Antoinette when she found out the peasants had no bread. She didn't care and these people don't care. No healthcare, not even CHIP, no Social Security, no Medicare, no environmental protection, no education, etc. except for the wealthy.
Republicans aren't showing contempt for the public's intelligence. A broad swath of the public, and a majority of their voters, truly are too dumb to notice.
At least we're getting to see the evils of oligarchy on full display. it seems to me that Republicans of late have routinely (and astonishingly) overestimated the stupidity of the American people.
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Mr. Krugman, I’m a big fan of yours and truly enjoy your on point Op-Eds. However, I’d like to offer to you a suggestion on your writing style...you need to get directly to your point in the first paragraph, not like in today’s Op-Ed where it takes until your fifth paragraph to start naming the specific programs that are at risk by Trump and his clown bus of Republican cohorts.
Most readers today don’t have the time or interest to read a complete lengthy Op-Ed. Please think about changing your writing style, pack the first and second paragraphs with the big punch and then layout the supporting facts and analysis.
It’s just my suggestion, thank you for listening, and thank you for presenting the readers with the facts and truths at a time when we so desperately need them.
Its the other way around, we are coming for them in 18 and in 20!
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Hopefully this travesty can be reversed at the ballot box, if not then the Republicans will have destroyed the American dream for the vast majority of the people. Once the idea of America as a place where we all have an equal opportunity to achieve under the rule of law then anarchy will surely rear it's head and the republic will fail.
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The 'real question is not why these elected officials, mostly Republicans are doing this? No the question is why are the people voting into government people who do these things? The power is in the electorate.we vote these people into power: Those who directly oppose what is in our own best interest. Why, Why, Why??? Maybe this is the event needed to send these congressmen scampering. Let's hope. B
In the same breath Republicans will say abortion is terrible, wrong and should be outlawed, forcing women to endure an unwanted pregnancy. Then say the country cannot afford to help women who are poor but have children they cannot afford to care for without help. What is that? That is insanity. That is malicious greed. That is the Republican Party.
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Although this has been said many times before, and will be again, I'll say it right here: this situation is just like the old saw about the weather, which everybody talks about, but nobody does anything about. Tragic and preposterous --
Readers of the NYT may understand the issues and share the Professor's justifiable outrage as I do. Unfortunately countless millions of mainly younger citizens don't read, don't know, don't vote and don't care. Their outrage will come much later - and also much too late.
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Why, why, why, do Trump and the Republicans hate the poor?
This man, Trump, is ruining this country for so many of us.
“Booze, women and movies”...Good Grief. OrrIn’s and Chuck’s rants in addition to being mean spirited seemed to more than border on a sort of a grumpy old man dementia that has set in with these two in particular.
Hatch and Grassley should not be in the U. S. Senate, and running the show based on their seniority and chairmanships. They (and we) would be better off if they were instead in adult daycare. Of course, some might argue the U.S. Senate under the GOP is adult daycare. My 86 year old father is in adult daycare and he is neither mean spirited and makes more sense than either of these two Senators. I mean that seriously, neither Hatch or Grassley appear mentally competent. There is real dementia there.
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"Won't lift a finger and expect the federal government to do everything." That would be Lockheed, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon, etc. etc.
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The laziest people I have ever had to work with have been the adult children of inherited wealth. They expect people to do their work for them. These donor-class operatives, AKA as GOP, appear to be these folks servants. And the plan is to make us all servants of the inherited class.
Let me buy a penny's worth of booze to contemplate that scenario.
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I think back to when the Republicans skewered - no, demolished - John Kerry, a bona fide veteran and public servant, for his so-called elitism when he went windsurfing (And how they blocked Merritt Garland from SCOTUS because President Obama "only" had a year left to his presidency). It is all so truly sickening.
At this point, given the apparent continued support of Republicans and their dear leader by a large portion of the public, are the Republicans showing contempt for the public's intelligence are just acknowledging how limited it may be?
The gop tax bill targets blue states. It inflicts massive damage on the middle class and poor in these states. Governer Brown has rightly described it as evil and cynical. Anybody who does his or her own taxes in a blue state understands it. Depending on what gets passed snd signed:
The tax bill eliminates state snd local tax deductions and limits property tax deductions. It limits the mortgage interest deduction. The marginal tax rate goes up from 28 to 32 percent for the middle class(noting that living costs are very high), Graduate students and endowments at stanford university and other educational institutions are hit hard. It hurts students paying loans. Republicans could not have been more vicious in extracting revenge. Nobody votes for them anymore in blue states because they dont represent our interests and values. The gop just endorsed a child molestor in a senate race. Only pedophiles, mass murderers and rapists remain.
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It's really quite amazing how Republicans are bent upon destroying us - our health, our environment, our financial security. And yet some people still support them.
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Contempt for the public's intelligence has been a winning Republican formula for decades, and there is little reason to believe it will stop working any time soon. The likes of Roy Moore is about to be a senator. Donald Trump is the president for God sakes. The more they feed that race-baiting evangelical maw, the more they can get away with. The majority of white people don't even see the real news anymore. We're doomed. I'm sure a guy like you can find a job in Europe. I'd start looking while the looking's good.
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The following is a quote/excerpt from a science fiction story called "Gypsy" by Carter Scholz. It summarizes EXACTLY what’s going on no matter how much we might not like the disturbing and sinister implications.
“I thought it was the leaders, the nations, the corporations, the elites, who were out of touch, who didn’t understand the gravity of our situation. I believed in the sincerity of their stupid denials – of global warming, of resource depletion, of nuclear proliferation, of population pressure. I thought them stupid. But if you judge them by their actions instead of their rhetoric, you can see that they understood it perfectly and accepted the gravity of it very early. They simply gave it up as unfixable. Concluded that law and democracy and civilization were hindrances to their continued powers. Moved quite purposely and at speed toward this dire world they foresaw, a world in which, to have the amenities even of a middle-class life – things like clean water, food, shelter, energy, transportation, medical care – you would need the wealth of a prince. You would need legal and military force to keep desperate others from seizing it. Seeing that, they moved to amass such wealth for themselves as quickly and ruthlessly as possible, with the full understanding that it hastened the day they feared.”
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Caring for each other is how humanity has progressed throughout the ages. The nature red in tooth and claw nonsense is a myth that bullies like to use to terrorize people.
Don't forget this.
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Let's be honest. The liberal obsession with Trump-hatred has caused them to drop the ball, which has allowed the nutty Conservatives the only chance they would ever get to enact their cruel and destructive agenda.
My fellow liberal's childish, reckless hysteria has distracted them from the serious job of defending the good thing that our forebears created and left for us. They've fallen for Trump's most obvious con. The same one he's been using for FORTY YEARS now. It's embarrassing.
And this at a moment in history when the Democratic Party is dead-in-the-water, a hulk, just a threat to navigation. How long will it take for us to tow them out of the way and replace them with something with an engine and a rudder?
What kind of way is this to run a country?
How many times on this forum do we see people blaming Democrats for what Republicans are doing? If only they were better, we wouldn't voted for the thing that is most obviously worse? What kind of logic is this?
Hey New Yorkers, as you go to work this morning, pay close attention to all those able-bodied people who are just hanging out, not doing anything except having a drink or going to the movies... those crowds of layabouts coasting on their government handouts. NOT! No, you see millions straining as hard as they can at physical jobs that pay so little that, without Medicaid or CHIP or subsidized day care, they'd be sunk. It's sad to see our supposedly august politicians applying such negative stereotypes to their own fellow citizens.
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To American women:A sitting congressman refers to you as objects on which money is wasted and he faces no backlash. Where the heck are you? How come he ever retain his seat? Silence of American women to suppression of their rights is really frustrating. With 50 percent of voting power, the blame mostly falls on them.
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Paul, it is sad. Those who will be most negatively affected from the coming slashing of federal programs don't read. Those individuals mostly listen to talk radio. It is not they can't read, they are simply lazy.
Republicians have lifted the curtin and shown their true colors. Grassley's statement “I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.” Hatch's statement “I have a rough time wanting to spend billions and billions and trillions of dollars to help people who won’t help themselves, won’t lift a finger and expect the federal government to do everything.” This speaks volumes!
Maybe we maybe we could try cutting the military budget. If the rich want to exploit people in other countries (after sucking this one dry) let them hire Blackwater at their own expense.
The real question is why the Democrats didn't generate real opposition! The content of this bill is hardly surprising. No need to wait and see to know it would stink.
I searched for Democratic "leaders" in the news. Chuck Schumer is whining about the bill arriving last minute and the fact he wasn't invited to help write it. Irrelevant drivel! Nancy Pelosi is spending her press time hounding other Democrats to resign. As Dr. Krugman notes, this is a two-pronged Republican attack, cutting taxes for the rich today and raising taxes and slashing benefits for everyone else tomorrow. Democratic politicians and their donors are wealthy rentiers just like Republicans and their natural bent is to support trickle down, voodoo economics which pretends regressive tax cuts are useful stimulus. Beyond that they have no attention span. Their next act will be a photo op helping the Trump white house avoid the debt limit once again so he can implement this disaster even faster!
Time to jettison the DINOs and get in Democrats whose primary goal is the interests of the average joe and to hammer on this point every single day -- even holding government hostage if necessary.
Oh, hang on -- Bernie Sanders is already here! Time for another column from Steven Rattner or another Democratic party hack explaining just how silly Bernie is for wanting Americans to have things that other industrialised countries already have like free healthcare, affordable college and good government.
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Senator Chuck Grassley: “I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed ....” Surely my senior senator realizes that great wealth accumulated from investments comprises stocks (etc.) that significantly appreciated in value. Taxes on these long term investments is is deferred (like IRA's). The inheritor gets these at their “step-up” basis – thus the “death tax” corrects this tax-free appreciation. Surely, $11m, or at least $22m is enough to save the small farm! If his is bigger he should incorporate.
Krugman is serving the order of liberal elites; hence his fear-mongering here and elsewhere. I would recommend reading today's analysis in the WSJ suggesting a combined benefit of over $40K to the average middle-class family of 4 steaming from the Congress's version of the bill; even higher if the House's version is actualized. Mr. Krugman, please do not disregard our intelligence, it is unbecoming of such a great academician.
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You are correct in your op-ed. The Republicans can now say they have cut taxes because as the 2018 campaign season rolls around they will assume the voters will support them - no matter of the larger hurt this will cause. The Republicans have given us the full package. Guns, war, anti-abortion, God, Muslim ban, and now a tax reduction. Get that wall built and all matters will be settled. What a despicable group of scalawags.
The visceral, unrelenting hatresof FDR runs deep in America. It shows its ugly head every so often, like whens Republicans control Congress or the White House — or both — and then it recedes to await its next chance. Social Security and other New Deal initiatives saved this nation at a time of its greatest need, but to the FDR-haters, FDR ruined the myth, their myth, that America was built on the backs of God-fearing, rugged, White individualists.
On top of these old wounds, still unhealed, the modern-day Republican Party has thrown in another incendiary hate — “others” in our midst, blacks, immigrants, Muslims, gays. The focus of their hate, the symbol of their resentment, is a former President who is black, and a woman who dared seek the highest office in the land.
The Republicans will say or do anything to assuage their hatred, avenge all of their insecurities and conspiracies. Even if it means tearing the country apart. Even if it means putting the least of us into positions of power, to get back at FDR and his idea of people actually helping one another.
It is a hate that runs deep, like a vein of black coal embedded in their souls. How dare the rest of us, the “others” dare speak up or object.
This is all the result of apathy and lack of interest in voting.
Hatch, grassley and mcconnell should have been gone long ago. They carry the decades (read 1950's) old mantle that if you are not rich it is your fault and you do nothing to change your circumstances.
So if you align that with maga it is an ideal fit for hangers on who should have been voted out of office many, many years ago.
Their final legacy is that they took from the most needy in order to enrich the rich and were complicit with a corrupt administration in DJT.
If you know the issues ( just a little bit) and vote for your best interests and the best interests of all Americans you can see these senators are nothing short of criminals.
They just haven't been brought to justice yet. Their day is coming....
If there were an independent Justice Department with an independent judiciary, they would file RICO charges against the republican party as a racketeering enterprise.
The imaginary image of millions of "welfare cheats" and "lazy, able bodied people" on the dole has such power to divide the country that it defies comprehension. Of course, for Republicans and conservatives this image always conjures up the specter of non-white or immigrant "others" who can be reliably blamed for all the nations' ills.
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It is important for humane beings to say this loudly and clearly: Republicans are mean-spirited, ugly people who venerate the Middle Ages, when the wealthy families had their status locked in, in perpetuity.
It is also important to recognize that until red state Democrats shout this loudly and clearly, but continue to pretend to be Republicans, they will lock in similar benighted governments.
Do my eyes deceive me?? Is that Ron Wyden shaking Orrin Hatch's hand - when and why? Why? why why why??
THAT "public's intelligence" was never existent, they voted to put this group into office.
There are many able bodied citizens not lifting a finger and on the dole. Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there. I have never trusted the media’s representation of this abuse.
So when is somebody going to tell all those old codgers at Trump's rallies--you know, the ones with the red hats--that their Orange Saviour is going to cut their Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid benefits? Chances are they'll yell about "Fake News" and go right on supporting Trump until the day they look at their "adjusted" Social Security checks. Maybe Trump is hoping they'll all die off before the day of reckoning...
The irony of this new age dawning in the US is that the only wage earners who can live with the lack of a safety net are immigrants who never had one in their third world country of origin. As “first” worlders we have come to expect a higher standard of living. In fact we have paid heavily throughout our lives in large fica and SS contributions. This heist is not only about the future but about the past 40 years of work I have put in with my pay slashed by federal taxes for future benefits. This criminal GOP is the new Animal Farm. Left is right.
Don't be angered and instigated by Republicans. They always start wars by inflaming their targets to attack first. Destroy them at the polls. This time and in the future you must vote to save your life and those of others. Without food, shelter, and health care you will die, so vote.
I have a rough time wanting to spend trillions of dollars to help rich people who don't care about anyone but themselves and expect the federal government to steal from the poor to pay for it.
This Republican Party which believes that welfare is good so long as it is provided to the rich and which embraces pedophiles into its ranks so that it can hedge its bets on passing a tax plan that will damage the now and future working class and poor is shameless. It's time the Democrats stepped up and stood for something in addition to social legislation. There are tens of millions of voters who care more about food on their table than statues on their courtyard. Everyone who is not rich or stupid cares about the excesses of the tax plans. Why doesn't the Democratic Party do more to protest the individual and collective Republicans who are responsible for this war against the less fortunate? Democrats! Do something to make people believe you care instead of whining about the Republicans!
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God, this is a depressing state of affairs. Who voted for these corporate lapdogs?
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Since the beginning of the Republic, the rich and powerful have toiled to deprive the rest of us of the basic principles and freedoms it guarantees. For millennia, human history is is the history of strong men, and occasionally woman, seeking unlimited power, wealth, and no accountability, and destroying the lives of anyone in their path. For some absurd reason we admire such people, calling them "The Great", like Alexander, Cyrus, Peter, Catherine, Charlemagne (Charles the Great); or even making their name synonymous with rulers: Caeser (Kaiser, C-Zar), Khan.
We glorified them in art, literature, and Shakespeare. The War of the Roses was about such greedy, selfish strong men seeking absolute power over their fellows, and killing each other.
So is it any wonder that the super-wealthy today, the Kochs, Mercers, Adelsons, Petersons, Bezos, and Trumps ALL want that same unlimited power and wealth, even when they are wealthy already beyond dreams of avarice?
And is it any wonder they threatened to cut off the prostitutes in the Congress if they didn't get it? Chris Collins, Congressman from Western NY told us they said "Do this or don't come asking for money!" Grassley and Hatch told us what they think: The poor and working class squander their money whenever they can on "drink, women, and movies!" Movies? Where they charge what a Blue-ray costs just to see it once?
Grassley, 84, and worth $3.3 millon.
Orrin Hatch, 83, worth $5 million.
Neither EARNED that wealth.
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Also sad to think that these tax reductions are likely to lead to only a temporary and marginal impact on economy activity.
What was never mentioned was the drag that ballooning deficits can have on economic activity, deficits and debt levels that are approaching those of Greece's before they ran into serious trouble. Like Greece the US relies on inflows of foreign capital to finance these debt levels. As the Greeks found out "dam it those foreigners want to be paid back - with interest".
Senator Corker will have the right to say I told you sold in the not to distant future.
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My tax clients would rather have higher wages resulting in more income than a tax break. That way maybe they wouldn't have to work two and three jobs to get by. Gee, what a concept.
Our taxes are really not that bad and corporations usually pay about 14% - if they pay anything at all.
If corporations really wanted to raise wages and help they'd already be doing so because they're sitting on zillions of dollars. They just don't want to.
This tax bill was produced by the nations' biggest liars and losers. A disgusting lot of people.
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I hope they're ready.
They're already making people desperate, and it's only going to get worse. Desperate people tend to do desperate things.
I'm looking forward to the GOP getting their comeuppance on a very real level. They're gonna regret those smug looks.
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This GOP Congress is a travesty and everything its done or attempted to do is a shame. They are not representing their constituents but have sold their souls along with their morals to the highest bidder. The consequences will be greatest on those who have the least voice. The CHIP provides medical coverage for children living on the edge of poverty often with significant health concerns. How are these “people who won’t help themselves, won’t lift a finger’? How has the GOP become so callus?
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Hypocrisy is a weak political charge Professor. All adults are hypocrites. I don't have a problem with it.
What I have a problem with is our KNOWING the hypocrisy but not knowing the response. People I demonstrate hypocrisy towards would catch me cold if I asked them to do what I said, not what I did. Do the Democrats even know how to respond ?
We all remember how you responded when you mentioned the deficit scolds. Why is it that the Democrats don't get the coverage that they need to make the argument that the public is being switched. Why is it that Senator Hatch gets away with scolding Sherrod Brown that his childhood was poor and he wouldn't do anything to harm them ?
The coverage war is weak to say the least. The Democrats don't know how to win the narrative with the INDEPENDENTS. They are far too subject to the whims of public attention to construct the narrative. That narrative is controlled by the Republicans.
Again Sir, we KNOW how Republicans behave. I for one am not surprised. I am quite sure that you are not either. Why do you WAIT to point out the hypocrisy when you can easily say what the response should be to what they will do ?
The narrative today is Mr. Trump's lawyer offering a "Nixonian defense" to his possible illegalities. Would they dare to use it if they knew what they would get in response ?
The one thing we all fear is damage. It is the lack of damage that grants Republicans impunity. Cause them damage for their lies and watch them run.
It's the Republican game plan. Always has been. Republicans don't change they just get older and uglier.
Can we please dispense with this "moderate Republican" nonsense that seems to cling to Collins, McCain, Flake, Sasse and Graham? It is nearly as ludicrous as deeming that Wisconsin auctioneer to the plutocracy, Paul Ryan as a policy wonk. Sheesh.
3
One thing about Thomas Jefferson, that many fail to understand, is that Jefferson did not have a "meanspirited imagination." His imagination, like his mind, was generous-spirited and visionary. That magnanimous quality in Jefferson is what gave him the far-reaching vision to be able to write, "All men are created equal." Jefferson gave his life and his finances to supporting himself from his own estate as he spent a life in public service to create a government, as Lincoln said, inspired by Jefferson, "of, for, and by" the people. Jefferson warned us that the oligarchs and the plutocracy would take over our precious republic if we did not stay wise to them and stay two steps ahead of them. He warned us that the way to save our democracy was through educating the people to see into the machinations of these self-serving people. Jefferson's huge spirit helped him to create an America in his mind worthy of the Declaration of Independence. Now the mean-spirited of the politicians are about to destroy the monumental work and efforts of our Founding Fathers.
Thank you for being ever vigilant in exposing the lies of these plutocrats, Dr. Krugman. As you wrote in "The Bankruptcy Boys" in 2010, "Your read it here first."
1
Hooey! Piled higher and deeper. Deficits Ipso facto, are undesirable indicating that expenses exceed revenue ( and that years of deficits are taking their -the piper must be paid).
All that spending on movies. If we foolish people didn't go to so many movies we would all qualify for the relief from the inheritance tax repeal. How many movies add up to $20 million?
I am not a religious person but the bible is a great piece of literature. Man hasn't changed over the many millennia. Some are takers and some givers, always has been and always will be The Republican legislators are the money changers, the bloated magistrates, liars and swindlers that pepper the stories.
What goes undisclosed by the religious types is that the bible is a cautionary tale for the swindlers in history. That book of ancient fables ends a short time before the dark ages begin.
Why doesn't the Democratic "leadership" buy time and go on national television to denounce the tax giveaway to the one-percenters? The Trump supporters, many of them middle-class white men, will have to tighten their belts while Trump orders that extra-thick steak. Are we witnessing Jim Jones on the national stage? It appears to be that way. Can the Republicans be sued for lying to the public about their true intentions? We'll see.
1
The Citizens United decision was only a small part of the destruction of the United States. It has long been apparent that many legislators are indifferent to public opinion and public outrage: they care only about pleasing their donors. The gerrymandered electorate, conditioned to ignore obvious truth, is easily bought off by bread and circuses (but not much bread), willingly embraces the facetious justifications for policies that harm them.
But "a nation gets the government it deserves;+
I understand what you are saying, Mr. Krugman. I have understood it for decades. The Republican positions are like whack-a-moles. You knock them down again, and again, and again, but they keep popping up with the same old positions. Yes, these Republican Congress people and Senators will continue to feed the wealthy corporations tax breaks, while American middle class families starve, but when are the voters going to get it.
90% of us are in the "middle class" one way or another, yet the Republicans keep winning seat and legislatures and governorships....How can that be? What are voters going to wake up? I just don't get it.
1
Mr. Krugman, why would you be surprised at Republicans' contempt for the intelligence of the American people? After we managed to elect Donald Trump for President, there's proof we are no longer intelligent. Those of us who saw this coming are not the voters for which the Republican Party has been looking. Further, Republican cuts to education shows that they want to keep us all ignorant. Their collective disdain for intellectuals by calling them elites allows their followers to remain blissfully ignorant, while the rest of us suffer for their ignorance.
The GOP is disgraceful. Their idea of fairness is when they and their wealthy supporters all get huge tax cuts. They don't care about everyone else. They are the greediest bunch of politicians to ever sit in those seats in both houses of Congress. And, now that we have the President being the greediest of them all, the middle class and poor are doomed. Sure, there are some tax advantages for the middle class, but most people will never see income increases from their employer, and job security will never get any better. Companies will never rid themselves of the "do more with less" philosophy since it allows the execs to make massive bonuses.
And, those who are retired or close to it, could see a major reshaping of Social Security and Medicare which could essentially do away with both. they will have to pay for the huge tax cuts to the wealthy and large companies some how. They could also alter the ACA which could save many billions of dollars and leave people without healthcare.
The GOP these days are a bunch of heartless, greedy people who are only looking out for themselves. There are likely some who are not in that camp, but they are spineless and powerless to do anything about it, short of leaving their party.
Americans need to speak up and protest as loudly as possible, but peacefully. Vote out these bums and put people in who will force independent redistricting to end gerrymandering. The tax law could then be repealed and survive a veto.
1
Hatch, Grassley and all those other smiling fat cats will have to be taught an electoral lesson. They are guilty of robbery on a grand scale and if we let them get away with it we deserve what we get. Republicans thy name is hypocricy on a grander scale than your "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act." If it passes your party is toast in the next election
1
This is all disgusting but hardly surprising, if you've read Dark Money and Democracy in Chains. The "Republicans" (Libertarians, really) are just following the plan laid down by James Buchanan in the 50s and 60s and adopted and amplified (by use of all that inherited one) by the Koch brothers and the Koch Network. What comes next is even more disgusting and terrifying, if they continue to follow the plan. Wake up.
One thing about Thomas Jefferson, that many fail to understand, is that Jefferson did not have a "meanspirited imagination." His imagination, like his mind, was generous-spirited and visionary. That magnanimous quality in Jefferson is what gave him the far-reaching vision to be able to write, "All men are created equal." Jefferson gave his life and his finances to supporting himself from his own estate as he spent a life in public service to create a government, as Lincoln said, inspired by Jefferson, "of, for, and by" the people. Jefferson warned us that the oligarchs and the plutocracy would take over our precious republic if we did not stay wise to them and stay two steps ahead of them. He warned us that the way to save our democracy was through educating the people to see into the machinations of these self-serving people. Jefferson's huge spirit helped him to create an America in his mind worthy of the Declaration of Independence. Now the mean-spirited of the politicians are about to destroy the monumental work and efforts of our Founding Fathers.
Thank you for being ever vigilant in exposing the lies of these plutocrats, Dr. Krugman. As you wrote in "The Bankruptcy Boys" in 2010, "You read it here first."
Another extraordinarily well-written piece by Mr. Krugman that exposes the fraudulent nature of the Republican tax plan.
Who in their right mind can say with a straight face, "I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies". Does Mr. Grassly actually believe this or is this simply political expediency? Either way, it shows how utterly out of touch Mr. Grassly is with his constituents and the vast majority of Americans that are just struggling to get by. Republicans only care about engorging the pigs that already control the trough.
This is the beginning of the end game. Republicans have been playing the long game - they have created a vast pool of uneducated voters through cuts to public education, have eliminated the public trust in independent analysis by deriding science as politically suspect, have sought to destroy investigative journalism by trashing the media as biased, and have shattered their constituents' belief in our government institutions by intentionally hamstringing agencies with inept or corrupt leaders who are on the record of having vowed two things - to destroy the Department they lead and to be loyal to the President. When the budget axe begins to fall, and government services are parceled out to the new American Oligarchs, we will have entered the age of #America2.0 - an essentially feudal system where the poor struggle to survive with no assistance, the middle class struggle to stay afloat with no reasonably priced health care, where life savings are at the mercy of a roller coaster financial market, and the rich buy exclusive property in the newly opened national parks. Serfs Up!
1
I read elsewhere that many companies will not commit to capital spending because they are not sure the tax cut will hold as is.
And I believe that could be true only if all those people that voted for racist reasons for trump were to change their vote next time.
But I'm really afraid that they belong to the group that would cut their nose to spite their face...
Some quotes from 'A Christmas Carol' seem appropriate. Substitute Mr Hatch or Mr Grassley for Scrooge. The GOP won't be happy until we have returned to the Good Old Days of Dickensian England.
"At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge, ... it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir."
"Are there no prisons?"
"Plenty of prisons..."
"And the Union workhouses." demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"
"Both very busy, sir..."
"Those who are badly off must go there."
"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."
"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."
1
Hatch and Grassley...both men in their mid-80s imposing their outdated views on the country. Chances are they won't have to live with the destruction they're unleashing while the rest of us will be dealing with it for decades. They're a despicable cast of characters.
1
"by the contempt Republicans are showing for the public’s intelligence." It seems to me that they are able to pull it off because either much of the public is stupid and/or for many their priorities are very different than Mr.Krugman's so that they will not vote as per their long term economic interests. Those who have shorter term economic interests to lose are often unable to vote as is the case with children, , or don't bother as is the case with their parents. Republicans try to make it more difficult to vote, for those most likely to vote against them, while Democrats try to make it easier. No mystery who is more successful at present.
Our son just started his dream....a PhD program in astrophysics. In addition to his college loans he (we) will be paying taxes on the $30-40,000 of newly imputed annual income never received. I also note interest on the college loans will not be deductible. I considering the sheer stupidity of such a policy in terms of education and the relatively miniscule tax income it will generate to offset the $1.5+ Trillion hole the R's have created for the 0.5%, I have yet to hear any justification to counter the unfettered greed these proposals clearly represent. Maybe he could attend grad school as an LLC or S Corp....
Under Senate rules, it only will take 50 votes to pass this tax cut. Even if the Democrats win back the Senate in 2018, it would take 60 votes to roll back some of these cuts: e.g. close the loopholes in offshoring forcing corporations and individuals to pay taxes at that lower rate. Trump bragged about being the great negotiator. But he and the Congress are giving away the store by lowering the corporate tax rate and getting nothing in return but the hope that out of the goodness of their hearts they will pay the 750 billion in taxes they owe.
1
The Trump Tax Scam is already going to put a lot of Republicans in electoral jeopardy, they might as well go all in and fulfill Paul Ryan's Randian wishes and pass major cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The whole schtik right now seems to be stealing what they can before the 2018 elections and locking in as much of them so Democrats have difficulty reversing any of it. They must know that their majority is done, or that the standard GOP strategy of gerrymandering, voter suppression, hackable electroinc voting machines and outright theft, coupled with foreign interference and an ignorant, lazy electorate will save them.
Orrin Hatch, is a fraud and liar. He claims that he is for the poor and needy, yet slashes budgets that help them. He claims that he came from a poor upbringing, yet his net worth today is $4.9 MILLION, not bad for a politician. He is 80 years old and it is time for him to go, like many other members of congress.
1
Today's Republicans are banking on the well-known fact that Americans have a short-term memory and very little understanding of economic forces that shape their lives. The fallout from this bill will be blamed on whoever is in charge when the shoe finally drops and we have a big recession and/or cuts to core benefits, many of which people paid for with payroll taxes. That could be in several years, when these evil old goats are retired, basking in the gratitude of corporations and the wealthy.
Those who sat on the sidelines or voted for Republicans will get what they deserve. Unfortunately, the rest of us will also get what they deserve. Ignorance may not be bliss after all.
Krugman is correct in his surmises, of course. The Republican Party has made perfectly clear its designs and desires to bleed to death welfare and all federal help to the populace. The overarching question, however, never adequately answered by anyone, as far as I can tell, is why in the ever-loving, blue-eyed world do we keep electing them, when we have to know we're hurting our neighbors as well as ourselves, therby. Are our voters really that stupid, that uncaring, that naive? It would seem so. If not, prey, someone explain it to me, rationally, even if the answer is irrational. One reasonably cogent answer is that the GOP has employed very successful psychological warfare on its own voters, such that they: 1) Don't believe the truth-telling media; 2) Hold fast to their lesser loyalties (like high school students hold to their football teams); 3) Believe bumper sticker shibboleths actually communicate truth and meaning; and 4) Think their learned prejudices, no matter how bizarre, are perfectly o.k., now. Anybody got better answers?
Hmmmm, since those most affected (lower income groups, unemployed, disadvantaged, milennials, etc.) traditionally are the least likely to vote, perhaps they should have voted in greater numbers. This sounds harsh, but the old maxim may have to apply: "the burned hand teaches best"!!!
Welcome to austerity, middle class. It gets way worse from here.
If Republicans manage to cut benefits deeply, the highest impact will be in Republican dominated states because, generally, those states are where jobs are less secure, there are more low paying jobs and the so called social safety net is more critical. People who scape by on "Walmart wages" rely again and again on food stamps and Medicaid in good times and especially in bad times.
What's the deal? Why is it that Republicans attack the very benefits, paid for prominently by taxes on Democratic dominated states? Does their right brain not know what the other hemisphere is doing?
Think of Republicans as representing, in addition to the mega-rich, the concept of mercantilism. As paid representatives of the bossing and owning classes, Republicans want everyone utterly dependent on whatever job they can get at whatever pay is offered. In a state of urgent necessity, some facing near slave like wages, people will take those jobs and somehow scape by. The Republicans assume there will be enough higher earning managers and professionals to buy the goods sold by the merchants.
This horribly bad bargain has been allowed to exist for decades. They get to tell the public they are against deficits, welfare cheats and people who don't care enough about their own well being to work hard. Then, they rely on Democrats to keep the bare minimum of social programs afloat, paid for disproportionately by Democratic states.
When will the Democrats wake up?
3
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time”.
This from the founder of the Republican Party. What would Lincoln think of today’s Republicans, who think they can pull the wool over the people’s eyes with their donor-friendly tax bill?
Despite all these warnings our Republican Congress passed this horrible bill. Interviews with voters in mid-America have shown that most of the public was confused or ignorant about this effort. This is not surprising, since even our legislators didn't read this mess before voting on it.
Then there is the "Trump dissonance effect" where Trump supporters don't care about their own welfare or the future of their children in their zombie willingness to support or tolerate any lies he tells.
If we don't turn out in droves to vote these terrible people out of office next year we are doomed as a nation.
1
So Paul, do you really think the democrats would protect those spending on booze, women and movies? Do you think the democrats would protect those who won’t lift a finger and expect the federal government to do everything? Let me show you why we are cynical about the democrats, the Feinsteins and the Pelosis amongst us. They got richer and richer during their tenure. Its a chicken and egg dilemma, do our congress people get richer because of their power or were they rich to begin with. Who are their friends? - the answer is the rich. Who are their financiers? - again the rich, not you and me. Who are their clients - the rich. Who are they accountable to - the rich. It is this hypocrisy of the democrats that makes them less credible, for 30 years, under them, the rich have gotten richer, the poor have gotten poorer. The internet economy has shifted the wealth to entrepreneurs and big companies who now finance more congresspeople, hide more taxes and vote democrat.
1
This is Bernie Madoff on a national scale. But at least Bernie was respectably good con man. Republicans have been pulling the same con for 37 years now, and we keep buying it.
The federal government is the voice of the people collectively. When we lost that power after St. Ronnie fooled us, the next entity in line wasn't the states, it was corporate America, and they have now taken over. Thanks, St. Ronnie!
Dr. Krugman, I have gone beyond the point of caring. As far as I am concerned, the Republicans can have what they propose to take from us and have taken from us. The sands began running out of the hourglass in 1969 (Richard Nixon), moving to a rushing spate during the Ronald Reagan years until the Donald Trump gun-and-mask job this year.
I have never wished to see those who make mistakes pay for them in a mean-spirited manner. The 62-millions who checked Trump's name on the ballot last year, instead of Hillary Clinton's have consigned most of the rest of us to perdition and their suffering is coming and that right soon.
I have argued, tirelessly, in this and in other op-eds, that race was (and remains) the fluid factor in Republicanomics. Nixon started it with his not-so-subtle "they want your jobs." The urine stream of Reaganomics continues to "trickle down", soaking our pants-legs. Most Americans don't seem to mind the discomfort or the smell or the embarrassment of soiling themselves in public. As long as non-whites are injured, they're OK with it.
What Trump supporters don't understand, and won't until the bill comes due, is that they don't count with the oligarchy either. This could all be seen by anyone with an interest in the future back in 2010 when the John Roberts (thank you, W!) Court severed the nation's femoral artery with Citizens United. It's a gusher, all right, with the blood spatter going to the rich.
There's no tourniquet handy. Now now. Not ever.
2
It won't matter what the law is. It will matter who decides.
You think of yourself as middle class and you worry about those less fortunate than you. It's near certainty that your taxes are going up, that corporations are being given a free pass to do as they please for the sake of merciless, mindless, rapacious profit, that your retirement, healthcare, and the future of your children are in serious jeopardy. Oh, the planet burns and what was once protected is now open season to corporate environmental devastation. Got grandchildren? You might even have to go to court to be expect to be treated like everyone else who wants a wedding cake. We are to trust the wisdom of the Court and the law? Sure.
The intentions and actions of Republican rule are finally, clearly and unambiguously right before our eyes. Can you see the end of the democracy? It's not far off if Mueller's findings are essentially ignored. Trump fires him, pardons all, Congress does nothing. Do you really think this can't happen? Oh, and their dupes will just hate us because we think they are deplorably stupid for cheering this on. Fox and Friends will tell them it's all just fine. So, again: It won't matter what the law is. It will matter _who_ decides.
Americans have become sheep to be clipped. Thousands lost their jobs due to freeing up "shareholder value" and out sourcing. Benefits have been cut back as part of cost cutting moves which freed up money to give deferred compensation and bonus to the top. Soon they will be convinced that they did not deserve Social Security and Medicare anyway. The Greatest Generation understood that we are as strong as our weakest link and they provided the social safety net being dismantled by the selfish me entitlement elitist generation. Lead by the most pathetic President of all.
And Hatch is one of hundreds of Congressmen who work only 3 hours a day & spend the rest of their time fund-raising. Pretty brassy!
Republicans used to be somewhat subtle about their end game. Now, they're pretty much in your face. Old, white Republican voters (the base) won't believe what happened until they get their $4000 voucher in the mail and try to buy insurance on the open market. Would say, serves them right, but I'm old and white too.
The total disdain the GOP has for entitlement recipients is a ploy to win the votes of those American workers who feel cheated. It is the old divide and rule principle: convince those that are doing just a bit better than the worst-off that they are being robbed by the "lazy bums out there refusing to work". Make them stick with their low-paid dead-end jobs because that is better than losing their meager job benefits. American workers need to wake up and see who the true robbing bums are: the cynical Republicans who are lining their donors pockets with the money they steal by cutting entitlement benefits. The path America is taking under Republican rule is sickening and disheartening. Senators Flake and Collins have really disappointed by supporting this obscene tax bill.
"big spending on people who “won’t lift a finger” doesn’t actually happen in America"
Krugman I consider myself very progressive and this tax bill is an epic shell game. But your statement is just wrong. It's a lie. Period. There are millions of people taking advantage of the largesse of the federal government. As a society we have generally accepted that alongside the truly needy there will be those who are free riding. We should try to limit this behavior. It is dishonest and counterproductive to deny it's existence.
The next lie that conservatives will tell will be the one they always tell;
By doing away with social security and Medicare individuals can control their own money and get a better return for their retirement in the stock market. The stock market doesn't pay benefits to a spouse and child if one parent dies in their thirties. Social Security does. The Stock market won't pay a disability benefit if you develop black lung or silicosis after twenty years working in a mine. Social security does. Comparing social security to private savings is like comparing apples to asteroids. The best insurance doesn't provide health coverage if you cant afford the premiums. Medicare provides coverage at a rate that private programs can't touch because it runs on a very small cost for administration and no need for profit.
Yes Aunt Virginia, they are coming for your Social Security. Don't let them tell you anything different. In the conservative world view there are the worthy and unworthy and you are unworthy.
A duopoly party system, the electoral college and Citizen's United...it makes sense that corporations have finally consolidated their power. The outcome is way above and beyond Putin's wildest dreams. Real, decent Americans are doomed. It's the beginning of the end of a great empire.
All NYT readers know where Republicans are taking us. The question becomes what to do about it. How do we get working people in the median household income ($59K) range and below to vote and rally against Republicans? How do we get them to turn off Fox and Rush Limbaugh after a hard day's work and stop blaming black and brown people, gays and Hillary Clinton for their struggles to keep up with no hope of getting ahead? Mr. Krugman dismissed the appeal of Bernie Sanders and destroyed his "save the middle-class" agenda when he filled stadiums across the country with the generation that will inherit diminished futures and is already suffering. Bernie is still working hard, but he is a old man. We need younger clones of him with the fire in the belly he has. And we need opinion leaders in the media to give those working people who voted for Trump a new vision of what they deserve for their hard work in the richest nation on Earth. Maybe it's time Mr. Krugman became one of those. Stop lamenting the destruction of America and do something about it, Mr. Krugman.
Senator Hatch's comment sounds like a man who thinks that financial success is a mark of G-d's grace. How reformed of him. His sense of superiority shows that he is indifferent to the reality of the American economy that he has helped to engineer. It is an economy with moving goal posts for the vast majority of citizens, wherein he and Senator Grassley, wield the defunding process with cruel result. Their arrogance will give way to failure.
"The Republicans are coming" is enough to frighten most of the readership here out of their wits, regardless what they're coming for. The avenging hooves of these grim reapers are, if anything, moving too slowly for the masses in the hinterlands, who desire only one thing: the reversal and destruction of the bureaucratic juggernaut which the secular religion of euro-american elites wishes to impose on the world--the American Dream can only be saved by destroying the New World Order. What is especially galling is the rejection of that order, and the embrace of Putinesque protectors (Putin is the most popular politician in Europe). Americans have given up on "common ground", and in the spiral to the bottom every political act on both sides will be a flanking movement to retain power regardless of consequences. The outcome will be determined by "might", and "might" is always conservative. The people who voted for President Trump would would feel less threatened by Putin than by Hillary. Roy Moore fits into this picture neatly--one does not look a gift horse in the mouth.
This is not about us versus them. This is about the GOPs destruction of the idea of the "common good."
1
It is horrific. Maybe Americans need to have every thing they've fought for, worked for, paid for stolen from them and have absolutely nothing left to lose. Then, maybe then, they will feel the anger in the pit of their stomachs. Fear the man with nothing left to lose.
Senator Grassley stated: “I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.” Booze, an entertaining commodity. Movies, another entertaining commodity. Women... yet another "entertaining" commodity. Well that pretty much says it all about this creeps. Sickening.
1
I can't even express the contempt I feel for these "righteous men and women" of the Republican party (Reptilian Party more accurately). It wells up in me each day as I arise to one more act of hypocrisy I read about in the news; and it continues to rise as I ponder this "new world" under these Machiavellian legislators, led by an even more contemptuous president. Hatch and Grassley's remarks are just the modern version of Marie Antoinette's famous line when she heard about starving people in France. under her rule, "Let them eat bread". Another line is apt here, from one of the Republican fore bearers of this current party. Joseph McCarthy was confronted by a legislator, asking McCarthy, "Do you have no shame Mr. McCarthy?" That is my question to Republicans--"Do you have no shame as you dismantle what was once a noble democracy which always sought to care for all its citizens?" It is a rhetorical question, since I know their answer. "No, we have no shame."
2
“Yet even the most cynical among us are startled both by how quickly the bait-and-switch is proceeding and by the contempt Republicans are showing for the public’s intelligence.” The public’s intelligence? After 62 million of the voting public chose an immature, shallow, bellicose buffoon to occupy the most powerful position in the world? The Republicans clearly don’t have to worry about an intelligent constituency.
The author is more right than Senator Hatch is, but the senator does have a point. Here in Vermont we have a large number of people on disability. Many of them are young and able-bodied. We have girls who get pregnant simply to get government benefits. I know this because I see it; I actually know some of the people I'm talking about. It's odd because in other states people who have truly become disabled after decades of working and paying taxes get turned down for disability. But in any case there are people who suck up resources provided by the rest of us because they simply don't want to work. Vermont, one of the few blue states that gets a lot more money from Washington than it sends in, fosters this behavior by refusing to encourage economic activity on any scale that would create a significant number of good-paying jobs. The unemployment rate in Vermont is low because so many people over 18 have dropped out of the work force and are no longer counted. And they've been able to drop out because Uncle Sugar is there to support them.
But I digress. The author should probably be celebrating the Republican victory on taxes, because it will hasten the time when all those blue collar Trump supporters will switch their allegiance and their votes in order to get their benefits back.
The quotations from Senators Hatch and Grassley are telling. They express the Republican stereotype of beneficiaries of social programs. It is that such recipients are African-American or Hispanic, that they are working age in a time of high labor demand, but prefer idleness. What do they tell their white elderly constituents who depend on medicare and socials security. I suppose it does not make any different since the votes of such constituents are guaranteed, so powerful is the stereoype.
2
I think we should never forget that Trump's support is about 30-35% of the populace, and that his voters, like the GOP's, are overwhelmingly white and older. Even in the recent Virginia election, a majority of white voters, including white women, voted for the GOP. The question I have for older, white Trump voters who aren't billionaires and multimillionaires is: what are you going to do now that he and the GOP are raising your taxes and slashing the social safety net that (barely) protects you and your children? Even accounting for his and the GOP's white nationalist appeals, this bill and other Trump-GOP policies are actually harming older white, non-rich people. So do they simply not care because Trump can publicly insult Lavar Ball and slander Colin Kaepernick and trash Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton? Does that cancel out all the suffering that's coming their way?
4
Every time I see these Republicans smiling and congratulating themselves after passing a mean-spirited piece of legislation, the first thing that enters my mind is what a bunch of self-serving hypocrites they are. They wrap themselves in a cloak of the Bible and patriotism. Then they turn around and ignore the very tenets of both. They have no idea what it means to be Christian or a patriot. They are only interested in themselves, being re-elected and licking the boots of their wealthy donors. Unfortunately I don't see this ending anytime soon unless by some miracle of miracles the voting public deals them a crushing defeat. But that's not likely when 20% still believes that the sun revolves around the earth.
5
"The contempt Republicans are showing for the public’s intelligence."
Say what? The reason the forces of reaction control all three branches of government is the public's LACK of intelligence. Thirty percent of American voters are intellectually lazy, dangerously uneducated and puffed-up proud of it.
I keep seeing comments about how Trump supporters will come around once the GOP's plutocratic policies begin to affect their lives and livelihoods.
I say that is not going to happen. The most important emotion in determining political support for these people is spite. Their one and only test when it comes to policy is: I am for it if liberals are against it, and vice versa. True fact: I have had people tell me the reason they smoke cigarettes is because it angers liberals.
When Trump cultists begin to directly suffer physically and financially from GOP economic policies, they will search for ways to blame liberals, and, their beloved Fox News and lunatic fringe websites will aid in that search.
8
Exactly. Build the left base, and you will outnumber them 2:1
Bravo, Dr. Krugman! How did you not use the term "suckers" when writing this essay.
I appreciate that you have zeroed in on the "inheritance tax" issue. The most mystifying portion of the GOP tax bill is the elimination of the estate tax.
Before us all, is the evidence for why there should be a 100% inheritance tax. That incarnate evidence is none other than the person of Donald Trump. (Ecce homo!)
Without an inheritance, Trump would most likely be a nobody. Can you imagine what America might be like if every woman and man was given his enormous "head start?"
Without childhood wealth, Trump does not attend private schools, does not dodge the draft during the Vietnam War, and certainly does not make a penny in real estate. Trump's average and banal self would have never emerged if he had not been born on 3rd base.
Modern capitalism can devise a way to pool capital other than the randomness of where a sperm cell is cast.
Inheritance taxes are probably the one tax that makes the most sense of all taxes. It does not tax hard work. It does not tax ingenuity. It does not tax risk. It taxes the randomness of a wiggling sperm cell.
And it is certainly not a "death tax." A dead person can no more pay taxes than they can eat a Big Mac. Inheritance taxes are on INCOME given (not earned) to spawn.
The inheritance tax should hence forth be referred to as the "sperm tax."
2
I am completely astonished by my fellow liberals. I have no idea how it was not completely obvious that Candidate Trump would completely annihilate this nation in a manner that would make the Night King in Game of Thrones seem like a cuddly teddy bear.
If Democrats do not turn out strongly in 2018....then it is game over. Winter will remain and choke the life out of all who are not billionaires...
2
There is a lot of growth in the GoP tax reform bill--too much growth in fact--and we will be the unfortunate beneficiaries ...
-Budget deficits will grow
-Debt will grow as a result of deficits
-GoP demands to reduce safety net, health and educations expenditures to
reduce debt will grow
-The gap between the few wealthy and many poor and middle class will
grow
-The suffering of poor and sick Americans men, women and children will
grow as social expenditures are cut
-The numbers of poor and sick without health coverage will grow
-Americas elephant-in-the-room pension crisis will grow
-The numbers jailed for non-violent crimes will grow
-Depredation and contamination of the environment will grow for similar
reasons
-America's diminished leadership and moral standing in the world will grow.
-GoP lying, prevarication, spin, false news and disdain for facts will grow.
The GoP is right --their horrendous tax legislation is almost certainly going to result in growth that far outstrips the modest estimates of revenue it grows that will grow the deficit that will grow debt that will... About the only thing that won't grow is the numbers of GoP hypocrites, plutocrats and liars who promoted the bill and will be its main beneficiaries.
The real question is whether the numbers of blue collar, white women, Evangelical and bible thumping religious duly disenchanted with Republicans' dastardly deeds grows sufficiently... Good luck America.
1
The word to describe how malicious, spiteful, hateful, nasty, and evil these (mostly) men are simply doesn't exist in English. One can only be thankful that most of them will soon be dead, and pray for the hastening of their deaths. Will more follow in their footsteps? Yes. Will the successors be as completely inhuman as their predecessors? Hard to imagine. Let's hope not.
1
Frustrating as this column is, it still gives me some comfort in seeing the truth spelled out so clearly. This has been going on every time the Republicans have had control, and we'd have long since lost the safety net if Democrats hadn't fought for it so doggedly. It doesn't get "shoved down my memory hole"--but there are so many Republican voters who seem unaware of their party's sinister system. And watching the news about Roy Moore, does it bother those devoted voters that their "anti-abortion" party cares so little about already-born children that they want to cut their medical coverage? Right now, I feel a need for some booze and a movie--any guy interested in joining me?
2
I wonder who the rich think will be purchasing anything? They have businesses and products. Who is going to buy them? I think this is insane. Short term theft with real consequences for real people. Greed and insanity.
4
They only see as far as the next quarter's profit statements.
1
It is time for the electorate to wake up, participate in the democratic process, kick out each and every legislator, who voted for this abomination of a tax bill, and wipe out the smirking smile on the faces of the likes of Paul and Mitch! If they don't or won't, we deserve what we got. It is the apathy of a majority of the voters that Republican party banks on and they are rewarded each time.
2
Yes. Apathy is the true enemy.
Wealthy Progressives: we need you now to counter propagandistic Fox and save the country which made you rich.
Step up and flood the internet and airwaves with the truth: a strong middle class is the backbone of the United States. We need to end Citizens United, get the money out of politics and remove every last Republican.
4
We have been on unemployment for the last few months. Are we bad people? Should we have sold the house and loaded up the truck like modern day Joads and headed west for opportunity?
Should I have said, "well golly and jimminy cricket," just because my husband got laid off because he is retirement age and his healthcare cost the company too much and we all know it was age discrimination but you just can't prove it, "we don't need help starting over in our fifties! Give that money to the rich, and let it trickle down!"
OF COURSE the whole idea was to shift the wealth to the wealthy and blame the poor for their own problems. Must have been lazy. Can't be globalization, and short term maximization both based on system that rewards ownership not effort.
I just don't know how else to say it. This is how revolutions start. I really really really don't want to leave my kids a nation steeped in a generation of violence and unrest.
Senators, GOP - use your (insert intensifier here) heads and the meat between your ears! If your consciences and souls aren't aching, at least look to the headache you ought to be facing up to.
7
“won’t lift a finger” is indeed code talk used by those that perceive themselves as superior, in order to justify their thoughts, prejudices and actions, which reduce the existence of others.
2
So what else is new? We knew this was going to happen if the tax bill pased. It is what the Republicans have been wanting for all along. They want to starve the beast (government) so the can cut all outr social programs. Shame on them. I hope they ge a big backfire frm this, and expect they willm for going against the nterests of the voters.
In this season of Advent this tax bill is certainly not in the spirit of Christ.
3
from the 2016 GOP Platform (Oh, never mind, let's take care of friends)
Reducing the Federal Debt
Our national debt is a burden on our economy
and families. The huge increase in the national
debt demanded by and incurred during the current
Administration has placed a significant burden on
future generations. We must impose firm caps on
future debt, accelerate the repayment of the trillions
we now owe in order to reaffirm our principles of
responsible and limited government, and remove
the burdens we are placing on future generations.
A strong economy is one key to debt reduction,
but spending restraint is a necessary component
that must be vigorously pursued.
1
I welcome the Republican Congress to take away social security and medicare. As a retired teacher I live on just over $2,100 a month and am not eligible for social security (California teachers do not pay into social security).
If this happens then to my fellow citizens who happen to be Members of Congress I say, "Welcome to the revolution. May you be the first to fall."
4
Grassley and Hatch really believe they are superior beings They aren't. I think Hatch is senile and Grassley is just arrogant.
8
Welcome to the modern Feudal state.
4
Yes. Except that under feudalism, the lords had at least a theoretical obligation to their serfs. Under our laissez-fair capitalism government by oligarchy the masters have no obligations to the wage slaves.
3
Corporate feudalism or humans that take of each other.
Pick one.
The Republican Party is proof that there is no God.
4
Reminds me of the line: I spent most of my money on booze and women and the rest of I wasted.
Republicans, joking aside, are just as upside down.
5
Republican entitlement reform = theft from middle and working classes
3
This should be posted on the door of every church in town.
1
Give the senior senator from Utah a break... The man is 83 years old... He’s like your pop-pop who watches soap operas all day and get to eat mashed potatoes and apple sauce when everyone else get turkey with all the fixings. How is he supposed to keep a fact straight about 9 million children on a ‘liberal hand-out plan’ or how many zeros in a “billion and billion”?
But the president wants him to stick around... Mitt is waiting in the wings with pumpkin pie!
4
Orrin and Chuck remind many of us of Grandpa Simpson. Addled, demented, a mess. Unfortunately, unlike Grandpa, they're voting on issues that can and will hurt us. They need to be retired. Now.
Paul Krugman for President. Pass the word.
6
Republicans love to tell us how they want to live in a Christian society. If they don't want their government to help the needy, they really don't want to live in a Christian society.
5
I worked all my life as a highly educated professional and business owner
and I have done well and paid taxes according to the letter of the law.
How is it fair for me to be prohibited from passing on my savings derived from my
taxed income which I earned? This is nothing but class warfare, envy and income re-distribution engineered by the politicians who vote pander to those who resent folks who have achieved financial success. A version of mob rule. I suspect the vast majority of your readers believe I am mean and heartless. I have no problem with a progressive income tax. The death tax is asset seizure.
3
You succeeded in a huge and well functioning country with an economy that extends far beyond anything that you control. What affects that whole country and all in it, determines your ability to prosper. You seem to think that your world is just what you control.
2
There is nothing in US tax law prohibiting you from passing on your savings. Nothing.
The for the heir, the money is treated as inherited income. It is not asset seizure. I know you don't like it, but that doesn't make it theft.
2
The unseemly fat cat feeding frenzy has to be paid for by somebody. Since the gov't has defunded itself and there are 10s of trillions of US gov't debt. The ruinous Bush Administration started to ball rolling with off budget ruinous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan along with unnecessary tax cuts that almost exclusively were for the wealthiest tax payers. Obama and the Fed spent billions of dollars stopping the 2008 recession from becoming a depression. Now Trump and his friends in Congress have passed an obscene unpaid for robbery of the treasury.
4
Why is there no great swell of protest over this tax debacle? And re-call efforts around the country?
5
I am curious to know how difficult it would be to completely roll back this travesty of a tax bill when the Democrats garner the house, presidency and 51 senate seats.
Can they ram through a roll back or is this tax bill a done deal once passed ?
4
The answer is in front of us, with this administration 'rolling back' the Affordable Care Act and everything else they don't want. But how likely do you think it is for Dems to take the House, the Senate, and the Presidency any time soon? The problem is not just with the current House, Senate and one President passing stuff that could be 'rolled back' with a different government. It is with the millions and millions of Americans who voted them in. Good luck turning that ship around in 2018 or 2020.
I think what irritates me the most, and there is some tough competition lately, is this is our money. Most of the 3+ trillion dollars paid in taxes each year is paid by the individual tax payer. Most of the individual tax payers (85%) make less than $75, 000, and the majority of those make far less. Yet the GOP acts like any program that works in our favor is a "hand-out" and unsustainable.
Who will they rob when we bottom out?
6
The idea of government dependence is a made-up fallacy.
The idea that subjecting people to starvation and homelessness creates an incentive to work is an excuse for selfishness. Throughout most of human history the poor were left to starve and die in the streets and it didn't provide them the incentive to lift themselves out of poverty. Yet, conservatives contend the poor are worse off with government help.
This meme is thrust upon Americans, which happens to serve the interests of rich conservatives that benefit from those policies. Modern conservatism uses the smoke-screen of self-reliance, individualism and character to mask policies which are self-serving, bigoted and cruel. The cadre of conservative billionaires don't want to pay higher taxes that will be used to help "those people." Thus, they invent a myth that the best way to help the poor is to NOT provide them any help at all. This way, according to them, their misery will give the poor the incentive to become educated and industrious.
Their objective is to keep taxes on the rich low and keep govt out of their hair. But these people's numbers are small, so they need to fund propaganda groups like the Heritage Foundation to create false data and spread the message to middle-class conservatives, who believe their lies. Thus the pro-life conservative-leaning worker listening to Rush Limbaugh will repeatedly vote for the party that is less likely to protect him economically.
3
Deficits matter to Republicans when money is being used to “promote the general Welfare “, that is to do something for all Americans and not just the rich.
2
Hatch's comment and Grassley's (women, booze and movies) remind us that we are in the new Gilded Age:
"The golf links lie so near the mill
That almost every day
The laboring children can look out
And see the men at play."
5
People like Senator Hatch, and his colleagues, are not living in reality, and have no idea what they are talking about. These are the elected representatives, with their selfish view of things, contribute to the widening gap between the wealthy and the middle class/poor sectors in this country.
Senator Hatch may be seeing those retired people in public places, and assuming that they are not working and expect the government to provide all the assistance.
Having created the 'Debt' and 'Deficits' it is quite possible Congress will try to go after social programs such as Medicare and Social Security. Millions of people have worked hard over the years, and now dependant on these programs. Congress should think twice before trying to interfere with these programs.
3
I can't say that I have ever experienced the level of political anger that I feel today. With this tax bill, for the first time in our political history, Republicans have weaponized political difference and transparently sought to hurt blue state voters at the expense of corporations and donors. Every day the administration enabled by this rapacious Congress enact public policy making income and wealth inequality worse and living conditions worse for the middle class. They erode environmental protections and civil rights and exacerbate the society's racial and class fault lines.
Democrats may be helpless today but if they don't fight with all their breath to reverse these outrages when they get a chance, they will be on the receiving end of political rage quickly. It is no longer business as usual in America.
5
The Republican politicians intend to stretch those safety nets right along the ground because they are not the ones who might have to jump into them. To be fair, some of them are simply Evangelicals who will add you to their prayer lists; not name by name but just a general nod in the direction of the "unsaved" and soon enough, the unwashed.
Other Republicans are wealthy or at least in the pockets of the very wealthy. While the typical American family was struggling to recover from the Great Recession, Congress grew wealthier every year. The median net worth of lawmakers was just over $1 million in 2013, or 18 times the wealth of the typical American household; anyone want to hazard a guess about the disparity today?
Is this new tax code another "let them eat cake" moment in time? Marie Antoinette may not have uttered those words but the blame for the financial ruin of the Bourbons reign was placed on her shoulders... And not long after, those shoulders were headless... Or so the story goes...
3
When our electeds say "they want everything given to them", they are looking so far down their very disdainful noses at hardworking average Americans, they've clearly lost touch with the majority of the U.S.
Average Americans are of little value to these Republicans, as new workers or buyers. The rich and foreign markets fulfill these needs.
With cancellation of Social Security, Medicare and Welfare around the corner, they will only have to find places for our ashes. The $59,000 median family has just moved into the Republican's version of the Warsaw Ghetto.
It's a clear conflict of interest, legally and ethically, that these rich Congresspeople have the right to vote on a tax reform that only benefits them and those who are richer than they.
This is a special case and should be voted on by referendum in the 23 states that allow it. 90 days after a law passes is when signatures are collected, via petition, that demand a state vote on the law.
Then a vote is held on the new law. If 23 states reject the tax plan -- which they will -- it won't pass.
Congress would at last get a chance to read the bill.
2
The Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929, capping the number of members in the House to 435, should be repealed. We are ridiculously under-represented, especially compared to other Western nations.
The Senate, 100 individuals, have lost their minds with power and the need to please their donors. Term limits for these cronies.
4
Back in the 1950's my dad said that the people get the leaders they deserve. We as a nation have stood by while the right wing has dismantled public education, stripping the average person out there of knowledge of their own government. Ronald Reagan spent years telling us that government did nothing to "help" us, and we now have generations of people who think that "privatization" of everything will save us money.
Donald Trump and the deplorable Mitch McConnell didn't do this to us. We did it to ourselves. And now 60 million of us believe every word Trump utters, and they control us because we don't bother to vote. Let's blame the actual perpetrators: ourselves.
5
The Democrats have played nice while the Republicans have gone rogue. I think the biggest indication of this was their acceptance of McConnell's hold-up of the Supreme Court nomination. Democrats should have boycotted Congress over this violation. The right is engaging in a counter-revolution and the left is wringing its hands. Yes,citizens in the streets, but just as important, legislators on the attack. Bernie Sanders is the model. If Democratic legislators are inhibited by concern for their rich donors, then we have become a plutocracy with only a democratic veneer.
3
Paul, Reader, Perhaps you can assist here. I read a couple of articles or editorials saying that the Robin Hood tax deduction legislation removes cancer from the conditions covered under Medicare. Since this information never appeared in a mainstream news source, I am skeptical. Do you, or any readers, know anything about cancer coverage under Medicare?
1
Krugman: "And offsetting those deficits will require going after..Medicare and Social Security..they’ll find euphemisms to describe what they’re doing, talking solemnly about the need for “entitlement reform” as an act of fiscal responsibility."
Medicare and Social Security are funded by FICA deductions from paychecks, and they have nothing to do with the national debt.
3
Our current debt is ballooning because of three GOP-led expenditures: two long unpaid-for wars, Medicare Drug Law, and GWB's huge tax cuts for the rich.
Instead of promised economic boom, we got the Great Recession,
2
How many times do you have to say it? SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE ARE NOT ENTITLEMENTS! They are earned and paid for benefits, supported by earnings deductions and, in the case of Medicare, supplemental insurance premiums. And by the way, there is already a progressive cost included in Medicare, where people with higher incomes pay higher premium prices. Social Security is the principal source of income for most seniors since the government allowed employers to cut defined benefit pension plans and substitute optional 401(k) plans. To cut these benefits is truly Trumpian - promise fair treatment and then recant, luring people into working for little or nothing and stealing the money promised to them. This should spark a fight that will make the Republicans' heads spin. I hope it does.
3
Dr. K, you are in a much better position to answer this question. How much of Social Security and Medicare funding comes from the payroll taxes of those Romney leaches that don't pay any income tax? How much of the funding comes from the general fund and would be reduced if the GOP cuts SS and Medicare?
2
The Republicans have been voting for sweeping restructuring of American finances. Americans have been polled as opposed to these changes. When the politicians are no longer afraid their constituents will vote them out of office, we have a serious problem.
1
And when we next have a Democrat president in the White House, she will be blamed for the budget deficit and the need to cut Medicare.
1
Everything the Trump administration and the GOP does is meant to destabilize our country and discount our way of life. When I use the term "our" I am dividing the country into the haves and their ignorant minions and the rest of us (people who believe in the need for an effective and efficient government that serves everyone without judgement - that's my definition BTW). This last year is creating huge divides - economic, ethical, cultural, social - and no unifying concepts that could hold our country together. A country needs some cohesive philosophy if it's going to be a peaceful place to live. Too much turmoil any more. We are becoming third world and third rate because of all the greed and short sightedness our lawmakers now display. If the 2018 elections don't turn things around I suspect many people will leave. The blue states will experience financial difficulties because of tax structure imposed on them plus environmental degradations. The red states will gain nothing, their many sick citizens will not have the care they thought they would receive and environmental and economic policies now in place won't benefit any but their handful of very rich citizens. We all want to live someplace nice, not in this mess.
3
Yes I know, and the Democrats will too. Do you not remember that Obama said that "Social Security is on the table"? Don't you remember Bill Clinton's "Welfare Reform"? Neoliberals. The rich get their way no matter which side wins. The rich own both sides lock stock and barrel. Neoliberals of both sides helped get us here as surely as Bush and Reagan due to their combined unholy alliance with the rich. It was the southern democrats post civil rights that made this cynical political movement possible in the first place. Time for a re evaluation of all politics and the formation of a new party that actually serves the people.
1
I remember my father counseling me back in the fifties to save my money because Social Security couldn't be counted upon. Turns out now that -- as usual -- he was right.
2
The only way Social Security will go "broke" or "bankrupt" as they like to say, is if everyone stops working OR if Trump gets his wish to eliminate all immigration -- legal and undocumented.
They are coming for our benefits, and we need to fight back. Suggestions welcome besides working to win the midterms.
2
This is class and generational warfare. If you want to see the future ramifications of this trend, look at Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands today. What recourse do the underclasses and unrepresented have in such a situation? General strike? Rolling over and dying? The House and Senate represent themselves and lobbyists, first and foremost. The model being embraced assumes cheap, expendable labor with minimal human rights, as in the third world nations we have collectively plundered for the sake of the latest soon to be obsolete consumables we have been trained to buy. Shorter business cycles, unrestrained mergers and quick profits before the paper trail catches up. Couple that with a distracted consumer culture unable to slow down long enough to ponder the consequences. Humanity eats itself. Have a nice day. :)
3
Important not to forget amidst all this outrageous plundering of the public to give to the rich is the underlying cause: domination of the wealthy over the entire political system, Democrats included. Even though it is not pointed to directly here, we should be raising our voices for public campaign financing and stiff laws prohibiting conflict of interest. Without those, all our outrage will come to naught.
2
We need to make one of our talking points:
The Government does NOT have a spending problem, it is a REVENUE problem created by Republican refusal to levy taxes on their Donor Base.
10
History will show that America's embrace of socialism in the third decade of the 21st century began with Ronald Reagan, Grover Norquist and Newt Gingrich. The fall of the Berlin wall and the Soviet Union were false flags.
What is now before our eyes lays bare this fact: those we elect to represent us - and whose salaries we pay - can be counted on to sell out to the biggest donors to their election campaigns. We have government of, by and for those with enough money to run the show.
3
There is an oft used phrase that is appropriate here. For Republicans the added debt of the tax plan is a feature, not a bug.
The Republican Party has long included reactionaries who think of themselves as superior people, whose power and prosperity are rewards for their ample virtues. Hatch comes from a state dominated by the Church of LDS, which routinely cares for unfortunate families but the help is controlled by the Church. They tend to see federal government support as an interfering and enabling the lazy and irresponsible members by giving them help which they do not deserve. That same attitude tends to pervade a lot of the portions of the country which do not have a cultural heritage which has adapted to the realities of urban life in an industrial economy. These people tend to see the world from a perspective of those who could subsist off the land when times were hard. They see prosperity as a reward from God for living virtuous lives. They simply do not grasp how little control individuals have over their lives in the kind of industrial mass marketing economy in which we live.
2
The solution is political: Democrats need to win Congress and the Presidency, and enact real tax reform that recovers what was just lost and goes far enough beyond it to teach these plutocrats a lesson. Want to go back to the '50s? Welcome back, high marginal tax rates for the 1%!
And what's maddening to me about the Republican's mendacious deficit fear-mongering paired with tax-cutting, is that Democratic politicians don't just laugh in their faces and dismiss it for what it is. Democrats desperately want to have a public policy debate; Republicans have no interest in participating in one.
2
Your moral arguments, while sound, are strangely unconvincing to the privileged, self-appointed job creating class. Maybe it's time to give them an economics lesson - one that you're imminently qualified to deliver - around the stimulation value of a dollar across various wage and wealth groups. Also, cover the limited value of reduced corporate tax to investment.
The tragedy is so many of the less than wealthy who vote Republican do so for social and religious causes, not economic. Many do not understand the separation of the church and state part of the constitution. A few of my Catholic friends are able to understand that the practice of their religion is personal, not political and legal. I support a woman's right to choose as law, but would have done all I could to prevent any woman with whom I had intercourse from aborting. By all I could does not mean impeding her right. It means making my case as the father and nothing more. And I am not a religionist. On economic issues too many people I know suffer from self-inflicted wounds as a result of an anecdotal experience. For, example, seeing someone in a super market buying a lobster on food stamps has enraged a friend of mine who was working two jobs to make it through a rough patch. As a consequence, he is opposed to food stamp recipients. He wanted lobster, but couldn't afford such a luxury. Whether or nit that woman abused the system is a discussion not worth having. But she doesn't represent the millions of people, including a host of children, who are helped in their hours of need. I don't hold the belief that we must pay for the sins of our fathers. why should they pay a price that affluent children don't. No child asks to be born poor to uneducated parents. There are large concepts that need to be understood so that folks will come to a logical conclusion about economics.
Rich people lining their pockets at the expense of the rest, ballooning deficits, cutting of budgets for support programs on which the needy depend, the anti-college sentiment that has picked up so quickly, the isolationism.
All signs of a society and economy in decline.
And to think I entered the Diversity Visa Lottery 2 years ago. Boy, am I glad I didn't win.
2
We get what we voted for. No one to blame but the voters. They voted to give to the Makers and take from the Takers.
2
My mother, born in 1933, is what one might call a tad conservative. But if you tried to take her Medicare away she would load her revolver and come after you in her Buick. I would be more afraid of the Buick—it is big and fast. And there are a lot of old folks with Buick’s out there.
127
With our deteriorating health care system, I can imagine our "representatives" cynically counting on there being a lot less old folks out there.
2
And your mother has probably voted for the GOP candidates election after election. That is the genius of the GOP--getting voters to elect people who want to take away their benefits and destroy their lives.
1
After she loses her license will Sam Brownback offer to drive her to the DMV to get a state ID, and then to her polling place?
I love the Darwinism approach that the Republicans use! There are too many people in this world! All problems in this world stem from overpopulation! Think about it.
Ayn Rand was right.
1
There is some good news. The day after the Senate passed the tax cuts, the Democratic leader was on TV decrying the purchase of toys by online web bots.
1
The Gop’s audacious, blatant tax bills, don’t just aim to deny benefits to ‘needy’ citizens. They're creating more needy----pushing more of the middle, working class into that category.
Why? Because of their plutocratic identity, translated into political policy, It's taking over congress. The multi billions owned by the mega donors to our candidates aren't enough. Now, it’s not even wealth---it’s power identity.
The rw utilizes the phrase “identity politics” to insult others as part of their propaganda strategy. That dilutes support for all the many citizens who are being exploited, and this weakens their fight to assert their American rights.
The identity of the American plutocrat is that of superiority, and on that basis, to control, to dominate and accumulate both power and wealth. To any pushback by We the People, the plutos plead victimhood of ‘big govt’. The phrases are prepared and ready, like ‘freedom, liberty, growth, etc.
The megadonors who subsidize our elections and direct our 3 branches and most states, have more billions than they and their grandkids could ever use for limitless luxuries. Their aim is control, and to vanquish anyone who might challenge them in the name of democracy. They’re our new ‘aristocracy’.
Now, columnists, liberal or conservative should start including reform of campaign finance in their columns. That's the basis. Stop avoiding it. That's the only way to unblock the long process of taking back democracy.
2
The Christian values of charity, compassion and selflessness sure run right through these Republicans. No wonder they are in the front pews smiling contentedly every Sunday morning. Now tell me that parable about the rich man again...
Woof apparently can not do math. He talked about doubling the deduction from 6k to 12k but forgets the 4k exemption is gone. So bottom line really going from 10k to 12k. So really only 2k bigger, so 10% Tax bracket saves a whopping $200, 20% Tax bracket a staggering $400. But Krugman some how is mischaracterized the bill as for the rich. Stop watching FOX and go to your 1040 and do the math.
1
How can they expect me to spend all my money on booze and women when I already spent all my money on an iPhone instead of purchasing health insurance? Boy, that Chaffetz really had me pegged.
3
Nothing new here Paul. It has ever been thus.
It's time to call them out for what they are: the Republicans in Congress are the thieves who steal the taxpayer dollars of the 99% in order to satisfy their wealthy donors with one one hand, while stealing more taxpayer money of the 99% with the other hand by collecting a cushy salary and benefits they set for themselves, while simultaneously setting their own rules for everything from setting no term limits on their times in office, while making the taxpayers pay for settling their sexual harassment charges in the Congress, and on and on. Simply put, they are thieves, and do not deserve any cover of legitimacy whatsoever. Vote them all out!
3
Doesn’t surprise me that Senator Hatch is not worried about his tax cut to the rich and not funding Children’s healthcare. At his age, he’ll be dead before the bill comes due. Let’s hope he’ll answer to his Maker.
It really is rather simple. I worked and paid withholding taxes for Social Security and was promised a certain stipend when the time came. If the Republicans deny me my promised benefits, I'll promote a class action lawsuit by an army of lawyers. Then watch and see if the Judges, on up to the Supreme Court, rejects it then you know Republicans are on the take. Indeed, the Republicans are the G.iant O.il P.irates in my view, robbing Americans and stashing wealth and businesses outside the country.
1
The bumper sticker going in the grandkids stocking this holiday.
"Bought and paid for by the 1%, Congress stole my grandkids future."
1
Is this the part where the welfare queen rolls by in her Caddie, twirling her cigarette holder, gnawing on a block of government cheese?
As we loom toward the iceberg they just jettisoned all the life boats. It's like we are restructuring ourselves in imitation of 19th century Russia, where we will have only aristocrats and serfs.
1
Republican voters are smart enough to vote for candidates they don’t like, knowing they’ll get results they will like.
Imagine if sanctimonious progressives didn’t refuse to vote for someone who could actually win the presidency? Someone who wouldn’t appoint Wall Street predators and climate change deniers to the cabinet, and would veto this garbage bill. Someone who wouldn’t appoint the most conservative Supreme Court Justice since the 19th century. Don’t blame a Trump voters, they wanted this.
3 more years of suffering for your pride.
1
Trump is truly the Emperor with No Clothes. The only problem with this is, that his supporters are totally blind and will never see. When Trump lies to them and says "For Christmas, I'm giving you the most massive tax cut you've ever seen" they practically fall down in fits of sheer adoration. They'll all feel the bite into their incomes soon enough. That is, if we make it out of his presidency alive over the next three years.
2
These are sad times in which the ignorant and uncaring take over the government--both national and state. It will get worse before it gets better. It will take decades to undo the damage.
1
The American donor class is an addict: addicted to money and greed. Congress is their enablers. And the American people are their victims, getting their pockets picked.
Addicts don't stop, and they only pretend to care about anything other than their habit.
Correction: They can stop, but only if people are savvy and courageous enough to stop them.
1
This is absolutely hopeless. The USA will completely belong to a few oligarchs and their children in a few years. We, the rest, the riff-raff and our children, will only have the option to work for them for minimum wage and die when we get sick. I just hope they are kind enough to throw some pain killers at us when the time comes, but probably not.
3
So when will the MAGA supporters realize they have been conned?
2
The Republicans are exactly right for having contempt for the public's intelligence.
1
Democrats need to learn form their mistakes. The Orange One and his cronies were elected. Mostly by people who will loose under all these proposals out of hate for "liberalism". Amazing how things got so twisted. The Democratic party needs to start forming a true and all inclusive campaign for next election. Nothing seems to be happening. Time to organize and start the fight, but this time de-emphasize the PC stuff and include the middle of the country.
2
Sometime in the last week, Orrin Hatch fell in mad love with Trump, calling him the greatest president in office during his Senate career. Now the truth comes out - Trump endorses Hatch for re-election over Romney, his nemesis. And gives millions of Utah acres to white Mormons, shrinking the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase monuments. So transparent.
As for Grassley, he's lost any respect he'd earned over the years in the Senate. He's taken a time machine back to the 1950's with his comments. I thought William F. Buckley refuted those Republican kinds of "poor people" characterizations in 1968. I guess he was fibbing then, eh?
More like liars, one and all. I've never taken a penny from the government, and paid more than my fair share of taxes on solid income, but this group of creeps scares me as I approach retirement. Are all my plans up in smoke?
When I was in my PhD program over 30 years ago, a relatively small program in science with about 25 students, my fellow classmates came from China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, England, Australia, and Germany – and the faculty and research scientists were from all over the globe.
What will happen now with the latest GOP tax plan – taxing tuition waivers in particular – is that U.S. graduate schools, especially in science and technology, will be largely populated with wealthy students from overseas. They will be the ones able to pay, and they are also well prepared – our educational system does not produce enough high-quality students to populate our graduate schools.
We have the best universities – and we use them to educate the rest of the world. Your kids' college tuition money is going to finance foreign graduate students, who are also the ones doing most of the teaching (not the professors!) And we act as the police force for the planet with our absurd financial allocations for our military. Presumably the rest of the world is grateful, as they eat our lunch.
Simply put, we are becoming a nation of stupid brutes. And those types never last very long.
The 0.1% couldn't care less, as long as they keep getting their obscene tax cuts. To put it as euphemistically as possible: the way we are running our country is not something we can maintain, uphold, and defend. We continue to build and grow insatiably on a base that is unsustainable.
We won’t make it this way.
2
Raison detre of Republicans is to reward their rich masters and stay in power. They will do anything, absolutely anything to achieve that goal, lying repeatedly and unashamedly, all principles be darned! Look at the hypocrisy of sainted McCain. When donors are involved, who cares about principles he himself touted!
The ONLY way to get back to Abe's dream of a Government for the people is to get rid of Republicans, every one of them. And the only way to do that is to institute public financing of elections at all levels, so that rich people cannot buy our politicians and our government. Until then, rich, investor class and corporations will write the tax code, perpetuate a kleptocracy and undermine the general welfare of our nation and its common people.
Thank you, Paul Krugman. The exactitude of your reckoning, and the anger in your voice are salutary. What are we to do? What steps can we take, other than posting comments on the NYT site, to make this stop. And if not stop, at least not slope so steeply, or such a easy going into this good (bad) night.
1
Spot on, as Krugman usually is.
When will the entitled begin to share in the rewards of the wealth of our nation?
There are no bigger welfare queens in the United States than the top 1%. Nobody cheats the government like they do! Whether it's Erik Prince, Betsy DeVos's brother/Blackwater founder) living the good life on military contracts to the entire Walton, DeVos, etc clan - living large on money they never earned, but inherited through our pathetic taxation system. I say sign me up for that job! I'll happily forego my laughable salaried work - to be a Trump, Walton or DeVos heir. And despite the fact that I don't drink, womanize and rarely go to a movie - somehow I just can't seem to find the money to invest and grow into millions since I wasn't smart enough to be born to rich parents. Trump's supporters need to get their heads out of Fox news racist land - and wise up to the dopes they are being played for.
1
"Republicans have given their donors what they wanted — and now they’re coming for your benefits."
I think it's time for a general strike. Fill the streets. Force the issues. Show the corrupt polititians the massive majority of Americans that they are robbing and abusing and what will happen to them if they don't stop now.
I find the sexual abuse scandals and Russian election interference loathsome, but fear that they distract attention from the GOP's wealth redistribution scheme, disguised as a tax cut and jobs act.
2
Cue George Carlin’s piece “The Owners of the Country.”
A friend of mine told me that when he was a kid, he asked his father "Are we democrats or republicans?" "Democrats" "What's the difference?" "Well, democrats like to take your money through taxation. They waste some of it, but give a lot back in the forms of public works projects, like building roads." "What about the republicans?" "They just take your money. You don't get anything back." That's what people say about the mob. It's an old pattern; Republicans take us to the cleaners; Democrats have to fix the R's mess, with R's all the while claiming that the D's made the mess, not the R's. D's do a lousy job of fighting back, and, c'est faite, the R's are back in for more.
1
Mr. Krugman, in my opinion, the Republican Party is evil. It is a tumor, with the worst of human nature festering inside it and it seems to now be growing and will eventually kill us. The shocker is that the American people have allowed it to get this far where it is now holding a whole country hostage.
I am afraid the plague of what is possessing the GOP is so widespread that there may not be any hope left. An evil has gripped the nation, greed, selfishness is spreading, abetted by the evil-bating GOP.
I just looked at the Fox News website. I can't find any story on Social Security or Medicare, at least on their front page. So if you only get your news from Fox you have no idea that Paul Ryan and company have their sights on your earned benefits.
I can't wait to see what happens when all the Republican seniors, especially those in red states, find out what their beloved party has in store for them.
Mr. Hatch says, " “I have a rough time wanting to spend billions and billions and trillions of dollars to help people who won’t help themselves, won’t lift a finger and expect the federal government to do everything.”
Yes, that would be YOU, Senator Hatch who has lived off the public dole his entire life. Yes, that would be the inherited-wealth, investor class leach-off-the-work-of-everyone-else, government contract crooks and everyone else you call your "brethren" and pay masters.
WE THE PEOPLE are going to purge you from OUR government at every level and tax back all the wealth you have stolen. Get our while you can because WE THE PEOPLE WANT YOU TO ANSWER FOR THE HOSTILE FINANCIAL TAKEOVER OF OUR GOVERNMENT.
9
Social Security and Medicare are not "entitlements." They are savings accounts. Workers contribute to these systems each and every minute they work throughout their working lives.
These are only "entitlements" in the sense that having contributed for decades, yes, we are entitled to have that money available to us when we are too old or too disabled to work.
9
They are legally entitlements. Don’t confuse the pejorative term with the legal one.
Also, they are not savings accounts. Current receipts pay current liabilities.
The GOP has been trying to do this since FDR and the New Deal. They didn't like Social Security. They didn't like Medicare. They don't like Medicaid, CHIP, food stamps, welfare, or anything that helps those in need. The party that claims to care about families forgets to put which families it cares about in writing or into its speeches. The adjective should be wealthy preceded by extremely.
What they are doing has nothing to do with any generation. It's a class war and the GOP wants to make sure that the uber rich, whether they are families, individuals or corporations, are in control of the wealth. If that makes our lives worse so be it. If we die homeless, hungry, from illnesses that are treatable it's not their concern. Their concern is the wealth of the country not the well being of the citizens who keep the country running. Therefore the ACA, social security, veteran's benefits, welfare in general, and the infrastructure can be cut, neglected, or simply ripped apart in order to satisfy the rich who really, really need more money than they already have stashed away in various off shore bank accounts.
Thank you GOP for showing us who your true constituents are.
GOP = Greedy Overpaid Pompous Power hungry Popinjays (who are traitors and ought to reread the stories of King Midas, Scrooge, and the Bible.)
27
I worked for 46 years paying all federal taxes throughout that period. I then retired, and now collect both Social Security and Medicare benefits. Mitt Romney labeled me a 'taker' during his campaign, part of his alleged 46%.
I and not a taker, I am in earner. I earned the benefits I collect just as I heard my salary through the that period. Romney, Trump, and the Republicans do not care about me because I am not a billionaire, but I care about me and Americans in my situation a great deal.
49
Why didn't the Democrats use their time to come up with an alternative tax overhaul? Sure, it would have just been an exercise. But it would have been an opportunity to demonstrate to the public that 1) Dems are not necessarily for tax status-quo 2) They won't rob from the middle class.
9
Sylvia, one reason is because that would have made it easier for the GOP to focus on the Democrats plan rather than defend their own. The GOP excels at the politics of attack. It's the same with health care. The GOP owns it now and all the moves they are making are destroying the ACA.
While I regret Trump's and the GOPs winning so much in a way it's good. Why? They now have everything they said they needed to govern but they haven't been able to do a single thing to help most of us. And they never had any intentions of helping us. Now it's out there for every one who isn't a zealous GOP supporter to see. The problem will be if the Democrats can capitalize on this for the midterm and presidential elections.
19
Can't agree with the approach promoted in the last paragraph. It's NEVER a good idea to let the other side win in the hope that people will see how bad the other side is.
1
Trying to figure out why the Reps are going after entitlements brings many reasons to mind (deficit, donors,...) but their primary movers and funders (many in the top 10%) may be aiming for a superfit America with full financial health, small and limited financial responsibility toward the old and the disabled and every US family responsible for fulfilling all their needs with no friendly social net by 2040.
This could be in theory a worthy goal but that will not work because of, at least, two gigantic issues.
a) While true that most all baby-boomers will be gone thus reducing the social and financial burden, this moral unmooring will establish a new normal where one would be well-advised not to get old and/or decrepit and
b) the generation coming up (except for the top 10%'s), burdened by poverty, debt, and a substellar educational system will not be able to, seamlessly, bring this country back to the top.
Only people born in wealth or having achieved wealth via an unbalanced system can emotionally convince themselves that the above remedies are the right one for the good of the country since, presumably, the slings and arrows of old age will be greatly attenuated, they think, because of their easier financial access to the top echelon of a "superior" US medical system.
Loosing the notion of solidarity or Common Good for all and thinking that the top 10% knows best will not only destroy the soul of this country but weaken it irreparably.
16
We baby boomers will be "gone", no doubt a lot sooner than we expected, due to self-dealing, corrupt politicians and big-ticket right wing donors.
As you say, the GOP agenda is decades old, but fully enacting it required the prior capture of certain media outlets to exploit the latent racism, hatred, and paranoia of half the electorate. Now the deal is almost sealed, with all three branches of federal government and well over half of state legislatures captured. Trump is personally working to destroy the concept of verifiable truth, while his cabinet is engaged in the "deconstruction" of anything that might impede the oligarchy, especially financial and environmental regulatory agencies. Next up - "entitlements". At least in feudal systems the serfs understood the arrangement for what it was. Here, they haven't a clue - in fact, they lustily cheer their overlords on.
32
Very well put!
I think the last chance the American people have to stop the destruction of their country by the republican enemies within is to organize and strike back at the centerpiece of the right-wing propaganda machine, Fox "News" :
organize a massive boycott of any company that advertises on Fox. This can be done with an internet platform where people report for their local media markets which companies advertise on that channel.
This will need to be tied directly to trump: 'don't like trump? -- go to this website, boycott companies that advertise on the tv channel that supports him -- hurt him
1
This is Nina CAstro:
I never go looking for attorneys except as a recourse of last resort. Once in my life so far, and I am in my 60s. If, the Social Security system, including Medicare is even marginally damaged by their intended "reforms", with a demonstrable misuse or diversion of the money I have put into those systems all of my working life to insure a safety net for my old age, and/or those who come after me, I will absolutely ring lead a class action suit on behalf of anyone who has every contributed wages to those two programs. And I will find a careerist lawyer eager to take it to the top. I even have my eye on the "chits" they keep putting in the file when they borrow from SS to balance the budget; as if.
40
I want to clear up a misconception that has been perpetrated by many members of Congress. The funds for Social Security have been invested in Treasury Bills in order to earn interest rather than sit in an account languishing while waiting to be used. The funds have been invested not spent, however since the funds have been invested in the Government... it is easy to make the argument that they have been spent. The Congress could continue to fund Social Security fully by removing the income cap which I believe is currently set at $118,000. I agree with you, we should fight back against any cuts to this program as well as Medicare and Medicaid. What the GOP is blind to is that the welfare of the people a whole is key to making the economy grow and flourish.
I'm with you entirely. But fact is, along with starving and then drowning our government in a bathtub and "deconstructing" the administrative state, much of the appellate judiciary will be by that time riddled with ultra conservative and/or blatantly incompetent Trump appointees. I don't hold high hopes for our legal action.
Contempt and Disconnect
Grassley and Hatch despise Americans who are not rich.
Grassley and Hatch have contempt for the lives of people who live with financial constraints.
Grassley and Hatch evince no understanding of how actual Americans live.
They attribute base qualities to average Americans.
They have transformed the duties of U.S. Senator into protectors of plutocrats.
31
Senators work for less than half a year. Their work consists of the talking. They know nothing of hard work. I have jobs from which they cannot be fired, and salaries that are paid with our tax dollars. They are the welfare queens.
When our Senators and Members of Congress are elected under a system of legalized bribery far more dependent on dollars than votes, why should anyone be surprised at a tax bill that will make the rich richer at the expense of everyone else? Nothing will get better until we can find ways to make our votes count more than their dollars. We do, after all, outnumber them.
32
What is really interesting about this piece is its' lack of unique, new information. Don't get me wrong, I really like reading Dr. K. But this information and these concepts are really old. They really pre date the Slavers and Enablers Club of 1787. For the most part(don't like to over generalize) rich people just want more. They feel entitled. That they can get a bunch of money grubbing legislators to do their bidding is the disgusting part. I would be less shocked if they used their wealth to hire mercenaries who would keep the citizenry docile through cruelty and force. But no, we allow ourselves to be cowed by the "rule of law". We vote these people on our backs. That is the sick part of how the system works. So all I can say to my fellow citizens, cheat as much as you can, and don't buy from big business if possible. The party is over, the lights are about ready to go out. Guess what, you will clean up the mess.
14
Stunning and breathtaking, the baldfaced lying and contempt republican politicians show toward the majority of Americans. This makes Mitt Romney's "47 percent" comment that derailed his candidacy, look like a mild joke. Grassley's comment about poor people spending all of their money on "booze, women and movies" is even more denigrating, to half of the American population especially! Senator Grassley, women are people too, not just commodities upon which male Americans waste their minimum wages. If Democratic politicians and the DNC do not make hay with these comments then I'd have to believe that they are in on this systematic theft of all of the resources in America by the very few.
20
I am ‘bemused’ by your conclusion that the DNC is not currently an enabler of the current circumstances. I admit that I may have missed some news but I heard nary a word from Hill - who aspired to be Pres.
There's really nothing new here. The rhetoric of Sens. Hatch and Grassley is only a variation on the "makers and takers" worldview that seems to be required of all Republicans. Only now it's the GOP doing the taking to pass along to their financial enablers.
The only thing that can stop them now is their own blundering. They failed to repeal Obamacare because they had no actual plan. They might even fail at this latest tax dodge if they can't come together and thus deadlock the reconciliation process. To hope for Republican incompetence to save us from Republican meanspiritedness -- that's a mark of how crazy these times are.
18
"Somehow, I don’t think limiting spending on booze, women, and movies (movies?) is going to be sufficient for the median American household — which had an income of $59,000 last year — to end up with a $22 million estate."
You just need to save about $40,000 a year of your $59,000 for 45 years @ 9%! You just need to live off of $19,000 (less your taxes).
8
It's why most Americans cannot save for retirement, being unemployed, medical bills, etc. We aren't making enough to save. If we lose our jobs we lose our health insurance. We still have to pay the rent or the mortgage, the utilities, etc., every month whether money is coming in or not. The usual cascade of events is as follows:
1. Either lose a job or become ill and unable to work.
2. File for unemployment or take a leave.
3. Go through one's savings and still have
a. illness and require treatment and be unable to work or,
b. be unable to find a job no matter how resumes are sent out.
4. Wind up homeless, with no savings, and in debt.
5. Receive next to no help from the government to whom you have paid taxes.
6. Realize that all your hard work amounts to nothing.
Note that this can happen at any time in your life and no matter what you do no one will care because in America it's only the very, very rich who are entitled to expect handouts/government welfare.
1
Krugman is dead on.
the GOP's budget hypocrisy is visceral. And to me, the Tax Victory means they can now get it done when it comes to dismantling SS and Medicare. They know how to fight and curbing or ending SS and Medicare is now well within reach. If they decide to strike while the iron is hot there is an excellent chance SS will soon be privatized and Medicare will be appropriated by the insurance industry. Watch for it.
All without a shot being fired.
18
Just last night CBS reported that the average family making 75,000 dollars a year would save $850 in taxes a year. That is 16.34 a week in savings . So what will that do to raise their standard of living?
Compare that to a wealthy person who saves $1 million per year, that’s $19,230 per week. Does anyone really think that will trickle down ? No,
It will only be trickling down to the next generation tax free. Where is the outrage. If this was happening in Europe, people would be out in the streets and shutting down their governments. Wake up people.
23
If Social Security and Medicare are cut, will they refund the money I contributed? (With interest, please.)
13
[Sen. Orrin Hatch] then went on to say, “I have a rough time wanting to spend billions and billions and trillions of dollars to help people who won’t help themselves, won’t lift a finger and expect the federal government to do everything.”
This is about the umpteenth-million time I've heard this trope from a right-wing ideologue. Did you ever wonder where this doctrine came from? Here's your answer:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/nov/09/usa.comment
This line says it all: "The enrichment of the elite and impoverishment of the lower classes requires a justifying ideology if it is to be sustained. In the US this ideology has to be a religious one. [The GOP-controlled Congress] is forced back to the doctrines of Puritanism as an historical necessity. If we are to understand what it's up to, we must look not to the 1930s, but to the 1630s."
The GOP seems to be stuck in the 17th Century on a lot of policy issues, with taxes and spending right at the top of the list. Nice people.
17
Thank you for the reference to the Guardian article. It certainly helps explain how we got where we are from a historical point of view.
If the oil slick from the Deepwater Horizon took human form, it would look something like Orrin Hatch.
19
Everyone should listen to Grassley’s response to the question regarding the estate tax. The link is in the article. The man is incoherent. I want to support a party that makes it unnecessary to read or care about Washington. Maybe it’s this new Booze, Women, and, Movies Party that has Grassley worried in Iowa.
4
Shift most of the country's money to the ultra rich.
Slash benefits from everyone else.
Stuff the Supreme Court and Federal courts with unqualified extreme right-wing hacks.
Hand over our resources to huge corporations.
Marginalize the fact-based objective media.
Control information.
Attack adversaries with false arguments and outright slurs.
Control districting to ensure opponents do not have a chance of unseating incumbents.
Use social media distortions to sway voters.
Say good-bye to America!
17
Don't forget Trump's attacks on education. What the tax plan does to graduate students is truly Machiavellian and very few people have even commented on it. Add that to what Betsy DeVos has done and will continue to do to the greatest public education system the world has ever seen. Here come the new Dark Ages.
Reagan cut taxes and we got 15 million jobs.
We also got a huge deficit.
Clinton raised taxes and balanced the budget and we got 21 million jobs.
Actually, because the deficits were so great, even Reagan increased taxes. He didn't increase the tax rate but closed loopholes to bring in more revenue. To avoid saying he increased taxes, Reagan called them revenue enhancers.
But it wasn't enough, he still had deficits and tripled the debt in 8 years.
Maybe if he had just closed the loopholes and not cut tax rates, he would have gotten more jobs created like Clinton.
11
Bill Clinton will be remembered as the last president of the USA in a time when we felt good about ourselves, good about being American. And yet in a narrow (questionable) defeat, Gore lost to Bush. Why? Because Gore was afraid of aligning with an admittedly morally flawed Clinton, and because enough leftists decided throwing their vote to a third party was a good idea. So then we were stuck with Bush, who brought us to the brink. Obama-- a nice guy, smart but callow fancied himself Lincoln when he should have channeled FDR. For a brief time, we had the opportunity to transform this country into one suited to the 21st century. But that moment passed, and now we have complete GOP control of our government, except in the populous and successful blue states. And what are the dems doing? Allowing Bill Clinton to be pilloried as a disastrous womanizer instead of a legacy we could build upon. Proving this: the democratic party has no power to unite and no skill at messaging.
A family making $59,000 annually would only have to save every penny and live to be 372 years old to have $22,000,000. This calculation does not take into consideration compound interest. Probably could knock off a few generations. How much do you think Mssrs. Grassley and Hatch will be able to leave their heirs after their long careers in public service? Shameful.
5
"We can go on down the list. The simple fact is that big spending on people who “won’t lift a finger” doesn’t actually happen in America"
If you want to understand why so many working class Americans support Republicans you don't need to look much further than a statement like this.
Every American who lives among the working class, knows many people, even probably have some in the family, who won't life a finger, who falsely claim disability, who don't work and who live off the system. This is just a fact that the upper-middle class bubbly is shielded from. Many working class-folks see the Democratic party as more interested in helping this class of people than in helping those who work. Imagine yourself slaving away day and night, with barely enough to get by, while neighbors spend the day getting high, living off disability, in and out of jail, and being a menace to you and your family. Are you going to be more concerned about these people or the estate tax.
Would it be so difficult for Democrats to talk about the importance of benefits for children, elderly, the legitimately disabled, while also stressing the importance of personal responsibility and acknowledging the reality of how many people currently abuse the system.
3
Why is it that even you dare not speak of the extravagant waste of the military industrial complex?
Also, if they cut social security and Medicare benefits, are they going to cut the amount taken out of my paycheck, or are they just going to spend the excess receipts on more guided missiles leaving just a pile of IOUs behind like they have for the past 4p years?
9
It seems to be part of the conservative, Republican mindset to continuously insult their fellow citizens. Not only our president, but also all the rest of the mean-spirited, uncaring Republican politicians.
It is beyond ridiculous to portray non-millionaires as "people who won't help themselves, won't lift a finger" and "spend every darn penny they have on booze or women or movies."
In my experience, these non-millionaires are overwhelmingly reliable, hard-working individuals who can't get good paying jobs because of the lack of labor market opportunities, or because they lack the necessary education.
Tax cuts for the greedy rich, but upcoming cuts in Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, health care, and certainly no increase in the $7.25 per hour minimum wage ($15,000 per year, if lucky enough to be working full-time).
We, as a country, have really lost all sense of proportion, fair-mindedness and any sense of community. No more "all for one and one for all'- rather, it has become "all for me, and none for you."
We truly need to clean house and show the Republicans the door.
13
Just about any pension plan in the world does not invest exclusively in sovereign debt.
The United States holds nearly $3 trillion in low yielding US Treasuries in the Old Age, Survivor's and Disability Insurance (OASDI), and the Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Funds.
Beginning in 2022, the projected OASDI costs will exceed revenues (presently about $1 trillion yearly) and begin to draw down the trust accounts. Reserves in the trust account are expected to be depleted in 2034.
The alternative to benefit cuts for seniors or tax hikes would be for the US to invest passively in stock indices funded by the low yielding US Treasuries held in the OASDI trust funds.
George Bush wanted to privatize Social Security, but made the mistake of passing the volatility inherent in equity investing to seniors. The public sensibly objected.
But the government has infinite capacity to repay USD denominated sovereign debt and no liquidity or funding risk that isn't self-imposed.
The government can and should absorb the volatility in risk assets, as over 3 decades they will outperform less risky assets by 400%.
Selling $3 trillion in long-term USD sovereign debt held in the OASDI trust would not increase the national debt, as it is already counted as such, and would be expected to be worth $12 trillion in 30 years based on a reasonable equity risk premium.
The government needs the sage advice of honest people like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to keep promises to seniors.
5
If anyone messes with my medicare, I will mess with the nearest GOP legislator physically. I am an old lady. I don't have any dependents other than a cat. I can still hurt a few people and would be glad to do so. Since I am an atheist, some people don't think I have morals or a conscience. Perhaps the time has come to prove these people correct. It will be satisfying. Every day that Trump is alive I wake up wanting to hurt someone.
1
The Republicans want to re-create a 19th century class and economic social order, in a 21st century technological world.
6
"We don't have the money". Sorry, Senator Hatch, but you do seem to have plenty of money to help the rich get richer.
7
"Booze or women or movies".
Look how Grassley sees women. Not as people, earners, workers, savers, or contributors to the economy. We're wasteful, sinful things that people (aka men) spend money on, right between booze and movies.
Revealing.
19
I am outraged about what the GOP is doing, but I am optimistic because they are making themselves less electable by the minute. I can hardly wait untilthe mid term elections.
5
Texas progressive, you are overly optimistic. If the confederate state of Alabama is destined to elect a pedophile into the senate because he is a republican, and unwilling to vote in a moderate and decent guy because he is a democrat--- there is no hope, none. You people in the south and the midwest will continue to destroy our country by your voting habits. That said, I must add this: if the democrats had the spine to have gotten every black person in AL registered and then to the polls next week, the correct candidate could win. But the democrats are paralyzed-- they would rather burn Al Franken at the stake for some naughty befaviour when he was part of an entertainment troop then do the dirty work of getting out the vote. As for the African American community in AL -- their leaders say "Doug Jones just isn't exciting enough to get our people to support him." The election (and our national heritage) is over-- on that basis alone.
1
I still remember my mother and mother in law. both of whom lived to very old age. They each bought a small amount of alcohol. My mother preferred a rose and my mother in law liked a "high ball" in the evening. They left a small legacy as a inheritance (they each owned a house free and clear).
So much for spending on booze and women. Oh, my mother did like to rent movies.
Our Republican legislators are, in fact, deplorable persons.
11
The GOP has been acting in bad faith for decades, and one can only hope the media wakes up and calls them out on it, instead of carrying water for them under the mantle of "false equivalency."
The GOP playbook is to cut funding for necessary programs, watch them stagger and stumble under the burden they impose, and then declare that the programs aren't working and need to be eliminated or replaced.
They are part of the problem. Voters need to wake up and oust the GOP from office, so America can start to work properly again. They've made an ungodly mess of the nation, and have mortgaged its future.
7
There's a class war, and we are losing.
10
If it has not been blatantly obvious before, it should be now that Republicans care not one whit about children, the poor, the Middle Class, nor the elderly. They are not corporate sponsors nor wealthy donors. They have been working for this moment in time for years, and they are about to reap the fruit of all the gerrymandering, race baiting, xenophobia, and misogyny they have indulged in to create a base who has put them and the likes of Trump in office. It is obvious the Republicans will use the huge deficit that will be created by this tax plan to slash all the social safety nets, while saber rattling at the same time, and rewarding the wealthiest amongst us on the backs of those less well off.
The election last year has cost this country its very soul. We are now in the twilight of this Republic, unless there are massive changes in the balance of Congress, which seems an impossible task, because we are such a divided nation now. We the people are now impotent, our voices are being silenced.
10
The tax policies of the Greed Over People party has been seen before....... while Coolidge was president, "the business of America is business". It took FDR to pull us out of that great depression, and sadly, a world war probably helped. But what followed was the greatest economic period in US history until, again, 2008 when greed had taken over.
Why the GOP wants to gut the lives of Americans who are below their presumed, recognizable "America" has astounded historians for decades. But they keep pulling out the old "trickle down" theories, now sadly bolstered by the divisive, uninformative conservative news media.
My husband and I will be retiring in a little over 3 years at our full Social Security retirement age. We'll be on Medicare in less than 2 years. We might still have something available for us. Our children will be left with nothing to plan for in retirement, nothing to support them when they get to be our ages.
Hillary was right, these legislators are deplorables. Their supporters are sadly ignorant.
13
But don't go peacefully. Be willing to cause as much hurt and harm as you can. You may be old, but you are also smart. You can make them very sorry they ever took you one. Call it the New American Revolution.
1
Why do these Republicans want to punish the American people for being children, elderly or disabled? The cruelty of their remarks is just remarkable. To Sen. Grassley: I don't see money wasted on booze, women or movies. I do see along our lakefront hundreds of sailboats and yachts each costing thousands of dollars. Is that money wasted? What about country club memberships? Wasted or not? And, who are you to judge what is wasteful. How about farm subsidies? Now there is money wasted.
8
I have co-workers who are sadly Republican, and during the months leading up to the election, many of them were furious with Hillary over her e-mails, and hopeful about Trump. So, I asked them what they think now... Sadly, many of them don't have an opinion because they don't follow boring, dry talk about tax reform. They like sexy and racy stuff like e-mails, Trump's decor of the White House, what Melania wore... I can't help but feel a little schadenfreude when this tax cut hits them hard, but at the same time discouraged because I know they will blame Democrats, immigrants, "the poor and lazy", etc. etc. etc... Sometimes, the party is a reflection of the base... I've given up on converting the "Republican Minions" - I just hope there is more voter turnout and the left does not get splintered like Obama vs. Hillary, or Bernie vs. Hillary. I've seen enough to know that elections are not a choice been two lesser evils - it's a choice between Republican Corporate Evils vs. raucous Democrats who are liberal, conservative, moderate, socialists, corporatists, etc.
9
Our political system has pretty much run its course. It has become corrupt. Both parties are to blame. Right now, the Republicans have taken the process to a new and extreme level. But don't think for a minute that the Democrats are blameless.
I was amazed that so many of my colleagues at work voted for Trump. Hillary Clinton was a terrible candidate and she still got millions more votes than Trump received. Bernie Sanders would have easily beaten Trump.
The Democratic Party threw all of its resources behind Hillary and that is what got her nominated over Bernie. They are not just as corrupt as the Republicans. But they are also corrupt.
If we lived in a parliamentary system like those of the United Kingdom or Germany, we would not have to wait until 2020. There would be a no confidence vote and a call for new elections.
Those of us who blindly think that our political system is the best the world has ever seen should take a fresh look at how this situation would play out in the parliamentary systems in the UK and Germany.
1
Animal Farm, by George Orwell, was required reading in the school I attended, and elicited long discussions on human decency and fairness.
The pigs found it to be inspirational, but not in the ways Orwell hoped.
3
“I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”
Which makes me remember Tug McGraw's statement that he would use his money on liquor and women and waste the rest of it.
1
let's just tax all income above $5million/year at 100% and be done with it.
7
Don't kid yourself. They have already notified us that next year my husband and I will have $133.00 each deducted from our Social Security payments. These deductions were based on last year's income tax. Last year we sold a small condo and we paid $24,000 in addition to our regular tax payment. Can you seen the logic in this? Weren't our Social Security checks based on what we had earned during our working years? This is being done while they are cutting President Trump"s taxes.
9
As a woman alone in my mid=70's and living on just a small Social Security check, I'm terrified at what just happened.
But I'm also very angry. This is way beyond the pale. There seems to be no ignominy to which the Republicans will not stoop now.
Let the protests begin. And continue. Until we run them out of D.C. And if the Democrats want to give us Republican "lite' then let's run them out too. Enough is enough. We're being used and we're not more than fodder for the plutocratic class. How DARE the Republicans think they can strip out even the tiny bit of old age security we have and give it to their donors.
Time to get those pitchforks out.
17
Frankly, the Republican party has contempt for the middle class and working poor. Their contempt is disguised by appealing to racism and fear mongering. Middle class Republicans either embrace or don't recognize the manipulation.
4
When their chickens come home to roost the Rs will get clobbered at the polls, and they must know it. I say the handwriting is on the wall. Our owners aren't planning to have many more elections.
6
Trump seems to me to making a number of decisions hastily here, like maybe he thinks the end is near and he is trying to accomplish as many of his campaign promises as possible.
The irony here is that consumer purchases make up ~ two thirds of our GDP. With so much consumer purchasing power being pinched already, let alone squeezed further as benefits evaporate, economic decline isn't far behind. This is a very dangerous time. It remains to be seen whether we have already passed the point of no return.
9
W. Bush did a tax repatriation in 2004.
Companies used the money for stock buybacks.
The only wage increases were for the CEOs.
It did not create jobs. In fact, from the companies that took brought money back 20,000 jobs were cut.
8
The Republican Party is completely unfit to govern anything, yet it is in charge in the US. Hatch and Grassley's comments get right to the heart of what is driving their ideology - a belief in a mythical US where, somehow, if people are financially unsuccessful then it is entirely their fault. Apparently, that applies even to babies and the disabled. This myth is as irrational as the GOP's refusal to accept the reality of climate change. But it is fitting that what destroys the US is the same ideological rigidity and tribalism that has defined it for so long.
5
Old, white, rich men in suits. That is what is wrong with the Republican congress. The common people have no way to be a member of congress. They have to spend it on "booze, women and movies (?)." We need a means to make the congress more representative of our nation (hair dresser, mechanic, nurse, salesperson, waiter/waitress, teacher, etc). We have lost our voice in government. We need to overhaul our government. Maybe what is more amazing is that we are letting them getting away with dismantling our safety net.
3
The Republicans perverted their ideologies to stick more money into the coffers of corporations and other large donors, at the expense of the poor, the indigent, the elderly, and the children who are unable to fend for themselves.
They have made it clear that their lust for power and their greed are the only ideologies that matter to them.
2
I still have a ways to go before I hit 65. Given that the tax cuts the Republicans just passed are absolutely, unequivocally a bullet aimed right at killing Social Security and Medicare, I want a full refund of the 25 years I've paid into these programs so I can add it to my 401K!
6
Julie, you are the poster child for who should be the most angry about this proposed destruction of the two programs (besides public schools) that help almost all American people-- SS and medicare. My suspicion is that they will do minor tweaks to the program for people over 60-- after all, WE vote. And as seen in the last election, the 60+ age group in the midwest and the confederacy is surely among the most selfish people this nation has ever been stuck with. To further disguise their intentions, the GOP will postpone
the hits until after Nov 2018. And in a showing of true idiocy, the democratic party will NOT seize the demographic strength of big blue states and demand that the # of house seats be raised from the faux ceiling of 435-- insuring that "taxation without representation" continues unabated. Nor will they address the disastrous electoral college. Someone who has worked 25 years, like you, is in your 40s. Look out-- you and those younger than you-- will be sucker punched. I am sorry that it turned out this way, that's all I can say.
Don't these elites understand that it's in their interest to have a thriving middle class? The economic elite has been doing great while everyone else has struggled; they don't need any more money. What they need is a stable country so they can keep raking it in. Don't they understand that they're setting us up for a huge social clash (it's already begun) that could kill the goose that laid the golden egg?
4
The Republican agenda for the past 37 years has been to establish and entrench a hereditary aristocracy of white males that controls the US political and economic levers of power so they can pour the benefits of American ingenuity and hard work into their own pockets in perpetuity. All their catch phrase statements of principles, Compassionate Conservatism, Deficit Reduction, Religious Freedom, are simply gratuitous fig leaves to cover their egregious greed. Like Osama bin Laden who rejoiced at the success beyond his greatest hopes when the World Trade towers collapsed, Vladimir Putin must now be rejoicing at the overwhelming success of his campaign to mortally wound the American experiment in democracy. It will take years, if not decades, for the destructive consequences of this ill-conceived tax heist to take root. By the time working and middle class Americans understand what is being done the them this month, it may be too late to recover, and the perpetrators will be long gone.
5
Al Gore has another inconvenient truth, his vote to Keep Apple Computers stash of cash away from the US TAXMAN. Apple operates on cheap debt in the United States and pays no taxes. With Dem friends like Al Gore and Apple computer who needs enemy's?
Obama's administration transferred 9 trillion from the poor and working class to the Oligarchs is it any wonder they want more, more, more?
Al Gore hasn't been in the government since his term as vice-president ended in 2001. In those eight years, can you point me to the tie-breaking vote that led to Apple's stockpile? You are trying to pin policy on someone who hasn't had a vote in DECADES.
I'm not going to defend the Obama administration, but it did not pass this horrible tax bill. Why are you focusing on past people and administrations that have no power?
So the republicans are coming for our benefits. Some of us have known that fact for decades. Look at the photo accompanying this article. All congratulating each other. They can barely contain their giddy delight at the thought of sticking it to the "little people." You remember the "little people" referred to by Leona Hemsley (the only ones who pay taxes)? Some day there will be a reckoning.
5
The prevalent dishonesty Congress in on par with the President. Trump is trying to kill all things Obama, and since the demise of the Repeal and Replace effort, is going in the back door by (1) blocking funding for advisors to help people sign up and locations (2) blocking financing for subsidies (tho I think he failed on that one.
The GOP is taking more and more pages from Trump's playbook. They can't totally convince everyone that the Tax BIll is good for the middle class (never mind sneaking in an attempt to further cripple the ACA by killing the mandate). Apparently to craft the bill and have it conform to rules, the plan has to fall within certain restraints as to financial obligations. Sooooo, instead of just reducing the corporate tax a reasonable amount instead of by 50%, add permanent breaks for the uber-wealthy who are doing very well without it, and dress up the tax cut for the middle class by phasing it out in 5 years (not to mention the immediate upside would be wiped out by an immediate increase in insurance premiums), they are creating a debt monster. Tho they supposedly are the party who fainted at the increase in debt under Obama, they now want the numbers to explode so that they can go after Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security (never, NEVER, touch pork or the Pentagon). And this will happen when a Democrat president/Congress is more likely in power to that the public blame will not land on them.
Yet even the most cynical among us are startled both by how quickly the bait-and-switch is proceeding and by the contempt Republicans are showing for the public’s intelligence.
The people who voted for Trump and the Republican's, including Susan Collins, deserve their contempt!
9
The Republican strategy in the ongoing Civil War has been glaringly apparent. The war never ended and is still just brewing under the guise of political power. They played it well. The Republicans threw trillions at the Military to win their unwavering loyalty, supported arming the nation and fought all attempts at controlling weapons in the public, predominantly favored by the tough Republican party followers, then declared the Republican Revolution in 1994 which grew on the minds of millions as a serious challenge to prepare to fight. It gave rise to radical right wing militias and media outlets that further stoked the flames of hatred. The Republicans learned how to fight the Civil War without be touched by law or violence in the Halls and wells of Congress as their new weapon is changing the law to effect the deaths of their opposition. Cutting social safety nets is just that. It will kill millions without weapons, denying them food and health care and the funds to obtain both. The Republicans learned how Hatred and Anger makes people follow them enraged instead of thoughtfully. All this time, the clueless Democrats have been complacent and shocked at the brutality of Republicans while remaining shell-shocked and incapable of mustering strength to rally their followers. People will die without money, food, and health care and they know it well. Are they really Christians if instead of following the lessons of Jesus they believe that the fittest survive?
2
It seems to me that for a long time the "great American Experiment" has been a question of how far you can push people until they take up arms and rebel. Middle class wages have been stagnant since the 70's, and paths to a better life such as college are becoming inaccessible. Armed rebellion has happened in other countries, and once upon a time, it happened here. So, as the vast majority of us keep doing worse, the issue becomes when do our circumstances become so bad that we take up arms against the people who harm us? No one knows for sure, but this looks like another step in that direction.
3
Dust off the scare tactics used time and again - the GOP will take away your Social Security - take away your Medicare, etc. it’s not even an election year
If these expensive government programs that are riddled with waste, overpaying many, were run better, the GOP wouldn’t have any problem. But we know they are abused like food relief, housing allowances and other support service for the truly needy.
Same for immigration but they are painted as ogres against all immigrants.
Isn’t Roy Moore a proxy for Republican attitudes toward the less powerful, the poorer, the vulnerable young? The difference between him and Chuck Grassley is the Roy denies he did it.
1
I have read both the superb articles by Dr. Krugman as well as any number of well thought out comments from NYT readers and I could cry out of frustration.
Most of the population does not read anything! NYT readership is unique in that regard. People listen to the talking points coming from their favorite party and believe it because it is from their favorite party. Anything from the "other" party is fake news. Nevermind the idea of reading informed articles by true experts who cite facts and published data, e.g. Nobel Prize winner Krugman. Or to review their own party talking points in light of the informed articles and then straightening out the differences. It doesn't happen!
What has an effect? When medicaid funding is decreased so that a large number of rural local hospitals actually close, when Social Security checks start to decrease, when Medicare starts to decrease. That is the only driver and then only for the swing voters. Hard core Republicans would find a way to blame Democrats anyway.
1
The US taxpayers are getting exactly what they voted for and deserve. Don't act surprised as Mr. Ryan detailed this very plan in a glossy booklet after gaining the house leadership. Stop whining and vote them out of office, or accept higher taxes as the pricetag for overturning Roe, more guns, fewer public lands, restricting gay marriage, and other issue that many Americans believe to be important to saving our republic.
1
Contempt of Congress is a badge of honor. We should all have one.
2
At least Marie Antoinette had the decency to say "let them eat cake" about the population. With our republican government, not even that we can aspire to have.
1
Krugman does not even begin to list the inequities built into this bill. Whatever happened to the carried interest loophole. Trump kept shouting about hedge fund people getting away with murder, and then dropped the subject. Among the really mean-spirited provisions are those aimed at young people struggling with the astronomical cost of post secondary education. No more deducting the interest on student loans and while we’re about it, hey, lets tax the tuition breaks that graduate students get for being TAs— in effect taxing them on money they don’t even make. Given the mountain of student debt slowing down the US economy, this is a prime example of shooting yourself in the foot. Maybe it won’t reverberate in West Virginia, but there are going to be a lot of unhappy young people out there.
3
Hopefully those Trump (and GOP) voters will be shocked into their senses when their health care goes away. Cutting Medicaid and Medicare will seriously impact our economic system as that sector has been driving a rising GDP. In my state most of the new commercial construction is health care related: clinics, hospitals, specialty surgical centers, and assisted living homes. Plus, rarely mentioned, is that Medicare and Social Security are revenue streams for the federal budget. Will they be cutting those taxes as benefits are cut?
How can Hatch and Grassley be so cynical? This shaming and blaming meme is rife on the Internet as well. People have "drunk the Kook-Aid." When will reality break through? Maybe this tax bill will be the GOP's Jonestown, but someone besides Professor Krugman must hold their feet to the fire they have ignited.