Trump Tax. The first tax law change in the history of our once proud country that is intended to primarily benefit the wealthy and the extremely wealthy,
With a few crumbs thrown to the rest of the taxpayers for those of voters too dumb to understand what as been done.
And the cost to be borne by our children and grandchildren.
19
Chuck, nice try. I must admit that I had to double check the name on the article b/c for the first time in six months you didn’t mention race but then you went on to pretend to be a economist, kind of like Krugman. It’s pure comedy watching the Dems explaining how this tax bill is being funded “on the backs of the middle class and poor”, who, if they have a job, will see nothing but a tax benefit. Lastly, if this stuff drives you over the edge, wait until next November when voters once again demonstrate they prefer MAGA over whatever is called a Democrat talking point.
2
This will not be a "merry Christmas" for the middle class and poor. Looks like the middle class got coal in their stockings from the Scrooge GOP and the 1% are lining their pockets. I certainly hope this Bill will come to haunt them in 2018 and every Congressman that voted for this Bill will be kicked out. Hopefully, Trump, the biggest con will be in impeached and in jail.
11
Sure "throwing crumbs to the masses as the millionaires and billionaires make off with the cake." While AT&T and four other corporations have announced investment, and bonus to hundreds of thousands of employees. This tax plan was also touted as a middle class and corporate tax plan. Let's see how people will accept it after April 2018. This is not the ACA in which Obama, and Nancy Pelosi have promised a lower cost health care. To whom? to Medicaid. But not for people like me earning $40k-$60k, Enough with the sheer propaganda.
1
Perhaps one cheery though for the holidays is that since this doesn't take effect until 2019, if the congress changes hands next november a democratic congress could just vote this null and void and over-ride any unpresidential veto. Or is that just wishful thinking? THis has got to be the nost self-serving legislative body in the world--IN THE WORLD. Even Mugabe wasn't this bad.
12
Secret GOP message to Sen. Corker: Heads up, we'll be adding a sweetener to the tax bill in your interest. Better announce your change of vote ahead of our announcement.
6
respectable growth will plug deficit hole, i think.
3
Repeal and Replace the Billionaire Tax Break.
11
For those who think there is no substantive difference between Republicans and Democrats, what do you suggest we can do to make our government represent the majority of people again?
The idea of a violent revolution is crazy. The federal and state governments are far better protected, despite the 300 million guns out there. A popular uprising would be no match for "a well regulated militia."
Most of us can't afford to jump ship to another country. Existing third parties can't raise enough money for television ads and are seen as the fringe by most voters.
So what's your realistic proposal?
3
The expected hit to the national debt is expected to be over 1 trillion.
This is what happens when you have so many Republicans in power, in the Congress, the WH, and the majority of state governors and state assemblies. Our country is in serious need of seeing this party cut down to size. The 2018 Election waits; the American people will take that opportunity to reduce the GOP party stranglehold on power in the U.S.
8
How is this tax bill not illegal?
I really do fear that this tax bill is the beginning of the end for our great country. History is full of examples of great societies that were destroyed from within, and it seems only a matter of time now until ours is added to the list.
At some point, the percentage of people that are unemployed, poor, unhealthy, bitter, angry, and hopeless, will reach a level that is impossible to ignore, and the impact they have on our society will be impossible to overcome. Automation will make the unemployment problems in 2008-2010 seem like an economic boom, and the eventual loss of social security and the reduction in medicare services will leave the unemployed with literally nothing. This isn't some crazy dire prediction of what could happen in 50-100 years, this is the actual path we're on right now in less than 20 years.
Of course the stock market will be at all-time highs, and there will be thousands of very, very rich families that directly employ hundreds to serve their every need. They'll have well armed private security to protect their compounds, private teachers, private shopping malls, private schools, private police services, etc.
Everyone else will have to scrape just to get by.
What then?
8
He’s “drained the swamp” of indigenous gators and repopulated it with creatures from the black lagoon.
12
When gleeful debasement equals the common man (the backs upon which the country was built) I don't see much hope. It does not take long to tear things down, does it?
7
What were they celebrating at that high school pep rally on the White House steps?
Having received no votes from democrats, the republicans were merely celebrating the fact that they managed to barely get enough of their own to support the bill.
Any new policy affecting so many people so profoundly should need 60% or more approval for passage, not to mention similar constituent support.
15
What would Robin Hood or Jesus have to say today about Trump and this GOP?
12
Well, Charles, as is almost always the case, I'm with you, but you understate the situation (as if this were actually possible).
I personally have been very underwhelmed by the responses of the democratics and their leadership, who have done almost nothing - nothing - and why may we suppose that that is?
I think its because the corporate Tony Cuehlo/DLC/Clintonista/corporate Dems who infest the halls of Congress are beholden to rich in the same way that the Republican party (but these are no republicans - are they?) is, and they have to be careful not to rankle their benefactors in the exact same way that the Republicans have to.
This speaks to the need to replace a whole lot of Dems. I will certainly be working and looking to see that this happens in 2018.
1
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
~Franklin Delano Roosevelt
14
All true but dispiriting. Republicans in Congress and the tea party members totally threw out their concerns with the deficit. Wall Street decidedly won over Main Street.
When everything is lies, and about 30% of the population continuously professes to believe the lies, how does truth win? Fox, Breitbart and other propaganda from the Kochs, Mercers, Russians et al. seem to control the brain patterns of the Trump supporters. Their tin foil hats block actual facts from reaching them.
Young people, women, and minorities as well as educated and sensible people need to present a united opposition to Trump theft.
The United States is now a kleptocracy. Republicans totally betrayed their constituents. It isn't just Trump. Watching their sycophancy and hearing their gushing praise of Trump made it seem like Republican senators and congressmen and Pence have had their brains removed. Maybe there really are lizard people in positions of power?
A friend once described the Thai royal language to me. It contains an entire way of speaking to royalty. She had to learn it at one point, and it has phrases like referring to yourself as a worm crawling in the dust before the king (as well as words about the royal ear, etc.)
Trump seems to want this. He is crazy, and the GOP has gone insane with greed and power.
9
This tax bill is a most effective democratic institutional dismantling tool. We cannot recover from the eventual massive expansion of the national debt and continued stagnation of American worker wages and tax incentivized flight of industrial innovation to other countries such as China (TPP). The current government is succeeding where our worst enemy would have failed. Where is the opposition party??
10
COAL FOR ALL THE CHILDREN"S STOCKINGS:
Trump is happy to put COAL in all the children's stockings. They will be paying for this gift to the wealthy for the rest of their lives. The tax cuts to the wealthy are being funded by the equivalent of EVERY HOUSEHOLD IN AMERICA borrowing $100 every month for TEN YEARS to give to the wealthy.
Many people will be anesthetized by a small increase or decrease in their personal taxes, and believe the GOP lies while the wealthy steal $12,000 each of from them
9
The Tax Heist Formula: The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class pays the bill!
5
Maria Antoinette said let them eat cake so too the GOP I hear you
7
Only if the cake is day-old and stale...
1
Republicans are now sinning in haste; they will soon have the luxury of repenting at their leisure
4
this "success" will come back in spades. their celebration is like the slaves in egypt celebrating getting the contract to build the pyramids. there is nothing to celebrate. full stop.
4
The corporate tax cut is 8 years overdue. We have lost jobs that will not return. Lowering the individual tax rate during an expansion is economic idiocy, just as pres. obama's proposal to raise it during a crushing recession was idiocy.
2
Tax cuts (for everyone except the poor) make me puke at the best of the times, and this one is worse than any of them. Please, someone, raise my taxes! Paying taxes is the single most patriotic thing any of us can ever do, with the money to be used for great roads and infrastructure, scientific research, help for the poor (especially for poor children, thus reducing down the road the number of crimes, health problems, all kinds of social problems), fantastic schools in every town in the country, with well-paid teachers full of top graduates (instead of graduates from the bottom of college classes, as is currently the case), inspiring social and/or scientific initiatives such as those of decades past (remember NASA? American space exploration?), and so on and so forth. Cutting my taxes makes zero impact on my life--except that maybe I can afford a few more dinners out, or maybe a weekly cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts. How nice. But raising my taxes--and everyone else's--will bring huge benefits over time, including to me. Are we a nation of chiseling cheapskates, all out for a few more wretched cents for ourselves (because that's what tax cuts mean for anyone except the rich), or are we a nation of patriots?
10
The more days go by, the more it is clear that, as Mr. Blow observes, Donald Trump's great motivation is to plunder. He is all about money. How can he become richer than all those people who are richer than he is now? By plundering the American economy. If Vladimir Putin can become as rich as he is by plundering the much smaller economy of Russia, how rich can Donald Trump become if he can plunder ours? All he needs to do is to turn America into the banana republic that he seems to be bent on making us. If he can undermine the press, the courts, our elections, and the rule of law, we are the banana republic he wants us to be. Then he can plunder away!
9
Charles and his brood are always championing social benefits that use OTHER PEOPLE'S money. It is not Charles and his crowd that will be paying for the benefits he advocates. But isn't that always the case? The ones who want the government to pay more are the ones on the receiving end, or the wealthy left liberals who are so wealthy that they won't even feel a tax increase. Charles, how about we move toward a society where people are self sufficient, rather than one that seeks to legislate America the Mediocre. Has it not been special people who have innovated and come up with things that raise all of our boats. Should we now take away their incentive through crushing taxation that casts a cloud over the ambition of all of us.
4
There is no such thing as "a society where people are self-sufficient." That is an oxymoron. Some special people have innovated and come up with things that raise our boats but they don't include Wall Street money-changers or a new generation of entirely untaxed trustifarians and they are the overwhelming majority of the beneficiaries here. Of course, you sign off from NYC where so many of those "deserving" carry-traders investment account skimmers hang their hats.
3
Civil disobedience and voting for new corrupted politicians is not going to work. In history, we have learned, unfortunately, that violence is the only thing that the entitled fear and understand. Humanity never, ever learns from their past mistakes. It never ends.
3
Remember when Republicans fought the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act because they thought it was irresponsible to drive up the debt in order to reduce unemployment and repair critical infrastructure? Seems like they found a more worthy cause that justifies more debt...enriching themselves! What a bunch of louts.
13
Just more liberal propaganda. I concede that the GOP did something similar when Obamacare passed. But it's getting to the point where no one from one political party can ever support the efforts of the other. Since we're a nation nearly equally divided, the result appears to be a never ending oscillation between the priorities of one extreme and another with no compromise in sight.
Read some of Blow's words - "throwing crumbs to the masses as the millionaires and billionaires make off with the cake." First, that's untrue. Even the liberal CBPP found that the tax cuts as a percent of each group's income are nearly the same. To be clear, if someone earning $20,000 gets 1% back, that's $200. If someone earning $1m gets 1% back, that's $10,000. If those are the only two people, then certainly the rich person gets 98% of the total tax cut - but only because he pays (by far) the most in taxes. But in each case, the tax benefit is proportional. Also, most people who earn $20,000 will be thankful for that $200 - not envious of someone else.
The core of this bill is to bringing US corporate tax rates in line with the world. Companies have free will. When you tax them too heavily, companies move overseas - as did Medtronics, Eaton and Pfizer. Shouldn't we be competitive ? As far as the "spurious argument that giving truckloads of money back to businesses will spark their benevolence", AT&T and Wells Fargo just gave bonuses to all their employees due to the tax cut.
5
It is not liberal propaganda. The tax cut was aimed at the ultra-wealthy with crumbs spread out for the middle and lower classes. The middle class is being taxed to pay for corporate rate cuts even though corporations rarely pay the full rate under the existing system. And the benevolent checks from AT&T and Wells Fargo? Both are trying to curry favor with Trump. We are on our way to a Putinesque country with corporations being enlisted to pay workers to support unpopular government policies. And low rates? I don't want to engage in a race to the bottom that will strip countries of the revenue they need to function. This is a bad tax plan.
8
Princeton you forget the change to the chained Consumer Price Index which is the sweetest piece of the pie ever, the gift that keeps on giving if you will, and one that is anticipated to be use on reducing "entitlements" like Social Security and Medicare. AT&T just got a boost with a net neutrality ruling and Wells Fargo was spared more fines following its public relations nightmare. These are both customer owned bonuses so how does a tax increase not yet realized even compute. No one spends refund not yet realized much least before it was voted on.
2
Corporations has a fiduciary responsibility to deliver value to shareholders. In the absence of a collective bargaining agreement, they have no similar obligation toward workers, especially now that the labor movement is moribund. "Job creation" is a myth; worse, it is a lie. Nothing in the tax law changes this cruel calculus, wherein wealth flows to those who hire the fewest workers to do the most work for the least pay. What kept the GOP from raising the minimum wage in the course of further fattening the bulging corporate purses? You know the answer.
6
There's a deep, festering rage in the Republican base. It's been supporting the election of Republicans to Congress for years. Trump rode it to the Presidency. It's based on a resentment of change and all that is modern. A nation that turned its back on their towns and their values. Information based businesses that create wealth in ways they neither understand, nor value. Loss of prestige, loss of hope for the future. They're older, emotionally exhausted and wish things would be as they once were - but deep down, they know their towns and lives won't be restored.
Republicans were always good at preaching traditional American values. For many of their followers this is all they feel they have left. Their honor. Shameless, greedy Republican leadership has used these good people, that are so emotionally invested that they'll never admit being fooled. They will go along with this gift of grift - they'll endure it with honor, as long as it hurts all that is modern and feeds that burning resentment.
10
Wondering what will the rich do with the extra money they are getting? Put it on a bank and admire? or perhaps buy a jet? or buy stuff or invest stuff. In all cases except the first, its a s trickle down economy except when they invest in new ventures or expansion. While I understand trickle down is not an effective economy, and it would be same as cutting taxes for everyone. If Bill Gates were to share his money with everyone on earth, we would get about $5-6 each, not enough to stimulate the economy. On the other extreme, if the rich hoard money and do nothing with it, its the same situation. The question now is how many of the riches are malevolent (hoard money or use it for nefarious purposes) vs how many are passionate about creating and building things? The outcome most likely depends on that. If the excess money goes back into creating warring situation, then everyone is a loser.
2
There is a something new on (white) conservative Christian alters this Christmas season, next to the nativity and the evergreen boughs: a portrait of Donald Trump. Conservative Christianity is the state church of the Trump Republicans. There is no place left on the alter for "What would Jesus do?" These conservative Christians are the "What would King Herod do?" Donald Trump Christians, who love children even less than they love women.
4
It is not just a heist of the fisc but it may be a heist of our free market as well. Companies such as AT&T, Boeing, and Well Fargo have announced $1,000 payouts to employees in consideration of the tax cut. While seemingly noble, they are all obviously currying favor with Trump: AT&T (wants approval for a merger), Boeing (is a defense contractor), and Wells Fargo (regulated by government). Whether coordinated with the White House or not, this is the first time corporate America has "paid" employees to support government policies. Will other corporations feel the same pressure? Will people lose confidence in the market if they feel corporations will misuse their investments to support the government? There is something ominous about this.
3
The most reliable estimates show that Trump already pays $0 taxes. After his lawyers get done with this bill, the Treasury will probably be paying him, and using the tax dollars of everyone who has to actually work for a living to do so.
7
We are being forced into a more hierarchical, caste-like society with a strata of "untouchables". Part of the privileges and rights of belonging to the upper castes is to remain unmoved by the daily challenges of the struggling. The tax heist moves us further in this direction and provides the wealthy justification for ignoring the disenfranchised.
4
You must have a short memory because there were no issues with tax cut induced deficit increases in the early 2000's. Back then Bush started his campaign arguiing for tax cuts when there was a surplus to give the money back to the people. When the economy slowed during the campaign the message changed to tax cuts to stimulate the economy.
2
"Republicans in Congress rushed the bill through for other reasons: to combat the fact of their own legislative incompetence, to satisfy their donors and to honor their long-held belief that the rich are America’s true governing force."
There is an even deeper and more diabolical part of the Republican philosophy and both Senator Hatch and Senator Grassley spoke to it publicly during the tax bill process. They truly believe that if a person is wealthy, the person deserves it and earned it, but if a person is poor the person deserves it and earned it. I thought that type of facile thinking went out with the feudal system.
5
In the pantheon of verbal stupidities, "deplorables"
has been eclipsed by Ryan's "exquisite leadership."
2
I love the photo of all of "The Fool(s) on the Hill."
(With apologies to The Beatles.)
2
First item on the Democratic agenda must be: repeal and replace Trump tax "reform".
3
The problem is that Lincoln was right. It turns out that you really can fool some of the people all of the time. That means that it's up to the rest of us.
It's been a long time since I've thrown a tear gas canister back at the cops (Vietnam era), but I'm warming my arm up now. See you in the streets.
5
perhaps "drain the swamp" is even more appropriate now.......and could be the battle cry of Dems going into the mid-term elections. Since Trump has taken office the "swamp" has gotten deeper and more putrid than ever.
1
@aes sidhe: "How is keeping MY money that I work for a heist?"
You poor dear. I guess the thousands of articles appearing in The New York Times, The Washington Post and other purveyors of real news, explaining step-by-step exactly how this Republican scam works, were just too difficult for you to understand.
Let me put this as simply as I can. Assuming you're not in the top 0.1%, you may see a teeny weeny increase in your paycheck in 2018, the purpose of which is to make you think this tax heist is actually intended to help you so you'll continue to vote Republican in the 2018 mid-term election. But after that election, your teeny weeny increase is going to disappear -- poof! -- because the tax "cuts" for us ordinary mortals aren't permanent. The only entities that get permanent tax cuts are corporations, hedge fund managers, real estate moguls like Trump, and their ilk.
Oh, and if you rely on Obamacare? Your premiums are going to go up because the tax heist bill changes Obamacare by no longer requiring everybody to have health insurance. That means, for the most part, that only sick people will purchase health insurance. When only sick people purchase insurance, insurers have to pay out more money in claims. That means they have to charge more to all their insured members to cover those costs.
If you're still confused, please let me know.
5
Trump is threatening war against North Korea while continuing the never-ending war in Afghanistan. He wants to move the US embassy to Jerusalem which would cost billions due to the safety features a new embassy in the Middle East would need. He promised to fix the infrastructure in the US (although he seems to have forgotten about this.) My question is, with all the tax breaks to corporations and to the rich, who pays for Trump's wars, and Trump's new embassy, and Trump's (maybe) infrastructure?
10
"My question is, with all the tax breaks to corporations and to the rich, who pays for Trump's wars, and Trump's new embassy, and Trump's (maybe) infrastructure?"
The ending of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security pay for all these things. And eventually they will tax us more. Not the rich...just the rest of us.
5
Vlad Putin will be tickled pink when the US fiasco in Afghanistan leads to its crackup.
1
Republicans are allowing taxpayers to keep more of their hard earned money. How is that a "heist"? A heist occurs when Democrats expropriate money from Americans who earn income through hard work and ingenuity in order to waste it on medicaid, welfare and food stamps for those that do not earn income.
3
Republicans finally got the (patsy) president willing to do what no other president with an actual conscience and comprehension of what the changes in the tax code were or what they would mean to working Americans would do. Trump is gleeful that it overturns the AMT that caused him to spend anything on taxes; all but ends the estate tax; gives BIG benefits to real estate developers like him. Essentially it overturns the progressive tax code (the mechanism that makes an American Dream possible) with a regressive one: the less you make, the greater burden you have. The reason that the top 1% pay 43% of all taxes is because the top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 90% of all Americans; just 1% own 50% of the entire world’s wealth; a CEO now makes 400 times what his average worker makes, or in one year, more than four families will earn in 20 years of labor. And paying 30% of $10 million a year income still leaves $7 million, while 10% for a family of four that is barely getting by on $55K (the average in the US), leaves only $50K live on. And the nominal reduction in taxes that working people will get from the Republican Tax Plan will be more than offset by the payroll tax (which the wealthiest don’t pay above the first $127,000) and increases in health care premiums, and, for residents of New York, New Jersey, California, being double-taxed on the amount they earn that is spent on state, local and property taxes. In turn, that will force localities to cut back on services.
5
"the spurious argument that giving truckloads of money back to businesses will spark their benevolence"
The argument is not just spurious. It is BOGUS in capital letters, because the Republicans never even believed their own argument for a moment. (If they believed it, they would build in a requirement for that money to trickel down. But they never did that, did they?
12
Used to be the oligarchs let people use up their hard-earned money over 20 years or so. Now they've gotten greedy; they want it over the next 5-10 years and then you can die.
8
Yes, and what a shameful display of republicans sycophant it was, praising dear leader for his exquisite leadership by all the people who were insulted by him...nauseous display of greed, just unspeakable. Yikes!
17
Everyone did not get a 10% reduction on their bill. Corporations and businesses got up to a 50% reduction and individuals got little or no reduction.
9
The bad news is that Republicans politicians have legally arranged to let their pals (and themselves) pay less in taxes and to let everyone else pay more.
The good news is that they did that so nakedly, so shamelessly, that we all saw what they we're doing.
The best news is that we now know how to treat them. As badly as possible. But legally, of course.
11
Curiously…those who are now suddenly concerned that the new tax bill will only worsen our NATIONAL DEBT were conspicuously silent on this issue when it came to unbridled tax-and-spend government programs, self-perpetuating social welfare programs (with little or no real incentive to achieve BEYOND one's current plight), "sanctuary cites" (in violation of Federal law) and a move toward a more economically responsible, LEGAL immigration policy based on merit which also enhances our National Security, rather than our woefully shortsighted system of "chain migration", etc. And all this while at the same time imposing a confiscatory corporate tax rate and prohibitive regulatory restraints on the creation of REAL JOBS in the private sector of our economy...OUCH!!!
Furthermore, the current increase in strategic defense spending, border control and national security has been long overdue. Like it or not, the U.S. is THE de facto leader of the free world, and the people of this country and those of our allies look to us to lead the way in times of global crisis, instead of “leading from the rear”, e.g., North Korea, the Middle East, Russia, China, the ongoing threat of radical Islamic/ISIS terrorism, etc.
So, there's a lot more involved than simply the increase in "national debt", as some people would like to believe. It's the incorrigible and myopic mentality that some people have!
3
Van, you may have some talent at the piano, but your analysis of the current state of affairs is woefully inaccurate. Corporations are awash in cash, and can borrow at nearly negative interest rates, so giving them additional cash will not expand the US economy, and the money will likely go into stock buybacks (a lsignificant % owned by foreigners). Next, there was, and is, a functioning legal immigration system in the US; while it should be amended to recognize some unnecessary barriers to citizenship, it is not related in any way to what we might do to people who have come hear illegally (you may recall that the last Republican president promoted a bill to resolve this, but his own party's House Speaker refused to bring it to a vote, knowing it would PASS!). Lastly, there is no overdue need to increase expenditures on "defense" beyond the nearly TRILLION that we spend every year (including "homeland security"). Talk about incorrigible and myopic....turn off your Fox feed for a week.
5
Sir:
Am not sure which column you were reading or comments to which you were responding. Mr. Blow's column was about the extent to which the benefits from the tax bill would be enjoyed primarily by wealthier individuals and corporations. And the demonstrably false "Laffer curve"-derived economic theories on which the cuts were based. And the unseemly degree to which personal enrichment appears to have motivated the bill's drafters and individual senators (and most likely Trump, as well).
Your litany of empty slogans does little to answer or rebut any of the legitimate criticisms aimed at this bill. Moreover, you mention what you consider the hypocrisy of Dems/moderates who you claim are only now concerned about the size of the growing national debt. Actually, the real "worriers" appear to be the Repubs -- who now claim that after giving away so much money to rich people, there's "no money" for children's health programs.
So, any thoughts on fact-based reality?
3
Sorry to tell you this but tax cuts for the rich and big business don't create jobs they never have and never will. All you have to do is look at the Bush tax cuts which did nothing or look at Kansas which is drowning in a sea of red ink to realize that. Some working people will get a short term tax cut which will go away after a couple of years meanwhile the 1% get to keep there forever under this scam. And then there is the big lie Republicans love to tell how American business pay the highest taxes in the world they don't. American business pay far less than other developed nations they pay 26% of our Gross Domestic Product the average is 34% with the highest being about 47% 32 countries pay more. American citizen on the other hand pay far more in property taxes than other nation it seems the ones paying the highest taxes are not the rich it's us and this bill does nothing to help us since what will happen is that state and local taxes will have to go up to help pay for the loss of revenue from this tax scam. Then the GOP will use the increase in the deficit as a excuse to gut Medicare/Medicaid/SS which will harm millions of us as we age.
2
So...the mainstream media pounds out the drumbeat for weeks that this tax plan will enrich big corporations and the wealthy, then they poll those same folks about what they think about the tax plan and...SURPRISE...they thiink it will enrich big corporations and the wealthy. Seems about right.
8
Everything in this piece is true. However, I doubt Trump has friends, rich or poor. He has sycophants. He thinks that is friendship.
11
If the Republicans were truly serious about helping the middle class they would have made those tax cuts permanent and let the corporate tax cut be subject to renewal. If cutting the corporate rate will, as they claim, power the economy then future Congresses would be happy to renew the reduction.
6
Since my taxes are going down, I am happy about it. I also saw last night that Boeing, Comcast, AT&T and other companies have announced bonuses for hundreds of thousands of their employees plus large investments in facilities and operations. Seems to me this "heist" is working out quite well for me and plenty of others. Those who do not wish to keep their tax savings can always send the money to the IRS.
3
Why is anyone surprised that Republicans are only deficit hawks when Democrats are in charge? Reagan ran up the deficit. Bush senior ran up the deficit. W ran it up. And now Trump will too.
Reagan's OMB Director, David Stockman, admitted that they ran a large deficit to try to prevent future Democratic administrations from enacting more social programs. (And as a Trojan Horse for trickle-down Reaganomics)
From an historic high after WWII, the deficit as a percentage of GDP went down under every president until 1981 when Reagan took office. It went up under Reagan and Bush. It famously became a surplus under Clinton which was then squandered by W. Obama again lowered the deficit during his 8 years in office. Now the GOP is back and the deficit, like the tide, will rise again.
Stop being surprised and write about the long history of hypocrisy on the part of the GOP.
9
I heard they're going to do the bill signing at Mir-a-lago. Now that makes total sense to me.
9
Trump is very wealthy (although just how wealthy isn't known since he he's refused to release his tax returns) and a pathological liar. So why did anyone believe him when he said he'd be a champion of the working class?
12
I agree with you Mr Blow. President Trump is nothing but a scam artist. He went into politics because he thought it was criminal that the Presidents always seem to make very much money when slightly out of office. He pointed at the Clintons but the same can be said of Bush(s) administrations. Thats why he entered. "Its a great scam they got going" is what he said.
Really what he said was that he liked the scam and he was going into politics to run his own. Because he likes money above all! Mammon, the false god.
8
If you look carefully at the photo taken by Al Drago you will see one token black person strategically placed in the front surrounded by a sea of middle-aged men and the usual 10% women if that. So disgusting.... And this is what we call representative of our country?
8
A positive in the Republican juggernaut is that the trickle-down model will be disproved FINALLY. Best to run the bad experiment during a full-employment economy than during a recession.
3
If Mr Blow 'doth protest too much' we should expect that to express his displeasure, he will reject any tax savings on his personal taxes and pay the full amount that is due to the government under the current confiscatory tax code. I'm sure Mr Blow is a principled man, and if he does not like the tax cuts, he should send an extra donation to the government to make up for all that lost revenue from the citizenry. Right? Mr Blow, I challenge you to put your proverbial "money where your mouth is."
2
And I suppose, Sir, that when the infrastructure bill comes up,
that you will agree that taxes should be raised on those who use the roads, rails, ports, airports, and bridges for their own profit?
How about public education? Let them eat cake? Of course you
will OK another increase in the deficit to build the Wall.
The wealthy whites of both parties employ class war: we are rich, and we will rule. White class rule goes back to our founding when the Indians were killed off and blacks imported as slaves. Only white male property owners could vote and hold office. It was no surprise that George Washington was the richest man in the colonies, a leading figure and our first President.
Strangely enough, no one runs on a platform opposing male white rule and class war. Certainly not the Democrats .
Will someone speak up opposing rich male white rule?
4
Guy Noir...It is not "rich, white male" that is the problem, PER SE. Remember FDR? He was a rich, white male. He was also a Democrat. He also had a heart for the people, and created The New Deal, to help people. The problem is that so few people, in general, have character, integrity, morality, common sense, generosity, fairness, and compassion. Even FDR did not have it in every venue of his life, but he did care for the American people, and the less fortunate. He was a champion of the people, and he was not out to rape the American people, and the country as are so many of out present day garbage politicians. Can you see trump, using his own money, as FDR did, to open a facility in Georgia for people with polio? And FDR was there so often, and he mingled with the people...trump wouldn't mingle with the likes of any of the 99%. To be with trump, you have to pay $100,000 a plate for dinner at Mar-a-Lago. And chances are, that is just the tip of the iceberg...
1
We have bullies in the congress and senate and in the white house(no cps, please!) Even donations to non-profits are taking a hit. Too sad.
3
"If he can give the impression of compassion on his mission to cash out, all the better for him," Has he ever really done that? Shown compassion in any form, any shape, any degree? I have never seen it in 40 years of seeing this clown on TV and in the papers.
The coup that the idiots at fox not news are blathering about began when Gingrich and his fellow republicans decided that the winner of the election in '92 was not the legitimate President and spent the next 8 years trying to overturn two elections.
The second phase of the coup was the Supreme Court appointing Cheney and Bush to the Presidency.
Third coup, of course, was the blatant opposition and un Constitutional maneuvering of McConnell and Ryan after the "tea party" uprising inspired and funded by the koch bothers of two more elections where a democrat one by a pretty sound margin.
The republican party is the swamp. It should be renamed the American fascist party. It is corrupt beyond what one might imagine from a Roman emperor or a Middle Ages French king or the Kremlin at this time in history.
I have been watching Ken Burns film on the Roosevelts and have come away with the suspicion that were t rump, and his republicans in power during WWII Europe would be overrun with Nazi flags. As might we.
11
and Rome burned...
8
"Heist." "Plunder." "Looting." "Raid on the treasury."
All these characterizations presume that the money is the government's and the tax bill is stealing it to give it to rich people.
The opposite is true. The money belongs to those who earn it (including, yes, rich guys and corporations). We authorize government to take some of it for legitimate public purposes. How much the government can take is always a matter of debate.
That liberal commentators like Mr. Blow don't acknowledge or even understand that explains the unbridgeable divide we have in this country.
3
I don't begrudge the rich their money. I just wonder how this bill is to the benefit of this country. It cuts revenue to address current and future needs. It adds to the deficit. It's based on wishful thinking on economic growth. I'm sure we will revisit the "benefits" of this bill ere long.
6
If you give the rich, especially the incredibly rich, the ability to pay LESS taxes on what they earn, but the people who are middle class and poor do not get those same benefits, then it is indeed a heist. So many of the very wealthy will still have access to creative accounting that WILL FIND loopholes so that they can pay less and less...some of them will pay nothing.
1
Look at the beatific overwhelmingly white faces jubilant at the beginnings end of the end of The American experiment in democracy. Hail to the den of thieves!
7
Blow, where were you when Obama increased the deficit by a trillion dollars each year of his first term?
2
He was, like most of us, cheering Obama's efforts to prevent our economic free-fall, inherited from George W Bush, from becoming another Depression. Deficits to boost a crashing economy is one thing; tax cuts in a growing economy with almost full employment is wasteful and harmful in the long run, especially one that largely benefits the already wealthy.
13
Only in a liberal mind is taking less of someone's labor a "heist".
3
Yeah, all those poor millionaires toiling away in the coal mines. I feel so bad for them.
7
I have a dream.
When Trump gives his SOTU and can't help himself from saying "This is going to cost me a fortune, this thing, believe me" for the 900th time, a Democratic congressperson stands up and shouts "You lie."
I have a dream.
11
Perhaps the Dems should boycott the State of the Union address. With the legitimacy of the election still in question, it may be appropriate. And it'll spare them an hour or two of having to listen to more lies.
I think what is important here is that those that rage against poorly positioned themselves to do anything about it. The Democratic/Clinton debacle will weigh heavily on our future for years to come, as the Russians have rushed in to fill the gap. Money is power, and right now, that is all that is happening. People have fallen in to last place and may be there forever. It will take a great effort to reverse their fortunes. Probably it will take ammunition, too.
1
Social Security (SS) had plenty of money. So much money, that the money was siphoned off to pay for other social programs that had no funding. If there is really a $2.6 trillion trust fund, money in its own pot, how could a lack of a federal spending law prevent the checks from going out? https://www.forbes.com/sites/merrillmatthews/2011/07/13/what-happened-to...
Change the law so that all SS payments stay in SS, not used for entitlements. Make no law that raids the SS funding.
The original SS law was 29 pages long, it is now 100 times that. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/08/18/5-facts-about-social-sec... Get back to what SS was designed for: Providing contributors; especially the elderly, from being impoverished.
Funds from SS get funneled into SS Disability Insurance (SSDI) here’s a fix: http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/congress-must-stop-raiding-soc...
There should and WILL be belt-tightening. Why BLOCK GRANTS to states are the key. Local governments can respond to the needs of citizens more directly. Assess the needs for local communities and determine where money is most well spent. Be ready to respond to increased need by local residents with local resources. Find solutions that work locally.
3
No thanks. I don’t want the totally GOP representatives in my state deciding on
SS or anything else. They do for business and keep cutting everything that goes to people, a travesty. They, like other GOP members,care only for their wealthy donors.
Well, the answers are to get out and vote. And meantime boycott everything to do with them - every product, every service, every investment. Just do it.
4
Given a choice, I firmly believe the vast majority of the American public (not counting corporations or the obscenely wealthy) would opt for investment in and support of healthcare, safety nets and infrastructure over tax cuts - for anyone.
16
Only Democrats and their leftist partners in the main stream media would characterize letting American workers keeping more of their hard earned money as a tax heist. The Left doesn't believe in private property rights which means they don't believe in the Founding Fathers vision of this country. They are the antithesis of America.
3
Billy, we are not talking about American "workers" keeping more of their hard-earned money as a heist. Do you understand the difference between someone who is a "worker," and someone who is an "oligarch?" This is a situation where oligarchs are taking advantage of workers, and getting an inordinately large share of EVERYTHING, when they are already incredibly rich. The workers are the "sweat," but they will get much less. This will also result in an even bigger deficit, and it is already huge...and it will lead the GOP parasites to start dismantling the social safety nets. The oligarchs do not need the social safety nets, because they are multi-millionaires and billionaires. They do not need Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid. It is chump change to them. But the WORKERS, they need the social safety nets very, very badly. But Ayn Rand told Paul Ryan that the workers are vermin, and the oligarchs are royalty...and so the workers will be treated as the vermin that they are, while the oligarchs will take over everything and everyone. I cannot think of another way to explain this to you. And Paul Ryan is a moron. Ayn Rand's books were entertaining, (and bizarre--I read them all) but she was also a moron, and at the end of her life, when she had nothing, and she was sick, she RAN AS FAST AS SHOE COULD, to collect the Social Security, and other government benefits that she bashed in her novels.
4
She also lived in a rent controlled apartment.
1
How can this be labeled a "heist?" A heist is stealing (i.e. taking something that not yours). The money belongs to the citizens that earned it until it is confiscated by the government. Therein lies the actual heist.
3
So put your money where your mouth is and go fix the next pothole that will surely flatten a tire or two.
2
So, Jason Rockwell, you are a Libertarian, and you believe in no taxation at all? The system is brutally unfair, but we need taxation ("confiscation") for taking care of our citizens, our security, and our infrastructure. The GOP thinks taxes should just be eliminated as much as possible for the VERY wealthy, and whatever taxes are collected from the non-wealthy should be used for whatever trump and the GOP want...which would not be in the best interests of 99% of the population, and would also be presented to the VERY wealthy on a silver platter. Here VERY wealthy: Pay as little taxes as possible--our GOP gift to you...but you can have a lot of the money belonging to the poor and the middle class, AND SO CAN WE! YEEEE-AAAA
1
It's a bit disingenuous to protest the tax bill as some kind of giveaway to the rich when it's the richest top 20% of American households that pays almost 87% of all the personal income tax that the government collects. In fact, almost 50% of all American household don't pay any federal tax at all! What this tax bill does is allow taxpayers to keep more of what they have already earned. And if you think this tax bill is going to upset voters in 2018, need I remind you that all of them will know the full measure of its impact to them personally by April 15th and for the vast majority of voters, for the reasons I gave above, this issue will be inconsequential. What will really matter is the economy, which is growing at a robust 3.3%, the jobless rate, which is at a 17 year low, and the gains that their retirement accounts have made, which thanks to the stock market is likely to be above 20%!
The Republicans have just proven that they can govern and fulfill the promises to their constituents, despite how unpopular they are with Democrats, and that, by contrast, makes the "do nothing" Democrats seem powerless and lost. We all know what the Democrats are against. The real question for voters is what are Democrats for?
5
I wonder how long we people in other, saner countries have before we start to see adds from relief agencies such as UNESCO or Foster Parents Plan. For example:
This is Mary, she's a bright 7 year-old child with a disabled mother and a father incarcerated for life due to a drug possession conviction. Mary would like to go to school, but the price is out of reach to her and her neighbours. She spends her days scouring the dump looking for deposit bottles to help feed her mother and 3 year-old sister. Mary desperately needs medical care for her tuberculosis but the price of treatment means she will soon be unable to work and to survive.
Please help Mary and the thousands of disadvantaged poor children throughout the USA. Only $19.95 a month will treat her disease and teach her to read and write.
Please help.
7
The race is on! Who will plunder more from their trusting nation's coffers, Trump or Putin? Putin admittedly has a several year head start, but the U.S. tax cut "for the Middle class" will put Trump squarely in the game. Imagine the camaraderie shared by the two world class thieves on their frequent secret phone calls. Just the other day Trump joked, "I fired my team of tax lawyers after they complained of having nothing to do! Only in America!" To which Putin responded, "Oh no, Donald, everything is same over here!" And they laughed and joked, "What a country, what a country!" And what a President.
4
Did Trump even pay those tax lawyers in full? Doubtful, given his track record.
1
Ramming through a tax bill that transparently favors the party's wealthy donors and that is opposed by 85% of the electorate: why isn't this treason?
9
It is NOT opposed by 85% of the electorate. Maybe in New Jersey--cause they already pay sky high state taxes (that we subsidize at the federal level)--but not in the heartland. We would like to keep more of the money that we earned by working hard.
This legislation is opposed by a majority of the electorate. Perhaps not 85%, but A MAJORITY. I believe the numbers I saw were in the vicinity of 60% disapproval rate.
1
Great commentary! So many corporations are planning now to offer higher dividends which benefits those heavily invested in the markets. That money is also going to be invested by corporations in capital equipment, not jobs. The rest of us, if we're lucky, may get a huge $1,000 bonus. Yipee...a one time bonus vs. increased annual wages does not benefit most of us.
7
Rose--hello, anyone home--you too can invest in companies and corporations and received dividends. It's not a secret club. This tax overhaul will benefit ALL Americans. You too! Who is not for a better economy and increased prosperity for ALL Americans?
What makes you think Rose is well-off enough to have disposable income that she can invest in stocks?
Go ask a Walmart employee, a waitress, or a nurse's aide how much they have invested in the stock market. Be sure to remind them of the big dividends they are missing out on.
1
After this scam/heist, it is apparent our "democracy" is DOA, or has been for a long time. We've been groomed since the Reagan days to have our pockets picked clean and, I'd like to think, in our effort to work hard and raise our families, we've entrusted those who are untrustworthy to our governing and have been sold to the highest bidder. I used to think those "whack jobs" back in 2000 wanting to "take back our country" were a few bubbles off, but hey...we literally have to TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY from the people that now govern. America...wake up and never fall asleep at the wheel again. VOTE as if your life depended on it, for the time has come that it truly does. We have a democracy "on paper"....let's make it a reality and do it right this time!!!!
8
You are saying that the government--who taxes you by taking the money you earn from you--is not the heist? This plan is so that the government can take less of your money. How is that a heist? Since you don't like the tax cuts, you are more than welcome to continue to pay the IRS every cent YOU owe based on the current tax code. In fact, you can make an extra donation to the government to make up for the revenue they lose from me accepting reduced taxation. Who can not be for increased prosperity and a stronger economy? The Democrats have you brainwashed to think that the government taking less of your money is a "heist."
It's a heist. The tax money that the government should have been spending on infrastructure is being redistributed to the wealthiest taxpayers. The infrastructure improvements would benefit all the people, not just a few.
2
This kind of thievery is small stuff to an experienced criminal like Donald Trump. He has been practicing this kind of chicanery for years from his golden cavern known as Trump tower. Make no mistake about it. He is a white collar hardened criminal and his party is learning a lot about bullying from strength.
9
Perhaps diligent Robert Mueller and his team will shed light on the machinations at Trump Tower over the years. One can hope.
Stop with the emphasis on Trump! It's the entire Republican party that is corrupt and stabbing us in the back, stealing all our hard-earned savings.
People think we will return to "normal" when the insane person in the White House goes. Not so, not at all.
14
Thank you, Mary. Aside from being incorrect, placing most or all of the blame on Trump is dangerous. The GOP has planned all along to push through as much of the worst of their plans now as they can so they can blame Trump for it all when he's gone. Placing too much of the blame on Trump now will help them do it.
Trump is A problem, a big one, but he's not THE problem.
4
Another brilliant commentary - thank you!
2
Trump and his Grand Old Party of Thieves stand at podiums with Cheshire Cat grins, and unabashedly lie to the American people, while they carve up the country's spoils for themselves. Have we ever had a bunch of elected 'representatives' so intent on misleading and inflicting so many damaging, cruel policies? Everything they do is a gift to their robber baron donor class at the expense of everyone else, the well-being of the planet and democracy.
Wake up, America! They do not have our interests at heart —
they have no heart.
3
Online just about every story is about the tax bill and the general thread that the sky is falling. From what I have been reading in the Times, the sky has fallen multiple times over the past year, the world is exploding and we are all going to die. Yet here we are commenting away, sky is still up there, the world hasn't exploded and we are not all dead yet.
On the other hand, a truly scary piece of reporting was done by Politico a few days ago and the Times has not said a single word about it. Why is that?
two thoughts: 1)teapot dome anyone? ; 2)you know why the Republicans and cabinet go through these elaborate and ridiculous fawning rituals? to keep trump out of the loony bin long enough to sign what they put in fromt of him.
3
Christmas, the time of giving...but for Donald Trump and the republicans, the time of taking...
4
I am reminded of a "Sopranos" episode where a business owner owes a debt to the mob that he can not repay. Tony and his henchmen then "gut" the business in any way they can, through bogus business loans, etc. Of course the business wont survive, but Tony and the boys have scored bigly.
The Trump administration is doing the same to the United States. This is a mafia "blow out" with the same intention and result.
We need a 300 million citizens march on the White House and Congress. My pitchfork is ready.
7
Charles Blow is correct! This is a tax heist pulled off by one of the biggest con men in history. Us New Yorkers are familiar with our president's master of deception from Wollman Rink to his strategically parked old black and gold plane on the tarmac at Laguardia Airport. Paul Ryan and the Republicans are naive to his "art of the steal". Let them enjoy their Trump Steaks before Bob Mueller closes in on their newfound "hero".
9
How is this tax cut a "heist" when Americans get to keep more of their own money? Progressives' incessant drone over rewarding the never-defined "rich" has become monotonous. Look, 47% of Americans pay NO income tax. The top 1% of income earners pay 40% of all personal income taxes and the top 10% pay 71% of total taxes. Given this composition of tax sources, it's mathematically impossible for "the rich" not to receive the largest tax reductions! As for the drivel that the tax cuts are unpopular, how can they not be in the wake of constant media criticism?
"To honor their long-held belief that the rich are America’s true governing force." The Republicans in a nutshell......
1
Might I point out that ALL government funding originates from the wealth producing PRIVATE SECTOR. All of it. Not a dime is "produced" by any federal employee. Federal employees are all paid through taxes collected. Wages they earn originated from PRIVATE SECTOR dollars.
Any tax reduction on the PRIVATE SECTOR (business or personal) is money left in the hands of the productive members of the society.
For people complaining that their deductions will cause their taxes to increase keep in mind these are losses of cost shifting from themselves onto others. Now they will more directly feel the cost of taxes, and not offload that onto others of lesser means.
1
As long as 40 million voters sit out national elections as they did in 2016 we will continue to live under a fascist dictatorship. The tax heist is the follow-up to an election heist by the Republicans in part enabled by voter apathy.
Let us abandon the pretense that we have a government of the people and by the people. We have a dictatorship managed by a super-rich oligarchy including the likes of the Koch brothers who own and control the Republican Party. The ignorant, unstable and disgraceful Trump is merely a distraction. There is no legislative process, there are only orders from on high in the GOP. This is not a tax bill, it is a plan to steal from the poor to give to the rich while destroying healthcare, the environment, infrastructure and the middle class. As long as we pretend that "Congress" is functional as a representative body we will continue to maintain the pretense that the US is a democracy. It is not.
9
Use your emails, texts, tweets, instagrams, every day, to flood the inboxes of McConnell, Ryan and the President with your complaints. It will not change their vote but they need to feel the heat, the pressure from the vast majority of disapproving americans for all their horrific lies and passing a bill that massively enriches their donors . They will pay dearly in 2018.
8
So tonight I'm gonna party like it's nineteen twenty-nine
(We gonna, we gonna, whoa)
Yeah, nineteen twenty-nine
Don't you wanna go?
(Nineteen twenty-nine)
Don't you wanna go?
(Nineteen twenty-nine)
We could all die any day
(Nineteen twenty-nine)
I don't wanna die, I'd rather dance my life away
(Nineteen twenty-nine)
2
A GDP of "infinity" would be YUGE! And "beyond infinity" sounds even YUGER! Will you use the L'Hopital rule to calculate your wonderful 401K percent increases? Because they soon will become zero divided by zero, Mr. Not Deadbeat nor Laggard.
1
Trump and the Republicans didn't do this. The American people did this when they enabled it. All these people saying pounding their chests, peacocking that they voted for "the wrecking ball"...well congrats. You've WRECKED us. All these people who couldn't bare to vote for the most qualified candidate because she wasn't "pure" enough...congrats. While you can look at yourself with self-assurance in the mirror, your irrational need to feel self-righteous has given rational, responsible people who value our institutions and basic decency, a year of total anxiety (with three more to come), with a side of massive debt for our children, a justice department the Confederacy would be proud, and the normalization of discrediting facts.
These voters purposely sank the ship that we're all on, and don't even realize the ship is sinking, while those of us who've been warning them that they're dooming us all, are frantically trying to find a way off the ship, but there's no life boats...because the Republicans took them all.
9
What happens when the rich have all the money?
4
Very good question.
We will annex to Russia.
2
We eat them.
4
here is the sad part: people will be grateful for crumbs----
3
It's all out here in plain sight. Either the Democrats will use the issue effectively, or they won't. Either the Republicans will pay at the ballot box, or they won't.
In a country with an informed populace, these wouldn't even be questions, but our society has dumbed itself down so much that the issues mentioned above are seriously in doubt. That, all by itself, is a disgrace.
5
Hey wait a minute… Here’s a thought for you… Aren’t higher corporate taxes a better incentive for corporations to reinvest… And higher corporate profits from *lower taxes* a guarantee that those corporations will have to pay the dividends out to non incorporated individuals? Oh yeah… I’m sure thinking like that is illegal under these criminals.
1
As always, Blow is always on point, minus a glaring omission. Mr. Blow, riddle me this? What preceded this giveaway? What were the circumstances? What was the name of the game that paved the way for the Trump Presidency? Solve that riddle and the gravity of your point would be so much more.
1
Trickle-down Reaganomics, Teahaddists, and Grover Norquist?
Hagar the Horrible admonished his Viking crew to "Pillage, THEN burn!" Trump and the GOP in Congress are assiduously following his sage advice.
Trump's been using executive orders to kill regulations that imposed costs on business and industry, saving them profits but ignoring the public price to be paid for more pollution and unsafe practices. For example, he gifted coal companies by wiping out mine safety regulations: now coal companies reap more profits but the price for more deaths, injuries, and black lung disease will be paid by miners and by us all. He's exquisitely aware of how the cost of regulations reduces profits but totally oblivious to the price we will all pay for elimination of those regulations. More profits to business and industry are at everyone's expense.
And now the tax bill for more naked, shameless pillaging! Please remember that tax revenues, well spent, protect and enrich us all. Trump and the GOP just robbed Americans of a huge chunk of tax revenues which would have been paid by corporations and pass through businesses. They've robbed us of tax revenues that would have been collected from the estate tax. Our ability to pay for government functions that benefit us all has been badly damaged.
Now, get ready for the burn! The GOP is going to set fire to social programs that touch the lives of nearly all Americans because they've pillaged our public treasury.
How is this responsible government?
"Why we can't have nice things . . ."
3
The Republicans robbed the American people in broad daylight like a bunch of bank robbers and didn't even bother to cover their faces.
"Trump is milking the American presidency for personal gain." That sums up Trump's entire reason for running for President.
6
I have no pity for America, its voters knowingly gave the Republicans the ability to raid its Treasury for the benefit of themselves and their donors. And I don't expect any repercussions. Most voters will be happy with the extra 2 cents per paycheck, thank their benefactors, and vote them back in for another round. MAGA
3
All you say about the republican criminal minds concocting a bill as a Christmas present for the 'rich and powerful', is true. But I doubt you didn't know that crooked lying Trump, a real estate con man, cheating his way all his life, would or could do any different. Trump and his republican accomplices are all wealthy and depend on their rich donors to stay in power. Their social distance doesn't allow them to see (and there no worse blind that the one that doesn't want to see the despair and misery being imposed on the poor, the disenfranchised, and even the middle class, with stagnant salaries and non-living wages. By their actions, you would think they consider this democracy an encumbrance to steal even more money. Solidarity with those helping the rich become richer, while depending on the crumbs left on the table, has become a fantasy...and a nightmare. What could possibly go wrong when the fox is guarding the hen house?
3
Yesterday was my 66th birthday. I thought I was being gifted with another hilarious Saturday Night Live skit on the steps of the White House as 11 Republican lawmakers effusively bestowed praise on their brilliant leader. Realizing it was not comedy tv was painful.
It was so transparent that the president's needy ego can easily be satisfied by lavish praise in return for whatever the hypocritical Republicans want in their future agenda.
What is next on their wish list? Massive spending on a military budget for the already most powerful military complex in the history of the world? Continued dismantling of the ACA? Gutting of all climate change initiatives? Preemptively beginning an apocalyptic war with North Korea? Beefing up the borders to finally make America white again? Widening the gap between the rich and poor? Possibly pulling out of NAFTA like TTP? Maybe a few other items to satisfy donors?
The Republican sychophants on those stairs should be ashamed and embarrassed. Perhaps they were just following the example of China, Japan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and even France who all pulled out the red carpet to massage the ego of our president and in doing so placing their nations in strategically advantageous positions in the world. Interestingly he didn't visit Germany. He knew that Angela would not bow to him.
It is time for Trump's best friend Vladi to orchestrate the most impressive parade of all for when his malleable puppet when visits Red Square.
6
Trump always lies. But note that he is especially revealing of this whenever he utters, "Believe me."
6
"[N]ot for . . . rebuilding infrastructure"--exactly! Deficits for needed priorities that will benefit future generations who then have to pay for them has an economic logic and fairness. But burdening our children to pay for greater take home pay while our schools deteriorate, trains run with outdated safety equipment, and science research shrinks will diminish America with only an outsized military to tell ourselves we still lead the world.
2
And where are the Evangelical Christians in all this? Do they ever actually ask themselves, "What would Jesus think about the Republican tax bill?" I am no religious scholar, but I know enough about the Bible to have pretty good idea of how Christ would answer that question....
4
It is time for the workers to rise up and take our country back from the plutocrats plunder it for their own benefit.
RESISTANCE IS NOT FUTILE!
2
Just as he has bankrupted most of his companies, Trump will bankrupt the US, morally and financially, if the GOP lets him get away with it. The 100 million people who did not vote need to get out and VOTE in the midterm elections and in 2020.
4
This "president" is pulling off the greatest heist this country has ever seen -- all in plain sight. Personal enrichment with his well advertised properties, raking in huge amounts from those seeking his favor, and now this "tax reform".
Impeachment is too mild a consequence.
9
Trenchant analysis as always, but we're all just screaming into each others' faces.
Unless and until we figure out a way to dismember the Fox News propaganda machine, the least educated members of our society will continue to live under the spell of its pro-Trump propaganda, and will continue to vote GOP.
You might have notice that on the day this HUGE WIN for the Republican was finalized, the tax cut wasn't even REFERENCED on the front page of the Fox News site. Stop and think about that for a second. Most GOP voters don't even know the "tax cut" was passed, let alone the facts that plainly demonstrate it was a swindle. They think the biggest news of yesterday was North Korea's impending threat.
5
Historically, when a country is growing, everyone prospers. When it cannot, a small proportion remain rich but the whole country becomes and remains poor. The rich never restore the growth.
3
Obama's signed-off policies all told added nearly 1 trillion to the deficit over 8 years, most of that from the stimulus bill pass in the first year during a recession. The GOP screamed. The Republicans get total power for less than a year and during a stock market bubble and near full employment passes something that will cost 1.5 trillion INCLUDING the tax increases on the entire middle class in just a few years that claim won't happen. The GOP pops champagne corks and cheers.
All politics has a level of hypocrisy, but there is no equivalency here. The GOP plays politics 100% of way, 100% of the time. The only right thing to do for them is whatever they think will help them gain more power. This tax bill was just their way of setting up a fundraising bonanza from the business-interests next -year, which they will no doubt use on ads to lie, lie, and lie some more to win power.
3
At this point the middle class and the poor are going to get exactly what they deserve. When only 25 to 30 percent of the adult population votes, this is the outcome. Frankly Charles, the masses do not care. They are happy with bread crumbs as long as they have their circuses to entertain them. It truly is the decline of America in full view to those who have their eyes open.
8
Consider also how all of this extra income to the mega-rich will help to keep them in power via Citizens United, Superpacs, dark money, etc.--with messaging assistance from Fox/Breitbart and other state media.
As Charles points out, "This is a cash offering to the gods of the Republican donor class. This is a bill meant to benefit Republicans’ benefactors."
The biggest challenge in our country right now is to deliver the truth to half of Trump's voters. You will never ever ever convince the other half of anything that Trump's state media isn't promoting (see: Roy Moore supporters). Liberals, centrists, and Never Trumpers need to absolutely give up on that portion of the electorate. But as to the other half, the bizarre Bernie-to-Trump crossovers, the "always vote Republican" types, and the hardcore Hillary haters--some of these people need to lose faith in the GOP robber barons or we are stuck whining to one another as this horror show unfolds.
The increasingly stacked coffers of the Trump propagandists will now be even harder to defeat.
The most pressing question we all need to ask ourselves is what we will do when Trump & Co. shut down the Mueller investigation. General strike? Coordinated withdrawals of all bank funds? Obviously, these are not very realistic reactions, but parading around with indignant messages on homemade placards will only make them laugh and our democracy will slip further and further into something altogether different and terrible.
2
Mr. Eisenberg:
Happy Birthday to you, our Poet Laureate, and best wishes for a Healthy, Happy, and creativity-prolific 2018.
3
It sickens me to see these politicians celebrating when they just screwed 13 million Americans out of healthcare. While there has been much discussion of the tax consequences of the bill, I haven't heard as much about the loss of health insurance. Orrin Hatch had the gall to support this tax heist during the same week in which he said there is no more funding for CHIP. What kind of country passes a bill to enrich billionaires but willfully refuses to fund healthcare for CHILDREN? This is no longer the America in which I thought I lived. All this supposed "making America great again" is, in fact, making it an evil, racist, mercenary country that is no longer recognizable.
24
Nonsense - eliminating the mandate does not deprive anyone of health care (I believe you really meant health insurance). It also doesn't deprive them of health insurance - it simply no longer penalizes them if they decide they do not want to spend their own money on a product they were previously fined for (and no Justice Roberts, it is not a tax).
1
You don't know, or want to know, how insurance works, do you?
The larger the pool of insured people, the more reasonable the cost per person. If the healthy all opt out, and only the sick are in the pool, the costs go up prohibitively. In the insurance industry, this is known as a "death spiral", as it will end the insurance companies' ability to offer the insurance. But you knew that already, didn't you?
I have a modest proposal for resisting those doing their best to rip off the middle class and poor. If you like it, spread the word. Simply shift necessity spending to “not for profit” organizations where possible.
Take healthcare. For 50 years, I’ve avoided “for profit” healthcare in favor of not-for-profit. If I’d spent premiums on a for-profit company, history shows as much as 25 cents of my dollar would have gone to stockholders. Not one dime of my nonprofit dollar goes to investors because there are none.
I’ve also pulled out of banks in favor of a not for profit credit union. Again, no Investors to be paid means money I have on deposit works for me and the other people in the credit union. And I earn higher interest.
Finally, my automobile and homeowners insurance is purchased through a company that operates similar to a not-for-profit. It’s an inter-insurance exchange — people who, as a group, insure each other and simultaneously own the company's assets. Instead of paying stockholders, profits go to members.
By design, nonprofits are dedicated to the common good, measuring success by quality of life, not money. Here’s real potential to send a strong monetary message to corporate America. An average American spends $5,000 a year on health insurance, auto insurance and homeowners insurance alone. Consider what would happen if 5 million Americans switched to the nonprofit sector? That would total $25 billion a year — a hell of a message to the greedy of America.
7
I just feel so screwed.
I'm turning 60 in the spring, was hoping to retire in 2 or 3 years.
I work in Broadcast news. Every work day is more and more guns and politics, none of it good. I'm ready to be done with it. Bloody violence and the GOP/Trump is not easy, day after day after day.
I have a good job for where I live, but it's well under $100K.
I have saved, but SS will be about half my income.
Healthcare is again a huge obstacle, my spouse is 2 years younger.
I have the job with benefits - It may be foolish to leave before he's on Medicare - working an additional 5 to 6 years. Five more winters of working no matter the weather, no telecommuting in the news business.
Great. I know I'll make more money, but I'd like to have the retirement I've worked and saved for 40 years for. Paid taxes every year since I started working at 16. I've done my part.
Now, instead of taxes decreasing as I age, I have to plan for increases.
As SS & Medicare shrink, I'll have that shortfall too.
Sigh.
A favorite movie quote -
"The future's not set. There's no fate but what we make for ourselves."
320 days to the 2018 Midterms.
Let's change fate.
16
"Let them eat cake".... Those who learn from there own mistakes are smart. Those who learn from others are wise. Seems to be a shortage of wisdom on the lily white right...
4
Sea of white faces in the photo...straining to see if there are any black or brown faces.
oh well.
9
Google: "It's Mueller Time ("From Russia With Love")";
6
I believe it was Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, who said that if you repeated a lie enough, people will believe it. That seems to be true in the early 21st-century US. Consider how many people truly believe that Obama is a closet Muslim, that climate change isn't even happening (much less is anthropogenic), that if you showering American businesses with massive tax cuts will cause them to create more jobs for American workers. Then, add to that number those will espouse these ideas, despite (or in spite of) their lack of conviction, but for personal gain.
This didn't happen by accident. It took a change in campaign finance laws, that gave corporations the same standing and ability to contribute as people, so that corporations can buy congressmen by the bucket, keep them in office and compliant as long as they're there, and then hire them as one of various forms of influence peddlers after that.
It took an American people collecctively dumb enough to believe campaign lies, aided and abetted by a public education system which helped dumb them down. It took an economy based on cheap and unlimited fossil fuel, laws that made it legal and social mores that make it unacceptable for even those in rich countries to live one paycheck away from disaster, to cycle in and out of poverty, and to lack health insurance, all the while believe in the Horatio Alger may of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.
My country tis of thee, sweet land of frippery...
12
Why is there still support for this guy in the red states? I understand that sending him to Washington was nothing more than sending a middle finger to the people who have done nothing for the middle class for the last 30 years, but now that they have seen what Trump is actually doing, where is the "oops," and where is the backlash? Where are the torches and pitchforks? I can't believe this is the America they wanted.
11
What will you be rioting against? The increase in the Dow - which has a directly positive affect on many teacher and first responder (and others) retirement accounts? Or the reduced unemployment? Or the first time in 10 years GDP over 3%? Perhaps it's the bonuses companies are paying as a result of the revised tax structure?
1
We're not there yet to the America we want, but at least we are moving in the right direction.
We want lower taxes for people who pay taxes; we want a less restrictive federal government; we want employment opportunities, not welfare, for the millions of American who have been left behind; we want prosperity and safety for our children; on the international stage, we want our adversaries to fear us and our allies to be able to trust us; we want the American people, through the law, to decide who gets to immigrate here; we want to be proud to be Americans.
These are some of the reasons why President Trump has support, not just in the red states, but all over American. The polls may not show the support, because we generally don't like being called bigots, nativists, knuckledraggers, stupid, troglodytes and other epithets, so we are generally measured when showing our support.
1
"America must make an honest appraisal: Donald Trump is a plutocrat masquerading as a populist. He is a pirate on a mission to plunder."
Please use simple language, Mr. Blow. Just as you say that Trump lies, say that he is a thief and a thug, not that he is a "plutocrat".
5
Charles this is why my friends and I have taken to calling them RepubliCONS. I wonder how many millions this put in the pockets of the trump clan alone. We need to bring back the guillotine.
9
The wealthy claim they more in tax than the poor. Maybe, but now they pay less. So to make up for that, the poor will have to pay more, or have the government help that the poor depend on, cut. So, this is the situation until Nov. 2018. Then the poor can talk back and maybe make an impression. But the poor need to get organized. Get organized, get out the vote and vote yourselves!
4
We'll suffer in the long run, thanks for saying the truth.
2
The worst part of John F. Kennedy-style tax cuts may be that a Democrat was such a conservative thinker.
Or, the worst part may be that the Dems know they may never recover from another Reagan-style tax cut.
This wonderful act will energize the U.S. economy for years - perhaps, decades.
Charles has to wonder how he can tell people with more money in their pocket that it is a bad thing, and it's starting to affect his body and mind, apparently.
America won yesterday! The only losers are our enemies and the Democrats. But I repeat myself.
4
No worries Mr. Blow. Everyone of those smiling faces will show up in church on Sunday to fool the rest of us but not God!
They really do NOT belive in God as if they did they would know that God sees all and cannot be fooled. Right?
I do not believe in their God but I DO believe in humanity! Courage to all who have a heart.
6
Republicans are the true enemy of humanity. Their existence IS a crime against humanity.
2
Clownish mob boss surrounded by his mob.
10
At last: Trump's useful idiocy comes to fruition.
2
All these republicans, with Trump at the top, are physically repulsive, ugly people. I wonder if there is a correlation?
8
McConnell and his band of thieves would like to have us all tossed into the Marshalsea Debtor’s Prison while they rob us of our hard earned livings. However, like the Merdles in Dickins’ novel Little Dorrit and the House of Clennam, the whole thing will come crashing down based on rotten foundations and crushing these Republican tyrants. Sic simper tyrannous!
4
You’re spot-on, Charles. Now it’s up to reasonable people to spread the word until we drive these soulless shills of Satan out of government.
8
Obama added $10 Trillion in debt through massive welfare program explosions & not one year with 3% economic growth.
The top 20% pay 87% of all Federal Taxes.
The lazy losers and those on welfare or 45% Of Americans pay no taxes.
The GOAT POTUS Trump just increased that for the poorest Americans.
Maybe with a 4% growth, the lowest black unemployment in decades, Charles can help all the poor people get off welfare and work!
Enjoy!
4
You're wrong. Check your facts. And the vast majority of Obama's 'debt' was the stimulus he enacted after having been left with a disaster of an economy that was shedding 800,000 jobs a month when he took office. Everything is not a debate. There are documented facts on this story.
2
It's so heart-warming to see that - thanks to gold-plated Don and his Republican henchmen - little Ebeneezer's Christmas wishes won't go unanswered this year - he gets another Lamborghini under the tree! Meanwhile, Tiny Tim - one of the 13 million uninsured-to-be, or is he on CHIP? - will go without health care for his chronic diseases. Tough luck, kid - you should have born into the donor class!
9
Trump lovers were begging for this and deserve whatever ripoff they get. The rest of us, however, are and will continue to be at the mercy of the venal, the corrupt and the stupid. This is not the republic as envisioned by the Founding Fathers.
The descent continues...
13
I'm just tired.
13
The next midnight raid will happen in daylight as millions of voters come out and flush these charlatans out of office. A task force of several hundred IT, IRS and finance gurus will be tasked to go after every last cent diverted to off-shore accounts.
O Fortuna
velut luna
statu variabilis,
semper crescis
aut decrescis;
vita detestabilis
nunc obdurat
et tunc curat
ludo mentis aciem,
egestatem,
potestatem
dissolvit ut glaciem.
"O Fortune,
like the moon
you are changeable,
ever waxing
or waning;
hateful life
first oppresses
and then soothes
as fancy takes it;
poverty
and power
it melts them like ice."
"O Fortuna" in the Carmina Burana
9
The only reason Trump is in the White House is to blow everything up. He is not there for the “people”. He is there to bankrupt the country. For anyone that had a sliver of knowledge of this mongrel, they should have seen what he did in his own businesses, not what he said. Bankrupt many times, but lined his pockets and trashed the investors and contractors. He will continue to blow up the country for years. Truly a disgusting being.
20
No show jobs, no show educational records, Iran deal that imperils our very existence, trillions for nonexistent infrastructure repair, government spying on US citizens, Holder, Lynch, Clinton.
We wake up every morning better off.
You might remember the rules he played by were instituted by democrats
.
Best not to blame his bad business ethics on the Dems. Each of us is responsible for our own behavior.
1
Nobody has read the bill. Probably not CB, and no me, and very few, if any, congressional reps read it in its entirety. How on earth could anyone decide its beneficial aspects even if it should turn out to have any? We will suffer in ignorance and the feeling of powerlessness overwhelms. In their haste, just as when the Magna Carta was written (in Latin, no less) not even those who would be called on to enforce it knew what was in it. Alas, we may never know. Welcome to the medieval minds who will go down in history not as Robin Hoods but as self-indulgent buffoons.
6
Zighi, Please send us the democrat and your interpretation of the "Affordable Care Act" and the analysis of the voting on it . We can't wait to see it.
The poor and the lower middle class pay no income taxes, so of course their “tax cut” is going to be nil.
And the 1% and upper quartile, who pay a vast majority of income taxes, are of course going to get the bigger cut here. Is Charles Blow so dense that this bit of elementary logic is beyond his grasp, or is he so frenzied he just can’t see this? Or is it rank dishonesty?
Either way, the middle and upper middle class are getting a 2% rate cut, a doubling of the standard deduction, can still deduct their local taxes up to 10K, and the child deduction doubles. Combined with the corporate rate cut, all of this is going to lead to faster economic growth, bigger paychecks, more take home pay, and lower unemployment.
In other words, enjoy the polls and doomsday scenarios of the day while you have them. Because in a matter of months, reality is going to disprove them. And then what will the likes of Charles Blow be left with? My guess is a retreat back to racial grievance mongering and a divisive attempt to paint the growth that ensues as some sort of white supremacist ploy or white-lash against the welfare state. Good luck winning with that. It didn’t work when Trump and the GOP’s policies were mere promises. And it certainly won’t work when their promises, made good, deliver the benefits that they predicted.
6
You better check that glass you're filling to see if it has a bottom.
1
Has anyone checked Fort Knox lately after Mnuchin's visit to make sure all of OUR gold is still there? It is only a matter of time before they TRUMP (aka steal) it too.
CEO's don't ship jobs overseas because of high taxes. They ship jobs overseas because of slave wages overseas. 35% to 21% is chump change compared to 100% to 10% in wage savings.
The plutocrats have taken over the people's government, lead by the plutocrat in chief that the Republicans now have to bow down to too.
Great article today "The Real Coup is Trump's" (https://nyti.ms/2DhbgAN) The coup that is taking place takes away the rule of law (the Constitution) of and by the people and giving it to the plutocrats with trump as The Leader of the Free-Plutocrats and trumplicans. The trumplican coup has been going on for a decade as republicans gerrymandered, suppressed and disenfranchised the majority of American citizens - town by town, state by state and now the national government with assistance of Russian oligarchs led by Putin. Thanks to the NRA, they have even been arming themselves for this moment to secure, consolidate and enforce their total power.
The pillaging of America continues - the TRUMPING of America brand. How long will we let this go on? 2018 seems too late.
I repeat myself. Has anyone checked Fort Knox lately after Mnuchin's visit to make sure ALL of OUR gold is still there?
15
Today the Washington Post has an article on a couple in Utah whose 2 young children rely on CHIPS.
They, of course, vote republican, and still don't see that they are hurting themselves. I am sick and tired of caring about Americans who are too stupid to care about themselves.
Honestly, how clueless and ridiculous can people be?
16
Sir, they are Republicans. This is what they DO. Lie, cheat, steal from the poor, to give MORE to the RICH. Political Prostitution, and it's legal. 2018 is almost here, finally. Get ready.
26
Unfortunately, it is yet again all too easy to see how the Democrats and the Leftish could blow the elections next November.
1. Keep lecturing "the media," on what they ought to publish, because you couldn't be bothered to do the ten minutes of reading that would have shown you "the media," published it again and again.
2. Keep lecturing the Democratic Party on your Cunning Plan for victory, which involves standing around and shouting at people rather than doing an actual political work.
3. Keep bellowing at Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, which will always be easier than taking a few minutes to find out how politics work, let alone contng the votes.
4. Keep bewailing gerrymandering and voter suppression, which is real--and would have meant zip if you'd shown up to vote.
5. Keep bellowing at the Clintons, and genuflecting before St. Bernie.
6. Keep bellowing about how lousy Trump is, and refuse to think about how he succeeded with working people.
7. Keep bellowing about how this country's a "banana republic," and it's time for "secession," and/or, "revolution."
8. Keep bellowing at guys like Charles Blow, for not working down every item of your personal checklist.
In brief, keep turning yourselves into the exact mirror of Donald Trump and his Trumpists.
2
"You can't get rich in politics unless you're a crook." -- Harry S. Truman
33
Trump had money before he came into office. The quote sure does describe a couple I've heard of from Arkansas though.
HRC and Obama and Harry Reed
If you steal someone's money on a street corner your a robber,if you steal it with a pen your a Republican congressman
18
The Let Them Eat Cake Tax Bill will insure that Guillotine Manufacturing will have lots of work for their employees in the coming years.. So there is an up side to the tax bill as it bring back jobs to America from France.
4
Actions speak louder than words. The bill passed and now we must return this slap in the face. Our actions must be votes to remove the Republicans from power.
8
Mr. Blow, do you think it's time to re-think your association with Eli Broad? It's a bit much to read concerns about how "millionaires and billionaires make off with the cake" coming from a writer who worked to help billionaires make off with our public education system. How do you reconcile that?
1
"..... the ecosystem of corruption that Trump calls a family". What a wonderfully descriptive and accurate phrase that is. Well done, Mr. Blow.
3
This is the result of mixing voters with self destructing behavior and politicians who dream of committing treason.
Well done by the minority of America’s population!
Long live the plutocracy and it’s lumpen supporters!
4
Grateful for the comments.This is such a travesty.
4
I have quit trying to conceive of an upper limit to Republican intellectual dishonesty and contempt for the fools that put them in power.
13
Our american billionaires were watching the russian oligarchs with envie : "why not us too ??!!??" They learned how to spoil public discourse, spread falsehood and undermine independent media. They learn to use the threat of terrorism for their own good, political and financial, fed the public paranoia .
They are only starting to share the loot.
The growing revolt will to be silenced in its womb, distraction is key ... Muller's firing, a war, terrorism, a political witch hunt, and more stupid TV and social media...
Happy new year !
PS: Putin is brilliant ! I didn't say nice, but he got it right ...
4
What I love the best is Susan Collins whining about her being taken to the wood shed by the media. A despicable person who sold probably 90% of the population of Maine down the river so she could be, "one of the boys". Maine really needs to wake and get rid of this person.
15
ATTENTION Republicans >> You can't have your MAGA cake and cheat it too!
7
Welcome to the Age of Vulgar Greed. It is rule of the greedy, by the greedy, for the greedy. America was willingly handed over to the greedy by fools, religious fascists, white supremacists, closet racists, and many so desperate they simply wanted revenge.
Even more devastating than the Republican tax heist is the Republican heist of our democratic principles, laws, values. The Republican strategy has not changed since Reagan: brazenly lie to the public, accuse Democrats of lying; serve the wealthy, pass laws to hide who the donors are, pass laws to remove limits on donations; gerrymander districts to end democracy, pass laws suppressing the votes of minorities to end democracy; sabotage Democrats in office, undermine their policies to serve the nation and The People, take away their Constitutional rights to appoint judges, pack the ALL courts with Republican minions to rule against the the interests of The People and the Constitution.
The basket of deplorables who welcomed in this Age of Vulgar Greed, will celebrate their tens of dollars in tax crumb relief as if they won the lottery. They don't care that the tax relief cake went to the wealthy. They don't care about the people who lose health insurance, our lost national standing, or that the new sham vulgar nationalism creates new enemies and incites terrorists by demonizing religions, minorities, other countries.
Democrats in Congress have been neutralized, the Constitution neutered. Only The People can save America.
9
The true meaning of "Enemies of the People" (and not the Stalinist excuse for a purge).
4
Trump Wins Again! This is fantastic news, people will see an increase in their paychecks, companies will invest in equipment and hire more people. The GNP will hit 4%, the stock market is preforming very well. Obama's legacy is totally destroyed, Hillary lost, things are really looking up. Make America Great Again.
If liberal democrats despise the tax bill so much, each and everyone of you can increase the amount of of money pay to the feds to offset the travesty. Liberal democrats are the cheapest and most selfish of all American citizens, not one of you will pay extra. Thank God Hillary lost, MAGA!
2
Methinks you read too much into one success in Congress in one whole year. If "Obama's legacy" is destroyed we'll go back to the Great Recession, so don't wish too hard on that one. I'm glad that the stock market is "preforming well" also.
1
The lies that are now the new norm from this aberrant entity calling itself president are now so repugnant and repellant that they constitute a new and heinous normal. tRump as president is now such a disgrace that finding appropriate adjectives to describe this disgusting and appalling presence difficult to find.
6
I once read that Trump managed to get 50 million in tax
cuts over a twenty-year period because he declared bankruptcy.
He even bragged about it during the presidential debates saying it made him a great businessman that he took advantage of the laws on the books.
I guess that tax break money had run out so he decided to find another way to line his pockets.
Trump is a con artist, a charlatan, a shyster.
Hw preyed upon the whites of this country who had a conniption fit about Obama.
He himself mocked these people when he said he loved his undereducated.
These people stupidly thought he was laughing with them when he was laughing at them.
Now, these same people will not be getting the jobs they thought he promised, and also not have health care protection that they once had.
When your kid gets sick and you don't have the means to provide for the treatment, please don't form a Go Fund Me expecting help from me.
And those good paying jobs, Trump himself said he had no problem with the current minimum wage status.
Of course Trump is only in this for himself and his family.
If he says he is in for the people, one had best ask the question, 'which people are we talking about?
It definitely isn't the average American public.
8
I thought, after the Berlin wall came down and the Soviet Union imploded that Communism was dead forever. Now I fear that the Republican agenda will once again make Karl Marx seem relevant and even attractive. When income inequality reaches unsustainable amounts and the next depression hits, then the former middle class will rise up against the uber rich and it will not be pretty, especially since they will be well armed and out for blood.
8
The fat and unpopular kindergartener who had never been invited to play-dates invited his entire class to his birthday party, which he had promised would feature the biggest and bestest piñata ever. And he didn’t disappoint.
Blindfolded, he whacked and whacked until candies exploded all around and the partygoers scrambled, scuffled and pushed to get the most candy.
With pockets full, faces smeared with chocolate and fingers stained M&Ms red, they motion for their nannies and chauffeurs to take them home. Some realize they’ll now have to invite their host to their own birthday party. Or brunch.
Or maybe they’ll just send him a card and a box of candy. Or maybe when they’re in grammar school, they’ll chip in for one of those chocolate- or cupcake--of-the-month things. One of the social secretaries will handle it and they’ll all sign the oversized card.
Loaded into waiting Mercedes and Bentleys, they see their host, still-blindfolded, waddling towards them shouting “Wait, wait, you haven’t seen the clown or magician yet! And the pony! I have great pony rides!”
As the fleet of luxury vehicles departs, the five-year-old realizes he still has a bat in his tiny hands and that, even if no guests remain, he really likes the whacking part. Blindly whacking again, the gardener and the wait staff are felled. Such fun!
Then he takes the blindfold off and looks around.
If anyone takes comfort in the belief that he cannot be the next piñata, he is not paying attention.
6
This piece hits the nail on the head. Now it needs to be broadcast on Faux News.
7
Once you’ve drank the Koolade there’s really nothing left to do but sit back and relax and let what’s in it do its work. Leave the ones left who have to do the digging to worry about where the hole will be.
3
“Yes, as through this world I’ve wandered
I’ve seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun
And some with a fountain pen.
Woody Guthrie (Pretty Boy Floyd)
And Donald Trump and his GOP “robber barons” are sure expert at robbing ordinary Americans with “a fountain pen.”
10
They take money from the government & give it back to those who earned it.
BUT, at least Susan can write checks to the U.S. Treasury whenever she gets to feeling guilty or angry.
I'd rather -- and no doubt so would Susan -- write checks to help the people who need a helping hand or to preserve our air, water and land whenever I feel it's my responsibility as an intelligent, caring and responsible person.
And, of course, write a few to defend our way of life from people such as you, L'osservatore,
2
Trump's latest magic trick turns on having first convinced Americans that he actually "inherited a mess" and that these tax cuts for the wealthy will save us from the "carnage" and help produce the "jobs, jobs, jobs" that the country so desperately needs.
This is all an ILLUSION that Trump has repeatedly contradicted by otherwise taking credit for the healthy economy that he actually inherited. Does he think we're too stupid to see that, or does he know his supporters are?
There are a million more job openings now than there were this time last year and the economy is already humming along nicely.
This therefore can't be for jobs.
In fact, notice that countries we used to go to for cheap labor, China and India, were committed to setting up shop in the USA even before this corporate tax gift.
So the tax cuts weren't attracting them, so it's not really to attract corporations.
And since a major foreign manufacturer, FoxConn, is getting $3 BBillion from Wisconsin to build a factory in an area where Gov Scott Walker is now embarking on a multi-million dollar ad campaign to attract out-of-state workers to it, it certainly isn't to help out general taxpayers.
Smoke and mirrors. Another piece of fraud from the nation's biggest Taker, Donald J Trump.
11
You get to keep an extra dime so Donald can keep an extra C-note. Meanwhile, your children will get stuck with the bill (plus interest) and your parents will lose their Social Security and Medicare (which they've already paid for). Enjoy your crumbs...
9
I will refrain from repeating the very fine comments that have been presented re. this tax scam. I will say this, however:
The women and men responsible for packaging this bill and moving it to its conclusion have space inside their body where a soul should be.
13
A bit off subject, but note there is but one person of color in this class photo. Minorities, suburban women, and millennials, please vote these chumps out of office next November.
9
2018 can't come fast enough to vote these crooks out of office.
1
One of the first things I did, Seamus, was try for a head count. Got lost at around 80 white to one black.
What's that silly man thinking sticking with such a crummy bunch?
1
It's pretty simple -
If this tax bill could stand on its own merit, it wouldn't have been put together and passed virtually in total secrecy, in a country that's supposed to have open, public process. Any kindergartner could tell you this.
If the goal of this bill was middle class tax relief, any kindergartner could also tell you to just give the middle class a tax cut; you don't give the middle class whatever trickles down years later from the wealthy and corporations, which we all know will be nothing.
4
To be sure two of the most impactful changes are:
- elimination of individual mandate tax, freeing $165B/yr for more productive use
- resutrcture of SALT allowing those who vote for high taxes to pay for them.
This is what winning looks like.
Freedom will Make America Great Again.
2
This is a Let Them Eat Cake moment, and I have to wonder how Republicans sleep at night. The lens of history will not be kind. The Right is destroying democracy, taking alł they can take on the way.
9
Due to the little discussed congressional rule known as ‘PAYGO’, cuts to Medicare will happen immediately, simultaneously as the deficits from this bill kick in (Happy New Year!) Unless, of course, Congress gets around to agreeing to waivers for Medicare. If their lack of action on CHIP is any indicator don’t hold your breath. This is just one of reasons the details of the bill were hidden from the American people, and then voted on in the middle of the night.
4
Clean air and unpolluted water, as well as good schools and safe infrastructure would lure back the overseas corporations. Huge free National parks would also be a draw....lots of money for research....
Why is Ryan suggesting we have more children to bump up the nations birth rate if those children will have no health care and lousy overcrowded schools.
They are making America a third world country.
7
Here is some free advice for the GOP from a registered Democrat in Virginia.
Why the political dance over CHIP? Passing a 1.45 trillion dollar addition to the debt (over 10 years) and not yet dealing with CHIP (because of the cost?!) is revealing at best and unconscionable at worst. Hopefully, there is a sufficient fear of the voters that this Congress will not fail the children, random grandstanding about the cost notwithstanding.
It would be good policy & good politics for the Congress not to open the door to accusations of being heartless. Don't allow the Dems to air TV ads in 2018 depicting adorable sick children who don't have medicine. No district is so "red" that an incumbent can survive mistreatment of children.
Any desire to attack the social safety net (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.) should be temporarily kept under wraps so the GOP can celebrate "tax reform" without simultaneously revealing a glimpse of how they will morph once more into deficit hawks in the future - especially when that glimpse goes after kids' health care (CHIP). C'mon, GOP - choose a more advantageous battle ground than that!
Get CHIP fully funded. Now. (Even if you don't care if kids have decent health care, do this to save your job - if it is not already too late.) You've given Ebenezer his huge tax cut. You'd be smart to do something for Tiny Tim.
4
The Times ought to DARE Trump to submit his most recent tax return to an independent, third-party auditor -- like PwC -- in strict confidence. That auditor could then determine to what extent Trump would benefit or be hurt by the tax law changes.
If they say he's hurt, then The TImes would apologize for saying he would see gains. But if he would benefit, The Times could trumpet the President's lies for the rest of his administration.
But we know Trump is too cowardly to take this challenge. Bone spurs, you know?
4
Most Americans see through this charade, but not Trump supporters who rely on Fox News for their information.
12
Trump and his merry band of Republicans may have pulled off the greatest tax heist but I sense the masses have bought into it hook, line and sinker. Throw them a little bit of money and they salivate even though in ten years the benefits fade away. With a roaring economy and the high confidence Trump is pushing, this con man may just pull off another great heist in the 2018 midterms. He really is a masterful manipulator. And there seems to be so many suspectable to his sleight of hand. America has moved into the age of oligarchs and soaring income inequality.
4
"...raiding the Treasury". This is what one would think if they are of the mind that the Government owns everything and should be the great and powerful distributor of sustenance to its subjects.
For me, I earned the $2,800 more I'll get to keep out of the hands of all powerful masters of the treasury. If my boss or CEO keeps 10 times the amount I get - so what? Liberal comparisons are nothing more than coveting what belongs to your neighbor.
1
Senator Bob Corker, on CNN, Oct 24 : "I don't know why he [Donald Trump] lowers himself to such a low, low, standard, and debases our country in a way that he does, but he does". Senator Jeff Flake, on the floor of the Senate, Oct 24 :"It is time for our complicity and accommodation of the unacceptable to end... We must never adjust to the present coarseness of our national dialogue, with the tone set at the top".
If I am not mistaken, those two individuals participated in the love fest for Trump at the White House two days ago to celebrate "an amazing leader". Could a political expert analyze for the foreigner that I am the extraordinary finesse of the American system ? Could a psychologist explain to the human being that I am the extraordinary resources of two supposedly rational, healthy minds, to betray their own principles so "bigly", so fast ?
8
If we have ever needed an inspirational and charismatic figure – in the mold of someone like MLK Jr., fighting for everyone – that time is now.
Where are you?
7
The Republicans have no heart or soul. I hope they get coal in their stockings. But what do they care, they will use that coal to contaminate the earth.
The only cures for extreme inequality are taxes or revolution....
We need to choose wisely
4
"The reconciled tax bill includes a new 20 percent deduction for so-called pass-through entities... this specifically lines the pockets of the ecosystem of corruption that Trump calls a family"
Well Blow maybe you should study up on what you are writing about by reading your own newspaper.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/20/us/politics/small-busines...
The 20 % deduction starts to go away at income levels just over $150,000 a year. So a pizza shop owner in NYC who has his business set up as an LLC and makes over $150,000 a year starts to lose this deduction and it eventually phases out as income goes up. Since you live in the city you tell me: does $150,000 per year make the shop owner a wealthy beneficiary of the tax law? Of course not. And the thousands of small business owners in the same boat are not part of what you call the "ecosystem of corruption that Trump calls a family".
What ridiculous hyperbole.
2
Pono, better re-read the text - you're misquoting it; the article specifically states that real estate firms such as the Trump organization would be able to pass through the whole deduction.
1
Mr. Bow's writings were always monotonous but now thy are reflecting his lazy side.
It is as if he takes his old articles, replaces a few sentence with the news of the day, and it is good to go.
Little or nothing of substance and recycled republican and Trump bashing.
1
People, it's time to grab your torches and pitchforks. No Republican in Congress or the White House deserves to live to see the benefits of this tax bill.
3
The United States is now officially a kleptocracy. Princeton studies have confirmed we are an oligarchy, but now we have surpassed that. Our country is run by an organized crime syndicate. Yes, it is that bad now.
The NYT should be running 3 headlines a day attesting to this, but their language is coded and soft.
Gavin Newsom and Bernie, PLEASE start your campaign for the presidency for 2020 right now. Please.
2
Let us not be distracted from the treason and other crimes the trumpies are perpetrating in RUSSIAGATE. Pay no attention to that fat man behind the tax shelter, for all that has been done can be undone.
The tax shenanigans of the republicans will prevent a sufficient number of voters to not vote for a republican, in due course.
1
I calculated that my paycheck gross will increase by a mere $63 a month. After social security, etc. are deducted, my net increase will be negligible.
So much for my big beautiful tax cut.
129
I’m a retired CPA. Please be sure that the decreased withholding won’t cause you problems at the end of next year. It has been known to happen. People find out too late that they should have been withholding more to cover their overall liability. Withholding tables are an estimation, at best.
define paycheck gross??? Negligible? Not so sure I trust your calculations
The new law doesn't affect everyone the same way. You say you have a net increase to your pay, yet you complain. If you like, you can continue to pay more--and all you owe--to the IRS under the current tax code so they can keep more of YOUR money.
"Furthermore, most believe the bill will benefit the wealthy, in general, and Trump and his family, in particular."
Perhaps "understand" would be a better word than "believe" in this context. It would indicate that those people get the facts. "Believe" suggests an emotional response that could change with the wind. Otherwise, another excellent article.
3
The Republicans couldn't pass a new healthcare bill so now they have passed a wealthcare tax bill that benefits the members of society who need least need tax relief. Actually it's wealthfare.
3
I just realize that I forget to add 1988, the year that the debt reached $2.6 trillions. My apology.
Perhaps Charles can explain how the "rich" benefit from the cap of $10,000 for the SALT deduction. That doesn't even cover MY property taxes. And by the way, perhaps some liberal could define "rich".
I sincerely doubt that CB could explain the tax bill, or that he has read it. And I'm certain that the commentariat has not read the bill but instead, as usual, relies on the lefties in the MSM to tell them what to think.
Personally, I have my doubts about the tax bill. On the surface, simplification of personal income taxes sounds good as does lower rates. However, the real question will be the effect of reducing the deductions for state and local taxes.
And on the surface reducing corporate tax rates sounds like a good idea. If businesses have a lower tax burden they may be more inclined to invest that many and as a by product create more jobs. More jobs should mean more competition for labor which should drive wages up. However, whether the investment will go to more jobs and higher wages or to more automation we don't know and as far as I know there is nothing in the tax bill that provides an incentive to corporations to create more jobs.
In theory, the smart thing for the economy is to create more jobs with higher wages which means more consumers with disposable incomes that they are willing to spend on more products and services. Time will tell on that.
But the left reflexively gags when taxes are lowered whether or not the tax cuts make sense. The thought of less $$$ to manage and fewer favors to grant troubles democrats. So I hear a lot of the left chorusing that the tax bill is horrific but no proof other than the same tired rhetoric.
2
And I hear a lot of how this same-old trickle down approach will create jobs, raise living standards, and increase wages when every other time this has been tried (Reagan 1981, Kansas 2012, and many times in between) it has failed to do ANY of those things. Better off listening to slightly slanted news from the left than outright lies from the right. Deficit hawks, now was the time to come to the aid of your country. What's that? You were lying about deficit crises to scare your base and make Dems look bad? Paging Bob Corker, paging Bob Corker...
1
Enjoy that $10,000 SALT limitation in your Connecticut domicile, one of the highest taxed states in the country( I used to live there ), wonderfully delivered to you by your good buddies in the G.O.P.! Time to party, Ralphie!
2
John -- yeah, CT has ridiculously high taxes -- brought to you by the dems. And I see very little in return. The streets and highways are a mess, the trains, well they finally upgraded the train cars but the liens themselves? And I live in a town that has a city gym -- great price break --- it's about $10 a month. But, why should anyone's taxes go to pay for a gym? And let's not forget the network of electric charging stations put in across the state so Tesla drivers can charge up on the tax payer's dime. So maybe the right answer is CT lowering their tax rate. In fact, maybe the new fed tax rules will force high tax states to lower their rates in order to remain competitive.
wcdevins -- I think the evidence for trickle down depends on whether you are pre=disposed to believe it works or not. And I have my doubts as noted that lower tax rates for corporations are going to lead to more jobs. But let's assume more people do get jobs and wages go up. What's not to like about that. And you can see plenty of evidence here in commuter land CT. When NYC is rolling along, particularly the financial services industry, the commuters (the number increases as jobs go up) get more $$$. They in turn spend more in the towns where they live -- from going out to eat, to buying stuff in stores or to making home improvements etc. And when jobs shrink in NYC, the opposite occurs.
The tax heist is every bit as bad as you describe, if not worse. There has been a great deal of publicity of the 'standard deduction doubling' and silence on the elimination of 'exemptions'. The standard deduction being doubled is nominally marginally better than the loss of the exemption, except if your are a senior who lost just two exemptions! This is part of the 'shell game' the republicans are playing, with OUR money.
3
Yiur money? Everyone is getting a tax cut proportionate to their earnings. If you get little, you're definitely not paying anything. So quit that nonsense calling other people's money your money. You're only getting back what is your share, too bad socialists like you want to appropriate other people's money. Its over now.
1
Watch closely as Trump's poll numbers continue to inch upward, as more and more people see that a rising tide does indeed lift all boats. The lesson I take from all this is how utterly unhappy democrats are as a group. On pure principle, you will refuse to give this president any quarter at all, even though you must admit that he may be the only president in our lifetime that has actually delivered on his campaign promises. The economy was rescued from the brink that Obama steered it toward, and major corporations responded to the tax break by giving massive amounts of cash away to their employees, and some of them were surely anti-Trumpers. I wonder if they're principled enough to refuse the bonuses. I highly doubt it.
A one-time bonus is not an increase in ongoing wages.
2
Rising tide has NEVER lifted all boats with trickle-down economics. Watch as Trump slides beneath the cesspool he created after promising to drain it. The author just told you this bill will ship MORE jobs overseas; yeah, Trump supporters are gonna be happy with that. True, they'll listen to Fox News lies about imagined job increases at home rather than the truth, but that's what's always kept the Republicans in power - lying to a gullible working class.
2
The worst part of this tax heist is that in refunding Republican donors the money that they "gave" to the Trump campaign, the money is actually coming out of the pockets of those of us who live on the two coasts...largely Democratic strongholds. I am personally furious at the thought that when I pay my taxes next year, I'm actually writing out the check to the Koch brothers and to Sheldon Adelson. If ever there was a reason to join in a tax revolt, this is it.
3
This bill is a complete hoax and sadly most Americans do not even know it yet. The population is fed on sound bites and just read deeply divided headlines that perpetuate the cycle. If our government representatives have not read the details, how can we expect the people to? It is so interesting to me that the person touting all its benefits is someone who refuses to be transparent about his own taxes and the entire GOP fall right in line. They are irresponsible and only looking towards their own positions and status. A complete disgrace. The only people who will benefit are the people who can afford to pay accountants (and the accountants) to figure it all out and get the max out of it. In the same week this bill was approved, my health insurance costs went up 11 per cent with out any explanation. So my tremendous tax cut trickles on down to the insurance companies. Great.
4
Yesterday was my 66th birthday. As I watched the 11 Republican lawmakers on the steps of the White House bestowing lavish praise upon their beloved leader, I thought I was being gifted with a new skit on Saturday Night Live. Realizing it was not comedy TV was nauseating. Their display of hypocrisy and self-serving interest was ridiculously transparent. There was a grinning Paul Ryan finally reaching his ultimate goal of tax reform after disavowing candidate Trump's Access Hollywood and coily disapproving him throughout his first year
.
I had to ask myself if they were being paid or was it just a cunning way to pave the path for their future so-called agenda.
12
We are already running annual budget deficits which are rolled into the national debt. Adding 1.5T over ten years adds 1.5T to the debt on top of the amount already being produced by deficit spending.
Too many press reports fail to discriminate between annual deficits and the national debt. 1.5B (on average) or more will be added to annual budget deficits that end up as national debt. Think about that - this tax "spending" will produce nothing for the common good.
A few bonuses here and there by Trump loving corporations won't hide the fact that corporations and the wealthy are the winners in all this. Ultimately, though, what will they be inheriting along with their newfound wealth? What kind of country?
6
Short-term, for many Americans that are not wealthy, their goose is cooked. What happens long-term (November 2018 and beyond) depends on how well-informed they are. You can bet that before all the poison pills start to kick in, the airwaves will be saturated with ads and Fox programming touting how great the tax cuts are for you. It's up to the media as a whole and the Democratic Party in particular to get ahead of this propaganda. Knowing the Dems' poor messaging skills, they could yet snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
12
"Exquisite presidential leadership" said Speaker Ryan at the love fest for our commander-in-Thief, Donald Trump, re passage of his tax bill yesterday. Bitter pills to swallow, Charles Blow, and now we Americans need pain management and palliative care as our democracy dies under the "exquisite" leadership of Trump.
Lining the pockets of the aleady rich - corruption personified in the Republicans - who could not obey their moral imperatives and vote no yesterday. You call this "the great American tax heist", Charles Blow. Your words are the least pejorative you could use to frame this "tremendous and fantastic" Christmas gift from the most execrable president in American History.
Meanwhile,warmest greetings of the season to you and yours and to all the good people of our dear country. Coal and oil in the stockings of the ultra-rich Trump supporters - the death by a thousand cuts of our times.
24
This column would be more convincing if the author hadn't made his mind up before reading the bill.
4
And how, pray tell, would that make him different from every single Republican who voted for this thing?
1
And once it hits you—you’ll also be convinced. Somehow I feel you’d believe anything Trump said. Real Americans know who the Trumpistas are and find you an ignorant, easily duped group of people. What a waste of gravity.
2
You belong on those steps with the other crooks and liars in Washington DC.
1
It seems to me that the Republicans have seen the writing on the wall in the past few special elections. The Republican candidate lost that election in a traditionally Republican stronghold or just barely won it. So looking forward, those Repbulicans in congress anticipate being voted out of office or losing their majority position. Thus, they have decided to line their own pockets and those of their "sponsors" with as much money as they can before their failed tenure as the governing party comes to a close.
17
And Jesus went into the House of Congress and cast out all them that sold and bought in the Congress and overthrew the tables and their seats and said unto them this house shall be called the House of the People but ye have made it a den of thieves.
18
Democrats, if they are paying attention, now have a clear platform to run on. They should all learn to state it in words of one syllable:
1. Take back the fat cats' tax cuts.
2. Raise the minimum wage (the Repubs all say wages will rise anyway with their new corporate tax cut, so how can they argue against it?)
3. Save Social Security by taxing rich folks' wages at the same rate as the rest of us instead of far less (lift the "cap")
It needs to be this simple to cut through the lies and distractions Trump and his party are so good at. It remains to be seen whether Dems can focus enough to do this.
32
It is hard to decide which is more disgusting -- the massive upward re-distribution of wealth from the have-nots to the want-it-alls, or the sickening sycophantic adulation of Kim Jong Trump by the President's Cabinet followed by the public confessions of faith and fealty by the Republican Congress. The only things lacking were chests full of gaudy gold medals. I was almost expecting Mike Pence to kneel before his idol and kiss Trump's hand And Orrin Hatch is old enough to know better.
I realize that the GOP Reps, and Sens were probably just taking a page from the Putin playbook and handling their Presidential "asset" through flattery to be more cooperative with their Congressional goals.
What have we become?
27
Mr. Blow,
I are so thankful for you. You have integrity and do not mind telling it as it is.
Jodie Mercier
15
This is literally sickening. And completely undeniable. I am ashamed to live in a country where the guiding principle of the ruling party is pure Greed. Just as sad is the fact that the Greed is put into power by people whose minds are so numbed by reality TV that they actually think they're going to be helped out by the Greedy. They are fooled by the prayers, the promises, the lies and the spectacle. The combination of greed and ignorance does not bode well for our future as a country.
30
December 20, 2017,..... a date that will live in infamy.
18
We been Scrooged.
13
I keep thinking that the nation has been thoroughly infected with some variant of Mad Cow disease. You, know, that awful malady that destroys brain tissue due to prions or something. Maybe someone with the know-how will look into it before it's too late.
22
You know the commercial "the Zombies are coming". They are here and voted for Donald Trump and the other republicans.
1
America is now officially a banana republic.
Rich donors control disproportionately large part of the wealth. and they own everyone of the congress critters who voted for this "fleece the gullible" tax bill. Congress no longer responds to the electorate. Legalized bribery and a legislative body that responds only to this bribery is the very definition of banana republic. A few very rich families own and control almost everything.
1/3 of the electorate is gullible. They witnessed the entire dog and pony show, but will still continue supporting the same politicians. Only 2 weeks ago 800 thousand voted for an erratic, unhinged, pedophile.
2/3 can understand and are against this con job. Will they actually vote in the next election cycle? ~40% did not vote in 2016 in the face of the blatantly obvious threat that is trump.
Publish trump's taxes for Pluto's sake. Trump is a tax cheat, where does he get off involving himself in tax legislation?
Does the emoluments clause mean anything any more? Trump is accepting money into his businesses from foreign governments.
28
Americans whine about everything, but the majority vote for Republicans or Neo-liberals like the Clintons, who consistently spit in their faces. I used to think that if we fought hard enough things would get better. Wrong. Since my days as a community organizer all I see is a totally corrupt government and ignorant people who keep the leaches in office. I now realize that all those years I worked so hard to keep the ship from sinking were a waste of time. It was simply naivete' on my part. I have lost all hope and question why I even drag myself around the corner to the polling place. Remember how this country got started? It was all about taxation without representation. We have now come full circle. Most of us pay taxes, but unless we are rich and can pay to play, we have no representation anymore. Land of the free and home of the brave? What a sick joke.
11
Please vote. Trump is in the White House because 40% of Americans got complacent. As far as Trumps 30% continued supporters go—you can’t fix stupid. If those of us with a brain and critical thinking skills vote in ALL elections; we can overturn this administration and get rid of Trump. With consistent voting—even decisions like Citizens United can be disposed of. Have a glass of wine or whiskey to soothe today AND be prepared to fight tomorrow.
1
Here is how public perception is manipulated and distorted: even on NPR I heard the following from a Mississippi tugboat operator - that lower taxes will allow him to expand his business with access to greater capital. The radio host just "nodded along," asking no real questions about this idea and the implied thesis that tax cuts will improve the economy and create jobs. How does buying more tugboats increase the need for shipping on the Mississippi? At best it will move jobs from one operator to another. How does shrinking the government payroll and the ability to contract for infrastructure improvement do anything but add to the layoffs count? These basic questions remain unexplored, on a daily basis, by our craven and co-opted press corps, as we move down the road of national delusion towards, if we don't change, an outcome resembling the fascist dictatorships of Japan, Germany and Italy in the last century. All those disastrous movements were fueled by delusions of national superiority and a disconnect from reality.
Mr. Blow is an army of one. Valorous, but where are his colleagues?
29
I would remind readers that Trump bragged to the country during the campaign that he was probably the only person who could make money out of the presidency. In this, he was correct. The federal and foreign funds that flow into his golf clubs and hotels already have enriched both him and his family. With this tax bill he will stand to gain even more. His followers are apparently OK with all this even though they elected him to "drain the swamp". Apparently, you CAN fool some of the people ALL of the time.
26
These are the people that were chosen by the American electorate. Most Americans believe in magic things which explains why they are so weak and easily cowed. Although, one must consider that perhaps many are masochists and wish for cruel masters. Regardless, it is what the voters wanted. The GOP has always been honest about who they actually serve. They serve the wealthy and corporations. It has never been different in this and the last century. The carnage that comes is deserved by the people.
11
The racial, sexual and religious divide in our nation is the most significant reason why the Republican party is capable of such outrageous, heartless and greed induced action. Until we do something to reduce this chasm, Republicans will continue to focus on far less important social issues in an effort to widen the divide. Recent events make it clear that voters will support major policies that are undeniably harmful to them as long as they are assured that their party will continue to attack Blacks, Latinos, Muslims and the LGBT community.
10
Comforting to know that a new Democratic Congress, and president, will immediately put an end to all these destructive, and falsely advertised issues, as soon as 2020. Grassroots! Take back the state legislatures, then the federal government. Impeach. Remove.
p.s. I just love the crumbs being tossed to the peons, by banks and other multi-national concerns, to make it look like they will use their windfall to benefit the little guys. Thanks for the lousy thousand bucks, but that's not nearly enough to make up for the last 30 years.
11
The bank execs tossed you $1000 to shut you up and keep you from grabbing the torches and pitchforks and marching up to the gates of their mansions ripping them down and dragging them out of their beds. We'll see how long that holds back the mobs.
3
Is it a "Heist"?
Yes, undoubtedly, with the coup de grace yet to come when they start hacking away at the social safety net. This is just the appetizer, believe me.
But what many of my Democratic allies and friends can never seem to grasp is why so many people who stand to get hammered by this bill continue to support this shameless, brazen charlatan and con man extraordinaire.
They are rooting for the villain, because as bad and morally bankrupt as he is, they perceive him as a "winner". He takes what he wants, and doesn't care what anybody thinks.
Many of these people understand their situation better than most of us upstanding, morally and intellectually superior Democrats allow ourselves to believe.
They understand and accept that the rich get richer and the poor are always going to be hanging on by their fingernails. They are not waiting for or expecting a miraculous handout from the government to transform their lives.
So if they get a few "crumbs" from this plan, they're pretty happy about it, they weren't expecting a miracle in the first place.
And they enjoy living vicariously through Trump and his increasingly insane and inane antics, the greatest movie anti-hero ever come to life.
On some level, they understand the fantasy that they are buying is better than any reality they are likely to ever experience.
This isn't about "dollars and cents", and until we come to grips with that, guys like Trump will continue to clean our clocks.
9
Well done, Mr. Blow. As far as I understand this bill, my taxes will come out the same. But the country won't. The United States will not be safe until the Republican Party is reduced to a smoking ruin.
15
Well, I totally agree, but it also has some people doing some truly goofy things --- like Orrin Hatch, who help write the legislation for CHIP with Sen. Kennedy, under Clinton. He's on TV stating they don't have enough money to fund the program? But, we have money for tax cuts? Don't most learn or understand to feed the kids first? And Sen. Grassley is accepting money from the beer wholesalers while telling Iowans we drink too much, and I'm beginning to believe, evidently, not enough! If you are trying to get our goat --- it's yours, you can have it.
10
Only the unborn "kids" come first.
2
When are we taking to the streets?
13
We will be taking to the streets with the Women's March. Join us.
1
To think, we used to elect people with Charles Blow's eloquence.
17
Does anyone remember this line from the 2016 Presidential Campaign: "I know how the tax code is rigged for the rich (I helped rig it that way), and only me, can fix it because I know how it works...." DJT said it to the cheering applause of working class people who pay for the infrastructure that his gold plated jet(s) land on, that he doesn't and proudly doesn't pay for. He never released his tax returns and he never will.
Anyway what many of his supporters are going to find out, is that the GOP believes in socialism for the rich, and capitalism for everyone other than the rich. Yesterday's rally at the White House was the finale in the counter-revolution (The Bum Deal to offset the New Deal) launched by Ronald Reagan where government is a friend and benefactor of the rich and the powerful and the enemy of everyone who is not rich.
Senators Murkowski and Collins blocked the repeal of the ACA twice, only to vote for a back-door repeal of the ACA with this tax cut.
Does anyone remember during the first term of the Obama administration Congressmen like Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, Jim Boehner were whinging about how Obama was going to turn America into Greece? Were they sincere or were they a bunch of two faced hypocrites who only care about the deficit when a Democrat is in power?
Did Trump inveigh that Obama was incompetent because he presided over a country with $16T in debt?
Deficits only matter Charles, to Republicans when Democrats are in charge.
MAGA
16
Those who felt physically ill viewing the Rose Garden ceremony yesterday raise their hands.
"Exquisite presidential leadership... possibly go down as the greatest president ever...the president has raised restored credibility on the world stage..."
Pence, Ryan, Hatch and the rest: inexecrable.
17
Evil is as evil does.
Every smarmy grinning face in this picture is to be remembered, to be burned into memory, so come election time they can be told that stealing from the poor to give to the hateful rich is not American, it is Russian.
To have an American oligarch, Trump, run our country for himself and for Putin, and not do anything about it, is not American, it is Russian.
I don't like Republican rich people, I just don't. Greed transforms them into inhuman creatures of a different age, the time of Pharaohs. This is sickening.
People will die without housing, without health care, without a sense they are seen as loved and needed members of our country. May each and every one of these people one day learn the Lee Atwater lesson...we are one and the suffering of the poor visits the rich and greedy as well.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
17
I do not doubt for a moment the veracity of anything Mr. Blow claims. However, the people responsible for this WILL go unpunished. Many WILL be re-elected and some of those who aren't will be replaced by worse versions. It is the drama, indeed the death of democracy that in the end only numbers count and this only regarding election results. 2 idiots weigh double what 1 genius weighs. Insight into the consequences of an election choice is not necessary to be allowed to pull that lever or put that cross. Add to this the increasingly partisan and vindictive reporting in the media, and the plutocrats have free reign. All "democratic" and above board, with the active complicity of the people themselves.
3
This giveaway is so brazen . . .its rationale so thin. Polling data and scholarship suggest that a broad swath of the public isn't buying this so called re-distribution of wealth.
Recent legislative victories for democrats suggest a smoldering fire of resistance that may increase in intensity by November 2018.
Given the lack of courage shown by republicans (Corker is one notable example), I suspect they may be first in line to throw Trump under the bus once the body politic begins to train their fire on them.
For now though, Trump is that useful idiot that is running interference for them, while they take what they can.
8
The allegedly progressive liberal Democratic Party Clinton's and Obama's are off making and counting their many millions "earned" from their "public service" and cheering this Republican Party Congressional beneficial tax steal.
The Democrats and the Republicans take turns being gangster grifters for their 99% caste class when it comes to robbing the poor and giving to the rich including fake people aka corporations one malign tax steal at a time.
1
Once again, you've got your finger on the pulse and you've nailed it with precision, Mr. Blow. Thank you.
Viva La Resistance!
6
What this columnist knows about tax policy is about as in depth as what Weinstein knows about chivalry. But, having spoken to his accountant he does know that as one of the upper 10%, his tax bill is going up...way up...as his voluminous deductions go down...way down. And thus folks, the source of his dyspepsia. As to the ludicrous and outlandish opines he regularly colors outside the lines hereabouts, well that is not a matter for his accountants. More likely a discussion on a professional couch. Soon to be non-deductible. Happy days!
1
They couldn't act in such haste to fix the the section of the Voting Rights Act that was negated by our Supreme Court. This is a sick, sick, sick country we live in.
9
"throwing crumbs to the masses as the millionaires and billionaires make off with the cake"
I would put it more forcefully. The Republicans have broken into my house and looted all the cash and valuables. and now they're drinking up the liquor, smashing the bottles on the floor and vomiting on the sofa. And I'm left to clean up the mess.
13
Mr. Blow, predictably, offers no opinion or talking point which hasn't been floated by the DNC to multiple media outlets in the past few weeks. The only original angle is repackaging of cherry-picked snippets from Mr. Blow's (apparently very narrow) reading list into an extremist's lump of partisan coal. Every motive of every Republican is evil. Donald Trump is a devil. Every media outlet (if he agrees) is absolutely truthful and objective. Bottom line: if you are going to go on a one-sided rant, at least have something novel (fact, quote, thought...) to offer rather than one-dimensional cartoon cutouts.
1
Watching , for a brief time, the obnoxious fawning by Republican dimwits over
this "our great leader" , was the most nauseating thing I've experienced ever.
It is a disgrace to our country, a travesty and a frightening turn we are taking
toward authoritarian rule. Not to mention the daily lies and plundering that
is in our midst.perpetrated by this president. The ugliness in our government now that is rampant, festering and tearing at our democracy must be exposed,
fought and ultimately destroyed before we lose our country. Oh, the shame of it.!!
7
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. No one likes being played the fool over and over again and these GOP Lawmakers that went along and voted for this tax bill will now pay the price at re-election time. I predict a major exodus of Republican lawmakers in the midterm voting next November. And as for GOP Senators Cork and a Flake who’ve said they’re not seeking re-election who got to you ? Did you fall for simple bribery or have you been blackmailed ? We no longer have true representation in Congress and we the voters will need to drain the swamp ourselves
3
Key sentence, Trump is feeding us to the gators. What do call it when you kill someone trying to push you into a gator filled swamp, or in front of an approaching train? As any good gun loving Republican would tell you, it would be justifiable self defense.
6
Thieves in Suits, the story continues...
2
How ironic - this Liar-in-Chief deceived his voters by proclaiming that he would "drain the swamp" but instead created a cesspool, diseased further by the ravenous bodies entrenched, his and the Ryan's, McConnell's, and, yes, the Collin's and their ilk.
How pathetic that he threw his followers, and us, under the bus when he ranted against Wall Street, how sad that his voters believed him. Those folks in the Rust Belt are probably thinking, What about those jobs, my kids, my parents, our health?
We have allowed and cheered on this amoral, soulless group to construct its Golden Calf, to adore and worship. But it is not real, folks. It can be shattered metaphorically by the false premises by which it was created. Unfortunately, the shards will rain upon us. Where is Moses now?
4
Repubs endlessly flogged Obamacare. Dems need to take a page from their book: never stop talking about this and yes, demonize those who voted for it.
3
"Appease the rich on the front end; punish the poor on the back. Feed the weak to the strong."
So *that's* the reason so many wealthy New Yorkers are squealing like stuck pigs about limiting SALT deductions to $10K/year? Insightful analysis as always, Chuck.
How is keeping MY money that I work for a heist?
22
If you work for your money instead of your money working for you then you are being robbed by paying for the privileged plutocrats. They get to take your money and keep theirs.
9
Because there working to take your medicare and social security away. They give you a couple of nickels now and take away your future security and well being.
That is why it is a blatant heist.
Why can you not see that ???
Please disregard this post if you are a wealthy plutocrat and benefit by this tax scam.
9
Haven't you ever heard the saying "give with one hand and take wit the other"?
Don't be fooled by a few extra dollars in your take home pay (temporarily).
The amount you will see in your paycheck will be completely negated by the hit that the Republicans will ultimately make to social programs that you and friends and loved ones depend upon. I hope you have a large stockpile of funds to pay for eldercare for a sick parent or a truckload of dollars to pay for a devastating illness. Welcome to the dog-eat-dog world that the republicans and their doors want to create. No bright future for the common working person. Save your pennies - you'll need them.
9
This is the whole reason for Trump to be president. The tax cut gives him a huge tax cut. As these pass through businesses are going to be a new source of tax evasion by the wealthy. There is absolute confusion on what this all represents but it was a quickly thrown together mess whose sole purpose was to get through with as little scrutiny as possible.
7
As Wimpy, the great philosopher and Popeye characte, so aptly stated-
"I'll gladly repay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."
Having replaced the noble elephant, Wimpy becomes the new standard bearer for the GOP.
85
Since you apparently don't like the new tax bill, I know that you will be principled and protest by not applying any of the tax cuts to your personal tax return. You will continue to pay--your money--all that you owe the IRS under the current tax code. In fact, I know that you will make an extra donation to the government to make up for all the lost revenue. Right?
Of course he will continue to pay his taxes. That's what honest people do. That you think he would not indicates you are a so-called "conservative Republican" and expect others to have as low ethics as your fellow Republicans.
2
His ego is too big for egalitarianism, and his heart too small for it. - awesome
3
This tax bill is not only detrimental to the Poor and Middle Class. Even if the super rich, who are benefiting from this further redistribution of wealth, think they have robbed the bank and gotten away with it, they still require medical research in order to obtain the highest quality healthcare. They still want to drink clean water, breath clean air, fly on safe planes, or ride on safe trains, drive on well maintained and uncrowded roads and bridges, and live in a country where consumers can afford to buy the products or services that have made them so wealthy. Mr Trump may have succeeded in enriching himself, his family, and his friends, but the joke is on all those who voted for him in order to improve their lives. Is his lying, bigotry, and nationalism really worth what he has done to all of us, with the help of a morally bankrupt Republican Party?
3
Sean Hannity seems to be worried that we are descending to the status of a banana republic. Too late . Sean, we are already there! Where else would one see such praise to a glorious leader as from the Republicans following the passage of this bill?
7
It has been clear for decades that the GOP disdains the very same people who continue to vote them into office. The avarice is unfathomable. The willfull ignorance of their base is staggering.
4
If you don't have a seat at the table, it means you're on the menu. Bon appetit, billionaires!
7
This could be the beginning of the end of our democracy and the start of rule by the oligarchs. Just as in Russia! God help us all.
3
Why do you think Putin helped Trump win?
The Donald "ducks" his tax bill.
The rich think big, the poor think small - if at all.
1
They do not have time, since they are often working two jobs at minimum pay and in medical need of help they cannot afford.
1
One hopes the Ryan/McConnell blather will be seen as self-serving nonsense, but the payout to the wealthy wackos supporting the dismantling of democracy will be largely unseen, invisible. Maybe a few more Lamborghinis, but the benefitted are <1% of the population and much of their conspicuous consumption will take place in off-shore oases for the very rich. Not too many of us there to observe. Maybe the Times can report on these plutocrats the way they cover the marriages of the very well-to-do??
6
This bill speaks volumes about the character of a government that rejoices over shifting greater wealth to the rich at the expense of working peoples' quality of life and health care.
1
From 1776 to 1981, the USA, under the Continental Congress and the 39 administrations from Washington to Carter ended up with a national debt of $998 billions in September 1981. Then came the tax cut of Ronald Reagan which was supposed to generate so much economic activity that there will be no deficit and therefore no increase in the debt. Well on September 30 the debt reached $2.6 trillions. So let see what will happen?
And here the new slogan in Washington (inspire by the Gettysburg speech of President Lincoln): Government of the millionnaires, by the millionnaires, for the millionnaires.
4
The tax bill is indeed nothing less than a coup. Not the old-fashioned type with a disaffected general and a handful of tanks. This one, crafted in secret in the dead of night--as all coups are--has saddled the American public with a debt load that will require cuts to much we hold near and dear. And like all coups, this one was done with a lot of hoorays-for-us and here's-some-goodies handouts. How on earth could this happen? The America I love--loved; the America for whom I went to war; the America whose flag I fly--flew--proudly: gone. It is a time for weeping. And then a time for getting on our collective feet and throwing the bums out.
8
And on another note: what's up with Tim Scott??
Whenever Republicans trot themselves out before the cameras, especially when trump is center stage, he is always out in front even though he's a relatively inconsequential senator. Senate Republicans seem to treat him like a token and he appears to embrace that role. It's kind of embarrassing, not that any of these people are capable of shame, though. Jus' sayin'.
8
1.5 trillion-dollars stolen. The stolen money will mainly go to the very rich and to businesses. With my significant middle-class income, my family looks like it will receive about $1,600 a year of the stolen money. With people like me, the dilemma is whether to keep the stolen money or donate it? The Republicans are shrewd enough to involve almost all the citizens in this thievery. Then where is our moral authority?
2
Thank you, Mr. Blow. Although I don't see a remedy any time soon, thank you for at least pointing out that the middle class, poor, elderly and sick have been left behind -- again. Rachel Maddow had a chart the other night that people might take a look at -- the ideal, the what-we-think, and the reality of the income distribution in America. It was frightening and shameful. And now, with the passage of the tax bill, the republicans and trump have made the reality much worse. Shame. Shame. Shame.
1
Paul Ryan already stated that the goal in 2018 is to go after "entitlements." He said this on CBS yesterday. I don't know who coined the word "entitlements" but I look at my pay stubs and see SS taxes withheld. If Paul Ryan wants to go after SS benefits than before he does that I want him to cut me a check in the amount of all the SS taxes I have paid in my 40+ years of working. Instead of going after SS and Medicare maybe he and the rest of his right wing robber barons should start cutting the biggest welfare program of all - the Pentagon budget.
6
Entitlements are exactly that, something you are entitled to. The Republicans have managed to twist the word to mean its exact opposite. Orwell would be proud.
Wordsmithing is the one area where the GOP excels; without it they would be in a permanent wilderness. Democrats take note.
1
I find it amusing, and actually baffling, that so many liberals find it so horrible that the "wealthy", whatever that means, are allowed to keep more of their own money. No one is giving them anything, they are just keeping more of what they earn. It's theirs. It doesn't belong to you. They are still paying a higher rate than others, which is wrong in itself.
1
This feels more like the sequel to Lord of the Flies than a "tax bill". Or maybe Marie Antoinette when asked about the poor - let the eat tax cuts! I haven't heard anyone lately talking about the Laffer Curve, but this is essentially what the Republicans are arguing. Another page out of the Reagan (second worst president) play book. But we all know this is just the initial salvo in the "starve the beast" end game. Party on like it's 1929.
4
The con game that congressional Republicans and Donald Trump are playing would make Bernie Madoff and the three-card monte crowd from Times Square blush at their own small-ball inadequacy.
2
It's sad to watch the GOP electorate. They can't see the overriding systemic and global issues involved but focus solely on their tribal and personal contexts. Their conditioned mantra of "they earned it, they should keep it," appropriate for a functioning economy, sounds childish in the context of the national inequity and power grabbing capitalist movers and shakers of todays USA. Enjoy your $40 a month while the billionaires pull out and control more and more national assets. Educate the dumb third.
2
"Most Americans see through this charade."
Most Americans have their heads stuck in the ground. "Hear no evil! See no evil!" Experience no evil - moi addition.
I hate to disagree with you Charles, especially since the editorial as a whole is well written, factual and to the point. In this part of town, (Texas) it's more obvious. The cultural heritage is different than the North East or other places where the huddled masses stuffed into crowded cities. Out on the prairie one needed a strong sense of independence, a bible and a good rifle to survive. All needed a strong back in those days past.
Unfortunately after the Zirp bubble breaks, the asset bubble will to. The dollar will have to become worthless to overcome our ever increasing debt. I seriously doubt that the bible crowd will turn to he bible, and demand a year of Jubilee!
1
"Most Americans see through this charade. According to a CNN/SSRS poll released this week, most Americans disapprove of the tax bill. Furthermore, most believe the bill will benefit the wealthy, in general, and Trump and his family, in particular."
So, Mr. Blow, the American people will reject the "charade" in 2018 and 2020, right?
Please forgive my cynicism, but this was coming since Ronald the Dimwit declared government the problem. It seems he was prescient though, the people were the government and it is evident that the people are the problem.
Please convince me that the American people will suddenly do the right thing. After all, their future is in their hands.
2
mr blow is right, but he's spitting into the wind. i think, more than most western democracies, that the American electorate is easily led into what its betters want for them. in the past 40 years especially, any vote for a republican as potus has been a vote against the vast majority's self interest.
3
Crumbs from our table
Scraps from our plates
They'll fill you. Up.
Bet you can't wait.
We work hard for our millions
Yet, look what we do.
Despite your bad spending,
We care about you.
If we had more, more, more,
Imagine our garbage bins.
Just slip through the gates,
And fill up your tins.
The fault is yours,
If you aren't rich as us.
We do whatever it takes,
Throw morals under the bus.
2
This was an attack on our country as meticulous as 9/11. Terrorists have infiltrated our democracy.
9
Isn't it "stealing from the rich to feed the poor"? I'm confused.
As always--well said and thank you---and wasn't it equally obscene and arrogant of them to be cheering such--not just for the obvious reasons of its contents--but also for the fact that no process of collaboration occurred. They are the bully cheering at the destruction of a less-able other. They have no dignity. None.
2
And what happens, Charles, to criminals who brazenly commit "great heists". They get CAUGHT! These corrupt, bought and paid for Republicans have already been well-observed with their greedy little hands in the cookie jar before our Fake President affixed his scribble to the final loathsome product. Public outrage over the millionaire/billionaire/corporate giveaway will only heighten in the coming months.
In the denouement, the better odds are that Republicans will lose their majority in one, if not both houses of Congress, Trump's approval polling will plunge to the mid to low twentieth percentile, and his "base" will experience significant shrinkage. Americans will, in the near future, be able to gather round and toss this tax monster where it belongs, into the garbage bin. Let's bring back that unifying, optimistic, national directive issued a decade ago by a real leader: HOPE!
Who knew that Trump and the R's were revolutionaries.."A lie told often enough becomes a truth" -Vladimir Lenin. The R's have joined at the hip with a person of profound ignorance with an acute psychotic disorder to achieve their diabolic goals; retain power at all costs.
There is simply no rational basis to add $1.5 trillion to our indebtedness to foreign powers to finance a tax cut for the weathiest 1% of our population. It is corruption at its worst.
3
You do realize everyone gets a cut, right? So what if the people who pay the most taxes get the biggest cut. Apparently Charles thinks there are thousands of billionaires in the country.
Don't forget the really long game started with the Tea Party monkey wrench and the buying up of State governments:
Weaken and decentralize the federal government so that it is toothless in domestic affairs.
The Civil War continues . . .
4
Happy Birthday to Larry...keep it up
As bad as this legislation is, it is at the same time grist for the Democrats who should be licking their chops for the 2018 election cycle. If the majority of our fellow citizens really disapprove, it’s time to challenge the people who voted for this piece of trash: Even though they can make a case amongst themselves, they’ll be taking heat from the voters as they try to keep their cushy jobs. Time for term limits.
I look forward to Trump going to prison. Many, many people are talking about how Trump finances his businesses with Russian oligarch funds (laundering dirty money) and that forensic accountants are hard at work to detail his crimes. Even both of Trump's sons said Russian money was largely driving the Trump businesses. We have the world-class, liar-in-chief POTUS Trump say that the recent tax plan would cost him a "fortune".... a whopper of a lie even for him. In the America I know, such an obvious lie, such a blatant slap in the face to people who expect to be led by someone looking after the best interests of all the people and not a select group, would indicate the POTUS is unfit, unbalanced, delusional. Yes, the greed is obvious but the lack of trust is so clear that Trump is a danger to the republic. A shameless, greedy liar should not represent this strong and generous nation. I trust Trump's crimes will catch up to him soon. An example must be set or we will be even more vulnerable to further election tampering and future leaders who think it is OK to profit from the presidency while undermining democracy.
4
"Tax heist" is the right term. Trump and the Republican leaders aren't "conservatives" or ideologues of any sort. They're gangsters, pure and simple -- blatant, dishonest, unscrupulous, and completely self-serving. Most real estate developers are like that, so Trump's thuggishnes is no surprise, and much of the Republican party was taken over by "made men" some time ago, so it's a perfect marriage, as is the marriage with Putin, another thug. None of this is America. In America people like this belong behind bars, and I dearly hope that's where they will end up next year. I hope Mueller and the voters will be merciless in removing and convicting them. Otherwise there will be no America left.
3
"This rabble you’re talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath?" George Bailey, It's A Wonderful Life
Apparently it is. I'd say it is time for a general strike, but the problem is that most Americans cannot make it two weeks without a paycheck. And the greater problem is that the plutocracy knows that. If disguised indentured servitude is your thing the US is your country, and the GOP your party. Minimum wage? How about minimum wages. But, bootstraps, and all that.
2
My only question is why aren't we in the streets.
341
That's right, go to the streets dummy, don't only protest, give back all of your pay check. As it turns out, you dont have the first clue about personal finance. That's right government can help you spend your money for you. But why do I have a feeling that you'll not be forfeiting your own portion of this tax cut, hypocrite?
People are too busy working and keeping their heads barely above water.
And many others have their noses in their phones obsessed with games, social media and movies/tv. Electronically medicated.
2
"Why aren't Infifty points ahead right now?"
They are coming next to decimate the Commons. Enjoy it while you can, citizens. Authoritarianism and austerity have come to replace our democracy. I dearly hope we eventually find a way to recover, but right now, most of us aren't even aware of what we're facing.
174
We are a divided limited power Constitutional Republic of 50 united sovereign states plus the District of Columbia. We are not nor were we ever intended to be a democracy.
The Founding Fathers so feared democracy that they only considered white men who owned property to be persons. But even they were only allowed to directly elect their representative in the House of Representatives who only served two years.
If you don't know what kind of country you have then all is lost. You are the darkness.
1
I think the Corker Kickback is probably coincidence. McConnell only needed to apply some well reasoned pressure and Corker was going to fold. Here's a similar question: Did you ever believe Marco Rubio was going to withhold his vote on the legislation over the children's tax credit? How about Mike Lee over family incentives? Susan Collins and health care? Ron Johnson and small business? The list goes on.
They were all just asking for an excuse. In effect, they were saying I'm going to get destroyed next election if I don't have something to show I tried. Susan Collins is probably the worst example because the assurances she received are not only unrealistic but the Republican Party is actively attempting to expand the damage to which Collins feigned resistance.
Bob Corker's reversal is actually the least perplexing. He's not running for reelection so it doesn't matter which way he votes. The bill would have passed with or without him anyway. The optics are bad to have one dissenting Republican Senator on an already deeply unpopular bill. McConnell probably explained this to him and Corker caved.
The reasoning goes something like this, to paraphrase Ben Franklin, if we're all going to hang, we might as well hang together.
8
By and large…and partisan politics aside…this is a major step in the right direction for taxpayers of all sorts, and for the economy as a whole. Those who may have a legitimate gripe with the new tax bill on a personal level are ignoring the bigger picture. Does the new tax bill benefit ALL taxpayers? Absolutely not, e.g., homeowners in high tax states such as New York, California, New Jersey and a few other states where state income taxes and real estate taxes are high.
But on the flip side, the allowable “standard deduction” is doubled, the child tax credit for low income families is increased significantly, and state & local property taxes are still deductible up to $10K, thereby benefitting the majority of individuals throughout the nation as a whole.
Most significantly, the big drop in the corporate tax rate is to spur long-term corporate investment, expansion, hiring and wages here in the U.S. rather than abroad. The new law also helps individuals who own business pass-through entities – such as S corporations, partnerships, LLCs and Schedule C sole proprietorships.
Sadly, those who despise the new tax bill, for whatever reason, may actually be hoping that it fails...NOT for the economic betterment of the country as a whole, but simply to bolster their own slanted political agenda.
1
You really think most corporations are going to use any part of their tax savings to increase workers' wages? Luckily you are already in NYC , that way you'll save on travel costs when we sell you that very nice bridge across the East River!
6
Sadly, you've been suckered into thinking the country needs this round of tax cuts for the wealthy to improve an economy that was already humming along.
11
If a restaurant owner told his customers, during dinner, that to celebrate Christmas, everyone in attendance would receive a 10% discount off their bill, would it be unfair if a woman, hosting a ten person family dinner, received a larger amount of money back, than a man having a bowl of soup?
Of course not.
The unpopularity of this bill can be directly attributed to the lockstep media, who, even by today's moribund standard of objectivity, has lost its' mind over the one sided reporting on this bill, and yes, shameless democrats, falsely characterizing the bill. This is not robbing the US Treasury: this is letting people keep more of their own money.
An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll reported that only 17% of those polled think they will receive a tax benefit from this bill, when, in fact, 80% of taxpayers will benefit. This is the politics of envy at its worst: I benefited, but somebody else benefited more, so that's unfair.
It must be galling to see that AT&T, Wells Fargo, and others, have already promised to share the benefits of this bill, with its employees, many of them union members.
14
Let us focus on the fact that 44% of eligible voters, 100 million people, didn't vote in 2016. That is why we have this "best government money can buy" government. Whoever and wherever those 100 million folks are, we need to "thank" them for the current travesty. That can't happen in 2018. How do we make it so? Get out the vote.
20
While this is true, many people live in states where their vote is largely irrelevant in that a large majority for one party exists. This is one of the impacts of the electoral college that operates to suppress the vote in many of these states and it does not necessarily imply apathy on anyone's part. If another million California voters had cast ballots for Clinton, it would have made no difference in the outcome.
3
I truly hope the Democrats can very succinctly explain that the "benefits" of this bill depend on the benevolence and generosity of companies. That's it. Plain and simple. It needs to go on a bumper sticker. Did GE offer you a new job today? Get that raise yet?
7
Years ago, when the Republicans cast aside their famous prudence and embarked on this career of draining America dry for the rich, a prominent American businessman made a remark that has stuck in my mind ever since.
He was not one of the pampered superstars of business, who were just then on the rise, but a businessman in the solid-citizen mold, the kind you imagine wearing a postwar double-breasted suit and rimless glasses. His remark, which I can only paraphrase now, was that the financial security of workers was a small price to pay for a stable, healthy society in which to do business.
It's not a high-flown sentiment. For that matter, it's a self-interested one. But the self-interest is enlightened, which makes all the difference between the old politics of wealth generation and the end-of-days greed that prevails now.
28
Taking less of my money is not a heist.
Taking my money, at the point of a gun, to give to someone else because he wants it [and resents getting it], is theft.
Me giving my own money to someone else, or to my church for charity, because I choose to, is an expression of freedom.
Don't tread on me.
2
Republicans have proven time and again they only care about deficits when Democrats are running Congress, not when they are in charge. Then it only becomes an excuse to reduce spending.
8
The only way to reverse this tax heist is to vote them out, lock them up and replace the tax bill with a sensible one that is revenue neutral, funds the government and actually helps the poor and the middle class. That means raising the corporate rate to a real 25%, sans loopholes; fining companies that try to avoid taxes by stashing their profits abroad; imposing a 30% tax rate on "pass-through" income and a 50% rate on investment returns.
12
Have you ever run a business? Hired anyone? Competed with other companies in domestic or international markets? Even taken an introductory or intermediate course in economics? Our economy is stagnating under debt, taxes and regulation because we are not globally competitive, and you propose more taxes. Growth in liberal spending and social programs cannot be paid for with a flat and dying economy. You propose taxes and fines without understanding the economic consequences.
Have you ever run a business? Do you hire more people when you get a tax cut? Or do you only hire more people when demand picks up and you have more customers? What regulations burden your business the most? No one ever seems to get specific on that.
This article is spot on true, but it does not highlight the diabolical cleverness of the McConnell/Ryan strategy (let's not pretend Trump has the capacity to think strategically). This tax cut happens when the economy's on an upswing (cyclical) and in the near term lots of people will see a slight tax decrease. This should suffice for the Republicans to sell their flimflam in the midterms, then in 2020 they'll hope to ride the coattails of Trump! Trump! Trump! to cling on to just enough red states to keep running the show - and if they lose in '18 or '20, then at least they can screech at the Democrats for "raising taxes" by failing to repeal the individual tax rises that will result from today's legislation.
Most Americans are quite capable of understanding this stuff - we awoke during the ACA repeal fight earlier this year. But many of us don't read the NYT, and you can be sure Fox & friends will serve up the spin masterfully.
Democrats have almost a year to work on this. That's plenty of time for cordial, neighbor to neighbor conversations about what this series of Republican policies will really do. Don't associate it with Trump, just keep saying Republican - if you say something against (or for) Trump, people's emotions kick in and they might stop listening. In '18, hang this albatross on McConnell/Ryan and their enablers. After the midterms, regroup & figure out how to deal with Trump in '20.
11
Don't forget about the kickback to Senator Murkowski: opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. Even if you never go to Alaska, you benefit from having that reservoir of diversity & clean habitat and from living in a country that doesn't turn everything into a commodity for private profit. That Refuge is a different kind of treasury set aside for our future--and the Republicans just raided that, too.
But your taxes will be used for the cleanup.
23
I remember the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil supertanker wreck. The drunken captain ran it onto a reef and over 10 million gallons of crude oil polluted pristine Prince William Sound, Alaska. Exxon still has not paid all the costs they owe on the cleanup.
The Arctic National Wilderness belongs to all the people of the US. Do we really want to let Big Oil pollute the very last untouched area in America?
One thing is for sure; Trump was not lying when he said something like, I know where the money is, believe me.
7
I would like to know who wrote the actual wording of this bill. I suspect it is the work of lobbyists, rather than legislators. Is there a way to find this out? Would anyone tell the truth?
4
I always wondered what a mass loyalty pledge to the Leader looked like. Yesterday's performance at the WH, during the pep rally, answered that for me.
13
Yes, this bill is a Robin Hood in reverse when it comes to money. But that can be corrected in time when a Democratic Congress and President take office.
However, the lives of people who die because of this bill cannot be restored. By repealing the mandate in the Affordable Care Act as the Trump/GOP effort to destroy the Act continues unabated millions may lose the ability to buy health insurance.
Yes, Democrats once restored to power will surely reverse this deadly situation. But In the meantime, countless numbers of Americans without health insurance may simply die.
Make no mistake. This bill commits murder.
And someday, the murderers who committed this crime must be held to account!
8
I find it amazing that Democratic Senators and Congressmen can simultaneously argue that the tax bill is a giveaway to the rich (there is a difference between high income and rich, but I forgive them for this misuse) and argue that some of their high income constituents might see an increase in their taxes because limitations on deductions might not be offset by reduced marginal rates.
On a different point, carried interest for hedge fund managers remains. Since hedge fund managers are concentrated in Greenwich, CT and the Upper East Side, Senators Schumer, Gillebrand, Blumenthal and Murphy seem to have had some input in protecting their constituents, even though they voted against the final product.
1
Oh, so now it's Schumer et al fault for this monstrosity? I see the new Republican talking points, it's Obama's fault that the Republicans did a smash and grab job. Perfect.
1
I don't think the tax bill is a monstrosity at all. It could be better, but it's a step in the right direction.
My point about carried interest shows how politics work. 100 Senators and 435 members of Congress have influence on legislation, even when they vote against the final product.
Why does the carried interest deduction remain? It was one of Trump's big talking points that hedge fund managers were "getting away with murder on the carried interest deduction, and I'm going to change that".
Why are those hedge fund managers allowed to continue to pretend that the "fees" that they get for their services are not actually wages? Why are they taxed lightly at 15% like dividends and not charged "full boat" like wages are?
This tax bill echoes the past tax cuts that led to the Great Depression and the 2008 Recession. The GOP is counting on the voters' short memories to forget about the past when the next inevitable recession occurs.
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The Great Depression was caused by an increase in Taxes, the Smoot-Hawley Tariffs. The stock market and unemployment had pretty much recovered from the 1929 crash by the time of the passage of that bill. That tax increase pretty much shut off international trade.
The 2008 recession was caused by credit market freezing up when the federal government sent conflicting signals over which banks would be allowed to collapse and which would be bailed out.
The only way to get Trump supporters to oppose this bill is to get them to suffer. They have to be injured. Their costs have to rise. Their services have to be cut.
Now the rural poor don't have anything to lose because they don't have anything. They back Trump as their savior. He will deliver them into prosperity. He wont, but they can be bought off with the "give it more time" lie. They will be bought off with the "jobs are pouring back in lie." Their desperation will cause them to hang on for years.
But the suburban Republicans have much to lose. They are the ones who will have to pay for this giveaway. They will have to pay more for healthcare, housing, education, Social Security and Medicare. They are the ones who are leveraging their children's future to subsidize the super wealthy. They are the ones who heavily utilize modern state infrastructure and schools. Their future has been put in jeopardy.
The rural poor are already at the bottom and Trump wont help them. They can't accept that harsh reality. The rest of us should not let ourselves get sold down the river because of them.
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Just saying that inequality has increased under 8 years of Obama. So those poor are not wrong in giving a different approach a little bit more time.
We will know if it is a lie in a few years, but you claiming that it is a lie after supporting a liar for 8 years seems hypocritical.
And from the depths of the pit Trump has thrown them into, they will lift up their voices and blame Obama and Hillary Clinton
Don't nitpick! This 'tax bill' with its assault on the disadvantaged to further enrich the wealthy is no different from Trump & Co shooting hundreds of thousands to death on Fifth Ave.
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That's a great analogy. Sadly, it is probably also true that Dear Leader will not lose any support from his lemmings.
We now have a new class of welfare free loaders. These actually do game the system while driving the proverbial Cadillacs and collecting benefits without working. Their sense of entitlement is breath taking. They teach their children to follow in their footsteps and take all the free stuff they can get. Membership in this new class requires entrance fees in the exclusive neighborhood of a billion dollars, but it is a growing club.
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And now we see the real takers. They profit by taking what others make. To gain the respect of the Republicans you have to find two people to do your job and do it for 1/3 of what you get paid to do it. Thats good business, for one.
1
Sylvia, Cadillac only wishes it could charge the prices Bentley, Rolls, Ferrari, and the other exotics, driven by these "Misfits of the Universe," charge.
Nothing new to see here; this class of Robber Barrons and their fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers have been gorging at the public trough while screeching about freeloading poor people for generations.
1
"are raiding the Treasury in plain sight"
Charles, that's like saying we are robbing our own house. The Treasury is full of our money, not the governments, and getting it back is not plundering. It's sad that all the progressives are left with these days is over the top hyperbole.
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Dear GaryLeeT: Enjoy the crumbs you are given. The Treasury now is in deficit and the lack of funds will mean less investment in schools, health care, infrastructure, alternative, i.e., cleaner energy sources, and maybe even - hurricane relief. If you don't count public goods as part of your welfare, you soon will see that the higher costs of providing them out of your "tax savings" will make you poorer. Too bad; so sad.
7
That is one way of looking at it. The other way, is that we can be a society that works to promote the greater good with fair and just rules. Millionaires getting more millions to buy more yachts to water ski behind, while children go without food and health care is not a country that Jesus would be behind. If you are religious let's say. At this rate with the income gap getting larger every year, which this bill exacerbates, there will come a time in which it's not sustainable.
People say that we cannot legislate morality. That is not true-we have to.
4
GOP humbugs at their finest - imposing a shill game of a bill against the majority's will. Bah.
13
Vote them all out. It's the only way to save us.
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That' why we voted Trump in!
The key word is 'HYPOCRISY' writ large. Trump is merely its extreme, blatant, shameless expression. Before him were the hypocrisies of the Vietnam War, the overthrow of democratic governments, the assassination of nationalist leaders, the breeding of terrorism, the protection of thuggish regimes, the guarantee of protection to Libya if it forwent nuclear weapons, the invasion of Iraq under the guise of 'spreading democracy' (or was it preventing anthrax production, or was it nuclear weapons by means of non-existent uranium from Niger ......).
And today, we have the sight of a nation pretending to protect and provide 'equal opportunity' for its citizens, while massively increasing the incarceration rate, sewing racist discord, soaking the poor, condemning them to death quicker than in any other industrialized country; a 'party' condemning fiscal profligacy while exploding the budget deficit; a 'party' predicting it would wipe out 'Radical Islam' while actually empowering its major causes: Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Trumponomics is merely the Frankenstinian monster incubated by Reaganomics while politicians counted their privileges and entitlements, preferring not to rock the sinking boat.
The economic hypocrisy is 3 decades old; the political hypocrisy much older.
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The tax heist fulfills every corporate wish list compiled in the 30 years since Reagan last overhauled the tax code.
We're living in a new gilded age that would make the robber barons of yesteryear blush (and slightly fidget with envious discomfort of course).
All semblance of liberal democracy is quickly disappearing.
The level of income inequality, inherent to a capitalist system, has reached unsustainable levels that are now creating the social tensions that hopefully will lead to revolution as millions are disenfranchised from the political 2-party kabuki theater.
Humanity is a constant struggle of class warfare.
The rich rule because there are no organized domestic forces strong enough to stop them or temper their obscene excesses.
The Republicans stab you in the face while the Democrats stab you in the back and anyone who doesn't point out that BOTH parties are complicit is complicit as well.
Charles Blow accuses Trump and the Republican Party of thievery.
And he's correct. They are masterful robbers, true believers and reliable back-of-the-line generals in the class war.
And the other half of the duopolistic monster, the Democratic Party?
Differences are primarily stylistic, each appealing to a different socio-cultural base.
But both parties represent the billionaire class, neither party cares about the poor/middle class, to pretend otherwise is pure folly.
The class war is lost every time someone writes an article pretending there is a difference between Ds and Rs.
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Those who don't recognize that there is a difference between "Ds and Rs" -- no matter how infiniteismal it might be, are exactly the ones who helped to land us with this monstrosity.
Und noch was.
This is not Germany. We are stuck here with a two-party system for the time being.
And as long as there are rich and poor, anywhere on the planet -- there will always be a class war.
That is a distinction that doesn't rest with the U.S. alone.
7
@Chris: America has been spared a "class war" because identity politics excludes income and wealth from the list of political change objectives. Aren't we lucky: poor Blacks are set against poor Whites, poor women are set against poor men. Divide and conquer! The RepubliCANS have learned this ancient prescription for victory. The DemoCAN'TS have not.
3
You are wrong about that. Your "both sides do it" was a necessary ingredient in the foul stew of misogyny, racism, and ignorance that got us a president Trump in the first place. The Democratic party does try to raise money from wealthy donors. Have you heard of Citizens United? That's why. The difference is that the Democrats are not happy about it; in fact, if we ever get a unitary Democratic government, I expect that something will be done to change the influence of money in our politics. I believe that you and people like you are dangerous. You would divide the Democratic party into "real" and "phony" Democrats. Believe me, that is exactly what Republicans want.
8
Today an old Friend...a Trump Supporter....sent me a copy of Trump's
"Touching Christmas Message". Meanwhile, confusion continues as to the
Viability and Validity of the new Tax Law. We are still in a national confusion. Will Mr. Mueller be our Answer to Public Prayer? Or will
Mueller be "Erased" from our Public Awareness?
4
Welcome all ye readers to the United States of the newest Banana Republic! It's now been officially codified. BTW, I didn't see a lot of people in the streets or organizations going after this tooth and nail like they did against the repeal of ACA. When ACA was attacked there was real mobilization. What happened this time?
Oh I forget, yes, it is all about the rich getting richer isn't it, so that always mollifies the public. You just wait. This government is methodically eroding he legitimacy and credibility of it's institutions one by one. We have a stacked judiciary, gerrymandered districts, all the tools are being utilized at their disposal ruthlessly in this mad reckless regressive attack on our country. Unless there are some well thought through checks and balances urgently applied to this administration, no good is going to come to this.
Say goodbye to Democracy. It was fatally stabbed in the back this week.
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You ask what happened this time? Christmas. People have other things to do. Politically it's a good move but what will be interesting is to see what's going to happen during the break when these Congresspeople are back in their districts. We live in interesting times.
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@Harrison: Trump was elected in a "democratic" vote fest. The American public is getting what they deserve for being ignorant and nasty. As Hamilton said, "The people is a beast." Unfortunately they devour themselves.
Invest in space exploration. Send the plutocrats to Pluto!
What a well-turned phrase you've given life to, Mr. Blow!
The "ecosystem of corruption." A motto for the Trump family coat of arms. (Or coat of fingers, if you will.)
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Trump said of the tax bill, “This is going to cost me a fortune, this thing, believe me.”
Everytime Heir Combover says "believe me" he's lying, believe me.
I
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Trump lies every time his lips move, or his fingers tweet.
2
His tell 'believe me'..
2
Thanks Charles for another great outline of the demise of our democracy. It's all very clear what is happening, why it is happening and how it is happening. The problems run deep and only an educated electorate could reverse the course, but highly unlikely they will be allowed to vote. Putin is popping champagne bottles along with the U.S. plutocrats.
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The bank aka "tax heist" has happened and the thieves, including not just Dishonest Donald, but many of the self-dealing senators who wrote the bill as well, all gathered in public at the White House to celebrate. This reckless, ripoff of the U.S. Treasury by the Trump kleptocrats does nothing to create jobs; in fact, it encourages companies to ship them overseas. It increases the public debt (of all) and guarantees under existing rules that mandatory, across-the-board cuts to programs like Medicare and Social Security will be made to cover it. And, of course, by leaving the public cupboard bare, it means we cannot afford to pay for repairing our public facilities like roads and bridges and airports or for the basic scientific research that leads to the formation of new companies and the creation of jobs. In sum, "Make America Great Again" has just been sold off to the highest bidders--the Oligarch-in-Chief and his merry band of plutocrat plunderers. If Donald Trump is known for one thing, it's creating a legacy of bankruptcies. He's done it again. "Mission Accomplished." And America has been, as The Donald always does, left holding the empty bag.
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The Democratic Party corrupt crony capitalist corporate plutocrat oligarchs in Congress will also profit from this Republican Party tax steal. What a farce.
1
I wonder why the republicans voted so cheerfully and openly for a tax bill that is going to gut out the middle and lower classes. Despite the media almost in unison crying out that the vast majority of Americans are against the bill they seem fearless that the democrats will throw many of them out due to rage. Is it because the super wealthy will have the money for 2018 to buy enough ads, etc. that they will be able to tsunami-out the democrats with anti-democratic issues such as abortion? Why are they so sure of themselves?
2
reply to Paul Wortman, I think you're right when you said that Trump is acting in character. There is that idiom that if you want to predict what a person will do in the future just look at his past. And Trump has lied and cheated in business and been abusive to women his whole life. His past behavior paints a truly despicable person.
Why didn't the public hold him accountable for his past behavior. I think the public was brainwashed by the right wing media. Under the guise of the title "news media" there has been a constant campaign against dems and their supporters for years and this year they cashed in to the determent of the American people.
It's hard for me to swallow the fact that half the population fell for his lies. I don't understand why they don't see that government's policies can create a vibrant culture. It means that they fell for the libertarian philosophy that the rich had no obligation to help those less well off and, in fact, that this obligation would weaken the country. The libertarians believe that the country would be better served if they could just be left alone with all their money and somehow this would produce jobs.
We're back where we were in the guilded age when all those industrialists put up a struggle so they wouldn't have to abide by the laws governing monopolies. Government policies were successful then. What's going to happen now. Are we going to continue to allow this rape of the economy of the country.
1
Unfortunately it's not a crime if Congress does it.
7
They get to drown the government in a bathtub AND enrich themselves? What's not to like?
Reagan brought down the Soviet Union by bankrupting them - having them spend so much in an arms race that nothing was left over. The GOP is using the same tactic to take down our own government. They are starving us out.
It was incredible foreign policy to undermine the Soviet Union. It is treason to do the same thing to your own country.
But why bother to mention that or even argue? I am just reacting to Fake News. When the results are poor, it will somehow have been Obama's fault,
26
December 14th was the Fifth Anniversary of Sandy Hook.
It’s worthwhile comparing our two Presidents then and now.
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/12/14/photo-captures-the-exact-mom...
10
I am sick about what they have done and continue to do to the America I thought was a nation founded on the rule of law with safeguards to protect citizens from tyranny and give equal access to all for opportunity to live safely with their families. Some of that was lip service as proven by racism, misogyny, and continued poverty. However, didn’t objective truth exist? Didn’t pirates try to masquerade as dogooders? We are in the land of rapacious theft and open acts of treachery and brutality. Open warfare is next. Really.
14
I listend to a local news report yesterday where Trump voters in a Staton Island dinner were interviewed. Almost all supported the tax bill, including a waitress, a single mother and homeowner who admitted that she would see little if any benefit from it.
Another was a man from New Jersey who recognized that what he would gain would be washed by the cap on his property tax deductions. Yet he supported it.
There are lessons from that short interview. One is belief's are stronger than facts. Maybe they always have been. The second is that each supporter believed that their sacrifice was good for the country because the bill would increase jobs.
This was a very positive belief. It suggested that people were willing to put bigger interests ahead of their own personal gain, at least on some issues and for some people--Obama not included.
And therein lies the real problem. These Trump supporters see in Trump an image of America very different from its reality. Trump's America is predominately white, middle class, long neglected and now championed by him.
New Jobs will not fall from the sky. When employment increases, as it has lately, we see 50k union jobs being replaced by 30k gig economy jobs. The employment numbers go up, but the standard of living goes down.
I doubt if this is what that waitress had in mind, but like I said, beliefs are stronger than facts and Trump the showman is still pitching to the nations emotions.
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Also, if Americans' knowledge of accounting and tax laws is non-existent it's hard to understand how the Republicans and Trump are cheating them.
4
Why would a waitress not be the perfect target for a perfect con job? No education. No time to think, read or observe the world. Exhausted after being on her feet all day. If anyone would support the monster it would be her.
10
What "people" are willing to believe right now has little to do with truth or even economics. It has only to do with that black President who momentarily moved our orbit. Make America white again. Restore the cosmos.
3
Charles, the swiftness with which Trump and the Republicans passed this tax bill smells of a real septic wound that these bunch of our country's plunderers have just inflicted upon us and on our generations that are going to follow us.
To be quite precise about this bill,so that most of the Republican supporters, mainly Trump's flock who're ignorant to the nth degree due to their lack of education, one has to realize that this tax bill is not for us.
But 'them'.
And by 'them' I mean Trump and his billionaire friends who do not keep any money in this country anyway but to some small countries in the Caribbean and in Panama beside their Swiss bank accounts.
Trump, who was paying no taxes at all due to many loopholes in our tax system where a billionaire like him who makes gazillions of dollars from all his hotels and casinos all over the world, will now officially save 'millions dollars a year' through the 'pas-through entities,business structures such as L.L.C.'s,L.P.s and S corporations that don't pay corporate taxes as you mentioned here.
So it really becomes absolutely imperative for all of the Republican supporters including a real con man called Trump's voters that their anointed president has sold out his soul to the devil by signing this tax bill which is going to legitimize his illegal real estate holdings with a 20+% deduction in taxes for ever.
And what his followers are going to get ?
Those Trump supporters and us are going to get a big tax hike pretty soon.
7
The American raison d'être is one of fairness. All have the same chance to succeed in a country that welcomes ''the wretched refuse to its teeming shore'' . ( at least that is the theory as how its supposed to be )
If you make more money, then you should be paying more taxes progressively upwards to a point of 100%. ( say a billion a year ) You need to be contributing back to the society and country that enabled and allowed you to get fantastically rich in the first place. ( does any one person need a billion dollars anyway ? )
The republican party espouses that we all need to pick ourselves up by our bootstraps( they cost extra ) , but once you are rich, then all those below you need to contribute to your largesse ( via THEIR tax dollars ) by every way imaginable.
This republican tax theft is no different and is one on steroids.
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Doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results is the definition of insanity....unless you are talking about Republicans cutting taxes for the rich helping the rest of us...then is is just good policy?
8
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the songs of angry men?
If this blatant display of stealing from the poor to prosper the rich continues there will be a revolution and it won't be pretty.
9
The obvious examples of greed, lying, and selfishness are the shiny objects distracting from the real Republican goals. Now that the Treasury has been emptied, it’s time to dismantle the welfare state. A number of Republicans have declared “entitlements” [great messaging] need to be “reformed” [cut]. This offensive will work to divide the nation along dividing lines using ageism by pitting the young workers against retirees. It will use class setting endangered middle class against the poor. It will reward the rich and their heirs against all of the “takers”. Once the entitlements are gone, we will all need the guns that we will be able to openly carry in all states.
8
With the passage of their tax bill, the Republicans can never again claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility. And the American citizens who voted for this president are now realizing that they voted for a king, because he is no less than that. His administration has been a failure but now he can have his cake and eat it too, with the blessings of his party. The “carnage” he derided in January has been visited on American taxpayers in December. He is Santa, the Republicans are his reindeer and the American people are not getting anything for Christmas. That brown sack on his sleigh is chock full of money for him and his heirs. He raided Fort Knox and he got a standing ovation from his party and supporters.
15
"You know, I keep hearing Schumer: ‘This is for the wealthy.’ Well, if it is, my friends don’t know about it.”
A lie on two fronts:
1. This IS for the wealthy.
2. Trump has no friends
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To think of where this country now stands; with a government so blatenly, brazenly stripping the nation's treasury - present and future - not on infrastructure and/or education, but on monetary gifts to th already rich and powerful! How ridiculously banana-republic like need The US Government appear before th world and especially to th US public, those who th government is supposed to be serving, before some repub looks into a mirror and screams, "stop, no more!"
I've been a political junky since I entered college back in 1980 and I've seen a lot. But I have never seen, nor did I ever think I'd see, the ordacity of today's right-wing with almost no pushback from anyone of any enforcing weight. I just hope The Fourth Estate doesn't get tired of reporting this incredible travisty.
13
“His ego is to big for egalitarianism, and his heart roo small for it.”
Here I must respectfully disagree; Trump has no heart.
11
President Trump just completed his biggest con. He has made sure he and his family are set for life with upwards of a billion dollars now in their pockets.
He could care less about the rest of the provisions in this bill.
9
I always thought his biggest con was winning the election -- in any case, both qualify.
2
The Republicans' actions on this tax bill and comments from their supporters lead me to think that there's an underappreciated strain of eugenics in this party. "Starving the beast" is designed to set up a struggle for survival in which the weakest, sickest, poorest, and oldest die prematurely. In this dystopian Republican world, If you haven't figured out a way to make enough money to survive, you don't deserve to live. The government certainly has no moral obligation to help you. If this sounds like hyperbole, wait until next year when they put Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security on the table for "reform."
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How is it that such a hugely unpopular bill was passed in spite of public outrage? Have we truly lost any and all control over the people who are paid to represent us? A young Chinese student recently stayed with us for a week; when we asked him what the people there thought of Trump's presidency, he answered without blinking: "We think he has made a big business deal to benefit himself."
Under Trump's leadership, Republican politicians have been given the green light to rob the majority of American citizens of any hope for a balance of wealth in this country; They, too, only work to benefit themselves and their richest friends. This week it became even more obvious that they do not listen to the rest of us. What populist base they do have will likely be most surprised when they finally awake to the fact that this tax plan will not be giving them more jobs, will not be feathering their nests, will not be giving them any future security. The rest of us tried to warn them, but their thoughtless tribal instincts closed their ears to the alarm.Yet I seriously suspect this bill would have been passed even if 100% of us not at the top were against it?
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We no longer have a republic. Rather we have an oligarchy of wealthy donors and shareholders and a kleptocracy in the executive branch. We are in the throes of the beginning of the decline of the United States that was never "exceptional" in the first place.
5
The deal is this: Trump tells Ryan, Mitch and the rest of the Republican leaders that they need to make sure he gets the credit for the tax bill and lower taxes. The rest does not matter. He will sign. He does not need to know what's in it.
3
“Balance of wealth in this country”? How would recommend that this be achieved? Nice talking point but I’ve yet to hear anyone make any points to convince folks other than talking over folks when they disagree.
Well, at least AT&T employees will get $1,000 bonus. Not sure how much it will be after tax. As I have predicted, GOP and big coporations are not stupid. Some of the tax cuts will trickle-down in order to "justify". I am certain that there will be more "good news". The entire thing was so predictable. For the record, I said trickle-down will happen. $1,000 as a Christmas gift to middle class, not too bad for many families. Clearly this is what rich people and GOP think how much we worth and who we are - we will happily take the $1,000 and be thankful.
Also more manufacturing jobs will be created in the battle ground Midwestern States. Big corporations will be more generous there. If Democrats are still debating the election strategy and whether "white working class" should be part of the coalition or not, stop it now. They will be taken care of by Trump. In fact, Mr. Ryan made an excellent point. Tax cuts are only for people paying taxes. If you don't pay tax, of course you won't get the cut. Similarly, if you only make $65,000, how much more do you want from the dividend of tax cut? Is $1,000 enough? If not, how about $3,000?
Everything is predictable because Trump is a businessman. I am afraid that Democrats just don't get it. We should see Trump as an "invasive species" landed in Washington swamp. There is no natural predators in the swamp. He is going to be creative and he will surprise people who still think business-as-usual. Wise up!
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You act like everyone works for ATT. Trickle down will not work. It never has. This time will be no different. A record number of companies have announced stock buy backs. That’s what corporations are doing with the money. And BTW ATT is trying to get a merger approved. That’s their incentive. It’s not from anything else.
2
this tax bill is passed and in place. there is no reason nor will there be any "justify" involved form this point.
1
There are millions of potential natural predators. All we need to do is change the discourse, and take Jefferson's famous words to heart.
"The people can not be all, & always, well informed. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. What country before ever existed a century & half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? let them take arms. the remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. what signify a few lives lost in a century or two? the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. it is it’s natural manure.
Those who feed the poor to the rich are tyrants. It's time we accept that, and treat them as such according to our best democratic traditions, as articulated by one of our most eloquent political philosophers.
3
More than 75% of our national debt occurred under Republican administrations. Concerns about the debt only materialize for the GOP when a Democrat is in the White House.
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Sounds grand but it is completely false claim.
More than 50% of currently outstanding debt was incurred under Obama.
1
Remember 2008? We do. The Republicans' bank deregulation and allowing over-leveraging and credit-default swaps almost destroyed the financial system of this country,
Obama first "straightened out the books" by including the cost of the Bush wars in the budget for the first time, and by spending money in the "stimulus" to keep the whole banking system from collapsing.
So it looks like Obama did increase the debt. First by ending the budget-lying about the Bush war costs, and second by saving the banks, so the economic system would not collapse. And where would we be now if if he didn't, hmmmm?
I'm not rich. I live in a state with higher taxes than more than half of the other States. My taxes will drop 10 to 15 percent in 2018. My retirement account is up 40 percent in 2017. I don't hear much about ISIS making headway these days. If this a heist then let them heist!
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First of all, you need to wait to see that drop. At this point nothing is really known about the bill and even the senators have not read it. More trouble to come as more sabotage and pork show up in this bill.
2
What's great for you is all that matters. Others who suffer from this bill - especially the 13 million who will lose health insurance and underfunded public schools throughout the country - really don't matter. Frankly, I'd be more than willing to give back my market profits to rid those who orchestrated this heist that you praise, starting with Trump.
13
Sure about that? Mine are increasing 25% in my high tax state as I lose my deductions.
8
Twenty some odd Republican Senators are up for re-election next year. Can we see a story showing ow each benefits personally from the new tax bill? Maybe throw in some Administration people (Ross, DeVos, Trump and family)? Contrast those gains along side some of those who are getting hurt by this tax "reform".
82
The Opposition has to get its MESSAGE out LOUD, CLEAR and UNDERSTANDABLE and not be cowed into softening their tone with arguments of 'envy' or 'fleecing American taxpayers'.
2
Since trump is in line to save billions in taxes, let’s see how his company behaves. Will it create jobs or shell out bonuses? I suspect the savings will be stashed away in offshore accounts.
The interesting part will be watching how his supporters rationalize this high-tech looting of their tax dollars.
11
Putin is sure to profit.
2
The Trump Derangement Syndrome is alive and well as we approach 2018. Long suffering taxpayers will see their paychecks grow as soon as this coming February. Corporate America will repatriate overseas holdings and has already announced bonuses for their workers on a go forward basis. As the economy is stimulated with growth and good cheer, discerning voters will vote red in the 2018 elections and beyond. Merry Christmas!
3
And then we'll party like it's 2008!! Ooops.
Clearly this tax bill is a heist intended for, besides members of the House and Senate who will benefit, the Ultra right Koch Brothers, Olins, Mercers, and others. These people now own our country. They have bought the three branches over the past 50 years, and this is the first big harvest, seeded by political campaign donations..
Next the Kochs et al will demand the total dismantling of the safety net and every program or piece of legislation to benefit the poor and middle class since F.D.R., including all things environmental.
Shame on all of them.
20
One of the very saddest parts of this that no one seems to consider is the complete lack of any ethical moral stance on the part of the wealthy who stand to receive most of the largesse of this "tax reform." They seem fine with destroying the lives of the poor in pursuit of ever increasing wealth. They are simply the entitled with little if any real concern for human suffering.
27
This bill is a "twofer" for Trump. There will be minimal refunds to the general populace who will then spend the money to purchase goods made overseas, particularly China. This will increase the trade deficit that Trump claims to hate. Also, Trump's tax liability will substantially decrease by about $1 billion. This will be a boon to the Trump family products made in China AND he will get a gigantic tax break. As He said when confronted with the past $800 million tax break he said he received them " because I'm smart". The inference being that the rest of us are stupid. He's probably correct on that score.
4
He is smart at stealing people's money. Always has been. Ask the contractors who built his defunct casinos in Atlantic City and the people who signed up for his trump university, which was a shame.
2
Just a few months ago, the ACA repeal was blocked by massive protests - siti-ins, writing, calling congressional offices. It was one bright spot in a dark presidency that the people were able to briefly stop Trump from endangering millions. This week, with the passage of the tax bill, the media keeps trumpeting that the masses are angry with Trump and his horrific plunder of our country - but if that's true, then where were the sit-ins, writing and calling of Congress outside of the blue states with high property taxes that already have largely Democratic representation?
It seems that the masses have been appeased by the promise of the few hundred dollars they will receive in the short-term, while they destroy their futures, and our futures, in the long-term.
The one metaphor that's missing from Mr Blow's multi-metaphored column today: Trump is playing his base like a fiddle, while the US burns.
8
People won't see the damage until they do their 2019 tax returns. The Republicans are sure glad that comes after the 2018 midterms. The Republicans are hoping they get to fool the voters one more time before the storm hits.
1
When textbooks about the decline of the American empire are written in 1,000 years, there's no doubt that there will be an enormous chapter devoted to Trump and his corrupt Republican cronies.
13
I wonder if in 1000 years there will be a civilization to discuss these matters. I would not bet on it - and I never liked dystopian novels or movies.
3
What have the Democrats offered except Trump is a buffoon and the Repubs. are thieves. Until the Demos. offer health care, education, and climate change realism, the public will respond to the Repub. appeal to racism, religion, and protection against all those perceived as inferior and waiting to take what little the average working or retired family have a acquired.
Maybe this tax change will stimulate whatever it will take for voters to consider life beyond fear.
3
I'm tired of hearing 'wait till the November election - we'll get those Republicans out of office'. By then, America will be unrecognizable as will our planet. The damage Trump and the Republicans could inflict in that time is a travesty, especially for the next generation. It is hard to believe but there appears to be only one man on this planet who can stop Trump and that's Robert Mueller. So we're waiting for our Superman to show the world that Trump and his cohorts conspired against our great country. Please hurry!
8
"America should be aghast not only at the looting but also at the brazenness of its execution." Who is going to step up and stop this unending nightmare of looting and destruction: looting natural resources and monuments, looting poor people, looting women's choices, looting education. The list is endless. We who see and still have our powers of critical thought, are aghast daily. Our only recourse is to vote, vote, vote.
6
It is no surprise that Trump is a lying conman. Anyone paying attention knew it long ago, but Ryan and McConnell are being outed as pathetic water boys of their donors. For any of them, including Corker, to smile and lie to the American people is the real takeaway. This is their legacy and history will not be kind to them.
15
Next will be sudden "worries" about the deficit (worsened by this cut), leading GOP to claim only solution is to cut back on SS, Medicare, and other "entitlements" (that we've already contributed to). Setting up this excuse is another reason why they are so giddy about finally passing this tax cut for rich and corporations. Other reasons are to keep the huge campaign contributions rolling in from those same rich and corporate donors, who now benefit from these tax cuts.
404
Sounds good. The sooner those ponzi schemes are eliminated, the better it is.
1
Don't you think it's time for Americans to take back their country from these thieves?
1
Now don't you worry at all about that. Haven't you heard ? Susan Collins made a deal with the GOP, and they promised not to touch the entitlements. Thank GOD for that deal made with the GOP. After all, they gave their word, so not to worry !
Historians will identify the GOP Tax Bill as a watershed moment in American history. It was the GOP’s opportunity to insist that all classes had to confront the new global economy together. They could have asked everybody to tighten their belts not just the workers at the bottom of the ladder. They might have saved the country.
In the years following the tax bill the national debt ballooned as a result of unrealistic expectations in economic growth. Congress took measures to cut welfare programs in order to meet budget shortfalls. The
American voter became disillusioned as demagogue after demagogue promised fairness but delivered only more inequality.
In Trump’s second term regulations on corporations were further reduced and cuts to welfare programs were legislated.
Class division grew aggravated by thoughtless government policies and in 2035 violence on a large scale finally exploded in the streets in what is known as the Second American Revolution. The US military was called in to control the unrest that lasted for 10 years, throwing the economy into ruins and ushering in a Second Great Depression. Not until 2050 did life return to some normalcy when a Christian-Socialist coalition toppled the military-industrial dictatorship and returned America to its egalitarian beginnings. By that time the US had been reduced to second world status.
Just one possible history.
3
If I become as old as my parents I might live to 2050. But probably not. I don't think I would want to live through this story you tell.
2
Thank you Charles for sharing your observations. I agree with you. Every morning as my dog and I embark on our first walk of the day, I engage in a conversation with my self about HOW this country ended up with Trump as our current President. The wise words of Howard Zinn come to mind: "The lesson of that history is that you must not despair, that if you are right, and you persist, things will change. The government may try to deceive the people, and the newspapers and television may do the same, but the truth has a way of coming out. The truth has a power greater than a hundred lies." None of us can afford to remain neutral on the moving train... I encourage everyone to read or reread " A People's History of the United States". WE THE PEOPLE must stop the insanity and greed that is consuming our government and the American Democracy.
15
The Republicans are already sharpening their scythes and machetes to begin hacking away at "entitlements" benefiting the non rich. NOW they care about the deficit. I. just heard a Republican state that cutting spending not increasing revenue is the solution to reducing the deficit. Cuts to every non military department are coming. Infrastructure investment which would have been able to prevent the Washington train crash is not going to happen, leaving us with crumbling bridges, highways and public transit. No health insurance, no investment in research, cut education, no protection for the environment. What a horrible, unethical, immoral group.
3
trump and his repubs also mistakenly assume they don't need a Department of State. The lack of understanding of what our diplomats do--beyond issuing visas--is frightening. Tillerson's trump view is clearly visible by the dismantling of the department and exodus of career diplomats who suddenly had no mission. What a disaster for the country.
1
At some point, maybe next year, but certainly in 2020, the air in Trump's populists ballon will all be gone---his populists base poorer and not feeling really great anymore. As for the Democrats, it will take some years to bring America back to greatness, maybe, with some energy, return to the constitutional ideals of our forefathers and the compassion of FDR. But in the meantime, Trump, his cabinet, and a for sale congress will do a lot of damage to the poor, middle class, and what is most tragic, children.
1
In a word, this G.O.P. tax bill represents just about what you would come to expect from a political party and an administration as morally corrupt and bankrupt as this one is.
In the space of less than a year, Donald Trump and this Republican Congress have made a mockery not only of this nation, but of democracy as well.
And those who fail to recognize just how far down the slope we have fallen, do so at their own peril. Because when they finally wake up to the truth of what this nation has become, it will be too late.
To say his tax bill is an abomination is putting it too mildly, for it is worse than that -- it is betrayal and treachery to the highest order.
And the fact that it was enacted by those who were supposed to represent the best interests of THE PEOPLE, is as unfathomable, as it is unforgivable.
The secrecy and the lies surrounding the creation of, and passing of this despicable bill speaks volumes.
But the footnotes of history will speak the rest.
9
Dear Leader Trump uses the Republicans to affirm and flatter himself. The Republicans use Trump because, in the end, he's a foolish figurehead that will provide cover for them while they bring gifts to their donors so they won't be cut off from their regular cash infusion. All of them use us, the American people, through lies and manipulation and calculation and deception to play their petty power games. Every day brings new drama and the news organizations, liberal or conservative, generously give us something else to worry about or be shocked about. It's apparent that no amount of protest or anger or argument makes a bit of difference to them because they know that in the end, they will get what they want because they can. The rich guys in suits always win because they hold all the cards. It's exhausting and demoralizing, especially to those of us of a certain age who remember a time when the people we elected actually worked for us and upheld their oaths to protect and defend the constitution.
9
It's more and more apparent that the only thing different about Trump is his open vulgarity and boldness. Previous candidates and presidents lacked Trump's willingness to take the point and lie brazenly about the cruelty of Republican policy. The key takeaway from the tax heist is the enthusiasm from Republicans in congress. In fact, we are seeing now what many have known all along: The Republican Party is owned by America's wealthiest few, and those few are greedy and mean. Trump's great insight is there is no need to pretend otherwise except in the form of audacious lies. We have gone from the audacity of hope to the audacity of moral rot, with Trump as the front man for thieves, extortionists, and swindlers. He's not risen to the level of an apologist because he's realized there's no need, not in a nation dying of stupidity and rank cowardice.
8
Regarding SALT and the removal or reduction of the deductibility of state income tax and property tax, before coming up with the cynical scheme to punish voters in 'blue' coastal states, one would be hard pressed to find a Republican who would support being double-taxed. That is, paying tax on the tax one pays. To be a Republican today, is by definition, to be intellectually dishonest.
2
As the impact of the new tax bill really does 'trickle down' to the less-than-rich, we can only hope that the 80+ percent of the people who were against it will vote these self-serving plutocrats out.
2
The fervor with which the GOP clings to the idea of the trickle down lie is effectively religious.
Against history, expert opinion, and what we can see with our own eyes, they rig the system to make the rich richer and blame the poor for being poor.
3
The actions of the American voters are theirs to choose and they chose poorly with Trump. The midterms will give the voters the opportunity to take responsibility for their mistake. Between Trump and Hilary Clinton, many said they chose the lesser of two evils. But they still chose evil. How bad is that?
4
There was an article a few months ago - I think in NYT - about a similar tax bill that passed shortly before the 1929 crash. It may be worth looking into our 1927-28 history -
6
It's easy to feel helpless during this onslaught. There have been other times in history when all seems to be lost. Look at Europe in the 30's and 40's. The people rose up and defeated a terrible enemy. It took a while. There were casualties. But right always wins over might. We can't just lay down and take it. I believe the disgust with the current situation will build to rage just in time for the 2018 elections. Don't lay down. Vote.
8
Totally agree. We must use recent elections in Virginia and Alabama as guiding lights for how voter turn out makes a difference.
2
The Great Republican Scam is complete. Moral Majority, Southern Strategy, Fiscal Responsibility, Family Values, etc. The donor class has won its war. It was never about social or moral issues, the donor class never sat around their country clubs talking about God, Guns, Gays, and Abortion. They wanted tax cuts and deregulation.
The Republican base voters have been scammed and are too busy watching Fox News to realize that their Savior Trump has granted all of the donor class wishes and will himself profit handsomely.
The overall intelligence level of the American people is lower that I ever imagined. I used to joke that the biggest difference between Liberals and Conservatives was brain power. It seem that it really is no joke.
9
/ I used to joke that the biggest difference between Liberals and Conservatives was brain power. It seem that it really is no joke./
You are right, but not in the way that you think.
Conservatives are smarter. They vote.
It would seem congress and the president have given Americans a big lump of coal for the holidays. Thanks for yet again giving us the painful truth on this government --- Scrooges all.
1
Little noted, the deduction for medical expenses is just back for 2 years. Set to match the destruction of the ACA? That is sneaky and underhanded. Why am I surprised?
4
The middle class and the poor ARE NEVER at the heart of anything the Republicans do.
I am exhausted by this administration and congress. To the point of just giving up. I guess that is what the Republicans want.
9
Is it really the end of the year? I feel like this has been going on for five years at least. While most of the voters of the country run around screaming about what's happening, Trump and the Republicans proceed in an alternate universe of lies so egregious you wonder how anyone believes them. The Republican Congress and their fawning and bizarre words of compliment for the Mad King are horrifying and appalling. It's been going on too long to feel i will wake up. I hope I can sell my house and find safe haven before all this crumbles and falls which it most assuredly will for us, the donkey class who will be shouldering all of the burden of pulling the rich Republican cart as more and more of the American dream vanishes and is replaced with fear and poverty, illness and serfdom. Meanwhile the "comments" section from many Republican supporters is either so critically delusional and frightening one wonders if this isn't truly the end of the once lovely and somewhat great United States. I'm not sure what there will be lying on the ground after this is over for us to pick up and try to rebuild something.
8
How would anyone know if this is good for Trump or not? He has not disclosed his tax returns as promised. How could anyone think that further placing the treasury at risk for being a beggar nation could help all Americans as programs get slashed or eliminated? Like the Reagan and Bush, Jr. trickle-down efforts of the past, this will start out feeling good but as the sugar begins to dissolve so will our nation's future.
1
It is my cynical belief that these servants of the rich were told they will be taken care of for life if the bosses are pleased, but if they fail their masters there will be no favors for them after they leave office.
3
The third party nihilists who saw no difference between the GOP and the Democrats gave us Trump in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pa., then Trump gave us another right wing hack on the Supreme Court.
What's ironic and surrealistic and sickening is that this was AFTER a GOP court gave us the "Citizens United" ruling, making it legal for a billionaire to fund/bribe any puppet/candidate.
The GOP tax bill is merely paying back a debt.
Obviously, it's a simple lesson in cause and effect, which for some mysterious reason the American people still fail to grasp.
9
The wealthy were delivered the whole bakery - the average American the crumbs. CHIP has been ignored (genocide) - healthcare will be lost, Medicare, Medicaid, and Sicial Security paid out of our wages will go offset the deficit. Federal wages will be cut as are the number of Federal employees. Let’s cut Congressmen benefits too - no retirement unless they reach 20 year’s service, medical care only while in office (like the average American employee), a cut in their recess time where they hunt, fish, travel, and run their businesses. Time to treat them like the true servants of the people.
2
Gemli writes eloquently of serious consequences to this tax bill. Republicans, the great deficit hawks under Obama, now throw caution to the wind by passing these so-called tax cuts, this so-called tax simplification. With every American family currently owing over $150K for the national debt, why does this President and his party thrill at adding another 1 1/2 trillion dollars to it? Because their reform [sic] enriches the plutocrats, yes, but also because it achieves their other main aim: to reduce entitlements. Sequestration will automatically shave benefits from Medicare, Medicaid, etc. Let's be sure voters see the Republicans' dirty hands!
8
Unfortunately Charles, the same hapless attitude toward average Americans built into this tax bill will be the Trump-GOP response to its critics,
"Bah. Humbug!"
1
So letting people keep the money they earned is stealing, but people choosing not to work and living off those taxpayers is not stealing? Interesting....
2
According to the Special Olympics Organization, people with intellectual disabilities -- those with IQsof 70-75 -- are low in skills needed to live, work and play in the community.
Now, David, why don't you just take a quick peek at how many millions -- many millions -- of U.S. citizens are intellectually disabled.
What choices would you say they have, sir?
1
What a gift Trump is to Ryan and McConnell and to their very long con.
Their followers are 'faith based' believing everything they and Fox tell them. Their religion is faith based, the ideology is faith based, and their economics is faith based. Evidence based anything is for losers, and takers.
The bottom may fall out them if we masses can maintain our rage at this historic rip off and vote the scoundrels out.
2
Exactly!
And wher are Trump’s tax returns?
No taxation without revelation!
7
Add this bill to the billions the wealthy and corporate bloodsuckers already keep offshore and you can feel the ship of democracy sinking under your feet.
...and to think, we were this close to turning the whole thing around with Bernie.
4
" Most Americans see through this charade." Alas, Mr. Blow, I don't think so.
I'm very certain that many Americans today are not happy with the gun-and-mask job that Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump just pulled on us. But this hold-up was long in the coming and was never a secret. Yet, on November 8, 2016, 62-millions decided that Trump was a great idea. Now, they're not so sure, but the legend applies: "elections have consequences." As Sarah Huckabee Sanders shrilled earlier this year, "the American people knew what they were getting when they voted for Donald Trump." How very true.
Utah's Orrin Hatch recently said "there's no money" when the funding for CHIP went begging. He, and presumably many other Republicans on Capitol Hill, shrugged and assumed that, when they get around to it, the program will be re-funded. But in the great meanwhile, what about the struggling rich and the poor put-upon job creators? Well, what about them?
Republicans deserve a distorted sort of credit for force-feeding the lie to the people that the frightened entrepreneurs, freed from regulations (and regulators) and their tax liabilities lightened, will find that the newly-found gold in their vaults can now be spent on higher wages for the working-class that has so patiently waited its turn at the outer doors, perhaps chafing at the unending merriment at the banquet hall as the rich, like in the old Roman orgies, regurgitate their excesses and begin anew on untasted courses.
Mercy!
514
So taking money from hard working Americans and giving it to freeloaders is a good thing? But letting those hard working Americans keep more of the money they earn is stealing? Ok Chief!
3
RED SOX: You do not have to be an aficionado of Rene Descartes, "Cogito ergo sum,"father of logical analysis to realize that a poor man would not, could not offer you a job, and the current tax plan favors the rich because they pay most of the taxes and create employment. If you are in the public sector, education for example, which I suspect you are, upon whom do you think burden for paying your salary , enabling you to accumulate, perhaps a small fortune via the T.D.A?Wealthy folks whom you , Mr. Blow and other anti Trumpers are so critical of.Observe you are a Red Sox fan, but my sympathies lie with the old Boston Braves under Billy Southworth, who managed greatest pitching duo in baseball history: Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain, whose exploits inspired he greatest poem every written:"Spahn and Sain and Pray for Rain!"Mentioned those words 1 day in coffee shop at Zabars and a smile of recognition spread over the faces of a few of the regulars, old timers like myself!
Yes David, those freeloading children, the impertinent beggars somehow expecting that in the world's richest and most powerful nation they should enjoy affordable healthcare. So selfish.
11
"But be sure, when this bill leads to these predicted deficits, Republicans will return to their sidelined deficit rhetoric armed with a sickle, aiming the blade at the social safety net, exacerbating the egregious imbalance of the tax bill’s original sins."
"His ego is too big for egalitarianism, and his heart small for it."
As usual, Charles, your eloquence meets this moment. With the above two statements, you pretty much sum up Trumpism: con the people, raid the government, severely damage democracy.
I've read that economic systems have a limited shelf life, even capitalism which Marx felt would eventually die once growth reached its limits and workers became alienated from owners.
Sure is beginning to sound like modern day America. And the word you choose to describe is spot on: brazen. Praising Trump (who had little do with the bill's actual passage) for "leading" them to dump on the working class, those who make money on paychecks.
But what gets my gander is the characterization of the coming injury to insult as destroying the "social safety net."
Ahem: Medicare and Social Security, the pillars of this so called social safety net are paid for by workers all the decades they work. They aren't "entitlements" bestowed by some government benefactor. They're pay as you go earned retirement supports.
Language really still means something, even if the GOP seems to think they can campaign on plain English but govern in linguistic sophistry.
173
@Tito perdue: It's hard to respond to a comment as hard-nosed and absolutist as yours.
In case you didn't know, "equality" forms the basis of the Declaration of Independence and the cornerstone of the constitution.
If you truly believe that equality is "the enemy of life and beauty and excellence", then you are living in the wrong country. Most of in this forum believe in making sure this regressive president and his minions get to leave office as soon as possible.
33
Sure a lot of nobles in Czarist Russia thought the same thing, and look at what happened to them.
6
Wow, where to begin? "Con the people, raid the government, severely damage democracy." Who said this?? "If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor". "Premiums will decrease by $2500 per year per family." Do I see a "con job"? How about this? "All I need is a phone and a pen. I can do an end-around Congress". Sound familiar? Who "damaged democracy with a phone and a pen"? Give me a break, Christine. Partisan lemming points of view like yours are incredibly hypocritical if not just totally intellectually lazy. Geez, I wish I had the last five minutes of my life back.
1
Just about everyone NOT wealthy will receive an effective tax cut in this tax bill. It may be that some provisions will lapse in eight years, but that’s a geological age in political-time, and much can happen, including making the provisions permanent and even in doing other things, such as repealing the “carried interest” tax loophole that benefits wealthy hedge fund managers and others. Most of that extra money will be spent, increasing demand for goods and services, creating jobs as a consequence and generally expanding the economy. With economic growth will come higher wages as companies compete for skills and bodies.
At least that’s the Republican theory. If it works, Charles can fling spit-wads from deep within the political wilderness for the rest of his career; and if it doesn’t, perhaps Democrats will get yet another chance to mess up America. But as long as the economy grows robustly – and there are no indications suggesting that it won’t – the likelihood is high that Republicans, and all Americans, will win at this.
It’s not a “tax heist” or anything remotely like it. It’s not government’s money, Charles. It’s merely a resolve to let people who earn money keep more of it to do with as THEY please, rather than what elites please – just about everyone and NOT just the wealthy.
6
The middle and working classes WERE at the heart of this bill, Charles, because they are the ones who will disproportionately benefit from an explosion in available jobs and rising wages. The poor? Well, Democrats obviously failed that 5%-10% cohort of our population, really the sole constituency of today’s Democratic Party, apart from every “class” used as an excuse to separate and divide Americans. You failed them by not presenting more compelling, broader-based arguments, getting elected in greater numbers and having a greater impact on our governance.
In the interests of that near-sole constituency, Democrats should make a better effort to be meaningful again to our governance.
4
This explosion in 'available jobs and rising wages', which economic model are you referring to? As far as I know, so serious economist agrees with you. Look at how quickly the proponents of this bill are already backtracking. When asked yesterday if the bill would pay for itself, Paul Ryan opined, "Well, no one can predict the future." As to your jobs and wages, well, no one can predict the future ... but the past tells us it's simply not true just like the economic models.
19
Profits are the unpaid wages of the working class. So yes, it is a heist.
22
False promises. False bottoms. Deception has come to democracy! Its pillars remodeled to fit lies disproven centuries ago. How did democracy fall into despair and ruin?
Partly due to the paradox of wealth. Increased production creates diminishing returns—but the comparable attitude, ego-driven greed/false. unlimited entitlement—is a formula for failure. At any effort's highest point transition comes, change is ushered in. We are told to pretend worse is better.
One party wielding national power, enchanted by the chance for slick bunce, acted in concert like blind mules looking backwards. The other party stood idle. Left silent was the hidden truth: to protect the past is to watch the present fade even faster!
We are fighting over the ghosts because their survival is more important than honest problem solving.
What wisdom can be born of our ignorance? Ryan's politics of the balance is destroying the life process.
One party worships wealth and balance sheets. It is without morality, memory, or humanity. Its strength* is its denial. (*Are you listening Susan Collins?) Its will to look at truth and face it down into dust as it elevates a precipice of shifting sands barren of a future already sacrificed in the dust.
After a point, wealth is a great illusion. The GOP are its dancing infidels; their glide path of decline may last for decades to come.
118
"How did democracy fall into despair and ruin?"
By pundits like Mr Blow. And Prof Krugman. And fools, like everyone who declares that NOT taking money from people is the equivalent of theft.
1
KarlosTJ - Are you a fan of Adam Smith? Here's what he had to say on the subject (note that the "order" or "order of men" in this quotation are those who are the owners of capital, i.e., the rich):
"The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it."
3
Charles says His Unhinged Unfitness " is a pirate on a mission to plunder. "
We would add that's what he's been his entire professional life, he's proud of it, it is the currency he used to get his TeeVee show, it is the crowd he hangs out with, and what else did anyone expect from the King of Bankruptcy ?
He's a weasel - such a weasel that he's managed to degrade our relations to Great Britain to the extent the President of the United States is pretty much persona non grata in The Isles, unifying the Labor and Conservative parties.
Such a person is far far more than simply 'a disruptor'.
276
Please, R. Law, you owe weasels an apology.
3
Greed Over People...for the second time in 16 years...is following the will of the oligarchs, creating time-lapsed destruction to the nation and the world.
We also recall the 2000 appointment of an Incompetent Republican Moron-In-Chief - also by a minority of voters - whose right-wing staff shut down democracy in Florida and in America to ensure that greed, rapaciousness, record economic inequality and healthcare abandonment would be ensconced in Christmas stockings for the filthy rich.
Bush-Cheney delivered American catastrophe in spades - Sept 11, 2001, the Iraq catastrophe, the creation of ISIS, Oligarchic Citizens United, 0.1% tax cuts, a lousy economy until the the grand finale door prize was delivered...the worst unregulated 'free-market' economic collapse in 75 years.
They called it 'compassionate conservatism' even though it was a cruel con of the highest order.
And now again, a minority of duped, clueless Americans have fallen for 'truculent Trumpism' delivering 0.1% stolen goods, record incompetence and national disgrace as Republican Party ideology, nihilism, voter suppression and treason that bulldozes truth, science, education, dignity, national reputation, healthcare, the environment, the safety net, the middle class and the future a few gold bars for America's 'neediest greediest'.
The only solution to this long-running Russian-Republican, oligarchic coup d'tat is voting in record numbers.
Stop flushing yourselves down Republican toilets, Americans.
580
Socrates, you mentioned the shutting down of the 2000 vote. If you haven't already seen it, watch the Netflix documentary "Get Me Roger Stone" in which Stone describes precisely how he mobilized mobs to ramsack the polling booths, thereby preventing a recount and handing the election to Dubya by twisted Supreme Court decision.
27
@ Socrates
Yeah, because under Obama things were so much better....
Obama expanded two wars into seven. He not only failed to prosecute the Bush/Cheney war criminals, he doubled down on the war crimes. He bailed out the banksters and Wall Street, while 5.2 million homeowners lost their homes. He attempted to cut social security and medicare in his "Grand Bargain," which thankfully failed. He prosecuted more whistle blowers than any other previous administration. He deported more immigrants than any other previous president. Instead of giving us a public option as he campaigned on, he gave us a healthcare package that was essentially a corporate giveaway, and entirely unsustainable. He supported the police in crushing the OWS movement. He stood by as the DAPL protestors fought Big Oil's defilement of indigenous peoples' land. He opened the arctic wilderness to oil drilling, twice.
He was the biggest Democratic sell-out since... well, since Bill and Hillary Clinton.
The entire political establishment, the D's and the R's are henchmen/women for the ruling class.
We continue the charade that the Democrats are on the side of the working class at our imminent peril.
3
Thank you for diligently adding your much needed voice, Socrates.
13
Lately we’ve been battered by storms, worn out by wars and drowned in deluges. But now we’re facing an unnatural disaster that we’ve brought upon ourselves. Our own people have gone tribal, springing from the bushes with their teeth bared and slathering. The strong are attacking the weak, fully intent on draining them of the resources they need to survive.
The camouflage the wealthy have always worn is thin and tattered. We can see who they are, and they no longer care. All pretenses have been dropped. They want our lifeblood, and they’re taking it. We will limp away, and they will have everything that money can buy: long life, health, comfort and security, for themselves and for their superior spawn.
We offered ourselves up to them by electing one of their own as our protector. He was brazen and bizarre. He didn’t know enough to hide his motives, and yet we showed that we weren’t smart enough to protect ourselves. Now they’re eating us for lunch.
The press is giving fair and balanced coverage to our demise. Some economists say that we’ll sicken and die as a result of this coup, while the predator’s spokesmen say it’s for our own good. They salivate as they tell us that we’ll thrive under the beneficence of the new world order. Who can say where the truth lies? We’ll be right back, after these commercial messages.
There will be serious consequences to our stupidity. If ignorance were painful, we’d all be writhing.
686
It's time to move to Canada.
3
Well said, sadly
4
America becoming Mexico, this is the end game and this is the 2nd step to getting there. Drain all the wealth from middle to poor and then cheat to keep power no matter what you have to say and do.
4
Whenever Trump says: "believe me", hold on to your wallet.
On a positive note, Comcast and A T and T just announced $1000 bonuses to their employees once the bill gets signed into law.
The money will help pay for the extra taxes some of the employees in high tax states will pay after losing some of their SALT deductions and also pay for increased employee contributions to their health insurance premiums after the repeal of the ACA mandate and the lack of funding for CHIP.
But we can all be glad that now we can say Merry Christmas without fear of rebuke.
And to all a good night.
267
That is a good news indeed, but those bonuses have nothing to do with the new tax bill. They resulted from management/union negotiations to provide $1,000 lump sum payments to 20,000 workers if they approve a new contract by Jan. 12.
Why then AT&T chairman, Randall Stephenson, undeservedly gave trump credit for making the $200 million in bonuses for his company’s employees possible? It has been suggested that Stephenson's praises were intended to soften Trump's heart regarding approval from DOJ for the Time-Warner merger that Trump so far has opposed.
10
Those corporations are celebrating the end of net neutrality. Let's see what sort of shenanigans they pull in the future.
9
Yeah, a thousand bucks is really going to help pay for the loss of SALT deduction, AND health care, AND Medicaid; then it’ll really help when Ryan and co go after Social Security and Medicare....
Puhleeeze. Window dressing to disguise their corporate glee, and keep the peons onside while they get fleeced.
3
They all stood there gloating
With Donald emoting
In peacock style his feathers preening
The huge heist a “Winner”
They’d revel at Dinner
Giving robbery a new meaning.
Then praising the Don
Kowtowed everyone
Like King Lear’s two daughters competing
The greatest of all,
The metaphors fall
A molehill gets a Mountain’s greeting.
329
Larry - An auspicious day has arrived; congratulations on completing 98 years on this blue marble, and keep on keeping on ! You inspire us :)
195
Thank you R. Law
14
Larry: I don’t know you but many, many thanks to R. Law for the ONLY good news today: Happy No. 98!!!
17