GOP doesn't care about its base, only its donors. The Dems will pummel the Republicans with this tax bill travesty with one simple stat: 83% of the benefits go to the top 1%.
10
"Passage of President Trump's "beautiful" tax cuts will give Republicans a victory to talk about, but they still have to contend with an unpopular president."
Talk about hedging ones bet, even if the tax cuts become popular and people see the "resistance" for what they are, the bet is that with a sufficient amount of "spun news" the president could still be seen as unpopular! When will you all learn?
1
I'm more for Trump now than a year ago. His just-promulgated national security strategy is the latest reason why.
It was Blessed Obama who doubled the national debt.
3
Now that This Tax bill removed the mandate to buy health insurance. When young people Opt out, and the pool is left with those that need insurance premiums will go up. What do the Republicians tell voters when the see $10-$20 more thire paychecks, and see 20-40% increase in insurance premiums. We all know insurance companies are out to make a profit so how do you think the will replace lost revenue?
8
Frank, if the Dems would have gone with a replacement the costs and coverage would be a lot better than the failed ACA. You could have brought in competition across all State; allowed for proper benefits (you could eliminate pregnancy coverage for yourself!); you could have brought in tort reform; and you could have rid yourself of plans that Doctors are not accepting with ACA. The continuous lack of cooperation from Pelosi and Schumer is costing us billions and lots of heartache. Your from New York, can you tell me one thing that Schumer has done for your State? No one has been able so far.
2
This tax cut is a poorly disguised attack on Medicare, Social Security and the Affordable Care Act amidst a giveaway to the ultra wealthy and the empowerment of that class to further purchase political power that will ultimately transform our egalitarian democracy into a plutocracy. In fact, we are just about there right now. Ultimate wealth for the elite and desperate lives for the many is the intent of this reprehensible law.
10
Anyone who thinks this will fly doesn't understand the times we are living in.
6
The questions will be:
1. Will the small tax breaks they'll get distract voters until after next November?
2. Will Trump et al be able to keep the stuff voters are going to lose papered over long enough?
3. How effective will Trump and the GOP be, at finding somebody to scapegoat when the problems start showing up bigly?
4. Will Stupid get us into a war, and have enough of the suckers rally behind him because of it?
5. How unrealistically Left will the Democrats go?
6. Will Jill Stein et al convince enough voters that "they're all the same," so enough people just stay home?
7. How many Americans are big enough suckers to keep cheering for Bernie Madoff?
3
Don't be too sanguine about next November. There has not been a product recall issued for suckers...
5
We will reverse this travesty and latest affront to the working people in this Country by getting rid of all of them again for decades. And any "moderate" Democrats with them. We have sunk to new depths due to our corrupt politicians. Get money out of politics and put these corrupt politicians in jail -- treasonous! VOTE! RESIST!!
6
The Republicans are not patriots.
6
The next Congress can begin to undo the damage of this corporate giveaway program financed by future generations access to Social Security and Medicare...
If the Republicans really wanted to maintain control they would have put forth a very simple and direct middle class tax cut that clearly advantaged their constituents over the wealthy and well healed. But, like so many of their initiatives since and during the Obama years this was a mean spirited, divisive, selfish and ultimately secret process which yielded a mess that is hard for the average tax payer, let alone their accountant to comprehend. The Republicans think that getting a few more dollars a month for a few more years for some, while others reap the real benefits ( who don't need them) sealed the deal. But in reality the Republicans will be seen as looting the Treasury, ballooning the deficit, and fawning over their ignorant, uninformed, insensitive and boorish leader...Donald Trump. And they will get kicked out as a result...
7
Democrats need good candidates and to mobilize the vote to win. But if Democrats can win the senate seat in Alabama, who knows the possibilities.
6
Republicans: Cut Taxes for wealthy 'because we can'
Everyone Else: Cut Republicans from Congress 'because we must'
7
There are 34 senate seats up for election in 2018, 26 of which are held by democrats. It's the democrats who will be swimming upstream. The economy is booming thanks to deregulation. 80% of voters will be paying less in taxes.
I get that you WANT the GOP to be swimming uphill. But wishing doesn't make it so.
6
Nice to see that another conservative voice is making comments on the NYT website. Most of the commenters on this website seem to be still waiting for the Clinton by 12 percent that they were promised.
4
Trump will win in 2018 and 2020 just because the media is not reporting in a ten to one ratio of negative to positive news does not mean the American people only listen to one side. Trump won when the polls said Hillary was a ninety two percent chance of becoming the next president and he will win again in 2018 and 2020. The main stream media cannot keep his accomplishments hidden when there are so many other ways to get the news and people see there lives getting better.
3
Does anyone think that Republicans care what the election results will be in 2018? In a slow and steady onward trek starting with the Reagan administration the conservative ideology has worked to achieve this tax bill. Make no mistake, this bill favors the wealthy and powerful and they will now plunder the riches that are the basis of this country. Whether in or out of Congress they now have the means at hand to attain their goal of destroying a Democracy.
5
Wait until the GOP leaders try to tinker with Medicare and Social Security. They will face a tsunami of opposition from the one demographic that reliably (for reasons unknown to me) votes for them.
3
So have we lowered expectations so much for Republicans that the mere passage of any legislation by the Republican controlled Congress and Executive branches is now considered a win?
Yikes.
5
In the very-red, Trump-voted county I live in, the tax cut may well be anchor sinking Republicans. Given that average household income here is about $40,000, the dollar amount of cuts won't be impressive. I find many evangelicals are appalled their party is adding $1 trillion to the federal debt they have railed against for years. Some in the sullen, suspicious segment feel Trump has double-crossed them with a bonanza for the rich.
I am thinking Democrats might capitalize on this new uneasiness with Trump and Congress, in this gerrymandered state, if they pay attention to some fundamentals. First, find decent candidates (too many have simply been discouraged at what looks like futility). Second, organize to maximize Dem turnout and win! Alabama has shown what can be done with hard work, and winning no longer seems an impossible dream.
Nationally, I hope Democrats consider smartly their messages about the tax cut, which no doubt will be Republicans' chief brag in 2018. Not just denying the real benefit to the middle class, but pointing out the threat to our country from the huge impact on the federal debt and massive transfer of wealth to the richest. And have alternatives: "a better deal!"
5
Don't most national elections come down to a referendum on the economy? And hasn't the economy been booming since Trump was elected? A 24% gain in the market and a third quarter national growth rate of 3.2%. This after eight years of slow growth under 3%. Will the voters turn against the Republicans when they find that the tax cut puts more money in their pockets?
The Democrats seem to think that the tax cut bill is like the Obamacare law of 2009. It led to a massive electoral defeat in 2010 that the Democrats have not yet even recovered from. But will the tax cut bill energize the opposition to the GOP that the Obamacare bill did to the Dems? One was basically a bill that put money in people's pockets while the other was a tax bill that took away some health care from some to give to others. Some voters may distinguish between the one & the other after all of the hoopla dies down.
And hoopla there has been to this bill. The hyperbole and demonization of the bill has gotten wildly out of control for the Dems. Most liberal commentators seem to think that the tax bill and Trump will be so unpopular that it will lead to a massive Democratic landslide giving them both Houses of Congress. Perhaps. But what happens if everyone outside of the Trump Resistance is satisfied with the economy and optimistic about its future?
I know that the Dems believe that this is their election to win. But what if it is theirs to lose?
5
American tax payers are so far isolated from their complicated IRS forms all they really know is: How much is my refund?
40% of the voters choose candidates that fit their left/right agendas.
Everyone else votes with their wallets. And this is the first time zero Dems have supported a tax cut. So who is really rolling the dice?
3
First off, it's not Trump's tax bill. Trump can't write a coherent sentence, much less outline a major piece of legislation. The tax bill was written by the special interests that own the republican party. There were not demoralized. They just let the republicans know in no uncertain terms that they expected a healthy return on their investment. They got it. A triumph for rent seekers.
9
Don't look now but your Liberal anti-Trump bias is showing. How about giving him credit for being the only President that has done anything with tax reform in the past thirty years!
2
Republicans running in 2018 will be asked one, simple question: Can they assure their constituents that they will oppose any and all cuts to social security and Medicare?
If they fail to give a clear, firm affirmative answer to that question, the likely Democratic sweep will become a bloodbath.
9
Corporations get a tax cut from 35% to 21% - that is a 40% cut in taxes. I can't wait to see the cuts in taxes on my February pay check - I presume that its at least half of that?
4
Ivan, the vast need for tax reform is for business. They are one's that are currently uncompetitive in this world. They are the ones that have had to move off shore to compete with the world in places like Ireland with their 15% tax. We need to keep our economy competitive and we need to keep their profits here. They are taking 75% of this tax reform. YOU will benefit with higher wages, more job opportunities and investment capital being returned to rebuild this Country. Think outside the (personal) box please! Stop listening to the Liberal press/media and look into the truth.
4
American voters are notoriously lacking in memory of real facts. And all they will have seen about this tax cut bill by next November are a few bucks in their pockets - maybe more. They will conveniently forget - if they favor Himself - that they will be paying MORE in taxes after it goes belly-up in 2025. Conveniently after Himself is gone.
3
Who's your candidate this time going to be? Bernie Sanders the socialist again? Please do. Then we can watch him promise open borders and "free" college tuition for anyone who wants to walk over the border. Americans are smart enough to know who's going to pay for that. Look at Bernie's state of Vermont. Most of the jobs are firewood cutter and ski lift operator. If you want the rest of the country to have jobs like that, vote Democrat. Otherwise, Trump's your man.
4
Bernie Sanders "the socialist," whom your state elects every six years to represent it in the Senate, will not be on the presidential ballot in 2018. That is because the presidential election isn't until 2020.
3
If Democrats regain control of the House and Senate, they ought to restore the estate tax and raise the top marginal personal tax rate to 50 percent. The donor class that pushed Republican lawmakers into making such fiscally irresponsible cuts to our revenue need to learn that 39.5 percent isn’t an upper bound.
3
Articles like this scare me... November 2018 is a loooong way away. American voters have notoriously short memories (and sight) and are incredibly fickle. Talking about a 2018 blue tidal wave seems like wishful thinking/writing which will only motivate the commentators on the right all through the next year to latch onto made-up "scandals", identity politics, and other tactics that unfailingly fire up their supporters. I, for one, wouldn't be counting my (Democratic congressional) chickens before they hatch.
1
This is, first and foremost, intergenerational theft.
Millennials should be outraged, as their parents borrow for themselves money that will have to be repaid by their children.
7
The GOP tax reform reflects exactly how they think: pay off the voters just before the election, and they’ll vote for you. That is how the GOP Congress works: pay for my re-election, and I’ll do whatever you like.
Down the road? Well as Paul Ryan says: Who can say? That’s in the future.
6
Seeing the changed withholding tables in January isn't going to do a thing for many. An extra (estimated) $40 a paycheck is meaningless in view of the despicable changes wrought in our country.
Some of us put country over party and money.
5
Lets hope all Republicans that are up for reelection don't get elected so they can't damage the country anymore.
1
Giving a big tax cut now, when the economy is progressing very well (probably due, inadvertently, to the stalemate-based slow growth since 2008) is a recipe for extremes. The direction of the extremes is likely to favor Republicans in 2018 but by 2020 we might see a "correction" that puts 2008 to shame. Progressive motivation is very strong, but economic growth is accelerating and the regulations (we used to call them protections) are getting removed. Stay in the stock market for a while; you ain't seen nuthin yet. Be ready to move it all to money market, but, again, it will get crazy high first.
3
I was stunned to see the supplicants worship at the feet of Trump.
Is there not a single example of character in that party?
5
Reminds me of a job I had once. I asked for a raise. I got a bonus instead which was better than nothing. So I got $500 but didn’t make $2000 more over the next year that I asked for. I quit.
3
*would be a punishing election year if not for gerrymandering and voter suppression
6
First on my radar is my own Congressperson, Erik "I can't be found" Paulsen, from Minnesota, who never feels he EVER has to listen to his constituents, who has not held a town hall or open meeting since 2011 and who votes in straight Republican-Trump alignment despite representing a BLUE district. (This is because he previously lied and told people he was truly a moderate, and foolishly people did not bother to check his actual voting record). Paulsen had best look for real work because it will soon be over for him in Congress.
Secondly, Mr. Ryan--don't think that many of us from all over the country are not planning to donate heavily to Randy Bryce's campaign in Wisconsin even though we don't live there. Your days as Speaker are numbered. Many of us have the theory that while you have been back slapping and grinning like a fool in Trump's face, you are actually secretly hoping that both Trump and Pence will go down in flames with the Russia investigation leaving YOU as President! Not so fast Sir. Your time has come, trust me, leaving you to look for a job in the private sector--perhaps the first one Ryan has held since he was a post-collegiate fitness instructor!
#vote2018
6
NYT - come election time, please remind everyone of all the egregious assaults we've suffered this year, which will no doubt continue in 2018. Memories are so short these days and anger is so exhausting it's almost impossible to maintain at the high levels needed to overthrow this administration...keep hope alive!
1
Elected Politicians care more about getting re-elected, than anything else. They do this by delivering for their Party, their special interest donors, and their base regardless as to adverse impacts to the majority of citizens and our country.
Proof Positive – this rammed though, self-interested, backroom dealing, Mnuchin one page analysis tax cuts sold to the public through half-truths.
Stivers, who runs the House Republican campaign arm, says “Once the withholding tables change in January, voters will realize their paychecks are bigger as a result of tax reform,”
Stivers, at the same time you must deliver their statement of their share of the US national debt!
We must find a way to hold self-interested Politicians and their staffers, from both parties, personally liable, responsible and accountable for the lies they have told US, their gross mismanagement of our county, our $20.6 T and growing national debt (108% of GDP), and our $100 T in future, unfunded liabilities they forced on US jeopardizing our economic and national security, while benefiting themselves, their staffers, their party and special interest donors.
http://www.USDebtForum.com
http://www.facebook.com/USDebtForum/
@USDebtForum
2
Since the passage of the tax bill big companies and corporations demonstrate their gratitude by showering their workers with bonuses. But a swallow doesn't make a summer. Next year their profits will go to shareholders. Trump seizes the occasion to show how great he is, feeling like in seventh heaven. This will only embolden him to remain true to himself.
Democrats need to reach out to Trump's vulnerable supporters. Otherwise nobody will. He doesn't need them anymore, because he thinks he can rely on his core base, Fox News and Breitbart to stay in power. Next year his behaviour is expected to get worse, because he believes he is invincible and indispensable to the party.
4
Republicans are culpable for Trump and all things Ruining America Again.
Wake up voters, and elect anyone but an elephant come November 8, 2018.
Make America AMERICA Again!!!!!
Ignore Faux Noise talking nonsense and those who are still sure that Trump might make 'merica anything good.
4
When you serve a demagogue and you serve him like he's an emperor and all you do is bestow praise after praise on this abomination, then you are NOT serving the American people and the people that elected you. They didn't send you folks in the GOP to Congress to be spineless lapdogs, but to do YOUR JOB. The GOP has failed miserable, they have corrupted what it means to be loyal and patriotic to America, and to defend it from our enemies as do are all doing with Russia. Who would have ever thought that defending and protecting Russia would be more important than serving America interest first. But...this is what the GOP is doing now. They are a disgraceful and unpatriotic bunch who threw America under the bus for this President and his love affair with Russia. Vote them all out, the next batch will learn from this.
5
2018 will reveal the demise of Trump as President and Pence as VP. The evidence of obstruction of justice is overwhelming. As a former prosecutor, this would be an easy matter to prove beyond a reasonable doubt and an even easier matter to indict. The evidence is uncontroverted and document supported. Trump was told about Flynn's lying to the FBI by White House Counsel. After he was told he demanded Comey kiss his ring and make a vow of loyalty. Comey refused. He then asked Comey not to prosecute Flynn. These statements are contained in contemporaneous written documents and "fresh complaint" witnesses were told immediately after it occurred. While fresh complaint is usually reserved for rape cases, its application to these facts documents the veracity of the statements.
So, the evidence is clear and now some in the GOP, for reasons that are beyond my understanding, and in particular Nunes from CA, are attacking Mueller. If Mueller is fired and the GOP supports Trump, America as we know it will be no more. Everyone MUST make sure their Congressional representatives hear your voices. Our children and our children's children depend on what we do now.
6
It's amazing how Republicans are so bent on this notion that people are somehow poor by choice. The thinking goes: we all have the ability to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and get out there and win, if we can only find the fire within. The reality is that society is a tapestry of different types of people and we have an obligation, as a society, to look after one another. This is simply a universal truth and imbedded in all religious teachings across millennia. We are not all naturally predisposed to success and good fortune, we are not all born into privilege or anointed with the go get 'em gene. The whole purpose of society, and by extension government, is to provide for the greater good. Compassion is somehow left out of the equation on the right side of the aisle where it has become a blood sport to heap blame on the less fortunate, to point the finger at the "losers" among us, to somehow justify their position by disparaging the weak among us. The majority of us are striving to achieve, and when we are lucky enough to find success we are obligated to give something back. It's called humanity.
8
Democrats failed miserably to make a case to the public against the Orange Menace’s many many faults. Dems lost a Supreme Court appointment and now $1.5 trillion of citizen funds to corporations. Still I am not optimistic that Dems can craft good messages and defeat the plutocratic GOP in America’s thoroughly gerrymandered districts. It’s time to begin having the conversation: what comes next in a democracy after a 2 party system has failed. Can we use technology to create a better form of governing? Can we solve problems better?
1
I wish I could enjoy your optimism but I think it’s wrong. The Republicans are diabolically clever.
The Republican Tax Bill’s effect on voters cannot be compared to the consequences of Obamacare—the AHC took about six years to begin to be noticeable but, by then, republicans had convinced voters that the AHC and Obamacare were two separate things.
The tax breaks will kick in just in time to save the Republican’s control over the House in 2018. They may lose a few seats but gerrymandering will protect their majority. They may even gain a seat in the Senate (Franken’s Democratic seat is not assured).
The damage of the Tax Breaks may begin to be felt by 2022 and may affect Trump’s re-election—but clearly the “establishment” Republicans don’t care—Trump wanted to be and will be on his own.
The Republicans are diabolically clever
1
Many people put their hopes on 2018 turnaround. I am not so sure. The oligarch in charge are nothing new to America. The 30% of Americans without education and poor understanding of issues is nothing new to America. This is America. 30% of people who base their understanding on conspiracy theories, believe the lies of the president and his acolytes, paste bumper stickers on p/u trucks that read "I don't believe the liberal media", do not understand science, hate foreigners, believe in their American God and cannot think outside of their Bible - I could write a book on this- and are oh so easy to manipulate because, let's face it, they are no that smart.. Those people will see their meagre tax break and think this is so great: thank you Mr Trump! You cut my taxes. They don't even know the ultra rich are getting a tax break to dance into the night at Mar a Lago. So the rest of us pin our hopes on 2018. Because we believe in the system? But the system is rigged.This is America. And maybe we are not so smart because we haven't realized "they" have found a way to rule America from 30%. The MAGA 30%. It takes huge amounts of money, vast servile specialize media to deliver the lies, flashy raucous noisy violent rallies peddling xenophobic hate. All of that works. It's worked elsewhere too. And this kind of social phenomena has lead to tragedy of historic proportions. The oligarch never change. The super rich will always prevail. Yeah, 2018. I hope so too.
2
The number of people whose healthcare premiums will skyrocket way beyond their measly tax cut benefit is shocking.
The number of people who will lose their healthcare coverage as a result of this bill is criminal.
We must demand, daily, that the Trump report how many more $ millions he will get personally gain from his "great, big beautiful tax bill".
3
It is difficult to overestimate just how much the majority of Americans fear and despise Donald Trump and the current Republican party.
4
This is the kind of headline Republicans will put on their bulletin boards to motivate them. If roles
We’re reversed and this was Fox News reporting on Democrats, the headline would have been “In undercutting Democracy, Democrats hope that can fool the American public”. Plus, given the current political climate, whose to say they will pay a price for this unpopular tax bill? I’d say it’s more than 50-50 that the Republican Party falls in line, a la McConnell and Ryan.
This was the easy part for the Republicans. Next they face the reality that they have to pass massive cuts in spending to pay for this tax give away to the wealthy. Its going to be difficult to explain the size and scale of the tax cut while the US economy is growing at a nice clip. Trump's embarrassing mishandling of his job and his insulting argumentative style will only get worse.
3
The picture is beautiful, should be mailed out with the new, beautiful and "bestly"tax forms ever - "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." Gotta love the way cheerleader and sychophant par excellence Pence is singing a Christmas carol for the Koch brothers and their very happy brethren.
11
Maybe the Deplorables will finally figure out that they were suckered by a con man and vote Democratic. Is that too much to hope for?
6
Voters were fooled eight years ago into thinking the Obama was going to be the answer to all our problems. We sit here now trying to undo all his grievous mistakes. Lo and behold, Obama may find himself brought up on criminal charges. Great start so far President Trump!
3
This is a whole lot of childish fury to come out of such an august journal. Apart from the view that many view their non-metropolitan countrymen with contempt, there is little to take away. On a more general note, it is to be hoped that the editorial inputs to the NYT, at some point in the future, look beyond narrow self interest.
1
Brutal election year? You seem to forgot that the GOP can count on their little Russian hacking friends aided and abetted by the friendly folks at Facebook, Twitter and the Russian backed Fox News to help spread the propaganda. Combine that with stepped up disenfranchisement of voters of all stripes and a takeover of the courts and unlimited corporate money they don't have a thing to worry about.
9
This year, the Republicans are their own worst enemy. Every "win" brings them another notch lower.
6
Borrowing money from China to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy is not a good look. Combine that with Trump and the history of midterms and...here’s to hoping!!!! (Of course, the D’s will move immediately to impeachment and gun control giving the R’s the opportunity to be outraged, something they do very well.)
2
The NY Times should stop selling false hope to those of us desperate to get rid of the republicans.Yes, the republicans have been incompetent at almost everything except they have been superior in their ability to win control of the congress through gerrymandering and conning those willing to ignore the treasonous actions of Trump and his team of liars. The republican voters have show themselves to have no moral standards by their willingness to vote for a racist, pedophile in Moore and an acknowledged sexual predator in Donald Trump. Do you think they will change their minds before economic reality kicks them on their backsides? Dream on! Our only hope is to mobilize all the people who oppose the destructive policies of the Republican Party and get them to the polls.
8
November 6, 2018 Democrats take over the House and Senate in the biggest tidal wave election in history.
November 7, 2018 Trump is impeached.
Start making plans, Donald.
6
Why do you call it a win? There was no analysis, no debate. The Republicans rammed this monstrosity of a heist through, and I'd say 99.5% of those who voted for this thievery, didn't read the bill. This is a gift to lobbyist and their overlords. And of course, Donald Trump, the corrupt, pathological liar who pollutes the White House, benefits hugely from this abomination. Please don't call it a win, it's not earned, and it's inaccurate.
8
The GOP is starting to look like Jones town before the mass suicide
5
It remains to be seen how dumb the voters are in these gerrymandered districts. After all they voted for a 4 times bankrupt, pathological liar, with a 1960s undergraduate degree who admitted on tape to sexually assaulting women for decades who assures us he is smarter than all the economist and independent government organizations who disagree with their outrageous economic projections. It may take longer than 2018 to convince them they make a bad choice-- they won't feel the ill effects of the republican tax cut/ give away to the super rich for at least 2yrs.
5
The congress and the president are responsible for funding the federal government. They have failed to do that. Appropriations have not been passed, and the deficit continues to soar. The tax cut is a liability to a party who prided itself, in theory, on being fiscally responsible. That and Trump's alienation from the rest of the world community should cause voters to want to have a firewall (Democratic congress) to stop him from doing more stupid things.
3
Bush cut taxes too... and we know how that turned out.
2
Reelection in 2004!
To my fellow Long Islanders, who stubbornly vote for the likes of Zeldin, King and Donovan: Good luck paying for Mom's nursing home care -- which averages around $15,000 per month in these parts -- once all those Medicaid "entitlement reforms" start kicking in.
7
Come November 2018, we the progressive women, along with many who voted for Mr. Trump, and vow are sick of him and his crooked administration, wii be a force to reckon with.
5
Bring on the marches. They cannot come soon enough!
4
The NYT could have written the same sort of article before Nov. 2016 (and in fact probably did write it), and yet Trump won. Sadly, the same will happen in Nov. 2018.
The Republican base is sufficiently brainwashed by Fox News and the Democrats are incompetent. And if that fails, the Russians will come to the Republicans' rescue, just like last time! This evil tyranny will continue well into the future.
Next year is the GOP's Summer of Discontent, when the revolution will be televised and played out. All of those smiley faces at the WH stairs will be sorely wiped out. A voter storm is coming.....
4
Like Ma Joad said in Grapes of Wrath - "We're the People and we're a comin'!
5
Next impetus for greater undertow will be effort to "fire" Mueller.
Increasingly appears to be "The Apprentice" show redux.
Hopefully real candidates emerge from the ranks of both parties in the interest of national leadership. Too early to tell.
1
Why do you repeat Trump's lie that the tax cuts are "beautiful"?!? Such a description (even in quotes), is not neutral, but makes this world world and our country more ugly. Your words have power, and we live in dangerous times.
Republicans have been swimming against an undertow since the 1980s. Remember when people began predicting that the wave of Hispanic immigrants would thin out the ranks of elected Republicans after Reagan? Remember when when people thought Al Gore was a shoo-in after 8 years of a comfy Democrat president? Remember how disastrous Bush was, and how we confidently thought he tanked the Republican Party? I can also recall some people saying after the 2012 election that, as approval for gay marriage becomes higher, it would increasingly become a liability for Republicans to not support it, or at least tolerate it. And yet, here we are.
And who could forget, of course, the daily assurances we heard during the 2016 campaign that the Republican Party was dead, courtesy of Trump. "The GOP is dead! Trump will never ______! It's all over! Now he's REALLY done for!"
Not exactly proud of feeling this way, but it seems about right that Trump's downtrodden working class supporters are about to get what they deserve under this tax bill. For spitefully and stubbornly supporting their populist charlatan.
3
After a long, grueling climb to the top of the Grand Staircase the Republicans can finally throw up confetti and cheer their tax victory. Unfortunately for them that staircase is on the Titanic and if they listened closely they would hear the groaning of an iceberg not far ahead.
3
I am getting so sick of paying high taxes to support US war-mongering around the world, especially the Middle East. I just read today's "Neediest Cases" story about a little boy suffering terribly from a rocket that hit his house in Syria. Could that rocket have been made in America? He needs money to see a dermatologist who might save him from a life of suffering: a few hundred dollars maybe? If only I could ear-mark my taxes to send him to a top medical center instead of that money going for bullets, bombs, and the salaries of amoral politicians.
6
The republicans truly are clueless about how much they are disliked. But they will learn.... oh, indeed, yes: they will learn.
3
I keep seeing the term "donors"....shouldn't it be "owners"?
6
It’s known as Republicans “Smash and Grab” tax policy.
4
Trump will go down as one of the worst presidents in American history.
McConnell and Ryan will go down as perpetrating one of the worst bills for our country in history.
It is truly sad to see the continuing damage trickle-down Reaganomics is doing to our country.
1
The liberal media should first win elections decisively and consecutively before they can start gloating.
Are we really comvinced that we can win elections past all the hurdles the GOP has thrown our way?
Every single person who sees our Democracy being destroyed by Trump and Republicans...should be working in their communities NOW...to "get out the vote" for November 6, 2018.
Let's get an army of "boots on the ground"...to VOTE OUT every..single..Republican in 2018....to save our Country from the Tyrant and his Enablers.
4
It's time to rout out these GOP marauders from the house and the senate!
2
STOP framing this as some legislative "victory"!
The scorecard is irrelevant! This bill is a disaster!
2
C'mon 2018! That year can't get here soon enough. I will vote for a houseplant over a republican. The plant is at least useful and will do far less harm to the ordinary American than the republicans backing Putin's little sad puppet.
4
With a booming economy and more money in people’s pockets, the Dems are in for a world of hurt. Trump is going to be in campaign mode and the GOP gains in both houses will he huuuuuge.
1
Just a few facts:
1. The "comportment of the president" will not be any problem at all in the mid-terms. How do I know this? Because he is behaving now, exactly as he did in the primary, which he won, and in the 2016 election, which he won.
Yes, his behavior is an embarrassment for "sophisticated" Upper West Side residents, but in most of the country, it is an asset. It even works in Staten Island.
2. If Trump and the Republicans won in 2016 with a tiny advertising spend - watch out in 2018. Money will roll in to the Republicans, because Trump has delivered on every stupid thing he promised Republicans. And best of all, everyone who needs a favor, knows he can be bought.
Ninety five per cent of the time, in the United States, the candidate who spends the most money wins. We are in trouble.
4. Please try and remember that Trump is the stupid, disgusting and dishonest leader American voters like. Good does not count in the Republican party, and there are a lot of Republicans out there.
5. The Democratic party has truly awful candidates - which is why they lost all control in 2016. Either Bernie Sanders, or Joe Biden, would have beat Trump, but they were pushed out of the way by the party hacks. The party needs to clean itself up - the Chuck and Nancy show has to go.
1
Mr. Potter has taken over Bedford Falls and killed George Bailey just in time for Christmas.
2
If only Democrats can stop being fuddy-duddies, milquetoasts and wimps...
2
Today's commenters keep reminding us that the voters must recognize the damage this fraudulent tax sham has initiated. The facts have to be translated into understandable points that illustrate the future damage.
There is so much at stake.
3
Let me make sure I got this right! The federal government does not have a budget for 2018. The jobs that could be created by infrastructure have yet to come. And the republicans have passed a tax cut package that large corporations are going to pass the profits on to their stock holders not create jobs. I am the only one who sees this as a bad to worst case deal!
2
You know how vital the Republicans said it was that we cut our corporate tax rate to be competitive? At least 9 countries are already planning to cut their rate even more to be more competitive than the US. Elevator going down.
https://www.dcreport.org/2017/12/21/unintended-consequences-101-republic...
World competitiveness going up!
1
So, the Republicans eloped with a Gold-digger, signing a 2 trillion dollar second mortgage all the while shrieking about thrift and patriotism.
We'll see what their parent's think about this at the family reunion in November.
4
On Nov. 10, Nate Cohn stated that the Democrats were unlikely to win the House. On Nov. 12, a front page article said that their chances were dim. The only important changes in the interim have been the one-of-a-kind Alabama election and the passage of the tax bill. This article, I believe, is the first mention of a "punishing election year." It is not clear what has happened the last month that has changed everything. I don't think anything has changed.
I believe that, soon after Trump was elected, there was an omigod reaction among moderates, who generally carry the day. They quickly realized that Trump was a mistake as reflected in his horrible approval numbers from the start. Forget the Resistance. Forget the Democratic Party. Tip your hat to the mainstream media, which dropped all pretense of fairness and threw all its chips in against Trump (an abuse of their privilege and a dangerous precedent). Partisan Democrats should not pat themselves on the back. Trump is just that bad and he has long since lost the moderates.
Trump lacks dignity, he is a liar, he is a lightweight, he is arrogant, he isn't nice to women or to anyone else, he is ever-negative, and on and on. And you don't have to be a partisan Democrat to see that. Besides the moderates Flake and Corker and McCain are on board.
I've already got my money for 2020 on the Democrats.
1
Where are the Patriots in the Republican party?
It is scary how the GOP is destroying this country little by little.
They are willing to put 1.5 more trillion dollars on the back of our children in order to give more money to the few at the top?
They are willing to distroy the reputation of a decorated Vietnam Veteran to save the reputation of a well documented lier?
I repeat, where are the Patriots in the Republican Party?
4
"I repeat, where are the Patriots in the Republican Party?"
Drunk with power, and flush with cash, they are under the haystack, fast asleep...
2
I don't believe the tax code change by itself will cause defectors. It would be impossible to pass any large change in our tax code and have everyone content. But the party blew it with the unnecessary $1.4 trillion addition to the deficit. I think they seriously missed the boat on carried interest and pass throughs. But the fact is neither party speaks for me anymore. One has given a small Christmas gift to the masses and a huge one to many who don't need it. And the other would vastly increased entitlements and the size of the government while openly and proudly acting as though public corporations are evil if they are profitable, campaigning on a "rigged" economy, making Wall Street a dirty phrase, and suggesting accumulating individual wealth is un-American. I'll pass on anointing either party as mine.
1
Charlie, where were you when the last Administration erased TEN TRILLION dollars from our pockets with nothing in return?
2
Yes, please re-elect the Democrats and we can have Nancy and Chuck in charge. Yes, we have a health bill we knew nothing about because no one read it.
The evil rich, the job creators never pay enough taxes to feed the hungry over bloated entitlements.
Is this tax plan perfect. No, but it is a start. We need people to be incentivised to work, make money to support families.
The economy is churning and jobs are there. More companies are offering attractive wages because there are not enough trained workers for these jobs.
The biggest challenge to this plan is getting health care fixed. This has to be a bipartisan effort.
The problem is the Americans cannot count on Congress to get anything done when it involves developing a better alternative to our health care system.
I believe in term limits. We need fresh blood for both parties. All I see are the same old faces spouting negative barbs
1
Whether the Republican bait and switch gambit is successful in duping the electorate in November 2018, will depend on to what extent the mainstream media depicts their tax plan as a likely or possible benefit to the middle class. Empiric expectant reportage that ignores the failed trickle-down debacles of the past serves only to assist the Republican Party in their incessant ongoing effort to mislead the electorate. Our democracy is in need of a press that cares more about depicting reality then attending to a dysfunctional, now false, standard of ostensible superficial objectivity. The result otherwise will be more Benghazi's, more specious tales about scandalous e-mails, and more presidential train wrecks like Donald Trump.
So...yes...as in duh!
Republicans, for some reason following Trump like lemmings, have doomed themselves. Americans must be reminded come November 2018 that....
The Tax Reform legislation is an obvious give back to their rich donors.
Repeal & Replace never happened even though they tried 5 times so given the fact that the GOP railed against the correctly named Affordable Care Act, they never created a fair replacement whereby millions of Americans would not be denied decent and affordable health care under the privatized health care model that only America uses. NOTE: All other "modern" nations effectively offer health care to their citizens at less cost than us.
The list is longer but I've grown tired of listing them. Add more as you see fit.
Better yet, if you are a registered Republican planning on voting for more of this clown car... please tell the readers why. We'd like to hear your beliefs typed out as a counterpoint.
2
It's not enough to vote for President. We have to vote in every Congressional and State election. If the Republicans hold state governments any longer they'll lock themselves in for a generation, or longer, through the twin evil miracles of gerrymandered redistricting and the Electoral College.
2
There is MUCH more awry and odiferous with this Congress and the White House than just the new tax so-called law, which is all this piece discusses. And it does not even mention the Senate.
There must be an all-hands on deck movement to take back both houses of Congress and so completely checkmate this ogre in chief. Not to mention simply tossing out the egregious Ryan and McConnell on their duffs. The Republican'ts are the embodiment of corruption and arrogance in American politics. Poll after poll shows that a majority of Americans support many measures--more effective gun buyer background checks, finance industry regulations, support for public education, and on and on--that the Rs have simply been bought off by donors and lobbyists to ignore. FLOUTING THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE IS HIGHLY DYSFUNCTIONAL. NO GOVERNMENT WORTHY OF GOVERNING CAN CONTINUE IN THAT FASHION WITHOUT DISASTROUS LONG-TERM DAMAGE TO THE INSTITUTION, TO THE PUBLIC AND THE REPUBLIC.
2
The GOP has just nailed it's hand to the floor and is triumphantly proclaiming that they hit the nail.
2
Republicans may be banking on dollar signs in voters’ eyes indicating greed and need have erased memories of the most corrupt, vengeful, and debt-funded legislation in a lifetime and a horribly deficient president the GOP Congress has apparently anointed king, or demigod.
The twenty or thirty dollars more in average paychecks will not result in home improvements, savings for children’s college, a vacation, or a new car. One can imagine this extra money will go toward paying bills or putting food on the table. The dream Republicans must sell must include the economic advantages to individual communities, the sense of which will be devastated by cuts to public funding as a consequence of the tax bill itself.
The abhorrent, absurd display on White House grounds recently by congressional representatives, fawning over and praising the president, suggests the GOP-led Congress want Americans to follow their embarrassingly immoral example. Money may buy a change in the perceptions of some regarding a corrupt and incompetent president. To others, the poor character, the needy authoritarian nature, and the vengefulness of the president will continue unabated and no amount of money can change perceptions he is a threat to our democratic Republic.
1
President Trump should be proud that he is the most unpopular US President in modern times. He has certainly earned his terribly reputation.
2
As a regular reader of the NYT I couldn't understand how the past election forecast could be so wrong. Well, with articles like this it feels like you may be doing it again. The question is wether the 65% against the president matter against Koch money? Do the math; how much money did Trump save them?
Memory is our Achilles' heel. As Americans, we tend to forget our outrage when voting time comes back around.
There's the issue of apathy to contend with as well. We've recently seen in Alabama and Virginia how much of a difference voting makes. Yet too many can't be bothered to commit the time it takes to go and vote when the opportunity arises.
And then there's the ever-growing culture of misinformation and downright lies that's prevalent in our media now, so that it seems as if the same people are living in two different countries.
Personally, I'm hopeful but not optimistic. Or did I mean that in reverse?
1
November 6th, 2018 will be when the Republican party officially goes over the cliff. Having succumbed to the racist, anti-science, xenophobic base they have cultivated and taken advantage for years, they essentially stare into the abyss. Gerrymandering may very well go down at the Supreme Court this year, that plus the fact that Trump may be on the ballot in 2020 almost assures that the convenient little districts the Republicans drew themselves to dominate the political landscape for the last ten years will be gone. Texas had an increase of 500,000 Democrats in the 2016 election in an overall down year for Democratic turnout. This trend along with the fact that Texas is a minority/majority state means that by 2020 if not sooner, the largest source of electoral votes for the Republicans are gone. After Trump is gone? What is the Republican party?
2
We can definitely believe the polls. After the Democrats nominated HRC over Sanders to lose and turned their back on Franken this lifelong Democrats has gone independent.
2
I've been reading in these pages for quite some time that the Country needs "blue state" voters to move to "red states" and vote Democratic. While this Tax Bill certainly incentives people to leave high tax states like California, New York, New Jersey for Nevada, Florida and Texas!
1
Don’t be so sure about mid term elections. The true believers are out in full force, they think, like their furor, that they are above the law. They are loving every second of this deeply nihilistic moment in the history of our country.
1
Unfortunately, Republicans are good at PR.
It is helped by their voters who want to believe that Republicans are the good guys and Democrats are the bad guys.
David Brooks explained it that as Republicans hurt those voters economically, it just makes many of those voters even more against the Democrats.
They're swimming against more than a political tide. They're setting the stage for a revolution that will drown them.
It wasn't enough that they brazenly larded in gargantuan tax rebates for themselves. Oh, no; that insult was not enough. They had to go further. I would like a reasonable explanation for how this "tax" bill managed to squeeze in damaging the environment and axing healthcare in the same fell swoop. It takes a very special brand of duplicity and greed to do that.
That they are celebrating something 80% of the country rejects is the surest sign that they're permanently unmoored from decency, logic, reason, ethics and humanity. This bill is as close to codified evil as I've seen in my lifetime.
They seem to think we're simpletons who will settle for a few bucks while our cost of living--to underwrite their and their billionaire backers' greed--goes up. They're tossing coins in the street while whipping the horses set to crush us to foaming fury (an image I've borrowed from A Tale of Two Cities). If they want revolution, they're going about it brilliantly. Because like Madame Defarge, we're taking names.
Knit one. Purl two.
1
Republicans who pay $2,000 for lunch talk about all the great things that people will be able to do with the extra $1000 or $2000 they will be saving in taxes all the while robbing them in every way they can get away with. And then you have Democrats who themselves often make a bundle telling people who don't well its only temporary and what is an extra $1000 to $2000 anyway.
1
Today was a great day because tax reform has become the law of the land. The Democrats are losing their minds saying the tax bill is going to kill people. Nancy Pelosi said the Republican tax bill would have killed Tiny Tim yet she can’t find any actual victims. Chuck Schumer is saying that tax breaks don’t lead to wealth creation just more money for CEO’s and the very wealthy. This is the standard line of the Democrats. This notion that Democrats are the great altruistic helpers stealing money and giving it to others is false. In addition, virtually everyone is getting a tax cut. The biggest move is the corporate taxes are dropping dramatically. A bunch of companies are going to take the money back and use that money to give employees raises and create new jobs. The individual mandate, saying you had to buy healthcare by law, is now gone. This was a very good move, as removing the mandate supports lower rates in the insurance market. Giving people back money to spend on their own terms is better than giving it to a government that wastes it.
2
I fear the incredibly well-funded avalanche of lies about tax "reform" that is about to be launched. President Obama spent 2+ years of his Presidency trying to create bi-partisan cooperation. Republicans were not interested then and they are not interested now. I thought a significant reason for their behavior was racism. I was dead wrong. Never has it been more evident that Republicans represent Corporate interests and hate progressives, no matter their color.
1
Several right-wingers in the comments so far love to cite the inaccurate poll predictions of last year's presidential election. Had Comey not come out four days before and undercut Clinton, she would have won and the polls would have been right on. James Comey literally threw the election. Overall, polls tend to be pretty accurate. Obviously not perfect, but all things considered, barring some fluke such as Comey causes, they do a pretty good job of it.
Sure, a lot can happen between now and November, but Trump is such a totally obnoxious egomaniac that he will continue with his childish tweeting and continue to do and say asinine things that the Dems have a very good chance of picking up huge gains.
1
Any middle class person believing this tax bill is good for them in the long run has just been conned.
1
I hate Trump. But here is a note to the left wing echo chamber: Warts and all, the corporate tax cuts put the US on even footing internationally, will attract investment, and will help the economy grow. Yes, the legislation will need to be revisited in the future, but come November, the Republicans are likely to have the economic wind at their backs. If the Democrats think beating the drum on the tax legislation will carry them to victory in November, they are delusional.
2
Come November 2018 the Democrats will still be wondering why the Clinton who was going to win by 12 percent lost. Reading the comments here from the liberals I am pleased to see that the Democrats will once again be clueless on why they lost. Keep losing--it is amusing to see. And yes you won in Alabama--Jones will be gone in 4; and the other two wins were in states that went for Clinton. When the stock market is up by 35 percent in the fall of 2018 and everyone is working what will the Democrats be running on? More hatred of President Trump--how did that work for Clinton?
Mr. Martin:
I can only ask what you have been smoking.
The Republicans are NOT swimming against an undertow.
Ever hear of gerrymandering?
Ever hear of voter suppression laws?
When people start getting their $25/a month raise they will be in seventh heaven. It will not matter that the 1% will be getting a several thousand dollar raise. Have you talked to the poor people in rural western Pennsylvania? They love him. So do most of the people in the southern and western states.
I cannot wait for November to get here either, but I am not optimistic.
"And he said he had urged his members to make taxes central. 'Everybody needs to be talking about the tax bill, what it means for their communities,' said Mr. Stivers."
By all means, let's have that discussion. Anyone who is not an ignoramus or brainwashed already understands that the tax bill is nothing less than a brazen trillions-dollar theft from working Americans and the Social Security and Medicare on which they depend (or come to depend). It will not only damage communities across the nation but will kill people.
Unfortunately, as shown by The Times article several weeks ago about the attitude of a group of Ohioans, there are plenty of ignorant and brainwashed Americans out there who are willing to leave these things to people who "know better than they do" or who actually believe that they will benefit from tax cuts disproportionately geared to multimillionaires and billionaires.
Aided by the right-wing media that controls much of the landscape between the two coasts, Republicans will be working overtime this next year to deceive Americans into believing that a few extra bucks in their paycheck is worth ransoming their future and their children's and grandchildren's future.
It's all Republicans have, but it be enough unless the "mainstream" media counters R disinformation with information (who benefits from and who is hurt by the tax bill) and lies with empirical evidence (tax cuts have never "paid for themselves").
1
I am literally moving, changing my place of residence, to ensure my vote counts next year. However, I sincerely wish we could all get together, and throw every one of these Richie Rich Republican bums out. The ones who aren't millionaires already are the slavering servants of billionaires, snorting around those dandy heels, hoping for their chance to take their turn at the trough. "Did I do it right this time, Mr. Donor?" They pretend to have principles, but if you read the literature of their think tanks, like the Cato institute, it becomes clear they only worship money. Their proclamations of Christian piety are pretence. The truth is that they have pegged the evangelicals as easily manipulated. Well, I say, they have had their fun. Now it is time to get to work, and really improve our country. 'Redistribution' is the righting of wrongs. It is best done lawfully by collective action at the ballot box. Save social security, vote anything but R.
As Democrats and progressives, we and our leadership need to craft a set of strong, simple, memorable messages that show each of the ways this Republican tax bill robs from the poor, the working class, and Middle America, now and even more so in coming years. The messages must be truthful and have strong emotional impact. We need to start right now, and plaster them all over both liberal and conservative TV, radio, and print media, the internet, billboards, and bumper stickers, from sea to shining sea, from now until November, 2018. AND the Democratic party needs a clear program we can sell as an excellent alternative, that Democratic candidates can run on and win, both on the coasts and in the heartland. That's got to be the plan. Okay, gang - let's go!
3
Here's the calculation -- and it's as rational and compelling as it is depressing. The GOP is bracing itself for heavy losses in 2018, regardless what they do. Worse case (for them) is that they would lose both the House and the Senate, both of which, if the VA and Alabama elections are any indication, are no longer mere fantasies. But then what? What is certain is that the Democrats will not win 2/3 majorities in either chamber, let alone both chambers, so will stand helpless against a presidential veto. Trump may or may not be ousted by then, but in either case, the Republicans will hold the Presidency. Which means that the Democrats won't be able to repeal any of the bills signed before the 2019 session, nor would they be able to pass any new legislation (especially any that addresses any of atrocities signed by Trump). In the meantime, the ballooning of the deficit will accelerate thanks to this new Tax bill, so that come 2020, with the Democrats entering their second year of controlling Congress, guess who will be loudly blamed for that deficit?
2
While I'd love to share hopes for a voter back-lash next year on their realization of being badly had, I cannot. Unfortunately, those voters who see their first year's taxes go down will see it as a Republican gift, and so vote accordingly to continue with a Republican Congress. Although they cannot but understand that these measures are temporary, and that in a decade they'll pay more in taxes, the immediacy of this first year will be enough to secure Republican victories. By the time that the bill's long-term effects settle in, Trump could possibly be in his second term (so why would he care what happens politically what happens in 2027?) and the Republicans will have enough time to shift the conversation to how spending on social programmes is the problem, not tax cuts for the wealthy. I don't think it cynical to say that they've planned for this delayed reaming out of the 90% as a means of continued power: a rosy promise in the next few years, and then diversionary tactics once the financial realities of this tax burden realignment settle in.
1
As we learned last year, what happens in November doesn't just depend on what a majority of voters think, but where those voters are located. Overwhelming democratic majorities in some places may not change the Congressional equation. Also Republican have more than the tax bill to campaign on. Control of judicial appointments is a big issue for both sides. We also learned in Alabama that who the candidate is actually matters, not merely whether he/she is Republican or Democratic. Will the Republican base allow anti-Trump Republicans to run, or will Republican candidates who are at home with Trump's dishonesty, race baiting, delusional rants and infantile behavior be the next slate of Republican congressional candidates and will they fare any better than Roy Moore?
The big picture economically is not just about the tax bill either. It is about health care, deficits, interest rates and trade, among other things. Hard to know how this is going to be perceived by individual voters in a year.
A lot of people were sure about a lot of things last November and even this December in Alabama that turned out to be wrong. I do hope that a lot of the people who thought Trump was speaking for them will now understand who he and his friends really speak for and that a Democratic majority will restore some integrity to the legislative process.
1
The Republicans will have a big win in 2018. How could they not?
The Tax bill is going to increase the growth to (at least) 3.5% according to the "analysis" done by the Secretary of the Treasury, I might add, singlehandedly. On top of that, the middle class, working family, is going to see their pay check increased by $6,000 a month from the Corporate tax reduction. As to the direction of the country, we are the single "beacon on the hill", the only country standing outside of the Paris Accord. And as we revive coal by burning more the air will be so bad and so thick that we can shout Make America Great Again out loud and no one will hear it even as the coal jobs will continue to disappear.
1
I am an independent who would like to see the Democrats take control of the House and or Senate but I will only believe it when it happens in actuality. Many times the Dems seem to cite the future impact of a current vote, election or executive order and then swing too far left in response- snatching defeat from the jaws of projected victory.
2
This article states, "...polls that show 40 percent of voters want to impeach Mr. Trump." Although it is stated that is a high number, with all that Trump has done to violate the constitution and he vast number of other outrageous things, it seems that it really should be higher. Is the rest of America getting the same news as the 40% or are they just not paying attention?
3
This article makes two presumptions that may not be true.
The citizens will be allowed to vote. Voter suppression will not succeed.
1
I wouldn't count on the voters for remembering anything. Although the tax bill is essentially a welfare payment to billionaire, 47% of the American electorate is mostly concerned with the cost of ammunition for their guns.
2
We Democrats are counting our chickens before they hatch. And it's way before. A lot of people will be getting a few dollars more a week and it may take more than a year for the malign impact of the tax law to be widely enough acknowledged. The thing to do is to enlist as many capable and committed progressives to enter contest into every public office in the thin but available hope to have effective impact on the redistricting following the next census. That's what the Republicans did. And that's how were got this government. Too early to hoot and holler. Right time to get into government at all levels.
For a vast number of American citizens the decrease in taxes will not be equal to the increase in their health insurance payments, the increase in the interest rates on their debt, and the loss of deductions.
2018 is going to be very interesting.
2
Bad timing for the GOP on this tax bill. As Americans prepare their 2017 tax returns, they will be able to run estimates on their 2018 taxes and see exactly what the tax bill gave or took from them. In addition, the media will be able to do the same, by creating test returns and producing side by side individual tax returns for 2017 and 2018. There will be no more estimates no more lies, the math will show the truth.
In April the GOP will have about six months to try to explain why they raised taxes on individuals and gave the money to corporations. By October, citizens will see that wages remain stagnant and businesses used the tax cuts to buy back stock and upgrade their private air fleets.
2
I'm a small business owner who will benefit enormously with the new tax law. But the personality and character of Trump so disgusts me, that I am willing to trade my tax windfall with a presidential impeachment, if such option is available. The midterm election can't come soon enough for me.
1
Ryan alleged to support the GOP tax bill to bring US corporate tax rates in line with those in Ireland, Australia, Canada, and elsewhere.
To be consistent, Ryan must now support bringing American health care in line with cheap universal health coverage available in Ireland, Australia, Canada, and elsewhere.
1
What boggles my mind is the fact that so many Americans still have faith in our electoral system. This is what’s going to happen:
1) The corporations, having gained almost complete control over the flow of information in the US, will slowly kill dissent by making it difficult for opposition groups to share information and organize.
2) Radical conservative judges will dismiss cases by citizens demanding the elections have a paper trail and by allowing states and municipalities to destroy voting records immediately after election (as has already happened in Alabama and Georgia).
3) Conservative states will amazingly come up with the money to install easily hackable electronic voting machines while simultaneously cutting funding for commissions charged with ensuring fair and transparent elections.
4) With Gorsuch on the bench, legislatures will continue disenfranchising poor voters and people of color with impunity.
Unfortunately, I’m too old at this point to start life in a new country but I’m encouraging all the young people I like to get out now. Before it’s too late.
What is it about Republican presidents? Every time they're in office, there's either a recession, depression, Great Depression, or Great Recession. Are they simply doing things wrong, whereby the results immediately manifest themselves? Or, could it somehow be dumb luck that Republicans get caught every time in natural economic cycles? Let's examine the current evidence.
The economy is very healthy and at "full employment." Nevertheless, the president and the congress create a tax package to allegedly stimulate the economy and create jobs. No one disputes that the overall deficit will increase substantially. While markets have already discounted higher corporate profits resulting from lower taxes, markets have not yet fully absorbed the effects of the higher national deficit. A couple of things are nearly certain to happen as a result of the higher deficit: 1] Consumer inflation will increase. It's currently 2.65% annualized; we may expect it to rise to 5% within a year. 2] Concurrently, there will be upward pressure on interest rates; consumer interest rates, including mortgage rates, could increase 2 to 5 percentage points. The current real estate bubble, propped up by low interest rates, will burst exacerbated by higher interest rates, causing massive deflation of residential and commercial real estate values in most geographies. Add a couple of big tech failures into the mix, and...
Hello, Great Recession, Part II, no later than the end of the first quarter, 2019.
2
I spent years as a registered independent voting for the best candidate as I perceived it. After the ongoing debacle of the Trump presidency, I will never again consider voting for a Republican.
1
Many Democrats are saying how they are on solid ground for the 2018 mid-term elections. This attitude can be our downfall for those elections. We need a strong, coherent policy stance. We currently are incoherent and not unified. We also need to be heard by the people who are going to vote - we do a poor job of getting our message across to all people. We need to make sure that many, many people go out and vote. In order to do that the Democratic party needs to be more unified than we currently are. Not just Democrats, but all groups who believe that the current administration is damaging this country for the long term. This is not the usual politics and divisions, this is dangerous. Really!
1
Unfortunately, way too many people haven't bothered to educate themselves on this tax cut and don't do the math. They'll see their pay increase and it won't be until next year that they find out how costly the other changes will be for them. Meanwhile, Republicans are doing everything they can to dismantle free quality public education, including allowing people to apply college savings to private schools. Christian sharia, here we come. Climate denial, here we come. Even Harvey, Irma, Maria, those fires, and all the other mess haven't persuaded people that climate is the average of world weather over time, and it's changed.
People's emotional attachment to their opinions beats facts every time (this applies to the unicorn hunters (as good as their ideals are) on the left as well).
2
What undertow?
These pathetic slimesball masquerading as human beings will drown the country with their legislature, such that "undertow" will be replaced by tsunami or tidal wave!
3
Apparently Republican arrogance knows no bounds: they'll spend $10 million through their so called "Congressional Leadership Fund" to sell this tax heist boondoggle in competitive districts. A new dictionary definition for obscene.
37
The Republicans are rapidly doing everything they ever wanted without regard to who they are alienating. They are alienating some with their tax bill, some with their anti-immigrant shenanigans, some with their blind adherence to guns, others with their phony religious beliefs, and yet others with their lack of care for the environment.
With each new item they shove down the throats of the public, they become less likely to hang on to the Senate, the House and even the Presidency. It is their complete lack of interest in the voters that is doing them in.
63
Their celebration may end on a sour note when they realize, I hope, they have energized all kinds of forces against them. The MSM may even have to change their tune so they can keep above water.
We need to remember that these moves, that seem heinous to progressives, are extraordinarily popular with their rural base. These discriminatory acts, and those that encourage violence and mass slaughter of innocent people, will bring out conservatives in droves. The most important thing for progressives to do is to get out their voters and to fight voter suppression laws that conservatives are no doubt already writing , and are almost ready to present to a conservative judiciary.
I seem to recall the same type comments before the last election. Does anybody remember how that turned out? Let’s not jump to quick conclusions once again simply to appease readers.
26
Georgia's special election is a good example of why we need uniform, fair, and transparent elections. The state’s voting systems were uniquely vulnerable prior to the election, security researchers said, but the state ignored efforts to fix the problem.
"Laughing Their Ossoff: Did Computer-Aided Fraud Play A Role In Georgia's Special Election Upset?"
https://www.mintpressnews.com/laughing-their-ossoff-did-computer-aided-f...
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/14/will-the-georgia-speci...
https://harpers.org/archive/2012/11/how-to-rig-an-election/
Can U.S. Elections Really Be Stolen? Yes.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NxXKr2hKCz0
6
We will never know what happened with the election a year ago. I don't believe the votes were counted properly because of the Kaspersky software used for voting machines in key states. Information about that will never be made public.
But this does not bode well for any upcoming election since nothing has changed. There is no political will to ensure accurate and fair elections by the political party in power.
Clinton won the last election by 3M popular votes. Trump was put into office via the outdated, corrupt Electoral College controlled by a few key States with gerrymandered districts. Go to a national popular vote, and you eliminate the strangle hold the Electoral College has had on the Presidency for decades. Obama managed to defeat it, because he was actually liked; he was a terrific speaker with charm and an engaging smile. He was also a gentleman, gracious and witty. Clinton had none of Obama's charm; however she did win 3M more voters than did Trump. And, she would have been an honest, competent President. The Republicans are dredging up the old Uranium One thing again; Clinton had nothing to do with it, then or now. If that doesn't work, perhaps they can start yelling Benghazi again. They are doing this to deflect from Mueller's ongoing, methodical investigation of the Trump organization. If Trump falls, the GOP Congress will lose their tax stooge. So, they are rushing to rob us before they lose Trump. Of course, they can also rob us under Pence; certainly under smarmy corrupt Paul Ryan. So, what is the rush? Perhaps they fear the complete collapse of a Party now so mired in corruption and lies, it might lose the WH, the Senate, and the House in future elections. The old saying: You can't fool all of the people all of the time. This bunch of grifters know that, and they are tripping over themselves to grab everything they can.
Women are motivated to vote this rasist misogynist out of office. In the era of metoo, Trump has got to go!!!!!
44
No, not really. Almost 50% of the women in America approve of Trump... and the Republican Party.
3
Maybe you are right. But let's not forget that the reason this president is in office is because a majority of white women voted for him. And what he is was known prior to the last election.
1
The GOP, Grand Oligarchs Party, has conned the upper middle class, the Ship of Fools, once again. It's so easy to scam these people, just tell them there is a 'welfare queen' somewhere, and imply that if they are making 80K to 200K per year they are really high class, and give them a 1K or 2K tax break for a handful of years, and they will give you their vote. These idiots are ignoring the fact that the oligarchs have given themselves tax breaks worth hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of dollars, AND these same patriotic oligarchs have now fixed it so the government will be financed by monstrously increased public debt which the middle and upper middle class ship of fools will HAVE to pay.
44
Let us hope the government of the United States of America have just accomplished the near impossible. How can this not affect the solvency of our country. Red ink all over the place.
This is published by the same newspaper that predicted a HRC win 13 months ago.
28
You are wrong traveling professor. People are not happy with Trump and the GOP. You’ll see.
2
She did win, by 3M votes. The current grifter in the WH took a gerrymandered Electoral College vote; he is not a popular President; he is not a qualified President; he is beholden to Russian oligarchs for loans: 250M still owed; and a current 95M disguised as a property purchase in FL. He will not speak against the ex-KGB thug, Putin, because he is captive to Putin's oligarchs. Putin knows it; his oligarch thieves and thugs know it; Trump knows it; his family knows it. Trump is now running terrified from Mueller who will eventually unearth those loans laundered through The Bank of Cyprus and Deutsche Bank. Trump is between a rock and a hard place; if he fires Mueller, he faces enormous consequences; if he doesn't fire Mueller, he faces exposure as the grifter and Putin tool he is.
2
Well, she did get the most votes. I’d normally consider that a good indicator she won the election and the Times was right. So... unless you’ve got some more creative Electoral hijinx up your sleeve, the Times still looks pretty good.
1
It's going to be so much fun when people start seeing more money in their paychecks and finally figuring out the media has been lying to them again - just like they did in 2016.
People vote their pocketbook - and the DIMS have NOTHING TO OFFER VOTERS except more free stuff, race baiting and identity politics.
10
There are a handful of blue class states paying for this. This was an assault on these states, which are the breadwinners for the US. Biting the hand that feeds them will not serve the red states in the long run. Any growth that the GOP is predicting with this tax plan won’t happen if these blue state economies are jeopardized.
2
If you really believe in this Republican shell game, I know your interested in this bridge I have for sell. After all, you'll have plenty of new tax savings to buy it.
1
Some will see some "more money" in their paycheck Bad Man, but when they compare the taxes they pay before and after this bill (i.e., "taxes owed" on their 1040s), most will come out as losers, especially the working/middle class.
1
One day, we'll hopefully see a very similar photo, but with the same clowns surrounded by FBI agents in a perp walk leaving the White House.
62
Enjoy your drunken binge, people! Tomorrow is going to be awful.
22
2018 The Swamp Becomes a Oasis of Possibility.
Welfare and Socialism for the Rich!
Where's the Tea Party, the Neo-Nazi's, the Christian Right or the libertarians?
How come they are not protesting in the street. They've been ripped off and they don't care?
Because this "rape" does NOT involve Islam, gays, blacks, immigrants or anyone else other than their masters. They are the slaves and don't even know it!
This proves that poverty and the difficulty of upward mobility are not laws of nature. They are the law of the land! The law of the jungle. Might equals right.
20
Throw them all out. November 2018. November 2020.
The Republican Party is NOT a political organization, it is a criminal mafia impersonating a political party. It should be prosecuted under the RICO Act, and in light of their collusion with the Russians in the last election, for treason.
Once Republicans have been removed from office: investigations, indictments, arrests, trials, jail for Republican Criminals.
They have been subverting our democracy for 50 years:
https://theintercept.com/2017/12/20/republican-attacks-on-robert-mueller...
51
"They have been subverting our democracy for 50 years."
They sure have. And they're getting away with it. They may be thugs but I can't see any reason they won't continue to get away with it.
1
The BlueWave is coming. 2018.
18
As @Traveling Professor says up above, that's what they told us the last time. And suppose the wave does come. Why — after Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania — would we think it matters? Where did anybody get the idea voters determined the outcome of elections?
This article is absolute proof of liberal bias. This is supposed to be objective news piece.
4
Facts have a liberal bias.
The Dems are counting their chickens before they hatch. Expectations on the tax bill are rock bottom so a huge majority will be pleasantly surprised in February. Further the economy is on a tear with compensation up 4 pct in Q3 yoy, unemployment will be well below 4% by November and the economy will grow by more than 3% in 2018. If Trump doesnt blow up NAFTA the Reps will hold on.
7
When the baby boomers find out how much their Social Security will be reduced (that they paid for out of their salaries), and how much their Medicare payments, copayment to their physicians will be raised, there will be a reckoning. Keep in mind that there are a lot of us out there.
The GOP supports candidates that are sexual harassers, white supremacists, agents of our adversaries, and an alleged pedophile. How can they lose?
18
May they all meet the fire and brimstone God they've conjured.
19
The red states are dead weight. We should cut them off.
26
My fantasy is the Confederate States once again ask to secede.
This time we let them and the take the rest of the Red States with them.
I would have to move but it would be worth it.
Remember one thing: when Democrats vote in overwhelming numbers we win. We are the majority after all.
34
Putin will get them through the rough water. Vlad to the rescue.
8
Stop using the word "WIN" - it is editorializing
2
To all those people who truly and graciously say, "It is unfair that I will get a $5000-$10,000 in my pockets and people who earn far less will get maybe only $20, etc." You don't have to pocket and keep that extra cash you will receive. There are plenty of charities and poor people to whom you could give it ALL. We don't have to rely on the govt. ONLY to make things right for the less privileged.
9
We the people ARE "the government." At least, that was the original plan.
Brutal? LOL. Trump is keeping every promise. Tax cuts for corporations. (they are people) The Muslims countries are banned. Terrorism at a stand still. The Wall will be built. Bad Mexican Hombres out. Isis defeated. Fracking. Beautiful Clean coal. Arctic drilling. No collusion. Media exposed as fake. We call that results. That will translate to huge gains.
3
They have an under tow, but they will get all that Koch brother money and Russian propaganda so it still looks like the Dems have a significant upstream swim.
12
GOP - Well you are hated by minorities, gays, lesbians, liberals, the educated, the kind, and most of the world. You can do better. So you passed one bill that will hurt the poor, the middle class, and the sick. Now every single person except Donald Trump will be hurt by this bill or have a friend or family member who is. Congratulations, you must be very proud.
22
Is anyone else struck by the old white men, including the grifter in chief taking a victory lap. This is a prelude to further looting.
8
Did anyone watch this bunch of crooked sycophants fawning over the needy buffoon they have to coddle and pet in order to steal from the rest of us? These are grown men behaving like teenagers swooning over a rock star. Think about George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison et al. And, then think about Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan.
The GOP has become such a hateful party that over the last 30 years, they've sent "liberal Republicans" into extinction. November 2018 is our chance to send the rest of the party into extinction.
14
"A CNN poll released on Wednesday found that 56 percent of registered voters said they would vote Democratic next November, compared to 38 percent who favored the Republicans, a yawning 18-percentage-point gap that was only slightly bigger than other recent polls..."
These same polls showed Hillary winning in a cakewalk last year, which is why so many liberals are still in deep shock. In Alabama, a really good, appealing Democratic stalwart barely scratched out victory against a monstrous, pistol-waving child molester. This is evidence of Democratic tsunami? Liberals are once again deluding themselves, failing to separate reality from the leftist cheerleading of this newspaper and most other major media. Liberals are once again failing to see that, despite the Donald's awful personality, that many of your fellow Americans are not following the party's ever sharper turn to the left.
11
Democrats also won in Virginia. FDR was also considered "left"; he left us with Social Security which has saved lives and kept old people from dying in the street. Truman left us with Medicare which keeps old people from dying in the street, untreated and uncared for. Hillary Clinton managed to get benefits for poor women with dependent children; she also go medical care for First Responders exposed to asbestos and other toxins when the Towers fell. Other than Eisenhower who left the Inter-State Hwy System, and Nixon who left the EPA, please name a Republican President who has ever given anything to the taxpayers who pay for the perks etc. The current crop in Congress, and those who are destroying the Agencies they have been appointed to oversee, are willfully destroying their own country and its resources, including the Arctic Refuge. And, the tax heist to benefit the Koch Bros. and the Wal Mart family, will eventually be paid for by gutting SS and Medicare - or by destroying the future of Americans now young, or unborn. Mitch McConnell et al are no better than Putin's oligarchs.
These are obviously not the "same polls".
Why do people have to lie ?
Just don't lie.
No national poll had Hillary winning by 18 points. Just please stop it.
Last years polls were only really off in 2 states, Michigan and Wisconsin.
It was always closer than the news outlets made it out to be ( which makes one question their motives ). Toss in Comey, and the smart people saw a GOP win.
Hillary DID win the majority of votes.
Although I personally have no interest in cutting taxes and given my situation, expect my taxes to actually rise, reading this article left me feeling that this was less news and just more of the same puff piece from the New York Times. Reading the paper these days is tiresome. It's just constant complaining about the village idiot and the lackeys in Washington. Nothing they can do is right and your patting yourselves on the back talking about how the mid-terms are going to be devastating for the Republicans. I hope your right, but given that everything you thought you knew and wrote about Americans was proven wrong on 11/04/15, there is just no basis for all this puffing. Let's wait and see what the voters do. Then you can report the news and leave the opinions to the opinions page.
6
The article photo looks like an updated 2017 GOP version of the "perpetrator walk."
3
The GOP has become such a hateful party that over the last 30 years, they've sent "liberal Republicans" into extinction. November 2018 is our chance to send the rest of the party into extinction.
7
The headline is a repeat of headlines leading up to Nov 2016, Hillary had a 95% chance to win leading up to the election we read in the NY Times everyday. This article today is just sour grapes because Trump won again
6
Anyone being honest about the political landscape knows that it favors Republicans.
This is the type of false hope drivel that kept people home in November 2016.
Don't believe it for a minute.
The GOP has the upper hand. They already forced open a seat in Minnesota with a phony scandal, and you can be sure that many more of them will follow.
If you thought 2016 was an ugly political year, just wait until what the fascists in charge ( that's right - I said it ) have in store for you next year.
Lie after lie after lie.
13
I don't remember ever seeing anything so disgusting, and perverse as that group of sycophants lingering on the White House lawn praising a disgusting, lying, thieving scoundral. Praising a man who willingly supported a child molester takes a certain type of character that only a member of the GOP is capable of. Claiming that this loathsome beast is "proving to be one of the greatest of Presidents ever", shows a severely limited knowledge of American history. It's a hard stretch to even grasp that this character is referrd to as Mr. President.
Worse than a nightmare, because when you awaken from a nightmare it is over. This creature is the gift that keeps giving.
8
No comment needed.
No news needed.
No analysis needed.
No opinion(s) needed.
No debate needed.
Only one thing is needed.
VOTE.
9
Republicans, killing the middle class slowly for decades via death by a thousand cuts, emboldened by the good fortune of having an equally vicious, deceitful moron in trump, have now delivered the coup de gras. The people who put them/him there just haven't realized yet what's been done to them, that the Kool-Aid they've been drinking all these years had a little something extra in it.
But ole Mitch and Paul are a little too giddy, a little too pleased with themselves for what they've gotten away with, and will increasingly overreach. They're so proud of themselves now they're barely trying to conceal what they've done. This time feels different though. The con is so blatant, and of such magnitude no amount of Kool-Aid is going to mask the pain they will have inflicted. And maybe, for once, the conned will finally understand what's been done to them and who did it.
6
The only truly historic portion of this heist is the morass of sickly sycophant politicians openly fawning over a demented president so expectant of such praise that would be an embarrassment to any normal person on the planet.
9
Shame on Republicans in Congress. Congress is an equal arm of government in our presidential system. Yet Trump beats the Republican congress like a drum and they cower.
I fear more than midterm loses. As I continue to say on this forum, our very democracy is in peril under this blatantly unchecked PLUTOCRACY.
6
Please Trump more winning!
2
This is yet another example of an opinion piece in the NYT masquerading as a news article.
DJT's unpopularity does not spell trouble for Republicans. Otherwise, Obama's soaring popularity should have insulated the Democrats in 2010; it didn't.
"A CNN poll..." says a majority will vote Democrat next year. So a news network that is a shill for the DNC asked other Democrats who they will vote for and they said Democrats. Is this news?
Democrats are ahead in fundraising. Well, so what? Clinton was well ahead of Trump. It didn't work either.
8
everybody votes 2018
2
All year and even before, we have been reading the doom and gloom this paper and its lying and cheating reporters have dutifully delivered. Even here, with an immense tax cut in so many ways, this paper still beating that odd and off-key drum. It's the same old drum beat, but now I think many more people are no longer listening to your biased and self-serving made-up nonsense.
9
NY Times, PLEASE CORRECT YOUR REPORTING.
The 20% deduction on pass through entities will NOT benefit the IT specialist or house painter. There is an exclusion for specified service trade or business per section 1202 (e)(3)(A) of the tax code, which is quoted below. This means that just about any independent contractor, who is hired BECAUSE of her or his particular skill, will NOT get the 20% deduction. Think about it.
(3) Qualified trade or business For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘‘qualified trade or business’’ means any trade or business other than— (A) any trade or business involving the performance of services in the fields of health, law, engineering, architecture, accounting, actuarial science, performing arts, consulting, athletics, financial services, brokerage services, or any trade or business where the principal asset of such trade or business is the reputation or skill of 1 or more of its employees...
4
I saw that statement yesterday about "house painters" being included and knew it was not factual. Of course, the Republicans would only reward people that shuffle paper, not anyone with an actual skill set.
Eventually they will kill the golden goose that our country has been for these people... VOTE THEM OUT! They don't represent us!
6
Nice try to change the narrative, but it isn't working. The NYTimes and its hyper-partisan approach is losing at every turn, and at every turn the hysteria on the left just keeps getting more embarrassing (see njglea's post below). Trump has not only survived his first year in office under the most unprecedented onslaught of leftist attacks ever seen against a president, but he has come out looking better than ever. Now the Republican Congress seems to be uniting behind him, as the left becomes further unhinged. Sorry, but I just don't see it the way you do, and I think that Trump and his supporters, as they have every step of the way so far, will again buck the conventional wisdom and have a strong showing in the mid-term elections. But, hey, you keep being you, NYTimes! I guess tomorrow you will be back on the Russia beat. At this rate, I see no reason to alter my post-election forecast that Trump will be one of the greatest presidents in history, and perhaps the greatest. With all of the tremendous progress he is making on so many different fronts – ISIS/terrorism/Iran/Israel, immigration, economy/taxes, government waste, eco-hysteria, et. al. – there is no reason to think otherwise. What a refreshing upgrade to see real leadership versus the mealy-mouthed pandering we were forced to endure for the last eight years!
3
As a Trump supporter, did you really expect him not to survive his 1st yr in office? Name they legislative actions that you claim they have enacted to support your claims of progress on economic and foreign policy. Your contempt for the Obama presidency is curious. Obamas policies are the driving force behind the continued gains in the stock market and declining unemployment--this is irrefutable. You owe the recovery of your financial portfolio to Obama after the last republican administration took the stock market down 44% in 2008. You might want to check your math before foolishly following these republicans back down in the economic gutter of 2008!
Yeah, he looks great.
He's got to threaten and fire investigators just to keep his job. His National Security Advisor committed a felony on day 4 and his campaign manager is walking around his house with an ankle bracelet.
He publicly admitted to obstructing justice twice already and his kneejerk response is to get his personal Stasi to go after anyone questioning him.
Kind of weird calling it winning isn't it when the victory was in the battle you conducted with yourself?
2
These greedy, corrupt and corrupting plutocrats, multinational corporations and their puppet politicians understand two things: money and power. The People have been subject and victim to mass propaganda -- and only some know that. In any event, People Power has to stage a counter coup to this ongoing, neo-fascist leaning coup d'etat. Massive consumer/economic boycotts, general & disruptive labor strikes, massive peaceful People demonstrations, and protection of a Free Press and Net Neutrality, independent courts, and a Constitutional respect for human rights. Actions - boycott, strike, demonstrate, protest, vote! In a sustained way -- Let's march. And if you can't march then stop buying their products, stop working, stop getting your cable from them, stop voting for corrupt, lying idiots and sheep. Action and People Power, Now!
4
Bring on the punishment!
1
Typical NYT. Not a bit of concern for the American people or the economy. Just plain ole class warfare and Democrat Party electioneering. What will you do if companies repatriate stranded profits, invest, create jobs and grow the economy? What Democrats always do: whine, protest and create bogeymen.
8
Democrats need to tie this rotting albatross of a bill around the neck of every Republican running for office.
4
Careful, Times, careful. You saw what happened the last time you tried to predict an election and the blow it dealt to your credibility . This article is full of subjective assumptions. It is not factual news. A generic party preference poll is useless in local elections. Only a district by district, state by state analysis is relevant. And, such an analysis would yield a drastically different result than the artical implies. If the 56-38 percent ratio were a valid predictor, Democrats would wind up with about an 85 seat majority. That's not happening. That's because all midterm elections are local, and can only be analyzed on a local level, where people tend to stick with incumbents. Whoever has the majority after the election will have a narrow one, and one which cannot be predicted now.
This article reads like an attempt to feed readers what the paper believes they want to read. That's beneath the Times. Leave that to Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. That's how they keep viewers. We don't read the Times for entertainment, but for facts. This article is not factual, but is a subjective analysis belonging, if anywhere, on the op-ed page
9
By and large…and partisan politics aside…the new tax bill 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 the vast majority of taxpayers in other states throughout the country do not fall into that category...and on average, the pros far outweigh the cons.
Most significantly, the big drop in the corporate tax rate is to spur long-term capital investment, hiring and wage increases in the U.S. rather than abroad. The new law also helps individuals who have pass-through business operations – such as S corporations, partnerships, LLCs and Schedule C sole proprietorships.
Sadly, many of those who despise the new tax bill, for whatever reason, may actually being hoping that it fails...NOT for the economic betterment of the country as a whole, but simply to bolster their own political agenda.
If the Republicans are indeed “swimming against the tow” headed toward next year’s midterm elections, then they already have a pretty good lead in the fast lane.
5
What's the opposite of "coattails"?
1
Stop calling it a tax cut. It's a debt increase with some shifting of of the current tax burden.
If my condo board were to do something so irresponsible as to increase the condo association's debt in order to "cut" condo fees, we'd boot them out in a second. This tax bill is very unpopular. Why? Just as condo owners want to protect their investments by ensuring adequate upkeep and maintenance of the condo, American taxpayers have a lot invested in our great country. We want a good return on our taxes, i.e., high quality of life. Even an idiot real estate developer should understand that.
Part of what makes America great is good governance, but Republicans are hellbent on gutting the institutions that help make America great. If low taxes were the secret to creating jobs and economic growth, then Somalia and Guatemala would be booming.
3
how many votes do the donors have?
how many votes do constituents have?
nuff said
GOP RIP
3
Republicans appear not to believe they will be buried in 2018. Strange, isn't it? How remarkable that nobody considers the obvious conclusion: they know something that the rest of us don't. Perhaps they know they cannot lose. As the croupier says, with his eye on Bogart, "Les jeux sont faits, rien ne va plus." The number 22 will come up twice, and one suspects it will come up for Republicans all across the country in 2018. One would think that after all we've witnessed, from the "election" itself to the passage of this bill, that somebody would speak the truth in plain English: "Traitorous thugs and gangsters are running the country." Funny, we hear the beginning of the sentence but it ends with, "...are running the FBI." We'll continue to hear that sentence from the propaganda machine of the right. But will we hear the first one from the center or the left? I'm not holding my breath.
2
Guardians of Putin are in trouble because voters are not nearly as stupid as the GOP believes us to be. When the sociopathic GOP starts cutting Medicare and Social Security to pay for their tax cuts for billionaires, they can 'splain their lovely tax plan to us and how we are almost as bankrupt as their Dear Leader has been at least six times.
1
System will be so rigged the Republicans can’t lose...
1
please don't say brutal.
They have their base in bag, even if they bleed themselves to not vote for any liberals.
They will cheat out to keep power as they have always. It's that, now they will do it openly.
1
The loan shark says....I'll give you a hundred right now....and it will only cost you 20 per week....and the low info republican voters think it is a great deal.
I don't know what to say.....I guess they will use the hundred to buy lotto tickets and everything will be fine.
1
Yeah for us rich people!
Just asking does the New York Times know or care that the US is involved in many wars and now Pence is promising war against the Taliban forever.
1
More like a rip tide than an undertow
1
The "Law of Unintended Consequences" has yet to be applied. It will not be pretty. In six months the Republicans will not be able to give this legislation away.
3
Meanwhile, if the face of the Democratic Party continues to be that of its current geriatric and baggage-laden leadership, I'm confident the party will once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
1
71 yrs. old is geriatric. Mitch McConnell, Oren Hatch are geriatric. Paul Ryan is just corrupt from the inside out; he doesn't need to be geriatric, he will implode from internal rot.
Valuations are calculated before taxes, not after. Insane multiples never hold, no matter how they juggle the code. The mullets are running.
1
If this was such a poor political move akin to "political suicide" as one commentator stated, why aren't the Democrats out there celebrating and why is Chuck Schumer warning the Republicans that this was a bad move. There is either an outright hypocrisy or wishful thinking among the Democrats in their remarks.
3
As a registered Democrat, for years I've voted for Susan Collins because the Maine Democratic Party has put up such dismal competition to her. Never again!
Now if we could just get rid of the Republican nonentity who is holding down the 2nd district seat.
4
Please elect someone who doesn't speak as if under water. By the time Collins finishes a sentence, I have dozed off. Doesn't the cold weather up there energize people? Or is hypothermia a constant risk?
Hate to say this, NY Times, but your track record on predictions suffered greatly in 2016. Try holding off until November 9, and harry the Democrats mercilessly until they come up with some better plans that will benefit more than just a few rich people.
2
Agree:
"If the Dems don't come up with better solutions to the country's problems they could very well find themselves booted out in 2020."
I can't forget the Democrat's electoral disaster in 1994, after which Bill Clinton spent two years just insisting he was still "relevant." But he won in 1996.
Moral of the story? The Democrats could do well in 2018 and yet not beat Trump in 2020. That's a long way off, and much can change by then (for example, Trump may have a heart attack and die by then). But the Democrats should not forget 1994, even if they do very well in 2018.
Many may not be paying attention but the resistance is so buyer beware. We are coming for the House.
2
The republicans will hold the Senate in 2018. That is the relevant point, because the only lasting action by President Trump is his impact on the federal judiciary. Like his predecessor, Pres. Trump is largely ruling by administrative action, easily overruled by his successor. The tax bill will be irrelevant in the long run; our debt and structural deficits will cause a reckoning in the next decade. The tax bill might accelerate that time, but it was coming in any event.
The notion that corporations are already paying bonuses to employees because of their pending tax cut is ludicrous and the NYT should know that. The tax changes don't go into effect this year.
6
Ah! The infamous smiling quartet after the heist. And what a heist! Not an entire bank, but the entire kit and kaboodle - Our country's Treasury!
9
So what will the democrat position be? Remember Obama's "new normal" economy and food stamps "we will bring that back!". Yep, that's the ticket.
1
Here's the Democrats for ya. I just went to Facebook to see how my member of Congress is expressing & channeling the outrage so many of us are feeling, and there she is with a big stupid grin on her face, sloshed in eggnog at the all-important annual Democratic Party ugly-sweater party !
Do those thieving traitors face a difficult election year in 2018? I hope it is true, but I doubt it. I would be willing to wager that they retain control of both houses of Congress on 7 November 2018, and that they will retain the White House two years later. I would be willing to wager it, but I am going to be very much poorer because I realized a dream to live in New York and I was stupid enough to get a good education (at my and my family's expense, no loans or assistance aside from competitive academic scholarships) and form my own company in a service industry, so my taxes are going to skyrocket and my net worth is going to drop even though I don't make much and I have been foolish enough to employ good people and try to pay them more than fairly. I will be supporting some righteous know nothing in Wyoming or Mississippi who cheered the fall of "Sodom" on 9/11 while I volunteered among the survivors, having watched the whole awful thing unfold from my rental apartment. I lived in Jersey City then, and I know for a fact no one there was cheering, no matter what the short fingered vulgarian claims. But I guess he is happy: vengeance is his, and his "base's". I wonder what we all did to him and them while underwriting them all these years?
6
The left seems to be pulling hard for an economic collapse. How very patriotic.
5
The right seems to be tempting fate, hoping trickle down recessions do not repeat themselves. How Patriotic.
BTW, Patriotism is ideological garbage for ignorant ideologues.
10
Is that the current wisdom from the Peoples Republic of Massachusetts?
Anyone who wants to understand the laughable slant in this article, just tune into any CNN panel Jonathan Martin is on and watch him lean back and spew the Blue State Bubble worldview that collapsed under them in 2016. For Martin, et al., 2018 is "pay back time" ... and for their sanity (and professional credentials), they simply MUST have a Trump shellacking in 2018. It's called "confirmation bias" and it is oozing out of this article like a blue sludge.
4
OK , some of us will get a few $$ in our pockets but keep in mind the big picture. The 1% will get $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ in their pockets , corporations (and Donald Trump) will get $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ while at the same time the debt increases to $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ passing the obligation to our children and grand children, while programs to help the needy and poor will be left with $. Sure, some companies will give out token amounts of $ to say they're sharing the wealth, but behind closed doors, the CEO and Board of Directors get big $$$$ and buy back company stock to further increase their $$$. See, this is what happens when you don't think before entering the voting booth.
11
Going to my first local Democratic party meeting next week. Put my boyfriend on notice that I am on a mission to turn California fully Blue with regard to House representation. Might even head over to Nevada and Arizona as well. I get 5 weeks of PTO and can work from home occasionally. No excuses to be lazy. Might be single by the time this over, lol. But that is okay.
15
From an article, just in, from NewYorker magazine: "Trump called on his Vice-President [without notice]... For a full two minutes, Pence dutifully offered thanks [to Trump] and ... said that he was “deeply humbled, as your Vice-President, to be able to be here.” Trump looked stern as he listened, nodding slightly...Later in the day, the Republican leaders ... gathered at the White House ... McConnell, Ryan, and others hailed Trump for setting records in judicial appointments and, now, for passing the tax bill. Diane Black of Tennessee thanked Trump “for allowing us to have you as our President.” Orrin Hatch ... predicted that the Trump Presidency will be “the greatest Presidency we have seen not only in generations but maybe ever.” Pence performed again, addressing Trump: “You will make America great again.”
Comment: Joe Stalin, in Trump's seat, would have vomited.
11
Trump is the "greatest ever". Greater than George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, LBJ and Obama. Wow, just Wow. I am afraid to look at Trump directly on my TV for fear I might be struck by some kind of reflected snow blindness; he is so bright and wonderful.
They pass a tax cut for multi-millionaires while cutting medical care for the needy. Disgusting, so disgusting. Payola, such payola. Arrogance, such arrogance. Each and every "yes" voter needs to be ousted in 2018 and, starting with the disgrace who parades as being the President, the rest in 2020. We can Make America America Again, but not with this bunch of jerks.
9
This will steel our will to expunge Donald and the GOP from our lives.
5
What are all you leftys commenting on here going to do when the economy and stock market roar ahead. You can keep your precious polls and frame them.
3
What are you right wingers going to do when innocent kids start dying who have been cut off from health care to line the pockets of the donor class? The "precious polls" already show what's coming. Enjoy.
3
What are the Democrats running on other than hatred of the President.
And these signs in liberal neighborhoods " Hate has no home Here ".
I guess its home is the Democrat party.
3
2018 will be a referendum on Trump and his corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration.
6
To watch the charade of all those sycophants is nauseating.
7
My cynical take on this is that Rebpulicans knew that 2018 was going to be tough for them, so why not reward their donors and pad their own pockets to ensure good income and a prosperous furtuer when they are not re-elected.
8
The sycophancy the GOP Congressional leadership displayed yesterday in the Rose Garden was sickening, embarrassing and disgusting. What gutless guttersnipes we have in leadership. The shameless flattery of Trump, this neon God they made, was truly revolting.
9
It’s the economy stupid! When reasonable Americans, not suffering from TDS, recognize that they have more money and better job opportunities from a bustling economy, they will reject the democrat’s policies of hatred and obstruction.
7
How much is my part of the national debt increased to pay for an expanded tax-free inheritance for Barron Trump? How much is everybody's increase?
8
About using a postcard for your taxes -- would you really use a postcard with all your financial details including your social security number on something that anyone could see? Pretty stupid idea by Trump.
4
Corporations are already doing the PR for the GOP by giving holiday bonus money. AT&T is giving away plenty of their ill gotten gains from the tax cut trying to kill two birds with one stone. AT&T is trying to win Trump so he will get out of the way of their merger and do the PR to prove they are not Robber Barons. Boeing is investing 300 million to retrain workers and such. I think the Left is walking into another Buzz Saw if they think the Beneficiaries of the Tax Deal will not do everything they can to make the public think the Reverse Robin Hood Tax Deal was good for the small guys.The Left should be pushing for pay raises in lieu of one time Xmas Money. As Hillary thought she had 2016 in the bag I think The Left may be thinking they will also have a Cakewalk in 2018. Everyday the message should be how certain members of congress personally benefited from their vote. One thing you have to give the Republicans is that they know how to stay on message. I wonder daily what is the message of the Left? I really don't think a message of Whining is going to win the Battle of 2018. Why is no one asking if these corporations had so much money on hand that on the day the bill passed they can give out so much money to spread Xmas joy they didn't use that money to pay their workers more?
9
Trump's perversion of what constitutes "comportment" by a sitting president has made him one of the most reviled men in America.
I hope that translates into a wave of anti-Trump voters targeting every single GOP candidate on the ballot.
5
Yeah the GOP thinks the American people bought the tax “cut”... the GOP committed political suicide. They won’t be laughing & Roy Moore losing in Alabama should have given them their first clue. The majority of Americans reject DT. The majority of the world rejects him too.
4
How will Trump voters and GOP voters know how much this will hurt them if they only watch rightwing news media and visit other rightwing echo chambers that are the marketing arm of these sick agendas?
We must keep working on solutions intended to bring education and awareness to those who don't seem to want it. Whoever can make strides toward this goal will deserve a Nobel Peace Prize.
3
So the Republicans in the first year of the Trump term got a solid conservative Supreme Court Justice and just passed major tax reform. Obama had 8 years to fix the corporate tax issue and did nothing. So now the left is sure they are going to get crushed in elections in 12 months. Just as sure as they were that Hillary Clinton would win the election in 2016. Given that the Democratic leaders have declared the tax bill the worse law since the Fugitive Slave act of 1850 what happens when most workers get a little more money in their paychecks and the economy continues to rally with low inflation and unemployment? Maybe the voters will recognize partisan ranting for what it is and decide even though they might have issues with Trump that giving power to the Democrats is not the answer.
3
Obama was OBSTRUCTED through his 8-year term. You know that.
btw, CORPORATIONS WERE NOT ASKING FOR ANY TAX ISSUE TO BE FIXED.
Giving power to republicans, as you will soon see, is not the answer.
4
That was one of the Democrats' problems -- they didn't see the need to fix the corporate tax rate.
I guess it was okay with the Democrats for US factories to continue relocating overseas to avoid the highest corporate tax rate in the world.
Only Japan has a rate as high as ours. You don't see companies rushing to relocate to Japan do you?
1
Be cautious of the predictions...remember 2016? We're a year out still and chicanery abounds! Convince everyone you know to actually vote!
2
Considering how Wells Fargo treated/cheated its customers, considering its corporation culture, I am seeing the bonus they are giving their employees as a bribe. Am I wrong? Is it something other than an attempt to buy their vote? I hope they take the money and vote Democrat so they can keep the money.
3
I realize that the popular wisdom is that we should only reach out to our own senators and representatives, but as a citizen affected by this crapulous, reckless, shoddy, and corrupt wealth transfer scam, I find some tiny sliver of satisfaction in calling the offices of the Republicans who passed this junk. They may not be in my state, but their passage of a bill criticized by every well-known economist, by the Wharton School of Economics, by billionaires, and CEO's, is something they need to hear about. There comes a time when you have to deal with the consequences of the junk you do. This is that time. This is a bill passed on all of us; let the perps know how you feel.
6
And in the picture...only four of all the rich white guys who will make out like bandits.
4
To a guy with a hammer everything looks like a nail. All this is wishful thinking and looking into crystal balls. The Democrats may win, they may lose, or things may stay the same. And no one, certainly not an author with a bias, can know at this point which way it is going to go.
4
If you're really rich, or really stupid, vote GOP
5
The picture is worth 1,000 words. Mike Pence doing his assigned job:
give constant stroking to the fragile ego of Donald Trump.
4
Love the Perp-Walk 4some photo
5
hahahaha
wait till those Feb paychecks hit
hahahaha
dems are toast
the do nothings
3
gag.
as Socrates here on nytimes says
GOP ~ Greed Over People
5
The same horse plucky that sucked a lot of progressive voters to not vote for Hillary. We were told incessantly by the press that she was a shoe-in to win.
Now they’re starting up again. Never again should the left take their candidates or supposed victories for granted.
7
Republicans, you are traitors to this country. You signed a pact with the devil. You need to disappear and everyone needs to vote in the future!!!
5
Each time republicans are in office, from the national level to local, the democrats have to spend years repairing the damage done. Remember what Einstein said about doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. “You’re an idiot! “
10
Time for the old, white Republican men to step aside and let new, young people into Congress. The entitled class have shown their colors while robbing the taxpayers and didn't even bother to cover their faces. They can now happily attend their Christmas parties while sucking up to their donors for another year of plundering the American people. Shameful bunch of dotards.
6
Whining liberals , AKA looooosers, are free to donate their tax savings to the their favorite charity the IRS.
4
This tax bill is an act of breathtaking venality, even for the morally bankrupt GOP. They have become little more than a cult, worshipping mammon and whose primary aim is enriching itself and it's major funders. I fully expect a mass exodus from their ranks come the new year. I suspect most won't wait for the midterms to cut and run; they've got what was most important - a very cushy future in retirement. I also suspect this is why they've held their noses and stuck with Trump through this tortuous year. He has ensured that they all made out like the bandits they are.
David Stockman, Reagan's budget director, the very author of trickle down theory, admitted years later that it was never going to work, was never meant to work as advertised and has been a vocal critic of repeated attempts by the Republicans to sell this fiction to the gullible voters. Millions of people shouted out against this bill in the weeks before it passed and that side of the aisle pretended they just didn't hear it. It's the most brazen display of greed and self-interest I've ever witnessed. The UN special raconteur, Phillip Alston, in a tour of the US's ravaged underbelly, said the bill would make the US the most unequal nation in history. The GOP managed not to hear that either. We've entered an era where at least half the government literally doesn't give a damn about you unless you have a net worth putting you in a particular tax bracket. I don't know about you, but I find it just sickening .
7
There goes your government services, protections and benefits. And they keep on electing more Republicans while the poor and middle class keep getting more and more desperate. It's insane.
3
Giving millions to corporations and the top one percent while Orrin Hatch says they don't have enough to fund CHIP shows the GOP's Marie Antoinette attitude quite clear. However, for the Dems to succeed, they have to get rid of sanctmonious West Coast elitist Nancy Pelosi, who will replace Hillary as the GOP punching bag in November.
1
How about we think about getting rid of a competent legislator after you manage to get rid of Minuchin and his skinny, intellectually challenged, heavily branded wife? She reminded me of Midas who eventually choked on his gold. We can only hope.
I read today that the GOP-Tax-Scam will give everyone a tax break for 2017! Making everyone believe the lies they peddle. Then over the next few years, the Middle and Working classes will see their taxes go up...and up!
Be prepared all who are on Medicare, Medicaid the GOP will have to cut funding to those programs!
Republicans may be smiling now but just wait for midterms!
1
Republicans let the working class get a tiny nibble of tax breaks while the rich get a steak the size of Montana.
2
The Recession Christmas - a call received from a friend at J.F.K. on her way with her family to visit their relatives in Africa. One of the largest banks in our Country has sent notice that it is about to place their house in escrow. I listen to my anxious friend, who has never taken a short-cut in her life, tell me that it is a mortgage payment due, a computer glitch and they have always paid on time since they moved into their residence twelve years past.
Stop, I tell her. The Bank does not care about you, your husband, your good will or welfare. You are a 'tool' like hundreds of thousands that are losing their homes. We will draft a 'robot letter' in reply, pointing out that the error is on their part. The Bank wishes to keep its reputation, or we can at least remind this big business of its responsibility and professionalism towards its customers.
All to say, it is wonderful to hear that AT&T and Wells Fargo are the epitome of generosity towards their Republican buddies in footing the bill by rewarding its employees financially.
When New York City was nearing a debt crisis in the 90s, sacrifices had to be made. and an angry exchange was taking place in The NYT between the Mayor and a prominent economist. The economist was not offering bonuses in his office that year in view of the above.
This is a Scrooge Republican Party and its Stool-Pigeon has to go, because the Nation is being goosed.
2
There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it — that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all! —Savio
3
I remember that; I was there. All those arrested were bailed out by their professors who formed a car posse to Santa Rita jail. Savio was right then; he would be right now. Congress is terrified of massive demonstrations in the Mall against them; they have a front row seat. None of them want to go home to Kansas and boredom; they want to stay where they can have the good life. Hopefully, this tax heist will eventually provoke masses of protesters to fill the Mall. Once jobs are gone, or minimum wage jobs don't keep a roof over one's head or food on the table, what is there to lose? There were soup kitchens and bread lines during the Great Depression; that can happen again. It might start in the Heartland when all the factories are run by robotics; small towns lack shoppers; kids leave for anyplace where they might find some work. Greenspan's fake mortgages brought down whole neighborhoods, banks and the world economy. Trump's fake economy can bring down neighborhoods, towns, banks and our economy. Wait for it.
1
Observation.
I'm a teacher in California: average to small house in Pasadena. After analysis, my total tax bill will increase. If the extra money that I will be paying went to something good and meaningful, then I would be more than happy. But I think that most, if not all, of it will end up as shareholder dividends.
Yes, I think that the GOP does have problems with future votes...
4
Jonathan Martin - looking forward to the "undertow" pulling the Trump Republicans one and all, under in 2018. How much more erratic can our "exquisite leader" (Paul Ryan!) be next year? 40% of voters (poll) want to impeach President Trump? Let's hope the percentage will be higher the more demented our Tweeter in Chief becomes. Political deja-vu from Nixon ("I am not a crook") all over again.
2
I thought Republicans would lower my taxes. Wrong!!! Here in California with upper middle income households will pay more. I will support DEMOCRATIC candidates all over the US coming next election. Watch out Mimi Walters.
6
Over the next year Republicans are going to trumpet the few measly little things they've done -- such as not shutting down the government or temporarily extending CHIP -- and then try to prop up the economy artificially as much as possible until November 2018, while hammering on issues such as abortion and immigration.
If they don't lose in large numbers to Democrats all over the country, they will then allow the country to slide into a recession, for which they are busy preparing by pocketing billions of taxpayer dollars for themselves and their donors.
2
This isn't an "overhaul" it's a big haul for the wealthy.
Any reporter that refers to this bill as an "overhaul" or "tax reform" is an accessory to grand larceny.
2
What time does the REPEAL AND REPLACE campaign begin?
3
May we do to them with taxes what they tried to do to us with Obamacare.
Republican Tax Plan will be the most hated 3 words in America.
2
Watching the Republican VIPs abase themselves before Trump is one of the most degrading and disgusting sights that these eyes have ever witnessed. Of course such fawning is to be expected in third world dictatorships, but in our country this sends a signal to our young (and everyone else) that dignity is no longer tolerated and that slavishness is the order of the day.
12
Actually, it is a good sign that the GOP is dropping intra-party discord and coming together under Trump.
2
Saints: No, having Diane Black of TN thank Trump for "letting us have you as President" was a grotesque gesture. Not from the Founding Fathers that is for sure.
1
The scientific approach to escaping from an undertow (riptide) is to swim parallel to shore until the rip current is cleared, then head safely back to shore. The alternative is to flounder against an overpowering current, exhausting oneself in the process. Given the GOP's refusal to accept the scientific approach to solving problems, there could be a considerable number of avoidable drownings next year.
2
It needs to be remember how the Republicans in passing this tax "reform" Bill rushed to take care of billionaires and millionaires ahead of children, the poor, and others least able to defend themselves.
6
And there was smarmy, Ayn Rand, Paul Ryan who grew up on his father's Disability benefits and went to school on Federal grants. And Mitch McConnell who represents mine owners who are responsible for the deaths and Black Lung sickness for hundreds of miners. Zinke who wants to allow oil rigs in National Parks. A whole Cabinet comprised of looters, financial miscreants, fawning over a grifter, a buffoon who stiffed creditors and employees. "Greatest President Ever"? Gag me; gag us all.
Everything is set for a very productive midterm for the Dems, but please, please don't get complacent at these early stages. Over the next 10 months we will see: an unprecedented propaganda campaign to convince the uninformed that these tax cuts help average people, a full-court smear campaign against Robert Mueller that will make your skin crawl, and finally, the funneling of hundreds of millions of dollars into the GOP campaigns from the billionaires who were just given hundreds of millions of dollars. Anyone who thinks this can't work must remember what happened in 2016. Dems will have to work and campaign with all they have to pull this off - hopefully they will.
6
Trump Voters do not read the times, they may not even read. They watch Fox News and Fox will tell them with the Tax Bill they are better off, and they will believe it. Despite being taxed more in later years. It's frontloaded just in time for the election to fool them into believing they got something good. Just like they believe Trump when he says the Tax Bill is bad for him, even when all the facts, analysis and evidence say otherwise. They will still vote Republican when Medicare and Social Security are undermined, as they will be because of chained CPI. For white working class folks its better to bite the hand the hand that feeds you.
4
Watch out. This tax bill is going to look pretty good in the short term. We were essentially at full employment, so it wont increase jobs, but the GOP is managing the headlines and corporations are making a big deal out of modest reinvestments in wages and capital plant. Trump focused the short term pain on people and places that were never going to vote for him. The long term impacts won't be seen in the next election cycle just like the long term effects of Clinton and W essentially deregulating large sectors of the financial markets weren't felt for years and the long term effects of globalization have crept up on since Bretton Woods. This tax revision will lead to MORE OF A bifurcated society of haves and have nots, but were most of the way there anyway, it cant ever be seen as the singular cause, and it surely won't emerge over the next ten months as a clear outcome of this tax code revision.
5
If their supporters keep up the energy the Dems will sweep the elections in 2018. BUT the majority of those supporters are after progressive ideas not just 'anti Republican' plans. If the Dems don't come up with better solutions to the country's problems they could very well find themselves booted out in 2020.
2
Trump and the GOP will count on short memories and use continued egregious distractions to move this tax cut for the wealthiest and corporations into the background.
They will anger and motivate their base by comparing the relative stability of federal and other government worker stability with the desultory existence of those declining wages and benefits of those who work for corporations.
The GOP will diminish Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security saying we cannot afford them (since the 2017 tax cuts).
Under the mantra of ‘deregulation and small government’ the GOP will work to give away government assets to corporations and to the world’s wealthiest individuals moving the US from a plutocracy to an oligarchy.
1
Are we kidding ourselves again? The Corporate Democrats love this tax cut. They get to stomp their feet and shout how bad it is while winking at their donors.
3
I just looked in the mirror and I was so green with envy I thought I was the Joly Green Giant.
Little did I realize when I left Michigan in 2006 that in eleven years that the USA would have a president whose courage, wisdom and bravery would surpass that of the greatest leaders of all time.
As I watched the world's most honourable and wisest of men heap praise on your noble leader the only emotion I could conjure up was jealousy. When pillars of honesty and integrity like Ryan, McConnell, Hatch and Spence lauded your esteemed president I could only regret my retreat back to Canada in 2006.
Braver than Alexander and Caesar, wiser than Solomon, more visionary than Kubla Khan with the financial acumen of the De Medicis and the compassion of Francis of Assissi seeing Donald as your leader I see your entreaties to the Almighty to Bless America have truly paid off.
4
when will the Great Divide come? both parties cannot sustain such internal conflict. we need four parties. or we need compromise in our Congress not these angry polarized politicians. which will come first?
4
Bah Humbug! Scrooge is the face of the GOP who voted to enrich Trump, the wealthiest, and corporations at the expense of the middle class, the poor and needy, and even children’s health care.
2
Swimming against an undertow - While no more than they deserve, I wonder if this is not just wishful thinking. Might take some time for people to really feel the effects.
Not an excuse to step away. People who think this is just plain bad for America had better get to work and get out the message.
2
Contrary to the Republican hopes, the withholding taxes will not decrease in January. Everyone from the IRS to independent economists have said the bill is too complicated with too many loose ends to have a definitive ruling on exactly what the amounts withheld will be. These people are taking victory laps prematurely. People with accountants on their payroll will know what they are saving (which if they are a corporation or a someone who can take advantage of the pass through provisions- if your name is Trump or Romney), the average American worker will have to wait quite a time for their purly remporary tax cut to show up in their paycheck.
2
That is absolutely incorrect, new withholding rates will begin early in the year much to the chagrin of the left.
1
And then in 2027 when this tax heist really hits, taxpayers will see their paychecks sharply decreased, at least those who still have jobs will. The bill will come due and the pols will be scrambling to pay it; first they will try to loot SS which is protected as of now; then they will go after Medicare reductions which will hurt their families, neighbors and friends. This is not the brightest Congress; it is the most corrupt and possibly the stupidest and least qualified in the art of governance. It is an embarrassment to a country which fought in and helped win WWII; a country which took care of its own with "entitlement" programs; a country which financed a national public school system; clean water, clean air, national parks etc. This is the country these crooks are prepared to dismantle in favor of foreign investors, the Koch Bros., Carrier and GM with jobs off shored to cheap labor countries. They will gut health care for millions of Americans, starve poor children in the inner cities by de-funding school lunch programs when they can do that in darkness. These men have no redeeming qualities; they are traitors to their own people; they support a man who is owned by Russian oligarchs. They have no shame, no pride, no loyalty, and no ethics.
The lobbyists who wrote the tax bill were quite clever (I don't say the congressmen and senators, since none of them is that clever) insofar as they keep pretending that the $12K boost in the standard deduction for a married couple more than offsets the $8K loss of the personal exemption. Nobody ever publicizes the fact that this only applies to people who DON'T itemize deductions. If you do itemize, then the $8K loss isn't offset by anything, and furthermore, new limits on deductions will reduce schedule A deductions. But oh so cleverly - most people who itemize won't discover this until they do their 2018 taxes in 2019 - well beyond the midterm elections. How happy they will be when, after rejoicing over fewer deductions on their paychecks, they get hit with a huge tax bill later because their itemized deductions take a tumble.
15
Giving a tax cut is such a trivial thing to do--print more money. Unfortunately, time and time again such cuts have been shown to win votes. While so many are delighting in the small benefit they will get, the ultra-rich will be scooping it up by the truck load.
Don't worry, though, it is only a problem for the next generation to handle the ballooning deficit.
7
The tax bill is a lot like Trump... it has a minority core of supporters but won’t help the GOP one bit.
8
When the Democratic wave comes, I hope against hope that they will find their spine and ethics, and charge forward with a New Deal for Now, donors be darned.
12
"“I think each individual congressman will be judged on how they voted,” said Representative Dan Donovan, the only Republican who represents New York City, who opposed the measure because of the limitations on local tax deductions."
Yes, we know how you voted. You voted to put Paul Ryan in charge of the House, a move that clearly harmed most of the people who live in your district who you are supposed to be representing.
A single vote against a tax bill that Ryan put together, when your vote wasn't needed to pass it anyway, doesn't excuse what you did to damage your constituents by having Ryan run the House.
To take the gavel away from Ryan, we have to replace Donovan with a Democrat.
10
Pandering to the donor class aside, "tax cuts" are typical GOP standard operating procedure to buy votes.
4
I am a resident of NJ. Under the new tax cuts, my savings total nine dollars. That's the lousiest deal I've ever been handed- 9 bucks a year for 1.5 trillion dollars in national debt with the specter of losing my social security so billionaires like Trump can get richer. You better believe it's going to be a punishing election year... like the French Revolution!
20
Tax Bill was Rushed by Republican Leaders, if it works for All of America it great, but that expectation is questionable, in the short run President Trump will brag his mind off, might go insane ???
3
When everyone who is not a corporation or a multi-millionaire realizes they got shafted, it will be tough sledding in the RNC.
7
When I saw that orgy of flattery in the Rose Garden, I didn't know whether to throw-up or crack-up! It was revolting and hilarious at the same time. Nobody except the object of the "praise" thought there was a scintilla of sincerity in it!
13
I think the "undertow" will actually be quite different.
The Democrats and outlets like the NYT have misrepresented this tax plan as *only* cutting taxes for corporations and the rich. When the vast majority of wage earners see more money in their paychecks, are they going to believe the misinformation foisted upon them previously or their own lying eyes ?
6
Actually, despite its constant interjection of opinion into the news, the NYT has provided pretty good, broad coverage. It's the 10-year prospect of the tax bill that's more important, and that is not nearly so rosy for anyone but the well-off. Lump that in with the upcoming damage to Social Security and Medicare and it's a huge loss for many of us who have been counting on these programs (and of course paying into them) for retirement.
You may be right that people will be lulled into a false sense of security at first, but over the long haul, I'm not so sure it will work out well for us.
6
Very few voters will be thinking about the 10 year aspect of the bill. And that sunsetting of the cuts will likely change anyway. So that part is meaningless.
And there is *nothing* in the bill about SS and Medicare, which is another outrageous bit of speculative fiction that shows what I mean by the misinformation being dishonestly promulgated by the Democrats & outlets like the NYT.
1
My question to our GOP Congressman next year will be:
How could you reform the tax code without any one in the GOP asking Trump to release his tax returns?
13
When a tax bill with 23% approval is the sole and signature accomplishment of a president with a 33% approval rating, you don't have to be that good at math to realize the true constituents of the Republican party aren't voters.
11
I wonder if those who rejoice in short term gains know that their children and grandchildren will be paying for it for generations to come. Sounds short-sighted and selfish to me.
9
No voter not in the donor class will refuse a tax cut but it will not change the intense desire to punish Trump and Republicans. We'll take the tax cut, however temporary, and then bid them farewell at the ballot box. The loathing for Trumpism is stronger than the impact on our wallets.
Think of it like having a terrible dinner at an expensive restaurant. Even if the restaurant Manager pays for that terrible meal, you will probably never return.
7
With generally and consistently low to very low voter turnouts, I don't know how anyone can predict anything about US politics. Trump was elected with more than 40% abstention, and midterm elections median turnout is 35% (Americans giving civic lessons to the world is so ridicule that's actually hilarious). How knows what would happen if this vast non-voting electorate would actually bother to vote? Personally, I would be ashamed of myself for letting such a corrupt hard-rightist as Trump becoming president by not voting, and would do it next midterm just to show how unacceptable this is.
8
Trump is winning, Democrats and the leftist media keep pounding and pounding but Trump keeps winning. You Trump bashers should take from that the message that you are not believed anymore, your ideology and your policies have been rejected and continue to be so. It's almost a certainty that you won't get the message and will continue to claw and scrape for petty, juvenile anti-Trump tidbits. Such behavior plus Trump's continued success will result in driving more voters to Trump. The Republicans will increase their majority in both houses of Congress in 2018 and Trump will be re-elected in 2020. The Great Society is over, deal with it.
3
Right, America is Great Again. Then give up your clean air, clean water, social security and medicare when you get older. Give up National Parks and free and fair elections. Give up caring for those less fortunate (the Golden Rule). Reap the benefits of caring only for the wealthy and corporations and see how they benefit you in times of need. I pray that you are ok if you lose your job or if you didn't have family wealth passed down. If you're working hard and still living paycheck to paycheck its hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when the rug is being pulled out from under you from those who are already well off and don't even need the break.
4
The "Great Society" is over, indeed. The society died a horrible death the minute your revered "president" was sworn into office, in front of the yuuuugest crowd ever, I might add.
No, the society are experiencing today is the dark ages of our politics.
No, Trump is winning nothing of consequence other than adding to the deficit (in which he continually lambasted a far more intelligent President about). Your revered "president" losing respect from our allies with inane, and insane, so-called foreign policy.
It remains to be seen if the Greedy Old Party retains their majorities, and if the "president" is sent back to grift in Queens in 2020. However, given the signals from the polls, and reputable news, Trump and his grifter cohorts in Congress, along with the Trump supporters, could find themselves out in the cold, especially after the reality of the con job on taxes sets in.
2
America is losing. The agenda being pushed by the gop and Trump is horrific in so many ways. open your eyes
2
Schadenfreude.
Trump voters are in the same boat.
Each Republican Administration uses our tax dollars as their personal ATM.
Reagan left a deficit and threw the most vulnerable people out into the streets. The last Bush nearly tanked the global economy through corruption and starting and illegal and expensive invasion which set the ME on fire. And now this.
6
"GOP Wins on Tax Cuts, but Faces a Brutal Election Year"
The white working class must be tired of so much winning...
4
Adding to the tax bill capitulation was watching the legislators afterwards slavishly praising Mr. Trump for apparently finally doing his job. It will no doubt haunt them over the next year as Democrats begin their ad campaigns for how it enriched the rich. But to watch elected officials suck up to him in fear he would twitter rant against them was just painful to watch. And how about all those promises made to get their votes? Already the backsliding on those promises is beginning - Mr. McConnell: "If we can come to an agreement I will bring it to the floor." Sounds like a "better luck next time" to me.
This legislation is corporate welfare pure and simple. And those companies offering bonuses and wage increases? If you give me $10 million I'll gladly give away a half million. There could well be a temporary boost since the economy was humming along anyway but since nothing was actually fixed such things as infrastructure, immigration, education, health care and climate change not to mention defense if we keep insulting the rest of the world will come due.
8
Employee bonuses aren't wage increases. Like those pretty stocking stuffers that W gave us, the bonuses will vanish without a trace, and leave a big hole where they came from.
AT&T and Wells Fargo desperately need to burnish their images--this'll do it on the cheap. Will the money that these behemoths bestow on the little people equal the interest, dividends, and buyback power that the companies pocket?
Corporate America has been sitting on their assets for a long time- the prime rate has meant essentially free money for them. They've been awash in trillions of overseas dollars. Why haven't they given bonuses and raises or created jobs before this? Why haven't they made long-term investments in middle class purchasing power? Have they been waiting for a photo op? The wait is over. Now what?
This is like giving candy to starving kids. Be prepared for a tummy ache, America.
11
The GOP is going to be just fine in 2018 and Trump will probably be re-elected in 2020, because despite what the media says about them, the truth is, the GOP is hated less than the social justice warriors that invaded our society during the Obama years.
3
Mark: Nobody really hated Hoover until the Great Depression; then his policies were seen as not helping the poor, the unemployed. et al. FDR beat Hoover and created the WPA, the CCC and other agencies to put people to work, to put food on the table, provide clothes for children. Then FDR went on to lead us in WWII with Winston Churchill. FDR did not live to see the end; but he sure did act at the beginning. Trump is no Hoover who at least built Hoover Dam; he isn't even Nixon who created the EPA. He is a failed businessman with a few bankruptcies in his record; he is a Russian tool who owes Russian oligarchs 250M in loans, and an additional 95M for a loan masked as a property purchase in FL. Russian oligarchs and Putin do not give away money without a quid pro quo. The Republican Congress is terrified that Mueller will expose Trump's tax records. And, Jared Kushner's real estate rental experience hardly qualifies him to negotiate peace in the Middle East. The chefs on AF One must wonder at the fat passenger who stuffs himself with junk food.
4
I firmly believe that if GOP legislators had to choose between making a financial killing for themselves now or be re-elected a year from now, they’d surely take the $. What’s good for Americans doesn’t even factor into their thinking, such as it isn’t. Self-enrichment and a soft landing on K (Korporation) Street. Their only plan.
3
Such nonsense. There was a time when stories like this were covered dispassionately and opinions were reserved for the editorial pages. Now it's all about doom that will befall the Republicans. No one knows what will happen in the next election but my guess is that when Americans see their paychecks getting larger, they will have to decide between the party that lets them keep more of their hard-earned money or the party that guarantees a separate bathroom for trans-gender teenagers.
3
There are many galling things about this tax bill, but to me the worst is that the Republicans are claiming that they are doing this because it will cause great economic growth.
There is not a creditable economist or economic model that supports this. It is pure tooth-fairy and easter-bunny belief. The "supporting documents" the Republicans have produced are one-page nothings ... right up there with "my dog ate it" for credibility.
And if this doesn't happen, what have these Republicans done? They've basically just created 1.5 Trillion dollars of debt, most of which they are giving to the very richest Americans.
But all of these Republicans will be working K street ... wait and see.
8
Brutal election year? If our people do not wake up in time to prevent the destruction of our Democracy, then we deserve what we get. Meanwhile, I will search for a sane country to move to before my savings accounts are wiped clean by our GOP leaders.
2
I think some of the Democrats quoted in this article are way too optimistic. People tend to analyze electoral in terms of what is important to them personally. So Democrats focus on the tax bill, healthcare, Russian interference, Trump's kleptocratic behavior, etc. But they underestimate how much Trump's immigration crackdowns, economic protectionism, and general dog whistle, fear-based politics plays to a large segment of the public.
Add to this money from grateful corporations flowing into Republican superpacs, and the fact that a lot of seats coming up for election have Democratic incumbents. I suspect a sense of inevitable victory played a role in depressed Democratic turnout in 2016. Democrats shouldn't make the same mistake again. 2018 is going to be a tough election.
5
The Republicans have made a clever move. In April 2018, many taxpayers will pay less in tax than they have -- and they will remember that in November. But the many nasty effects of the tax bill will not be felt till well after November. To counter these bad effects, Democrats will have to raise taxes from the new low base -- or will have to attempt to raise them. Once again, Democrats will be the bad guys. Trump is a stupid fellow -- but the interests he serves are not stupid at all. They are very clever and they are ruthless.
3
Stivers said let's talk about the tax bill as if that will bring people back to the Republicans in Republican and swing districts. Not going to work in NJ, NY and California where you have a well educated electorate. Even more important, when people in the hinterlands see that their bi-weekly take home pay is a lousy $50 more, pocket change, and not a meaningful raise, they will scoff and laugh at the Republicans' grand pronouncements. Merry Christmas will ring bitter when they see their health insurance premiums increase by hundreds of dollars on a monthly basis. The only real question is whether the Republican can lie or divert attention sufficiently to not get creamed.
4
I think a lot of optimistic Democrats are forgetting the warning former US Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Souter talked about the spread of "civic ignorance" among the American public. He was referring to how Americans increasingly don't understand how their government works and what is happening in their government. Therefore, when something goes wrong, they don't know who to blame.
We've seen plenty of this in 2016. Look at the way Trump gets away with even the most obvious, verifiable lies. He is fact-check proof. "Russian interference" could hardly have swayed the election if you didn't have a public already open to "dezinformazya." I think Democrats are far too optimistic to think that a public where such civic ignorance has taken root will focus on actual economic policy. There is not going to be a mass defection of people who supported Trump and the Republicans. Therefore, in an election where most of the seats coming up have Democratic incumbents, Democrats should moderate their expectations.
2
The Democrats have to do their utmost to make next year a "punishing" election year for the Republicans. They cannot assume that it automatically will be. The tax breaks that were just enacted, temporary though they are, may well translate into a slight political boost for Republicans in the short-term. The Democrats have to fight this by showing just how nakedly the Republicans (among them Senator Graham and Congressman Collins) had to publicly play the "big donors will desert us if we don't pass this" card in order to get this one and only legislative "accomplishment" passed. They also have to contend with gerrymandered districts in certain battleground states such as FL, NC and WI. Still, I'm predicting that either (1) the Democrats will flip the House next year; or (2) they will have a new Minority Leader in 2019 as Nancy Pelosi calls it a career.
The Senate is a different matter, however. The Democrats face the same basic problem as at the start of the year, in having to defend a lot of seats in states where Trump is more popular (significantly more so in some cases) than his national average. The Democrats can maybe send Dean Heller packing, but that's the only Republican seat they would be expected to flip. Don't forget also that however they feel about Trump, Republicans care A LOT about the Supreme Court and will want to keep a Republican majority in Senate for that. Merely breaking even in the Senate would be an AMAZING outcome for the Democrats next year.
4
Democrats have received a gift in the form of Trump, and will likely ride that gift to power in 2018. But they will inevitably overplay their hand and the pendulum will swing right back to the GOP. And on it goes...
3
I was trying to explain to a friend from Venezuela why Republican contempt for people who are in desperate straights was often received as concern and interest and Democratic contempt--though as contempt goes not as severe--was perceived as elitist and disdainful.
So in short I am not terribly confident how any of this will play out.
5
So, the Democrats are going to make the tax bill a centerpiece of their 2018 efforts.
Is the core campaign theme going to be, "Elect us, because we will raise taxes."?
6
More likely, "Elect us and we'll undo the damage to your Social Security and Medicare."
10
How about they repeal the infamous tax bill which just gave multi-millionaires et al a huge gift, permanent lower tax rates. And, the pittance in tax relief to the middle class and the working poor, set to sunset in 2027. This was theft of the highest order, an outright robbery of those who work, and whose taxes support these thieves?
7
Very few, if any, congressional republicans have a thoroughly comprehensive knowledge of everything in this bill (Senator Corker - Really?). There are sure to be unpleasant surprises for legislator and constituent alike. The 2018 season of "Survivor - Capitol Hill" promises to be interesting.
Tune in.
6
Undoubtedly, the Democrats will make gains in the upcoming election.
These gains might be less than expected/feared if the economy remains strong and the GOP can claim a measure of success.
Gains will be useless if the Democrats are unable to flip either the Senate or the House. After all, losses by the party in power are expected.
2
Hopefully, the rank-and-file Trump supporters will realize before next November that the Republicans have a long-term plan to harm them by forcing a cut to social support programs. The bumbling dodo in the White House just masks the cleverness of their long game. The DNC, unfortunately, is not nearly as organized and sophisticated in playing this game. It's up to the voters to figure out what is happening and tell government at the polls that we want democracy, not an oligarchy.
3
Let's not make a mistake, this is a huge defeat. The possible temporary gain in political power next year cannot retract the steady financial power increase of the big corporations and the super rich. Trump won the most important fight.
3
As a rule, every "out" party makes gains in midterm elections. The only issue is how big. If the Dems can't flip the House and Senate both, it's an historic failure.. Meanwhile Nobel prize winner and Times columnist Paul Krugman said after the 2016 election that the stock market would never recover from the dip of the night of the Trump election.
9
You probably should cite the source and give the quote for Krugman if he said that the stock market would "never"recover. Sounds very edited.
3
How about this for the oxymoron of the year: wildly unpopular signature achievement.
16
There they are, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
24
With all due respect, New York Times, I'm putting your prediction of a "brutal election year" for Republicans on the same shelf as the daily predictions of a Clinton landslide that you put in red type at the top of the webpage every day last October. Which is to say, keep it up and you're completely reverse the story.
The Republicans don't face anything right now. Regardless of your reporting angle for the next ten months, the only meaningful thing will be the election results next November. And those results will be constructive only if everyone who deplores what has happened to our country GOES TO THE POLLING PLACE AND VOTES to put us back on track.
23
I meant to type "...you'll completely reverse the story."
I'll use this opportunity to reiterate: VOTE for the party of governance, fairness and the rights and interests of regular Americans. Vote against the gerrymandering obstructionist party, the McConnell crew who figure that with this gift to their big time donors they can get enough cash to get reelected and continue to represent the interests of their big time donors, the rest of America be damned for all they care.
1
We need to get to work.
All of the US citizens who are movung to the mainland from Puerto Rico who are old enoigh to vote need to get registered, in particular, the Puerto Rican communities in Florida and Pennsylvania.
We need to make sure there is a Democrat running in every Congressional district. No Republican should be allowed to run unopposed.
We need to put together a Get Out THe Vote operation in every Congressional district. At the very least, make the Republicans fight to holfd on to even what they consider "safe" seats. Some of those seats may in fact not be "safe" at all. If 2018 is a "wave" election, there will be some big surprises.
Donald Trump is never going to change. What he has been doing will continue. We can expect a year of his tweets, llies, unplanned and unforced errors, and similar events that need to be exploited to use him as the face of the Republican party. We need to lash every Republican to him as one would tie oneself to a ship's mast in a storm. He will be toxic by November 2018. He needs to be the undercurrent (and the Republican undertow) in the 2018 election.
20
2018 election is extremely important for not only to the USA, but for the entire world. All US citizens with common sense should come forward and vote.
11
"All US citizens with common sense should come forward and vote."
If that happens, democrats lose so definitely I agree.
The GOP did not "win" anything. They simply passed a flat-out losing bill that will eviscerate the economy and the social safety net and send them tumbling into the trash heap of history -- unfortunately pulling a lot of innocent victims with them. Paul Ryan was actually right for once when after the 2012 election he said that the GOP needed to start becoming more inclusive and less self-chained to the plutocrats. But of course since he can never find his spine when he needs it, to say nothing of his brain, he immediately retreated to do the Koch's bidding and now he's helped foist this catastrophe on us, and his party will pay the price. And not soon enough.
11
RDA, you should begin every day with a prayer of thanks that Clinton is not our President. 2018 will very well be the year that she and her husband find their new home in a Federal Prison. History will show both of these people to be two of the most corrupt evil people this Country has ever known!
1
If the CNN poll is a predication for the 2018 elections in comparison to most of the polls for the 2016 election telling the world throughout the entire campaign Hillary Clinton would be POTUS 45, well we know how that turned out...
3
Clinton did win the popular vote by 3M votes. She could not defeat the gerrymandered districts in key States which controlled the Electoral College vote. The EC is a gift to low population States, and to the poor Southern States. It gives Wisconsin the same two Senators as has California.
4
That wretched tax bill gives real impetus to the campaign for California to send a unified Democratic Congressional caucus to Washington next November. It will be a millstone tied around the neck of every GOP candidate in our fair corner of the nation.
So bad it is for California that Rep. Darryl Issa, running for his life in GOPer-friendly Orange County, voted Against the bill. And you can put an October '18 expiration date on that photo of Kevin McCarthy in the article.
10
Repub$ just tried to "buy off" their supporters. In other words, no matter disgusting the behavior of the "liar-in-chief," Repub$ will accept his behavior and support the Republican agenda.
7
Three yes-men. Three yes-men.
See how they fawn. See how they fawn.
Shameless, they grovel and play the fool
Hoping that madman will think they're cool.
Did you ever see such a sight in your life,
As three yes men.
8
yes 2018 will be brutal for the GOP.
People hate tax cuts!
The horror.
The NY "Trump has a 9% chance" Times has its finger on the pulse of America as usual.
7
Republican lawmakers behaving like a bunch of SYCOPHANTS. They will understand when they lose Senate and House in next years election. Just watch.
10
A "gift" from Wells Fargo. Ok then.
I guess the people that didnt lose their jobs there, thanks to the fraudulent practices of management cheating their customers with bogus accounts, will be seeing a bit of Christmas cheer.
AT&T will fork over 200K to 200K people - what is that to them, a pebble in a sea of profit?
Really, the question is How Stupid Do Trump and the GOP Think We Are? They just ended their rant about "deficits" what, 2 days ago, and now it is OK to mess with the economy and add 2 trillion?
10
8 years under Obama and Democrats never passed a budget. They added $10 trillion to the debt. Thy crammed down our throats the biggest tax scam in history in Obama care.
2
Blame McConnell and his GOP cronies. If they were actually ethical instead of obstructionist maybe we would have had a functioning Congress. Instead we have the GOP Mafia with the GOP Don fattening their wallets to the tune of millions of dollars each year while they throw crumbs at the middle class. The joke is on Thomas Lashby. So sad that he still thinks the GOP is on his side - but maybe he's one of the wealthy ones that is also looking down on the 98%.
1
Not true.
So, two days after a massive tax cut, the GOP manages to keep the government funded and open for just one month.
Yeah, that's rational and competent -- in the Bizzarro universe.
BTW, after your remarks yesterday, you now OWN healthcare from this minute forward.
11
The GOP just handed corporations and the well off a safe place to park their political contributions.
8
It almost seems like the rich are cashing their chips and getting out the game, or like a CEO selling their shares before declaring bankruptcy. The GOP are like rats escaping a sinking ship, which is our country. There will be no consequences for them. They've already won. Game over.
9
As a 73 year-old liberal, with progressive roots dating back to 1821 when my great-great-grandmother joined the abolitionist movement in Missouri, I embrace the Democratic Party's philosophy of inclusion, civil rights, civil liberties, better public education, protecting the environment for America and Mother Earth, worker rights, a woman's right to choose, and the list goes on.
We are the party most Americans should easily embrace as their advocate. But for the past 25 years or so, the conservative movment has taken a new, and tragic, direction. And it is in the hands of the wealthiest greedlings who control American politics in ever level of governance; local, state, and federal.
What forced the Party of Lincoln into its far-rightward fall? The ultra-conservative media. Going back to the early days of Rush Limbaugh, and the emergence of Fox "News", to the conspiracy-theory, barking dogs on the right like Alex Jones, the Democrats have been under an endless assault from those hideously fact-free gas bags paid to indulge outrage.
Tabloid magnate, Rupert Murdoch took full measure of how easily his lightly-educated audience bought into stories of three-headed babies and rural captives of UFO aliens, and created Fox as a Republican PR machine, an idea hatched in Nixon's Oval Office nearly 45 years ago.
How will the Democrats use 2018 to win back the House and Senate? As W.C.Fields noted long ago, "Sometimes you have to take the bull by the tail and face the situation."
29
Trump keeps telling his supporters how much he going to take a hit on this tax plan, and how his rich friends aren’t going to like it, either.
Well, Donny, if we saw you tax returns, we’d know if your statement is true. So, are we EVER gonna my to see those tax returns, or will we have to wait for Meuller to request them to be released?
20
From the look (of panic) on trump's face these days and from his demeanour, one might reasonably assume Mueller' already seen them.
Apparently Steve Stivers of Ohio does not realize that voters will ask why the inheritance tax on billionaires was also changed, and why the largest corporations that already have lots of case and spend it mostly on stock buybacks, also got tax breaks. All this to increase the debt of our grandkids, and next year to force cutbacks to MEDICARE. Steve, do you think a bit of extra take home pay in January makes up for the threat to MEDICARE?????????
21
Can't wait for the brutality to start! Beginning with Fake news fox, trump and the gop! The lies have become so bad in the WH it's affecting my health.
11
Begin plannng NOW to energize the democratic vote participation is states where GOP suppression is in play. Nothing will feel more sweet than to serve a brutal defeat on the GOP after this.
7
I don't understand how the Republicans could allow all this to happen on their watch. I used to view the GOP as methodical, conservative, even moral but it's just not true. A sad awakening for me and I am sure for others too. A complete idiot shows us all how truly fragile our democracy was. I say was because I don't see how our country can recover.
12
They have even been lying about what they are all along. They are really radical reactionaries, not conservatives.
2
NY Rep Chris Collins(R) should be arrested for pay to play/bribery schemes. On November 7th Chris Collins was quoted as saying "My donors told me to pass the Republican tax bill or 'don't ever call me again'" I am calling on NYS Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to immediately look into the pay to play scheme Chris Collins is running. He is selling his vote to the highest bidder and that is illegal.
Why has the NYT been more focused on this story?
47
SteveNYC, unfortunately, the laws they make are for us. They do not have to follow them. This is where, we as the public must demand they live by the same standards as ordinary people.
2
Our Senator said the same about the ACA- that "his donors were waiting" for it to be axed. What are we the voters, chopped liver??
1
We pay them what they think is a pittance so they can pad it out peddling influence.
1
There is too much certainty about there being a reckoning. There certainly wasn't one for allowing Trump to become their nominee and after he emboldened and gave voice to the the fringe elements of the party. They are all too content to trade virtually everything they once stood for to smash their political opponents and grip power - and they are repeatedly rewarded for it.
8
no undertow should there be more terrorist attacks in the democratic party continues to support unchecked immigration
One just happened in Melbourne, wounding at least 13. The suspect, a 32 immigrant from Afghanistan.
3
Who, the Aussie government clearly said, is a total nutbar with a long history of assaults. Not a terrorist.
1
What about the GOP terrorists and gun toting domestic terrorists we also have?
1
Can't wait until 2018
9
I'm 61 years old and a lifelong Democrat (although I did vote for Romney for governor in 2002) and have witnessed the total debasement of our nation. From the abject sniveling and groveling of Trump's cabinet as televised last June to the equally deplorable display today by McConnell, Ryan, et al as they toadied to Trump is the stuff of authoritarianism, oligarchy and frankly, fascism. We've known for some time that Trump is a pathological liar, sociopathic conman, but these Republican "leaders", so quick to criticize Trump during the primaries have displayed a degree of cowardice not seen before and they've become a disgrace to our nation. I shudder to think what they'll do next. The only answer is to gather the masses for next year's midterms and vote them out of office. They will completely ignore any findings by Mueller as they've totally capitulated to Trump and his wretched base.
43
At least they're finally beginning to re-paint all that highway overpass steel they quit painting when Romney was governor. When it is freshly painted and shiny you can see how deeply pitted it got over all those years.
The headline should read "Americans robbed of future in gift by Trump to himself, GOP and 1%."
10
Is it really a grass roots campaign if funded by the House Republican super PAC? Its about as grass roots as the Koch funded Tea Party movement. Where are all those Tea Party folks now who were so freaked out about the debt? It looks like they managed to get over it now that the black president is gone.
9
"G.O.P. Wins on Tax Cuts, but Faces a Brutal Election Year"
For heaven's sake, New York Times, stop confusing facts with what you'd like to happen. Stop prognosticating. Who says the Republicans face a "brutal election year"? They're doing all right by their own lights and those of their supporters, who are many.
Suddenly the election result in Virginia is a tie. Maybe some shenanigans there with the recount, but maybe not.
So often I read your headlines and think, You only wish.
3
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Mueller keeps grinding away. Tick tock, tick tock.
9
Never have I witnessed such an unctuous display of sycophancy in this country - more befitting a medieval king or banana republic dictator than an American president. What are they gaining from such total obsequiousness? Is it really worth a total loss of dignity and integrity? Exquisite presidential leadership?? I'm sick to my stomach watching this display. As they merrily trash the American working class. What a dark time in this country. So shameful. I hope the entire GOP pays the price at the polls next year. They deserve to be completely eliminated from public life.
45
So what? This story and your comments here will DO NOTHING.
What will you do next Fall to get out the vote in swing districts?
Will you contribute money to the Dems? The GOP war chest is much bigger than the Dems' right now. Where's your money? Are you just all talk here, where nothing will happen?
What will you ACTUALLY DO to get the votes? Will you go to a contested district and help? Really?
If all you do is comment here, then you deserve continued GOP control, and endless Trump.
5
We all know what's coming now, right? Trump will try to put "lipstick on this pig" and sell it to Americans as being the biggest brightest best thing known to mankind. (While he's laughing at the gullible behind their backs) The Republican party has already stated "he's the master at branding." I don't care how they try to sell it, I am just not buying it this time around!!! I look at Kansas, and wonder how this can be a win!
10
A practical response would be to request a change in federal law, the change NY state made in the last election, and not permit any convicted member of Congress (and the Executive branch) to collect a pension or receive retirement benefits.
3
In 2008 when Democrats got the House, the Senate, and the White House, they did so by winning a big majority of the votes. They won the majority of votes cast for president, the majority of votes cast for the House, and the majority of votes cast for President. They were a true majority party. In 2016 when Republicans took the House, Senate, and WH, they did so with a minority of the votes cast in each case. So they are the tyrannical minority. Of course they face a strong undertow, but that may not mean our democracy will function as it should ... because Republican donors will make sure that ads obliterate Democratic candidates and gerrymandering will do the rest ... unless we work super hard to overcome the odds.
3
I have no doubt that the individual tax cuts were biased in terms of tax cuts for Trump's cronies and others. On the other hand, 97.5% of all income taxes are paid by the top 50% earners (the non-"poor"). So, most of the tax cuts were doled out among the top 50% of earners, with a bias I'm certain to the wealthier. Regardless, most individual cuts are just moving the tax payment chairs on the deck of the ship with an overall reduction to tax paid by taxpayers.
Most people don't recognize that corporate tax cuts actually represent a tax cut for everyone, including the poor. In a competitive economy, tax cuts mean an overall reduction to prices as corporations angle for a competitive return on their investments. These prices are paid by rich can poor alike. Ultimately, corporate taxes are paid by everyone, much like a regressive sales tax. At the same time, the insanity of maintaining a much higher tax rate than I competitors overseas has resulted in many jobs transferring to the lower taxed countries, like Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, etc. I've seen it happen in my work as an international tax professional and saw these decisions made with tax in mind. If nothing else, this legislation addresses that problem and puts the US on a level playing field with most and better playing field than many. If Congress can simplify this further, we can eliminate tax as a barrier to US competitiveness in what is undoubtedly an global economy, whether we like it or not.
3
Unemployment at 17 year low
Stock market at record high
Illegal immigration declined year over year most in decades
ISIS nearly vanquished
If they can package those facts into a compelling narrative they might hold their own next fall
8
Except all those things are simply a continuation of trends that began under Obama and as a result of his policies. Trump has been drinking Diet Coke, watching TV and tweeting.
Sounds like the same people who didn't see any way that Donald Trump could win.
Also, reminds me of 1994 when the GOP issued its Contract with America. Most prognosticators said - now that people see what they really want, they'll lose horribly. Quite the opposite happened.
Can we stop predicting based on our political biases ?
9
Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.
6
Wait until Paul Ryan and his merry band of scoundrels start cutting Medicare and Social Security. There will be a tsunami crashing the Republican Party.
11
When you head into the polls just remember that AT&T and Wells Fargo are giving their employees pay raises due to the GOP Corporate Tax Cuts.
Think back on all the hours you spend on the phone with “customer service” waiting and begging for “service”. And what
about the banks, especially Wells Fargo, providing “service” you didn’t want to boost their stock price which boosted the bonus take at the top.
Then take a moment to reflect on your little tax cut, the cut to Social Security and Medicare that followed, now following you to retirement, now that YOUR parents have moved “back home” with you.
And all the education loans you are still paying off for your “kids” who are still living at home too.
A little tax cut about to expire as you stand there in the voting booth, on the verge of retirement yourself, with a growing family to support.
Pause a moment longer in the voting booth to ponder the true
meaning of GOP “family values”.
Then remember where you are and vote wisely for the future,
not the past and NOT the present.
15
Sorrow tears and blood is their regular trademark.
4
The entire Republican Party has become the Party of Trump.
They are as despicable as he is despicable, which is plenty despicable indeed.
Susan Collins, I mourn your fall...
"Scorn! would the angels laugh, to mark
A bright soul driven,
Fiend-goaded, down the endless dark,
From hope and heaven!"
Whittier, "Ichabod".
5
No wonder our rate of deaths is up... these people are making our country more toxic by the minute... wait until the people really experience the cuts in their meager support... more opioids for more pain. VOTE THEM OUT!
4
The don the con reality show"s first season has been a total bust.
Never have I've seen such incompetence. The absolute foolishness coming from
this WH is astonishing. The supporting players in the capitol are horrible no talents as well. Time to change the channel.
6
Note well the four men in the picture accompanying this article. They will go down in infamy.
9
The 227 House Republicans and 51 GOP Senators will join them in infamy.
2
I hope that it will be a Category 5 that will blow them off their high horses trying to doom the rest of us. If ever there were a team of hucksters trying to undermine the economy and faith in our government, it is this posse of four, the horsemen of the Apocalypse: Rancid Ryan, Mildewed Mitch, Treasonous Trump, and Pathetic Pence. Bah humbug to them and their so-called tax plan. May the new year bring them the downfall their tyrannous actions deserve!
7
Watching the Republicans celebrate the passing of the bill reminded me of my children when they were two years old and they successfully used the potty for the first time. In this case, the Republicans made Mommy and Daddy Donor so Happy!
8
That was my thought exactly. Mommy, mommy, look what I did! And the result in this case is very similar.
1
These people all need to go, pronto.
5
The Republicans are as the old saying goes "deader than a doorknob" next November...watch as 2018 progresses the way they start distancing themselves from Trump, they know its going to be a historic massacre and if there is anything other than a cockroach that knows how to survive it a politician.
3
The man is just plain evil. He wanted to keep the Obamacare repeal a secret by telling people to stay quiet about. He wanted to repeal it with absolutely no plan to replace it. He's happy about it. The repubs are happy about it. Americans will just never, ever learn
4
Still feeling good about your vote for Johnson or Stein? Such purity gave us Trump and this tax scam.
9
Well, if it isn't the Lollipop Guild. Trump, Pence, McConnell and Ryan, four little men welcoming us all to Mnunchkin Land. A place where tax cuts pay for themselves, money for things like disaster relief, infrastructure, the military and children's health care grows on trees, and where they've finally managed to drop a house on President Obama's signature achievement. I can hardly wait for the flying monkeys to come swarming out of Washington now to tell us what a great deal they've bestowed on the country. If only it were all just a dream...
3
Most of my co-workers don’t read the Times. They still like the President, and are looking forward to the economic growth and the extra spending money the tax bill promises to deliver. The ‘Wave Election’ may just be a pipe dream of people in Manhattan.
88
How did they enjoy the recession and housing market crash under GW using a similar tax plan? Did the $500-$1000 they got cover everything they lost?
They may also want to look at Kansas, to see exactly how this kind of tax policy delivers "economic growth" and "extra spending money" in the form of crumbling infrastructure, crippling debt, no extra jobs - and keep it in the context of insurance costs rising without the individual mandate and internet costs rising due to the loss of net neutrality, and with the inevitable stealing of everything we've invested our whole lives on Medicate and Social Security to pay for the breaks for the 0.1%ers and corporations that were already sitting on piles of cash.
6
Your co-worker need to start paying attention. They are likely going to be hurt the most by this change. Putting head in the sand is no way to live.
3
most of mine don't either...but they all still believe that the tax cut is a scam, that they are being fleeced for big corporations...and they know full well that they won't see one dime of tax cuts in 2018...and those that see the tax cut recognize that their roads stink, that infrastructure is falling apart, that climate change is happening and for whatever reasons, they KNOW that they made a mistake with their vote and swear they won't be that dumb again
6
The election year might not be so brutal for Republicans.
The Democrats have abandoned what was once a big part of their base---Americas poor.
Remember Ted Kennedy. Before he died he urged Democrats to create a path towards universal health care. Like Canada and the UK.
Obama provided a substitute that appears to have been written to profit health insurers. The plan was too complicated for many people to understand, including those who haven't finished high school.
Let me make this clear. MIT economist Jonathan Gruber understood it perfectly, after all he proposed many of the features. But for voters to understand it has to be really simple. Thats why the mandate is so unpopular.
Universal health care is simple. Obamacare is not.
Now thousands of poor Americans die each year because they fall through the cracks of our health care system.
Yet, remarkably, Democrats ignore this huge problem. And the huge problem that many American men have shorter life expectancies. And that in the face of infrastructure collapse, neither party has yet proposed an infrastructure plan that could create millions of jobs for men.
China did it. China now has high speed rail connecting its major cities.
Instead, Democrats are removing senators from their jobs on the basis of allegations of sexual misconduct.
Democrats appear to be waging a war on men. And on those women who still value due process and punishing only the convicted not merely the accused.
Democrats deserve loss.
3
That the Democrats aren't much different from the Republicans and that they don't care about the less well off is a myth. A popular one around here. Pretty sad; you'd think we would have learned something after we threw our candidate under the bus and lost the election.
Some of us have been paying attention for the past few decades. Democrats have tried to increase infrastructure spending most notably in long-term transportation bills. Hillary Clinton campaigned on infrastructure spending (.....wait, you mean it wasn't about deplorables and emails?). A detailed plan. In other words, it was real. Democrats introduced an amendment which would have directed the current tax bill's tax repatriation revenue into infrastructure spending. Forty-three of the 48 Democrats voted for that amendment.
The Democrats and Independents we have in Congress are not perfect, but as a group they are doing a good job, even without considering who their opponents are. They're there; your dream candidates are not there. So a suggestion for you and others of your persuasion who like to keep the focus on things which you claim should not be focused on: pay attention to the good work that the Democrats are doing on behalf of the poor and the rest of us.
4
Because the republicans are better for the poor, take care of the sick, and are not at all sexist. Come, come, sir. Come, come. We know who deserves loss, and to whom it must come for the survival of our nation, and we will be voting democratic across the board in my family and many others, many indeed. Even here, the change is happening now, eyes are opening, and bad-mouthing democrats while ignoring the depredations and looting of the republicans has run its course, thank God. You should give it up, that horse is dead.
1
Aside from the fact that even a well thought out tax cut for the wealthy is totally inappropriate and unnecessary at this time (and at most times), especially one that's so self serving to those who "wrote" it, this bill is so poorly constructed that it is almost guaranteed to create chaos that we cannot not see now. I expect there will be many negative consequences, some of them intended, but many unintended.
16
Simple math and I'm not sure how the NYTimes is missing this one:
The Expanded Children Tax Credit (CTC) was expanded to $2,000 with non-refundable of $1,400:
* What this means: for those with incomes under $50,000 and having children: INSTANT tax savings and even if they owe $0, they get a refund from the Government. So, those with income under $25,000, it is almost a 100% guarantee they get more money (as close to 100% do not pay taxes)
The $24,000 Standard Deduction increase:
Up to 95% of families under $125,000 (some argue as high as $145,000) will not use deductions any longer as this new $24,000 standard deduction will provide an instant increase to their standard deduction, hence lowering their taxes.
This means boys and girls, that 90% of the US tax base will now have a lower tax bill. I hate to spoil the "fun" but the last time I saw an election and the Democrats used giveaways, they benefited. The Republicans have just boxed the Dem's out of being a participant. And, the argument of future "debt" has never really mattered in an election as long as free money is floating around.
The tables have been turned...those making more than $150,000 have never decided an election.
This is going to be fun watching poll after poll try to figure out if giving money into the pockets of constituents makes a change - it usually does.
4
This kind of talk is just Democrats and progressives licking their wound. I for one is not optimistic of voters intelligence. If they were, we would not be in this mess. The rich donors who got their tax breaks will pour more money than ever into our politics and there will not be room for words of truths.
7
Let's not forget the words of a wise, but plain-spoken man, Yogi Berra. It ain't over till it's over. There's many months of spin, subterfuge and deals made in now smoke free rooms ahead. And the Fox News propaganda team will be step up their already fevered pace as the 2018 elections approach. So as many posters have said, there's a lot of work to do in the next year and no time to take anything for granted. A lot can happen in a year. But as Bette Davis said, fasten your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy night."
6
There has been a gloomy cloud hovering over this country. This bill puts a cherry on top of a year that I would soon like to forget. The year reminds me of 2009 when we were suffering through the Great Recession.
I hope progressives of all kinds show up at the polls next November and deliver a sharp and stinging message that Republicans will never forget!
16
10 months is several lifetimes in politics. I have ZERO confidence the Democrats can take back our country. The masses will get dozens of extra dollars in their paychecks and that will be enough to numb them from critical thinking.
7
That's the big lie! They will get a few extra dollars, sure, but over time those will be taken away as the ACA is not funded! Thirteen million Americans lost their healthcare! How will they pay for healthcare now?!
People will slowly but surely realize that they have been....scammed!
Unlike Obamacare, passed under considerably more reasonable circumstances, the Trump Tax Bill (TTB) is only going to grow more unpopular with time. I'm beginning to suspect this is a Republican trick. The gamble isn't really whether or not Republicans will get slammed in 2018. They don't actually care. Things will turn out bad regardless. The question is whether Republicans succeed in creating such a truly terrible law that voters will reward them in 2020 just to fix the blasted thing.
Democrats really need to come up with a tax plan now. Stop thinking about whether it will actually pass or not and just present an idea of how you might do things differently. You'll find it really hard to make things worse right at the moment. Let's hear some suggestions on how you might do it better. Just saying.
3
This is the logical consequence of Democrats moving further and further to the right, and the Clinton/Dick Morris strategy of triangulation. The old adage of "give them an inch, they'll take a mile" applies here. If Democrats don't heed the words of Bernie Sanders and Bill DeBlasio to truly start fighting for working class and poor people again, the anger generated over the passing of this bill might be short-lasting.
5
We just crunched the numbers for our family and it looks like we'll get a $5000-10000 tax break next year. We already have plenty of money. We go on nice vacations, have a nice home, have enough to save for retirement and our kids' college tuitions down the road. When I think that we will get that much, and fellow Americans earning much, much less will get much, much less, it seems so ridiculous and unfair. Why should we, a family with arguably already too much, get an extra $5000-10000 next year when a family struggling to make ends meet gets an extra $20 a week or so? In a fair world, this would be reversed, with the struggling families receiving the hefty break and those of us already awash in money receiving nothing, or, perhaps more fair, paying more.
761
I'm in exactly the same position. I'm getting a similar sized tax cut that I don't need and frankly don't want, because I don't want the deficit to expand.
My son, however, is going to get to pay for it for this idiotic, selfish, counterproductive tax cut and debt increase. Every member of Congress who voted for this, and justified it with 'the tax cuts will pay for themselves' should just bow their head in shame. Instead, they're all high-fiving themselves.
15
With all due respect, after listing your many blessings and positive financial holdings, perhaps one of the food banks and/or shelters in Oak Park could benefit from a generous financial holiday donation from the Oak Park Writer Mom family. Just a thought. A sincere congrats on your healthy tax break.
8
You are free to donate that to your favorite cause, a much more direct and efficient use than having it go from you to the feds and then out again through that bureaucratic read tape.
But really, you need to quite playing the whole number game, our tax rates and such are built upon percentages. In general, the percentage saved buy those in the middle class, when all is said and done, is going to be a higher than of folks making more. While the tax brackets look somewhat similar, those making more lose a lot of deductions.
If you want to play the whole number game, let's do this. The upper 5% or so pay about 27% effective tax rate. The middle class about half of that, closer to 12% in many cases. So, someone making $75K pays about $9,000 in taxes. Someone making $1M pays about $270,000 in taxes.
Our progressive system is always based on percentages. So yes, even a small percentage cut for someone making more could result in more actual money. However, that can still result in an even MORE progressive tax system, those folks paying an even bigger percentage of the pie.
You even mix your numbers. Instead of $20 a week you should have said $1000 per year.
If someone gets $1000 a year and someone gets $3000 a year but the second person makes 5 times as much, the first person is getting a bigger percentage break.
3
There is no way that the base of trump supporters will be changed by any info. They are sworn to vote against a Democrat. Its a rule. Yes FOX will enforce this but FOX has only 10-25 million had core viewers. WE can expect 120 million or more to vote. There is no reason to try and explain things to the Trump folks they will not listen, so the important thing is get the votes out. Alabama showed the results. We must focus on the antiTrump folks and motivate them to vote.
5
Can someone explain why Congressional Democrats are precluded from challenging this tax bill under the Byrd Rule (under the Reconciliation Act)? This will clearly increase the national debt over the next decade. It should have been subject to filibuster.
It seems to me that some Republicans have recognized that they're at the end of the line electorally (and demographically) and have decided to take the money and run. Patriotism is a foreign concept to them--they don't care if they bestow third-world status on the rest of the nation.
9
Should be. . . .
All indications are. . .
Recent polls clearly show. . .
I am numb to all the media discourse about what will happen come November. I am not a Trump fan - I find it difficult to even watch him talk - and I despise the Republican Party.
But the proof will be in the pudding as they say in the trade. And with an off-year election coming, it will be up to the Dems to ensure that voter turnout is better than 30%.
8
"A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words" Four Privileged White Men take a stroll basking in the Joy of what ranks among the most heinous and contemptuous piece of legislation ever drafted and passed in the history of our young democracy. The utter disdain Mr. Ryan, Pence, McConnel & Trump has for everyone else who is not part of the Wealth & Privilege Class is their for everyone to see. Hopefully, enough of us has the courage to take action at the voting booth... because this is the ONLY stimulus that these people responds too...
8
No surprises here. All educated people knew Trump would make alterations to increase his wealth at the expense of the the non-rich.
Blue Collar and Working Class always get hosed by Republicans, but many still vote for them. This will not change. Our countries single biggest issue is lack of education. The majority of our country are suckers enticed by celebrity rather than sound intentions.
13
Well said!!
Why does should it take years for "the masses" to realized what has just happened? Nothing could be more evident, more matter of fact than the fleecing that is taking place. I see regular folks around me not even willing to signal a position. Why are we so apathetical? Why do the average citizen is unwilling or unable to express themselves or take a position?
There is something the matter with a democracy that has such level of disinterest for what the politicians are doing to them. Is our population already ripe for a Trump dictator? How has this happened?
8
I think you are missing the point. There is unprecedented outrage, on the left. Where a premium on civility lives. And a knowledge of history, that if we go get the pitchfork and guillotines it seldom ends with the people who deserve it and if you go the 2nd Amendment solution, that spirals out of control too. So we have Bob. Maybe we need to put, In Bob We Trust, on our currency. Because if Bob fails, or is fired, or is undermined, then we really are approaching 1930's Germany with no legal remedies left. Too bad the Secret Service doesn't take their oath to the Constitution seriously. I don't know how they don't arrest him for sedition, treason, conspiracy, racketeering, money laundering, perjury, election tampering, and all the other felonies that the media has shown us either evidence of or a strong indicators of, which the gov't would have evidence of.
John, I agree that there are people on the left and many of the educated moderates (why has the term "educated" become a liability?, I sense it as I write this) who are truly aware and active in oposicion to what is going on. But the great majority of people do not want to admit or engage in anything discussion or examination of the reality. That is what worries me. My hunch is that this is the real reason why we ended up with this president and his party. They have seen the opportunity to cash on apathy and lack of interest of the American public. The most scary part is that they are not done: they are actively growing their infrastructure of deception, division, greed and disregard for the core values of our country. In my opinion, the response from our side has been weak and not very effective, to say the least. Trump and his people have already done damage that may take decades to fix. Sorry if I sound too negative, but that is how I see it. We need much more vigorous, active and effective responses to just have a chance at stopping this mess.
The GOP and Trump have made a mockery of the The office of President and consequently disrespected every president proceeding this joke of a president and administration. Now they insult us again with this tax give-away and continually lie about reality. This is truly the definition of insanity. Mother Nature is setting her score with governments historical ignorance regarding the critical importance of respecting and living in harmony with nature rather than raping her for a buck. The insanity of this life will come to a head fast and we are not prepared for it's impact, at least until after The Super Bowl.
1
Here's the weird political calculus of Donald Trump:
That all he has to do is get voters to believe his version of reality, and he can win another election. All that matters are the 30% or so of Americans that actually believe him; it's ok to alienate everybody else, because they're opponents that must be vanquished.
And here's the wierd political calculus of Republican politicians and the RNC:
That they can go forth with a Trump, a proven LIAR, sexual assailant, adulterer, repeatedly failed political spokesperson, incompetent practitioner, widely repulsive and unpopular person, and just about beyond the shadow of a doubt, a serious criminal; with a record as a party of destroying useful government regulations, destroying health care, destroying the lives of immigrant families, exploiting the tax laws to make themselves and their ilk richer; and, by simply having a lot of money to campaign with, they will be able to win elections in 2018 and 2020.
Republicans have been on a death march to 2018 ever since the electoral college appointed Trump to the presidency. They are going for discover in a big way just how way-off their weird calculus really is.
2
Brutal? Republicans have no idea what they've unleashed.
6
If Middle-Class Americans see even one thin dime of tax relief from this, the Dems are in big trouble.
Can you imagine the Dems trying to campaign on "getting rid of your tax breaks" in Nov?
3
No, but I can see Democrats running on reversing tax cuts for the wealthy that America cannot afford.
1
Why do you think the GOP has been for cutting taxes for 50 years, while we have run up our debt almost every single year? Their actions have raised our debt from 400 million to 20 trillion. If you did that you would lose your house and car. The GOP does it to force the Dems to be responsible and raise taxes, which is unpopular, because it turns out we have to have money to make our gov't work. And irony of ironies the red states as a whole take tax dollars from the blue states!! Because even at the state level Conservative polities don't work.
2
Can anybody tell me if I can deduct expenses for the party I plan to throw in 2018 when the Republicans are swept out of office?
5
Were there is a will there is a way. For business you can do it 100% for new clients, 50% for established clients, and not at all for friends and family. But if you were a Republican you might get a special loophole added to the new law, where you get a hundred million tax credit for hosting a GOP fund raiser.
I don't how Republicans think the tax bill will help them in 2018.
Two-thirds of voters think the bill is a give-away to the rich and most of the benefits go to people who vote Republican anyway.
They've also lost their standing as the fiscally responsible party and the family values party. They have branded themselves as the party of uninformed, selfish, anti-social and greedy racists.
Republicans are going to get creamed in 2018.
5
The worst thing that could have happened to the democrats was the defeat of Roy Moore. They were planning to hang him around the necks of republicans and their willing accomplices in the media would have ensured a 24/7 Roy Moore circus. They even sacrificed Franken with that strategy in mind. (And by the way, Jones has promised to be an AL democrat and even caucus with the GOP on occasion. He's meeting with Trump in the WH after getting seated.)
What are they going to run on now? Promising to increase taxes if they win? Impeash Foty Fi? Good luck with that.
My predictions:
1. GOP will lose some seats in the house but still maintain a majority.
2. GOP will pick up 2 to 4 net seats in the senate.
4
Even though Moore lost, people will still remember that the Thief in Chief supported him.
Let's see: News: Tax Cuts Buoy Republicans (yup they are pleased to have scored a legislative victory)... Not News: but they're Swimming Against the Undertow... says who? Oh the Democrats! Really, that is shocking! As they say (somewhere) it ain't over until the not-thin lady sings!
Make America Fair Again.
2
What a picture. Like monkeys parading through a zoo. All Pence needs are a couple of cymbals. We need this crew gone. Praying Meuller has Don's tax returns by now so this nightmare can end. Forget the other dominos. Let's see where his money came from and where it went. 11/18 can't come soon enough.
7
So the democrats have a better chance in winning in 2018 because of all their accomplishments? What did I miss?
6
You missed Obama digging us out of a hole with no help I guess. He did it for 8 years and handed off a strong economy from a near Depression.
3
No, the Democrats have a better chance of winning because the new tax bill is such a naked robbery of the Poor and Middle Class to help the rich that the Sheriff of Nottingham and the Robber Barons of the 1920's would have been embarrassed.
1
You are listening to the media. Tax cuts are good for the middle class and having stronger us based corporations are good for everyone
1
I wish I could believe that Democrats could take Congress back in 2018. But the GOP will have the upper and because they have just given their incredibly wealthy donors a gift. Their marketers are clever and better organized. Democrats continue to believe that the "high road" will prevail. The "high road" has become useless against these lawless opponents. will we ever see the light?
2
Oh, and it's going to get even more punishing, when people see, again, with feeling this time perhaps, that trickle-down economics doesn't work due to fundamental greed issues with the human race. Sigh.
I'm outraged by how blatantly cynical and corrupt this "tax reform" is -- it simply transfers 1.5 T$ of invented paper wealth to the very richest -- by creating it as national debt.
And the idea that "Republicans" have done this completely explodes whatever claim the party had as a party of fiscal probity.
What is really going on here is that the Republicans are expecting that they can use "starve the beast" to starve America's poor and middle class -- and I doubt that will succeed.
However democrats gnashing their teeth and saying "you'll be sorry" are about as pathetic as the kid who tells the school bully who just took his lunch money the same thing -- no, these bullies will not be sorry. They get to take the money and run. Even if some of them get booted in the next election they'll just move their grifting act to K-street.
The real pity here is how throughly the Trump voters are getting abused -- they put these legislators in office and they chose Trump -- if they thought they were "draining the swamp" ... wow.
However I don't have any confidence that they will change their views. This will give them small tax reductions (My guess is that it will save me about $300 ... I'm a "middle class" earner) for a few years, and they may not appreciate the losses that will be inflicted on all of us.
3
I wish this would change the balance in Congress. But the reality is that the Republican base is sufficiently brainwashed by Fox "News" to continue voting against interests. Or, there are those few Republicans (Trumps, Kochs, Adelson, etc.) who will actually benefit from this tax bill, and they will vote Republican.
2
There is something drastically wrong when the corruption in our system has been normalized, which allows one party to virtually blocking any debate, any public hearings, any bipartisan experts and ignoring various bipartisan tax groups, to cobble together and pass a bill that is a huge windfall, which benefits them and their wealthy donors in a big way.
When has it become okay, the norm for the Congress to vote in bills that are tailored in their own financial self-interest and are fixed to enhance their own wealth, this hasn't been so brazen for many years, and in the past this would be called a scandal causing a national repudiation by such greed and self-interest, isn't this like the Robber Barons of the past......the entitled few raid the public's treasury and taxpayers.
This isn't public service, this a criminal act done in broad daylight with the support of the President.
4
Stealing $5,000 from a bank go to jail. Steal 1.5 trillion from US taxpayer and get a lifetime job at Goldman Sachs and a corner office.
I'm seeing reports of large companies making pledges to not use the sugar-high of 2018 after-tax profits for yachts and jets and stock buy-backs. Faux News is leading the charge on this.
The handwriting is on the wall. After this terrible boondoggle, large investors in companies, who are mostly filthy rich, are suddenly "sensitive". Gosh!
What they really sensitive about is the fact that after the Dems regain control, their tax party will be blunted.
Will the average taxpayer ever be treated fairly? Not by the GOP! Not by the donor class to left right and center. The GOP could have just reduced personal and business tax burdens by 1%. Instead there are huge hidden loopholes that Trump and Orrin Hatch's tax preparers will take advantage of.
The Dems will try to close the doors the donor class loves when they regain control. Maybe few taxpayers will notice this, but I will: I'm being forced to pay $4,000 more in 2018 with less services.
2
“Republicans have a big storm coming at them,” he added”. “We just don’t know if it’s a bad wind storm or a Category Five hurricane.”
Some analogy for the havoc to be wrought upon those who merely throw paper towels at the victims of real storms. I look forward to being part of the hurricane.
6
Join the world! On January 20th NYC, Washington DC & many other cities will raise its voice again to demand equality for all humans at the 2018 Women’s March.
NYC info here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2018-womens-march-on-nyc-tickets-39150171216 (No tickets needed, but they prefer you register, so They have an Idea how many people to expect).
2
Let's see... the Republicans control both houses of congress and the White House, and they have managed to do exactly one thing this year. That one thing is a morally revolting set of giveaways to their donor base, the President, and certain senators who were smart enough to hold out for a payoff before committing their support for this disgraceful abomination.
And they call this a victory.
7
Swimming plus undertow equals drowning. November, BOYS. Mark your calendars. Just saying.
2
KANSAS For Everyone!!!! Hint: Even Dorothy and Toto wouldn't live here, NOW. As for me, I actually WANT a Tornado. Just saying.
4
321 days to the next election. Vote them out.
4
When voters realize that they get to keep more of their own money and see a booming economy, Republicans will do well. And the repeal of the healthcare mandate, a huge bonus. What can Democrats run on? Raising taxes on the "rich". Forcing people to buy a product they don't want.
4
When their measly increase is wiped out by higher borrowing costs, increased health premiums (due to the removal of the individual mandate, unless they opt for no insurance at all and the Emergency Room for healthcare), higher fees for state and federal services, education and infrastructure (because the $1.5 trillion tax cut will require cuts to state and locally funded programs.) That's what Kansas experienced with their tax cuts. Do you see how happy their voters were?
2
We are already see a booming economy. There is no need to give more to the already ridiculously wealthy. Ask yourself - who has the most to gain by the tax cuts? DJT, his family and all of the wealthy donors who contributed to his campaign. (He's keeping his promises alright)
Who has the most to lose? The USA - there is no money in place for infrastructure, education, healthcare..... maybe you're set for life. I hope your children and their children are too.
1
The only thing missing in the Republican victory celebration at the White House was John Philip Sousa's Victory Bell March.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1Egwg3T_v8
Hail to the Chief just doesn't cut it any more.
1
Why is this monstrous bill constantly being referred to as a "sweeping tax overhaul?" According to Merriam-Webster's, the word overhaul means either "to examine thorougly" or "to renovate, remake, revise, or renew thoroughly."
The GOP has done none of that. No careful review of an extremely complicated tax code to ferret out the unneeded loopholes and so forth. No public hearings, no debate with the Democrats. No effort whatsoever to make the code better for normal Americans. Instead, a rushed job completed behind doors and stuffed with as many new loopholes and corrupt tax goodies for themselves and their donors as they could possibly think of, while at the same time hacking away at provisions that affect normal people with no rhyme or reason.
Referring to this mess as a "tax overhaul" is kind of like referring to a bank robbery as an "unanticipated financial adjustment."
I wish the Times would rethink the vocabulary in their reporting.
5
They face a brutal election year? I hope people come after them with pitchforks. I have no problem with a conservative approach to government, but these people are outright liars, thieves, and demagogues who destroy the very possibility of truth. This used to be called "negative campaigning". Now that seems like a quaint and comforting term compared with the new Republican party.
4
The NYTs pedaling comforting bedtime stories for its childlike readers. Don't speak to me of what Republicans will fear tomorrow. Here's the reality, the truth for the adults among us: "Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."
3
Can't imagine why the Republicans think they "won" anything. This will be the issue that creams them in the 2018 elections. I just don't see a way the Republicans can spin this to look like it's helping their base. Even the voters who believe anything Trump tells them must be getting a clue about now.
1
Unfortunately I think a lot of people will see their paychecks go up as a result of the withholding change, and vote for the Republicans in 2018, before they start seeing the negative effects of the new tax law.
4
The system is rigged. No doubt.
Now the Dems have to convince the voters that they have ideas to unrig it.
That means they need good messaging.
We are in for a long GOP nightmare.
1
Interesting to hear corporations averaging about a 13 % federal tax rate, now reduced to near zero, are, out of the blue, willing to expand jobs and investments, like where did the opportunity just come from, not noted. With unemployment at about 4.3 percent, where are those people to fill the jobs without wage inflation. Ah, everyone will get higher wages, higher inflation and with a 21 trillion debt, the "great collapse" of our economy.
2
Think this is bad- wait until Paul Ryan slashes medicare and social security to pay for this mess.
1
I wish people would stop saying the Republicans are going to pay at the ballot box next year.
Oh, sure, many Republicans will be voted out of office next year. But most of them will immediately be rewarded with private sector jobs in which they will be paid handsomely to lobby the next Congress for more of the same. The rest of them will become Fox News Contributors.
Does that sound like much of a punishment to you?
1
GOP Donors buy legislators in exchange for tax cuts.
Trump threatens to stop foreign aid to countries in the United Nations for voting against Donor interests.
Trump and Haley are
“taking names”.
We need to be “taking names” and start following the money
more agressively.
Trump is destroying all the institutions that underpin our
democracy and there is a bidding
war going on that leads directly back to the GOP Donor List.
or
3
To paraphrase Lincoln, You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you only need to fool 51% of the people for one day every four years. This tax cut rewards the 1% so well that I can see them spending up to one billion dollars to defend it. Remember that 1 billion is only one thousandth of a Trillion and we are talking 1.4 trillion here. No, I do not think the Republicans are in trouble given their laser focus on the reward, the forgetfulness of the American public, and the antics of the Democrats.
To the Democrats: Forget impeachment, any sudden remorse on sexual harassment, or giant election victory. Prepare for seven(!!!) more years of Donald Trump.
1
Im confused as a blue stater that WILL pay higher taxes to support red staters, corporations and the uber rich.
WHY SHOULD I???
3
You're kidding right? Red states have been subsidizing your federal SALT deductions. You have it exactly backwards.
1
Joe: it’s the red states that are serious net takers from the federal government. The blue states, where high earners live, send a disproportionate amount of $ to the federal government and get far less back. The elimination of the SALT deduction will simply exacerbate that problem.
The press needs to keep hammering Trump with the same question every chance they can?
President Trump, how many MILLIONS will YOU SAVE from your tax bill?
3
The Republicans are going to lose elections from here on out. We've got your number now.
3
Republicans will likely do ok.
They are mostly running against Democrats.
3
The demographics of Republicans have a declining birth rate. Coupled with the opioid epidemic, I doubt they'll continue.
2
I look at my children and grandchildren and am embarrassed and ashamed that the United States has a majority of Senators and Representatives and President willing to destroy this country financially. I've already started my apologies to my family regarding the debt they will inherit, the lack of any safety net in this country. For shame, Republicans. For shame.
4
When all of the ramifications of this horrible bill begin to play out, somehow the GOPers will blame the Dems and their naive and ignorant base will fall for it and continue to vote these corrupt people into power.
We must push hard with our reps, share reality with our neighbors and certainly reach across the philosophical lines with kindness to help convince the ignorant among us that their party does not represent them.
2
It has been clearly confirmed... GOP is for rich and super rich.
2
Now that the heist is complete, the grifter-in-chief could care less about anyone else’s election. His and his cronies’ investments have paid off. Remember, he said that if he didn’t win it would be the biggest waste of money ever.
1
He has not signed it yet.
"The sweeping tax overhaul approved by Congress this week hands Republicans a long-sought achievement they believe will bolster their defenses in next year’s midterm campaign . . ."
They have well and truly followed the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole. They just handed the Democrats a howitzer . . .
1
I can barely wait to vote in 2018!
3
Tja should have voted for Bernie Sanders in the primaries and make him the DEM candidate for POTUS instead of that Republican-Lite NEO CON Mrs. Clinton. We would have 99% likelihood Mr. Sanders as President and not this Con-man of all con-man in office.
Give it up. Bernie would have been too left-wing for most voters and Trump would still have won. Bernie was a long-shot. It should have been a Clinton-Sanders ticket for it to have worked.
And if you voted for Sanders or Stein, you voted for Trump to win. Sad.
2
What about re-writing that headline to reflect the true reality....AMERICANS LOSE.
3
It will be a Cat. 5 storm.
3
I wish for Republicans in Congress and President Trump bad tidings in the year ahead. These are awful, awful people, and they need to feel the consequences of their misdeeds and corruption in office.
The tax bill they just passed is a sham. Republicans have sold out their country in favor of the interests of their wealthy donors. They have used their legislative and executive authorities to line their own pockets with middle-of-the-night, last-minute provisions inserted into the tax bill. They stifled bipartisanship, choosing to rush this monstrosity through with no debate. And in the case of the president, he blatantly lied to the American people, saying this would be a tax cut for the people - not wealthy and well-connected. He promised to close carried interest loopholes that benefit hedge fund owners. He kept neither promise. They are liars... Every last one of them.
Defenders of this obscenity are nonsensical. Just listen to GOP Congressman Dave Brat in his interview with MSNBC's Katie Tur, or Grover Norquist in his interview with CNN's Erin Burnett. Visit https://www.facebook.com/anxfreedom/videos/826871760831812/ and https://www.facebook.com/anxfreedom/videos/826511510867837/
4
The Republicans are now pressing to institute the tax cut immediately, so that workers will see the change in pay checks, hoping that this will alter their view of the overall tax cut. Obviously, they think the people are stupid and some people are, but the drivel that appears in the average person't check will look like a blip of unimportance and disappointment. If you are getting a huge check, it could be sizable, but they already know that they are winner. Their gains mean nothing to the middle class. Besides, how will the middle class ever know the full consequences of this bill until over a year from now it becomes crunch time, and you find out that the little amount you have gained was washed away by higher everything else. More than that, the belief that the revenue short fall will be less than $1.5 Trillion may be so misleading that even in a years time we will see the truth of the holes that have opened up and are being exploited, completely. As in all of these situations, when we get around to it, usually because the Republicans have been thrown out and the Democrats installed to clean up, we will need to raise taxes. That is what we needed to do now. The wealthy are cashing in their chips now, but with a little imagination and dedication, the middle class may be able to extract their due later, but most of that money lost to the economy and the country will be hidden over seas. Hey! This is not simply a bad bill. It is a travesty for the next two generations.
1
Thanks NYT, just go ahead and jinx the 2018 elections like you did in 2016. Remember when Hillary had a 91% chance of winning?
http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2016/10/18/presidential-forecast-upd...
Call me skeptical that republicans will have it so hard in 2018.
2
If this tax bill is as lousy as I think it is for individuals and Dems get elected next fall the Dems can reverse and/or fix it so fast it will make your head spin.
1
Let's see...potential loss of a low six-figure job because I gave myself a massive tax cut that will save myself, my friends and others who will owe me for years millions...um, okay.
It should be criminal. It is obviously immoral and wholly self-centered, but apparently, that is the Republican Party of today!
May they all choke on it.
Democrats better be very careful in 2018 to provide alternatives to the Republicans' ACA cuts and the tax bill. Just say "no" is not enough. Remember, they thought they had the 2016 election in the bag. Clearly they didn't.
Prepare and offer alternatives to the Republican ACA and Tax Cut actions now. Give candidates positive alternatives to talk about.
Natalie Ziuckerman
1
People need to get over the conventional view that in order to win, Democrats must be for something and not just oppose Trump. This is a fallacy. I know many who sold their souls and our country to the “anything but Hillary” idea and voted for Trump. Opposing this autocratic, sick government is being FOR many things: justice, decency, fitness, rule of law, morals, science, diversity, access to opportunities, pride in our country, among a few examples.
We fought against Nazis simply because they were unacceptable for the well-being of our civilization.
It can be and should be done again now.
1
Now we all know what happens when we don't/didn't vote Democrat down the line, totally. I believe on an Individual Basis Factor, but Trump still loses. I feel sorry for those who had to, and still are suffering from the Republican Majority. Lets make-it a Democrat Majority. I voted for Hillary, and not Jill Stein who just had a NYT article about her and Russia Putin and Flynn suspicious connections. Bernie could have been our Secretary of State too... if Hillary won. We could have had Bernie in Israel, and not Kushner and Pence. Anyway, we all have seen what happens when the Republicans are in charge of: The Cookie Jar.... and we know what happens when they think... no one can stop them and no one is looking.
Republicans can't be punished severely enough at the ballot box for my taste.
The criminal class in Washington, aka, the Republicans have just pulled off a huge heist of the US Treasury. They did the same thing in the Crash in 87. It all started with ST. Reagen who put Don Regan as Treasury Secretary . That was the first time that Wall Street and the White House mixed.
Three decades later the theft is complete. Almost no taxes for the oligarchs and rules for the companies that they control. By the time the consumers see what a bum deal this is, the knives will be out. Time to march and shout. GOP offices, THIER HOMES, the workplace that their wives are at , the schools that their kids go to. TIME TO BRING THE PAIN TO POWER LIKE THEY ARE BRINGING TO THE PUBLIC. BURN IT DOWN!
Aren't those bonuses from AT&T and Wells Fargo taxed at 25% automatically withheld because they count as supplemental income? I mean, for now it's extra money, it's funny that you "bonus" reminds you how much you are still being taxed. And since it is the top of the year, say goodbye to another 6.2% to social security (that the tax plan deficit, they hope to take away from you), and 1.45% Medicare (ditto).
The Republicans are out for your money, they just hope to nickel and dime you to death and then provide no benefit. What is wrong with voters in this country? Seeing "snowflakes" agonizing over your ignorance is not worth letting Republicans steal everything or yours that isn't bolted down.
Go ahead, Dems, Progressives and other closet Socialists, go ahead and campaign on raising taxes, putting the kibosh on the economy and everyone's retirement plan. Go stump from state to state on returning to sub 2% GDP growth. And, while you're at it since you are not fixing your own state infrastructure or pension ill-liability, raise state incomes taxes on those nasty, selfish 1%er's and small business shops. That'll show 'em in 2018, for sure!
3
"a brutal election year"?
How about the wanton "brutality" afflicted upon the 99% of taxpayers, who'll suffer, or to the "entitled" social safety net programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) that the Ryan-McConnell-Trump cabal is teeing up to trash next?
1
What's worse, if possible, than this "let them eat cake" legislation is the obvious falsehoods uttered by every GOP political cipher, all presented with sneering arrogance.
These people would run over their grandmothers for a buck.
3
They are draining the swamp all right, draining all of the money and benefits for poor and middle class citizens into their own pockets.
2
I'm not so sanguine about 2018. Sure...there's "resistance" out there but:
1) We are near full employment. Sure...YOUR wages may not have gone up in a decade but the general vibe is that there ARE jobs out there.
2) Most Americans WILL pay less in taxes NEXT YEAR. Yes...that part of the tax bill will expire eventually but your average American is a short term thinker.
3) It is (or will be) "the economy stupid". Voters won't care how often Trump goes golfing or if he groped someone on a plane 20 years ago.
4) We are not in the middle of a hot war. Sure...Trump does plenty of saber rattling but so did Reagan...who was a "peacenik" by the standards of the past 2 decades.
Only hard-core forward thinking mobilization of and reaching out to the "bottom 50%" voters holds the chance of carrying the day, and tis is something the Democratic Party hasn't really done in over a generation. 18 months ago a "good day" involved something along the lines of getting a fat check from Harvey Weinstein and not every incumbent GOP senator or congressman is a far far right wingnut with a history of chasing high school girls.
5
Mendacious hypocrisy oozes out of the The Republican Party. The Tax Bill is paid for with irresponsible borrowing. Add that to more borrowing for "giant" increases in military SPENDING on top of more borrowing and more borrowing by the self-proclaimed, "King of Debt." When's the next vote to increase the debt limit, hypocrites? Before or after slashing bedrock programs that, in the words of the Constitution, "promote the General Welfare."
Enjoy the party now because the hangover will be far reaching.
Republicans, unlike the Democrats unfortunately, know how to lie with a straight face and convince people that this tax plan will be helping them financially. Not sure how this tax plan will affect payroll withholding, if the federal taxes will be reduced then the public will see a few extra crumbs in their paychecks and may end up believing the Republican claims.
I do not have a lot of faith anymore on the Democrats to be able to capitalize on this opportunity. I think it will not be easy to convince the public that this tax plan is not good for them, because in the short term working people may see a few extra dollars on their pay.
If on the other hand people think of the long-term ramifications of this abomination called tax-cut, then perhaps the Democrats may win some seats. I don't feel very optimistic.
6
I don't think they're doing a very effective job of lying. This bill only has 25% approval.
Congress has a 20% approval rating. Trump has a 57% DIS-approval rating.
They needed to check this out with more than themselves and their donors and Trump.
6
The main thing for Democrats is to keep this momentum going and not peak early. Elections are nearly a year away and political winds shift. The only way to ensure a Democratic majority is to ensure every eligible Democrat registers to vote and then votes.
Take a page from Doug Jones who won in Alabama by making it a local race and staying focused on his constituency. All I get from DNC is emails expressing shock and disbelief at what Mr. Trump has done now. I delete them. I know full well how awful he is but so far I'm not hearing what they're doing beyond not being him.
The good news is a lot of new candidates are preparing to run. That's what will break the old guard stranglehold on larceny and power at all costs. But only if passion and turnout is at record levels. Hating Mr. Trump will go a long way but Democrats need to offer a better alternative in every district.
7
You are 100% right. "Not Being Trump" is the bottom of the barrel. Democrats need to have a united governing platform that appeals to voters. Protect social security, Medicare, Medicaid and the environment. We need to continuously remind voters that this is the Obama economy they are enjoying. Point out that Blue States are clean and desirable places to live as opposed to the dirty and depressed Red States. We need to point out to Red State voters that they don't have to live this way.
1
This article is wishful thinking on the part of the left. Once the economy booms and people have more money in their pockets these polls will be meaningless.
35
The price is 2 trillion additional debt and no healthcare for a lot of people. That has meaning whether you get a 100 bucks and "forget" about it or not.
11
Last two times the GOP had the White House, Senate and House we had the Great Depression and Great Recession. You can ride on the Obama economy until you do something stupid. Like taking money from the poor and working class and giving it to the rich. Because it turns out the poor and working class spend all the money they get, which means most of it goes to pay waiters and bartenders, etc. Meanwhile when you give the money to the rich it goes into a bank account, or offshore. Where it employs no one.
11
You need to read some history. Supply-side economics has never worked and never will. It is the ultimate boondoggle.
12
Still puzzled by the use of terms like "GOP wins" and "victory" in headlines.
They have an unassailable majority.
Therefore, the only obstacles are themselves.
This makes their repeated failures this far all the more stunning.
As for winning here . . . legislation is not conquest.
17
Agreed. Like an Onion headline:
GOP Majority in House AND Senate passes GOP President's Bill.
HUGE Victory.
1
I found nothing more troubling and familiar than Dear Leader's love circle. I couldn't watch it for more than a few seconds. We have arrived at banana republic levels of dictatorial fear based endearment. In this passion play for big bucks, nothing has demeaned me more as a US military vet than glancing sideways at these sorry love fest members kowtowing to dear leader. The proletariat of America has just been beautifully and cleanly pillaged.
Make America gag again, one love fest at a time.
27
The Dems vs. the GOP is starting to seem more like 6 of one, half dozen of the other. Same two headed snake. Verizon vs. Comcast, et al.
We need more choices. Tired of the 2 party system as I am with ISPs.
2
To me, it is blatantly obvious the Tax Cuts bill was primarily intended to pay back campaign donors and to buy more donations and voters votes. It was rammed through Congress for passage in time for Christmas to be cynically and deviously disguised as a gift when in fact, it is a massive payoff of many so the Republicans remain in power. The reason I think this, is because the Tax Cuts bills was never justifiable as a stimulus for the economy which is now humming away at a 2.5 to 3 percent annual growth rate as we enjoy essentially full employment with a low 4.1 unemployment rate. I must therefor believe that the Tax Cuts bill is first and foremost a vehicle of bribery and kickbacks that no other people in this nation would be forgiven for. All the boasting of a 4 percent annual increase in the GDP is a diversion away from the reality that this bill moves 4 percent of future government revenue into the private sector. They're deceiving everyone to think that we will see actual GDP growth at those levels. And what about a rise in inflation that is bound to occur from this windfall? Just like the Reagan and Bush Tax cuts, this tax cut bill will predictably lead to higher inflation and a recession. Obama rightly used economic stimulus during a serious recession while the current Republican government is embroiled in obviously wrongful payoffs and kickbacks during a time when no stimulus is logical.Obama was correct. Republicans are wrong with a grim future ahead.
11
The bil was rammed through in haste to order to massage the Leader's ego (again) and to make him feel good about himself. He needed a 'win'. It really is that simple.
I agree the tax legislation is horrific and sets up fiscal disaster down the road. But if the economy stays on its current course -- indeed if there are several quarters of 3%+ GDP growth and most people see income tax cuts, then that does not bode well for the Democrats at the midterms. People tend to vote their pocketbook and positive economic data, even though its masks the long-term effects of the overhaul in the tax code, will affirm the delusion Trump and the GOP are on the right course.
2
The competent, data driven outfit ECRI's leading indicators are pointing to a U.S. growth slowdown in the next few months, just as they pointed to this growth pickup before it occurred -- which began, inconveniently for the GOP fantasists, well before the election. It's just reached 3%, but may well stall out about at this level: www.businesscycle.com
1
This long-standing Democrat does not vote for my pocketbook. I support a Democratic party that returns to its roots and supports safety net programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and more. Republicans fought hard to defeat those programs, and today's Republican-dominated House and Senate are eager to eliminate today's safety nets, as are their wealthy donors. Fox News propaganda is legal, and immoral. Folks, change channels and discover other points of view.
3
Since when is redistributing more wealth to the wealthy at the expense of the disadvantaged something to be proud of? This has never been what America is about - and will only Make America Less.
5
The choice or rather the question for Americans in November next year and in 2020 is really very simple: Do you want your state and the country as a whole to look a lot more like Alabama and Mississippi in 20 years or so time and much of the rest of the South? A basically low tax, low government service and investment region. If so vote for the Dixie-centric Republican Party.
If you don't want to leave that legacy to your children and grandchildren then you need to start electing a lot more Democrats to reverse the enormous damage the GOP is doing to all of us - well all of us except the very rich, who can always prosper no matter what the condition of the nation as a whole.
5
I agree with you completely
It's clear that the Republican can see the writing on the wall.
Many Senators and Members of Congress has announced that they will not be running next year as they have to know they are going to 'get a shellacking'.
In light of this, the GOP has decided that it's now all or nothing so they are going to give their corporate donors and wealthy elite backers all they can with this so-called tax overhaul as they must realize, they are not likely to get another change for a generation.
Again I have to state, that you all did this to yourselves. By that, I mean those who voted for His Orangeness, and the media outlets who were more concerned with ratings than actually providing real coverage of the issues. Those who didn't vote for the Trumpster, well, you have my sympathy, not that it means much.
Enjoy your race to the bottom, America. Please don't drag the rest of the world down with you as you seem to be trying to do.
7
Even thought Donald Trump said he would not cut "entitlement" programs like Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, Washington's "golden boy" Paul Ryan made it pretty clear in early December that after this tax bill was approved, he and the GOP members would go after these programs.
Well, go for it Mr. Speaker, give it your best shot. And then watch how quickly and ugly things will become for the GOP. If there's one agenda item that will cause voters to literally run to the voting booth, it's messing with the programs these people paid into their entire working lives.
My sweet, loving, and politically misguided husband does not believe these programs will be touched but then, he also believed what he read on Fox News that this tax bill would generate only a $1.5 billion deficit rather than the $1.5 TRILLION deficit the NYT reported. 2018 will be wild political ride in the Keller house, but in the end, the GOP will be their own worst enemy come November with their proposed plans to offset this country's debt. Their "glory days" will be short lived.
11
Well said Marge, and I do believe you're right.
Trump has an approval rating in the mid 30's. It occurs to me that a stone (or any inanimate object) could hit those numbers. Such are the "bases" of political parties, though I would argue the numbers would be smaller with a Democratic party stone.
1
I am one that was never interested in politics. Now I am hosting lunches to explain people how to vote, drive with volunteers to neighborhoods trying to motivate people to keep their paperwork valid so they won't be rejected for any reason when they want to cast their ballots and I am supporting a congressman not only with my limited resources but with my time, effort, social media etc. to see if we can get rid of Ted Cruz in Texas.
Bible says " do not seek revenge o bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself, I am the Lord"
Well I am NOT the Lord and yes I will seek to avenge so may wrongs when the time comes with the only resources that I have available to myself; my time, effort and my vote I will not forget...
9
This is by design - they're doing the same thing W. Bush did. Reap the spoils of 8 years of Democratic leadership by lowering taxes while the economy is booming, then get out of dodge when things crash down and let the next Democratic administration clean up the mess (all the while making it seem like the whole thing is the Democrats fault). We keep falling for it so why should they change strategy?
6
Wait until taxpayers fully realize the extent to which charitable contributions have been dis-incentivised by the GOP Tax Scam Reform. I think taxpayers will find it more difficult to give to their favorite charities when they realize that the larger "standard deduction" will result in far fewer people qualifying for itemized deductions and they will no longer see the positive impact of their contributions directly on their bottom line "net taxes owed".
This is an unintended consequence of the Republicans excessive haste in having a bill by year end and of their general incompetence. How tragic.
4
The republicans cut funding to research, arts, sciences... so donations mean more then ever. So what do the mean old GOPers do? They take away incentives. It's like they want the country to crash and burn. It's good for Putin. Makes his country look even better by comparison.
It's just insane to think that the Republicans can race through a tax bill, with zero bipartisan negotiation, awarding the riches the largest tax breaks (>85%) and hold off on funding the CHIP program for under advantaged children. This morning I heard an NPR story on the CHIP program funding in Alabama, and it is truly heartbreaking to hear how parents are dealing with this funding cut, re-routing their children'' health care to emergency facilities and avoiding routine care. Seems to me we can do much better than these Republican leaders!
5
Democrats always believe that they are going to win big in the next election but more often than not they crash and burn. The Party (and this paper) are still grappling with post-election defeat syndrome. Their new strategy of zero tolerance towards men does not sound like much of a winner since men vote too.
4
I find it amusing that the same people who did not bat an eye as the deficit doubled over the last 8 years are all of the sudden deficit hawks.
3
They are giving your money away to their rich pals, themselves, and their donors.
Next up--they say we have too much debt, and that Soc Sec and Medicare must be cut.
They even have a name for it: "Starve the Beast."
5
The GOP is playing the long con. Sacrifice the midterms knowing that when corrections are made by the democrats, they will scream about tax and spend liberals...the democrats will be voted out and back comes the GOP for round 2.
Oh and the deficit? Its the democrats fault after all.
2
It's so hilarious to call this abomination a "win" or an "achievement." What's being won or achieved when all they've done is to get their own members to agree on a suicide pact?
From the mentally challenged R point of view, maybe it is a win to get something, anything passed without the "messy" process of hearings, questioning of expert witnesses who might actually know what they're doing, due consideration, taking time to fix known "technical" problems before a final vote, all that regular order stuff they either hate or are utterly clueless about?
For the most incompetent Congress in the history of the country, my vote goes to this one.
3
Trump minions will cheer as their benefits are cut, believing that Those People will finally be held accountable. Then they will blame Democrats for cutting their benefits. They will see no contradiction in these actions and will continue to vote for Republicans because they believe Democrats are in league with the devil.
We can't change their minds, they're like the walking dead. We have to out-vote them. It should be easy, but it won't. We have a lot of work to do!
171
"The walking dead." A perfect description.
4
A really terrific article showing Trump supporters and the misery of their lives and their ignorance in terms of what their government does and does not do for them can be found on The Intercept--fabulous journalism...I urge all progressives and moderates to read this lengthy expose about the working poor in the Ohio River Valley and just why they voted for Mr. Trump. It is mind boggling. The poverty--economic as well as spiritual and intellectual, shows us the dire straits many Americans are in. There is a reason they all voted for Trump...and you will find reading about them that they truly are as deplorable as people can be. What to do about it will be our next challenge after the 2018 elections that many of them won't bother to show up for.
1
As Dan Rather said "Pyrrhic Victory" for the GOP (and all involved in cramming this bill through)
11
What makes this abomination of a tax cut for the rich (and President Bone Spur) even more egregious is the fact that the GOP put a rush priority on passing it, but still refused to work with Democrats on a budget to actually fund the government now, and has been lurching along like a drunken Frankenstein's Monster since the end of September. As of today, CHIPS is still unfunded and states are now having to tell the millions of parents who rely on this program to insure their children receive timely health care, despite their limited income, that their children will no longer have insurance until the GOP in Congress get their act together and work in a bipartisan fashion to fund our federal government for this fiscal year.
25
CHIP is a corrupt mess, with many of the low-income kids I teach routinely referred for MRIs (!!!), xrays, tests requiring overnight hospital stays, etc. We're talking about kids who are running around, perfectly healthy.
Teachers joke that "CHIP fraud" needs to be one of the boxes on the Reason for Absence form.
But Dems, instead of listening and rooting out the blatant corruption, will try to paint Republicans as evildoers instead. And voters tired of paying for the corruption will have no choice but to elect officials who will cut off the entire program.
3
Cutting education funding has really paid off for the GOP. When voters are too dim to realize they're being had, they'll believe whatever Fox News tells them and vote accordingly.
130
That has been their intent. Keep the public stupid, and appeal to their religiosity.
Next year's elections aren't going to be some landslide against Republicans. Many of their voters firmly believe the tax cuts just passed has always been and always will be the right way to go. They will campaign on "doing what 30 years of democratic gridlock could not do"....and it will work.
Look, it took all of 10 minutes to start seeing comments here already complaining about democrats. Complaining about democrats...following the most hyper-partisan legislation in recent history - something the dems were shut out of completely. Dems railed against this for weeks detailing how it's not actually that good for he average american worker. But do you think any of those american workers heard that or even know about? No, they see what Fox News tells them.
Facts about what happened are never learned by their voters, much less remembered when the time comes.
These headlines of "the republicans are hosed in 2018" need to stop - it's the exact kind of thinking that put that psycho their in the first place. Complacency.
51
It is STILL the economy, it was the economy that handed Trump the election, and it will be the economy that dictates how the GOP does in 2018. I despise Trump the Man, but if you are a believer in a smaller fed, a freer market and a non-judicial activist court system, he has done a nice job in most of those areas. And the market, the economy and consumer confidence are all looking good.
We have the most unpopular president at this point in time but also the highest consumer confidence index in over 15 years. Interesting dichotomy.
1
IT would be helpful if the NYT published exciting ledes about the Democratic Party instead of predicting a GOP downfall, which will make the GOP spend more on more on their outrageous campaign. as Marshall McLuhan once predicted, "The medium is the message," and he has
been correct.
1
thundercade: Your comment should be at the top of the recommended list. This is really important.
1
The truth is, Trump and the Republicans can do anything they want if they can agree with each other. Democrats are irrelevant. It looks good for them now only because Trump is so disliked. As we get closer to the election, though, it will become clear that the Democrats are a weak excuse for opposition. They have no media presence and no spokespeople of any weight. Newt Gingrich and Rudi Guilliani are on tv more than Shumer and Pelosi. Who is Tom Perez? Is he still alive? Republicans will control everything for a very long time. Count on it.
15
Agree that Newt and Rudy are certainly spokesmen of hefty weight. They are also bodacious liars.
People scoffed when Bernie Sanders called for a revolution of ordinary Americans joining to take back our country from the billionaire class – a class that is demonstrating every day through their minions in Congress and the White House that they intend to plow us under with their ruthless, predatory, boundless greed. Who's scoffing now?
11
A lot of us are still scoffing. We have seen in the past year a great unwinding of federal overreach, a reduction in the power of federal agencies and now a nice reduction in taxes across the board on both the personal and business side. A cut cut that will cut taxes for 80%+ of the families in the US.
Bernie's mantra is not going to play well when the opposite tack is giving us a good looking economy. Consumer confidence is at a 17 year high, folks are not gonna take a risk on socialist mantras in 2018 if it is still going as well.
1
This horrific legislation yields two losers: The Democratic party and the people who embrace it and the Republican party in the 2018 mid-term elections, once the working class and middle class people who embrace it realize they were thrown a bone and the super-rich made out like bandits. Bask in your hollow victory now Trump, Pence, McConnell, and Ryan, for your time in power is short.
4
A third party nihilist equating the GOP and the Dems.
This type of dude is the reason Trump squeaked into the WH.
We can all be certain that the Republican Party, already expert in the dark arts of voter suppression, will be making a well-financed, desperate attempt to bar poor, working-class Americans from registering and voting in the 2018 elections. As usual, Republicans also will focus on people of color and young people – especially college students.
Getting the will of the people counted fairly will require Democrats and Independents to use every tool available, including the courts. One hopes that the effort is underway right now
We should also hope that at least some of Donald Trump"s supporters of modest means are finally beginning grasp from the tax bill helping the rich to the gutting of affordable healthcare that Trump and the Republicans have played them for suckers.
9
"...shaping up to be a punishing election year."
I surely do hope you're correct, but I surely do remember the "Times" >85% election chance for HRC...
12
These tax cuts are not an achievement unless they were created to achieve deeper inequality among The People.
The tax cuts are amoral period.
First the GOP comes out (Lindsey Graham, etc) and says, they MUST do these Tax Cuts or their Donors have told them, No more donations to their campaigns.
Now they've conveinently changed their story and they aren't even ashamed, they're actually all strutting around like peacocks. :/
The GOP's are like used car salesmen. They'll tell you anything to sell you a defective car.
Look at Trump's business Failures. What makes him an expert in Taxes? Omg, he's bragging the tax cuts are Christmas presents to the Middle Class. He could care less how many people these tax cuts will affect detrimentally. The incompetency is astounding.
Trump University, Bankruptcies...include The Trump Taj Mahal, 1991,Trump Castle, 1992,Trump Plaza and Casino, 1992,Plaza Hotel, 1992,Trump Hotels and Casinos Resorts, 2004,Trump Entertainment Resorts, 2009 and then... Trump airlines-he defaulted on his loan, Trump magazine-folded, Trump mortgage-Failed, Trump steaks, the list goes on.
Trump has actually filed Chapter 11 six times.
It's astounding the lies from Republicans in Congress. We know Trump is a liar but all the Republicans know full well that this is a big old heist to put money in their pockets!
People go to jail for robbery but the 1% are going to the bank to deposit their huge historic tax cuts.
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Trump's catalogue of business failures would look great on a billboard in November.
This is the VERY LAST time I ever vote for ANY Republican, local, state, or national! Quite clear what the real Republican agenda has been and will continue to be!
32
But, of course, you couldn't see this until NOW???
6
Can I have your tax cut then?
57
Marvin .. why do you think PAS has a tax cut?
Why don't you offer to pay him the extra taxes it costs him, presuming it does?
“A punishing election year.”
Let’s just hope it doesn’t work out that way for the Democrats.
The Dems have to focus on core issues – jobs, healthcare, education and safety – and have rock solid policies in all these areas. Don’t like the new tax law? Fine – but let’s have five or six simply put talking points on the changes you think will be good for America.
The Dems need to lay off exotic issue. For example, transgender persons should have our full respect and support but let’s not make their right to choose s bathroom be a front and center policy.
The Dems need to develop some fresh faces. We all love Chuck, Elizabeth and Nancy and need their guidance over the next few years but we need more people like Phil Murphy, Seth Moulton and Tim Ryan dominating our TV screens in the near future. I love Huma Abedin’s loyalty but – really – her presence didn’t help HRC.
Minorities – as Charles Barclay reminded us recently, the Dems cannot take them for granted and making sure they get a fair shot at economic opportunity is a must.
Don’t forget the deficit. This Republican Party has abandoned its position as the keeper of the nation’s purse strings. A look back at Eisenhower and Goldwater on economics wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Lots to do – so go to it!
9
"Don’t forget the deficit. This Republican Party has abandoned its position as the keeper of the nation’s purse strings."
Not yet they haven't. They passed one large bill. There will be more to come and you can bet the deficit hawks will be calling in their chips for voting for the tax cut.
The first and foremost issue the last 10 years has been the economy, it still is the economy, and it 2018 it will likely still BE the economy. And the GOP right now has a superior message. The market is great, the business outlook is great, consumer confidence is great, and the GOP just gave folks a sizeable raise with their tax cuts. These are not small cuts, many middle class folks are gonna see more than 2% 'raises' on taxes changes alone.
Over 50% of people in the US are in the stock market directly or indirectly. One peek at there balance sheets from June 2016 compared to right now is gonna make them very happy for the most part.
Those "exotic" issues you mentioned came up because Republicans used them as a way to whip up the ignorant bigots who vote for them. Democrats simply stood up for what is right and demanded that everyone be treated equally and they refused to let Republicans treat people like second class citizens.
Wow, the Republicans managed to do one of the most difficult and fraught things an elected official can do. Cut taxes. Not sure where the got the nerve to take on such a difficult task. Free lunch for everybody!!!!
4
Republicans showed their true colors: all for the rich. Wait until the mid-term elections when those who are not the greedy rich will vote out greed and evil.
3
Beyond the endless political horse race analysis of the contest between Republicans and Democrats, this tax heist is concrete proof that American democracy no longer exists and that the United States is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Fortune 500 and the Chamber of Commerce.
Our campaign finance system has ensured that citizens have a very diminished voice and even when they express themselves in elections the elected representatives have mastered the art of deflection, ignoring their demands and finding a way to please their donor overlords. That is a path to riches for them whether they are in Congress or not. We live in a plutocracy and something very fundamental needs to change. Republicans are far more shameless in protecting corporate and wealthy interests but both parties are vested in this crooked system.
4
Due to the peculiarities of the Electoral College, a slim majority of a few "swing" states made all the difference for electing a dummy unpopular President who has an infantile demeanor, no understanding (or care) for American history, natural science, or critical regard of evidence, enabled by the Republican federal legislators (all of them!) who put their own wealth and their corporate benefactors first over the welfare of the rest of the country.
"Animal Farm" should be required reading in high school, and the lessons of a dictatorship should be shouted to the electorate well ahead of the mid-term election. The literal health of our nation depends on this.
7
It was required reading at my high school, and has been at the forefront of my mind for the last year.
I doubt that future generations will ever learn it's lessons, though. I imagine that "The Art of the Deal" will take its place on summer reading lists before long.
You speak of dictatorship, yet Trump has been unwinding authoritarian overreaches by Obama, the administration that was most rebuked by the courts for unconstitutional policies (CATO has some nice statistics on this). Trump appointed a SCOTUS judge that believes in servery LIMITING the power of the executive branch, including agencies making laws when Congress should be the only ones making them. Trump is giving federally grabbed land BACK to the STATES. He is unwinding regulation after regulation, lessening the federal powers.
For all the fascist and dictator talk, in reality Trump has been weakening the power of the executive branch, and thus his power.
Here's the lie in this scam tax bill. Trump and the GOP claim that this will bring jobs back, create new ones, and raise wages. Think about that...jobs come back, new jobs, wages rise for one minute and think....Jobs left because of cheaper wages abroad, new jobs in higher paying fields and technology are happening abroad, not here, except for service industry jobs, and why would any corporation bring back jobs to pay them higher/prevailing wages when this is exactly the reason they left in the first place, not taxes. Corporations did not leave because of taxes, but for cheaper wages and no benefits that they will pay abroad. And as for taxes, they don't pay that 35% number they throw around, their effective tax rate is about 20%, some even less or zero. So why is this "welfare check/handout" to the rich and corporations being passed off as a "tax bill". Liken this to a hamburger, the middle class get the ketchup as their share, the rich and corporations get the beef, the buns, and the cheese. Thus, you are getting "part" of the hamburger, the ketchup. We can still call it a hamburger, just your part is not exactly a hamburger. Not to worry, that "ketchup" will soon cost you more than the actual cost of the ketchup...higher health care premiums, cuts in Medicare and Medicare, Education, etc. And when your ketchup expires, you will have no ketchup, just more cost. They on the other hand have, have a hamburger that will last forever. They win, YOU lose.
7
Ah, but you did not see the news this morning? AT&T announced that they will give each employee $1000 due to the tax cut, so did Comcast, and Wells Fargo and Fifth Third Bank said they will increase their minimum wage to $15/hr.
Wow !!! Shouldn't we be impressed with such generosity?
All these businesses though avoided telling us how much they'll give to their executives. How far is a $1000 one-time bonus take a family - especially after taxes and more so in a high tax state like NY or NJ or California.
In the long run, most taxpayers will lose.
The ketchup will not expire, it will more than likely be made permanent at some point, just like the Bush tax cuts were. The GOP is going to run hard in 2018 and beyond on the position of making these permanent.
The ONLY reason they were was because of reconciliation rules, they had to adhere to the $1.5T number and did so with the smoke and mirror of an expiration that will NOT happen.
Who is going to vote for a tax increase? Not many.
1
Don't give the Republicans any more ideas about ketchup! Remember, in the 1980's the Reagan administration declared ketchup would count as a "vegetable" for the school lunch programs.
I am waiting for some grinch Republican to suggest that if you add hot water to ketchup (like they did in the Depression), that will count as "soup" for the school lunch programs.