Remember when Democrats mocked last year’s tax-cut legislation? And Nancy Pelosi called the tax breaks for Americans “crumbs”?
But President Trump and congressional Republicans said they would ignite a booming economy and actually increase federal tax collections from greater economic activity including more consumer spending, business investments, higher wages and even employee bonuses.
Well, guess what? Just 47 weeks after Trump put his flamboyant signature on the bill, it’s all happening.
Unemployment is at an historic low. Employment is at an all-time high. Wagers are growing after years of stagnation.
And now from all that increased economic activity, the federal government has just reported historic record tax revenues in October, the first month of the new fiscal year, of $252,692,000,000.
That’s more than $11.4 billion above revenue for October of last year, which was the previous record tax revenue for an October.
And it did this by collecting more than $3 billion less in personal income taxes, thanks to the tax cuts.
The new revenues were the result of increased business taxes because of increased business. Here’s how much different it was:
Corporation income tax receipts to the U.S. Treasury this year in October were a whopping $8,000,000,000. This compares to the previous October’s $3.8 billion.
Apparently we have found the top of the Laffer Curve.
But Dems are clueless.
They are “promising” to raise taxes considerably if they get a chance.
And to think all it took to stimulate an already recovered economy was the acceptance of renewed trillion-dollar annual deficits on top of a debt that’s already over $21 trillion. Will wonders never cease.
We’ve added .7 trillion dollars to the national debt over the past three months. The top of the Laffer curve can be seen disappearing over the distant horizon if you look into your rear view mirror.
The “Trump economy” is nothing more than another irresponsible, debt-financed binge like the one that preceded the 2007-2008 economic meltdown. At the end, the usual suspects will once again escape with their loot, while everyone else will be left holding an empty bag and charged with the cost of the cleanup. Be prepared to hear the following: We just can’t afford to pay you the Social Security you were promised, or provide you with the Medicare coverage you were told you would have. Thanks, however, for your contributions, which were diverted to cover our prior shortfalls.
@Greg:
point 7? What does that mean? Do you mean point 7 or point 7 percent?
Link?
Of course. Democrats create problems by telling us they are solving problems. Let’s add all those Medicaid recipients to the rolls. You know, the people that never pay one dime into the program but will get the same benefits as those that have (except Medicaid patients get dental care while seniors don’t)
That is the Democratic Party’s way. Create a problem, act all high and mighty by creating a solution to the problem they created and then, when it goes bust, blame the Republicans.
Increase in the national debt in Obama’s second year of office (due to budget dates, first year doesn’t count) $1.65T
Increase in the national debt in Trump’s second year, estimated at $1.233T.
@retire05, #3:
Yeah, there was a minor problem that had to be dealt with—the effects of the worst and most prolonged economic downturn since the Great Depression, which, among other things, resulted in a revenue crash at the precise moment that the federal government had to keep state governments from financial disaster. Maybe he should have let Governor Perry figure out how to keep Texas afloat without the $17 billion in federal stimulus funds the state received. Perry later condemned Obama for providing such funds while claiming to have balanced the state budget.
@Greg:
Yeah, a [minor] problem that economists had been warning about for years due to the actions of two Democrats, Carter and Clinton.
Again, with the numbers but no links to what you are claiming. I’m still waiting on your .7 trillion explanation. When is that coming?
Wasn’t a claim. Perry DID balance the budget. You see, moron, Texas has a balanced budget law. So while you seem to want to bash my state, man up and tell me what state you call home. That is, if you have the guts to which I doubt.
@Greg:
That “already recovered” economy remained on the precipice of recession. Slow, small growth, weak job performance, no wage growth were the trademarks of it. Close to half of that $21 trillion debt is Obama’s, the price we paid for 2% growth. Golly, what a bargain.
Wait’ll you see what 8 years of printing money and loaning it out at 0.0% interests cost. That bill comes due next year. I’m sure that will be Trump’s fault as well.
House Democrats want to return to pork spending, fearing voter fraud will not be enough to carry them through the 2020 elections. They feel the need to go out and buy votes with our money again.
I doubt that came close to covering the expense Texas incurs due to the millions of illegal immigrants Texas gets burdened with thanks to liberals ignoring our borders and immigration laws.
@retire05:
That would be the state of denial.
@retire05, #3:
It’s standard decimal number notation, meaning seven-tenths of a trillion dollars, or 700 billion dollars.
Here’s your link, if you want to figure the debt increase for the three month period to the penny.
Nobody around here ever seems to require evidence for the horseshit claims the Trump administration continuously throws out. Say something contrary, however, and it’s a different story entirely.
October 16, 2018 — Federal Deficit Jumps 17 Percent As Tax Cuts Eat Into Government Revenue
Spending as a share of the economy shrank. How, then, could next year’s projected trillion dollar deficit all be a matter of spending? You really don’t think a 31 percent decline in corporate tax collection has a little something to do with it? They were rolling in money already. They didn’t need tax cuts. The main thing they’ve done with their windfall is buy back their own stock, further consolidating profits into the hands of the very wealthy—who also got enormous permanent tax cuts.
The Trump tax cuts were another high-end cash grab, plain and simple. Regular American families’ temporary tax cuts were a diversion from the main effect of the scam. Later, the run-up in debt that results will be the problem of regular American families, because it’s their Social Security and Medicare that will be underfunded. The big players won’t give a damn about that, because they don’t depend on the promises. It’s already the little guy’s savings that are being eroded by insultingly low interest rates and rising inflation, to prop up and extend the stock market casino game as long as possible. They’ll ultimately get screwed on that, too, because big money will get out ahead of the crash, leaving their pension funds bankrupt and their mutual fund values halved or worse.
@Greg: Since the tax cuts (despite INCREASING revenues) is the only thing that is increasing the deficit, why was there a deficit WITHOUT the tax cuts?
Oh… and would it be a bad thing if the media was lying to the American people?
There was a deficit without the tax cuts. It just wasn’t going to be so huge as it’s going to be with them. Pre-Trump, republicans would have readily acknowledged that a trillion-dollar annual deficit when the economy is doing well is an enormous problem. They thought it was an enormous problem even when the government was in emergency mode responding to a disastrous economic downturn. Since Trump arrived, they just don’t care. They’ve become the party of fiscal irresponsibility.
Income tax cuts do not reduce the amount of taxes collected for SS and Medicare.
But Social Security and Medicare are already underfunded. That is what happens when you dump that revenue into the general fund and don’t keep it separate from other funding. Adding millions to the rolls who do not pay into the system also is one major cause it is underfunded. It is, and always has been, a Ponzi scheme.
Show a little self respect and quite exhibiting your idiocy, Greggie Gullible.
@retire05, #10:
The Social Security Trust Fund consists of I.O.U.s. The money paid in by workers has been treated like the contents of an unguarded cookie jar. It has all been invested in treasury notes, the proceeds of which are used like ordinary federal tax revenue. When the amount that’s needed to be paid out in Social Security and Medicare benefits exceeds the FICA and Medicare taxes being paid in by current workers, the difference will be made up out of general revenue.
Back in the days when republicans seemed to care about fiscal responsibility, the foregoing was actually one of their more reasonable arguments. This was before they abandoned logic and common sense in favor of the lies and deceptions they’re running on now.
This “idiot” understands why the most recent round of permanent tax cuts for the wealthiest and for corporate America are a serious threat to every middle class and working class American family, given the Trump administration piling another trillion-dollar-a-year on top of the existing $21 trillion national debt. You, being a self-proclaimed non-idiot, apparently do not.
@Greg:
I got news for you the uniparty never cared about spending tax dollars wisely…ever. Medicare the most taken advatage of by fraudsters, and robbed openly by Obama-care, so there would be no alternative to one payer. Everyone loses coverage not designed by what would be a rationed healthcare board underpaying and allowing hospitals not in huge metro centers to shut down, worse than veterans hospitals much worse. Fork over 60% of your earnings for this monster.
@Greg:
Really. What makes you think it wouldn’t have been LARGER without the tax cuts? Revenues are UP, not down, and they are UP because of the booming economy, which is happening, in part, due to tax relief.
You mean like Obama worshipers never cared about the $1.4 trillion deficits Obama racked up year after year after year with NO benefit to the nation or economy, yet now suddenly become fiscally conservative? Who wanted a balanced budget amendment and who opposed it?
@Deplorable Me:
Greggie Gullible doesn’t know economic math. He only parrots what he hears on left wing talk shows and reads on left wing websites like Slate and PuffingtonPost.
And he doesn’t seem to know the difference between income taxes and FICA taxes. They are not one and the same. Of course, he will continue to parrot “tax cuts for the rich” but never bothers to look at the new tax rates and the income levels they apply to, which basically helped the middle class. The poor don’t pay taxes and most of the time get a refund on money they never paid in to the system in the first place.
Nor does he seems to understand the concept that “it takes money to make money” and when businesses are not punished and reinvest their capitol into the U.S. it creates jobs, jobs generate pay checks and pay checks are then put back into circulation with personal spending and tax revenue from that spending. The $1,000.00 bonuses that were paid to AT&T workers went right back into the economic circulation.
Now, I once suggested to Greggie that he pay more to the IRS than he was required to to help lower the national debt. Needless to say, he didn’t feel he needed to do that and would rather the government force him to do that by saying he was “willing to pay more in taxes.”
@retire05, #14:
When you use FICA tax revenue to offset general revenue shortfalls by way of T-note purchases backed by only by IOUs redeemable from general revenue, any difference is largely in the imagination.
@Greg:
Take that up with the Democrats. That policy was started under LBJ.
But it doesn’t eliminate the fact that what you’re doing is simply parroting of the leftist mantra “tax cuts for just the rich” which is just flat out wrong.
Like I said before, Democrats create a problem, come up with a solution and then when the solution proves worse than the problem, Democrats demand Republicans fix what they broke.
“Tax cuts for the rich” is precisely what happened. If you don’t believe me, inspect the tax returns of Donnie Boy and his family. They’re HUGE and permanent.
Trump will personally save up to $15m under tax bill, analysis finds
The middle 20 percent of American workers will save around $800 next year. That will gradually phase out entirely over the next few years.
@Greg:
The tax cuts benefit everyone. The middle class got the bulk of it, but when you make more money, the net amount of the savings will be greater, if that is not too complicated a point to understand.
“The wealthy”, that evil, despised cabal, includes small businesses, which employs the bulk of the American workers. Citizens having a few extra bucks to spend on flat screen TV’s is not what is driving the economic boom; it is in influx of cash into industry that is driving investments, hiring and growth. “The wealthy” pay over 75% of the taxes, so demonizing them, like most liberal knee-jerk reactions, is not too wise.
Meanwhile, if the media was lying to the American people, would that be bad? It seems you KNOW they are lying and it IS a bad thing, but you don’t have the guts to address it. Just wondering. Don’t chickenshit out, like some others do on a regular basis.
America’s getting $10 trillion in tax cuts, and 20% of them are going the richest 1%
Facts are neither liberal nor conservative. They’re simply how things are.
@Greg: Where’d the other 80% go? Speaking of ignoring facts… 20% goes to those paying 50% of the taxes?
Well, nothing is guaranteed (except that whiny liberals will look for ANYTHING to whine about)… but it IS happening.
@Deplorable Me:
Research any link that Greggie Gullible provides, like the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, and you will find the base is mostly Socialist in nature. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy is the statistical arm of Citizens for Tax Policy. Research the second group and who do you find are their “affiliates”? Unions, unions and more labor unions.
Of course, Greggie Gullible never railed on Obama for funding terrorism with all the money he sent to Iran. Billions of dollars. And Iran, in spite of the argument made by the dimwitted Greggie Gullible, continues its quest for nuclear arms, which is a direct threat to Saudi Arabia. And of course Yemen is a hot bed of terrorist activity, another threat to Saudi Arabia.
Looks to me like Greggie Gullible supports the terrorists.
Greggie only quotes dollar amount (like some only get $800.00 from the tax cuts) but never the percentage of tax cuts because that totally undermines his “tax cuts for the wealthy” crap.
Add to the list of questions Greggie Gullible won’t answer; what state he lives in.
I live in Indiana, as I have stated on multiple occasions in the past. I recall pointing that out on the occasion that our former governor jumped at Trump’s VP slot, when he was unlikely to retain governorship owing to his falling poll numbers; in the context of his goofball “religious protection” initiative; in the context of Indiana’s Real ID requirement at our polling places; in the context of the Indiana Toll Road being leased long-term to a foreign corporation to solve short-term budget problems, etc. Perhaps anyone who tends to be forgetful should write things down.
@retire05: Its all about the crumbs. the government being able to steal a little less. The average 800 bucks is 2 months groceries, 1/3 my property taxes just a little relief but happy to have it. The progressives short sighted drive to make another divide by envy.
Gregs memory fails, blaming his former governor for things he could never have done on his own, did he get them 6 billion in debt? Did he allow the roads to deteriorate? Did Numerous deficiencies along the highway, including closed sewage dump stations at risk of unmonitored dumping, deficient pavement and signage at the travel plazas, and activities at vehicle maintenance facilities that could allow petroleum products or other chemicals to spill into open storm water drains, were cited in a report delivered in October 2015 to the Indiana Toll Road Oversight Board, did that all happen under his direct authority? Looks like it was run by authorities in PR for goodness sake, I guess it was all our VPs fault, oops its climate change.
Theft in government consists primarily of private corporations and private individuals using government as a tool to pick the taxpayers’ pockets. Your “Swamp Drainer in Chief” and his cronies have put that process on steroids. Corruption, plutocracy, cronyism, and nepotism have now become the norm. The entire playing field has been tilted ever further toward their end of the table. Anyone who can’t see this must be blind.
@Greg:
Oh, yeah. Like Solyndra, right? And A123. Fiskar, Solar and Abound. Buddies getting tax dollars from Obama. Cha-ching.
The Corrupter in Chief is gone, out on the speaking tour, still lying.
No, not like Solyndra. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 did take a $528 million loss on the Solyndra loan, but the guaranteed loan program as a whole, which included Solyndra, ended up for the taxpayers in the black. As with any such program, some are winners and others are not. Renewable energy and energy efficient electrical products have been enormous winners for the U.S. economy. Republicans really hate that, don’t they?
Theft is when things are stolen. Like charitable donations made to the Trump Foundation, for example, or the money that Trump University ripped off.
@Greg: No, big red smear on the old ledger.
Green energy initiative loses $2.2 billion
http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/27/obama-backed-green-energy-failures-leave-taxpayers/
Wealthy green energy investors defeat jobs measures to favor their incomes
http://www.city-journal.org/2015/25_2_california-environmentalism.html
Green energy investors looking for federal grants to pay off their loans, yet they keep all the revenue
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/08/world-largest-solar-plant-applying-for-federal-grant-to-pay-off-its-federal/
Obama bundler gets billion dollar loan for solar farm
http://nation.foxnews.com/obama-donor/2012/05/22/obama-donors-hubby-gets-1b-solar-loans
Environmentalists get wealthy pushing green energy (which fails)
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/maritanoon/2014/03/10/wealthy-environmentalists-push-democrat-harry-reid-to-leanin-to-green-energy-n1806360/page/full
Green energy cronyism scandal
http://energymakesamericagreat.org/green-energy-crony-corruption-scandal
Like global warming, green energy is nothing but a big liberal cash cow and the US taxpayers are the ones that take it up the ass. But, liberals never mind stealing from the American taxpayer.
The national debt now exceeds $23 trillion and deficits are climbing rapidly. We’re once again in the red to the tune of one trillion dollars per year—this time without an epic economic downturn to account for the growing shortfalls.
Apparently permanent personal and corporate tax cuts are working out well enough for the wealthiest. For the middle and working classes, however, not so much. Many people are discovering that their post-tax reform taxes are actually higher than before. The take-home pay increases they saw at the beginning of the past year are turning out to have largely resulted from a change in IRS withholding instructions to employers that only gave the appearance of more positive tax reform results. Many people are discovering upon completing their tax forms that their annual refunds have dropped significantly or vanished entirely, and some are finding that they now owe far more than expected.
There’s already an effort underway to convince people that what is happening isn’t really happening. Apparently people who deliberately withhold at a rate calculated to prevent very unpleasant end-of-the-tax-year surprises have been running a scam on themselves, and can blame only themselves and the Democratic Party if they suddenly find themselves with a problem. Lots of luck with that spin. Here’s an example of it:
Tax refunds are a scam and Democrats are feeding it
We can file the following under News That Should Surprise No One:
It’s Official: The Trump Tax Cuts Didn’t Pay for Themselves in Year One
@Greg: Spending is the problem. No matter how much is taken in, liberals throw it away on stupidity like climate change or high speed rail. California is trying to defraud the federal government (us taxpayers) out of $3.5 billion and another billion they haven’t received yet. Stopping illegal immigration will save the nation almost $200 billion a year. There is limitless opportunity for reducing the wasteful spending that drives up our deficits.
In case you didn’t notice, the Occasional-Kotex economic model is not a winning formula.
That’s a made-up number. Others claim that the overall contribution of undocumented workers to the economy exceeds the costs incurred because of their presence. No one has actually done a definitive cost/benefit analysis. People only claim to have done so, generally producing an answer that matches their own political motivations.
I’m sure that sort of sexist vulgarity is a winning tactic for picking up support from female voters. By all means, keep it up.
@Deplorable Me: We have a debt bomb the size that can turn us into Greece soon, if you think the dont take my government goodies away riots in Greece were anything holy moly.
You know what I think of Ryan and the budgets he put forward, the Democrats to the rescue! You bet they will cut outdated agencies and bloated government employment rolls, no more pork, running away from the special interest lobbys , they will rebuild the military to protect our country so very long ignored that soldiers had to share rifles, ya rifles https://apnews.com/6af676513c55489fbc333d3db02b7dd1/lawmaker-told.
They will stop useless foreign grants normally sucked up by NGOs to provide no benefit to any of the people or the US.
Yup proven by the last budget they put forward.
Now that they have the purse strings things will be better.
Whats up with that tax the rich scheme thats failing in NY, then they are going to give away free healthcare to EVERYONE that wont bankrupt them will it or is the Guv telling the poor they are going to have to pitch in.
My refund was higher this year, next year will be even higher after the penalty finally phases out. I had no adjustments made to my percentage of tax withheld. it has been proven 80 % of tax payers got a cut.
Why does Greg think Trump is in control of the tax code? He should write his congress people and bitch to them. We should all be paying a consumption tax, end income taxes, the taxes paid directly to the treasury and defund the IRS as soon as they collect Al Sharptons and others back taxes.
@Greg:
No it isn’t and it is NET after their “benefit” is subtracted from the actual cost.
I’m just showing her all the respect you leftists showed Sarah Palin. Like it?
@Deplorable Me, #32:
That being the case, I’m sure you can post a link to a credible source that explains the simple arithmetic supporting the figure. Right?
It’s typical Trumpian bullshit. He has variously “quoted” figures of $200 billion, $250 billion, and $275 billion, never once saying where the numbers have come from. They’re flying around the inside of his head like so many bats in a belfry. All he has to do is reach out and grab one.
@Greg: There are estimates much much higher but we can only estimate we know they are not a net fiscal benefit, in order to work they must steal an identity forge papers, or look for a low paying cash job and pay nothing. https://www.heritage.org/immigration/report/the-fiscal-cost-unlawful-immigrants-and-amnesty-the-us-taxpayer.
You are to lazy to look into it yourself, We determined earlier just the ones in prison cost 1.6 billion per year, every year. the cost of deportation is around 6,000 to 10,000 per alien, and many come right back.
There are those that are in detention sick taken to hospitals that isnt free.
@Greg: I stand corrected; the net cost of illegal immigration is $116 billion.
http://www.fairus.org/issue/publications-resources/fiscal-burden-illegal-immigration-united-states-taxpayers
But, I think their estimate of 12 million illegal immigrants is low. Fact is, we don’t KNOW how many there are due primarily to liberal efforts to KEEP us from knowing… for obvious reasons.
At any rate, that is an expenditure we certainly can’t afford, I’m sure you will agree based on your January 20, 2017 sudden interest in the debt.
“Economic impact” also includes the economic value of all the goods produced and all the services rendered by working undocumented aliens. It isn’t only a matter of dollars they cost the government minus taxes they pay to the government.
What would be the economic losses, for example, if they were all removed from the nation’s agricultural industry?
@Greg: Seems you need to write your representatives, they are to busy resisting to legislate, I guess that is all they were voted in to do. The president would like to increase numbers of welcomed immigrants, to a farmer the greencard is nice, they shouldnt need a fully staffed HR office to get help with milking time. E verify system is easily overcome and in no way accurate. 200 dollars to renew is way to expensive for many temporary visa holders, making minimum wage at a pickle factory. They need to look at impeaching Judges that twist the constitution for activist agendas right or left agendas. It would only have to happen once or twice for the activism to be squashed.
Now lets get back to the subject, The US treasury is getting increased funds, how shall we spend it all and ask for a higher credit limit. For free college, free housing, free wages, medical ect ect ect all while saving the planet.
@kitt:
Revenues rise and fall as the economy expands and contracts. That’s pretty simple. What really burns me is that if we are in the midst of the GREATEST! economy EVER (way more huge than ever achieved under ANY Democrat) then why are we still running a $trillion+ deficit, and what on Earth are we going to do when this Huge-ist-EVER economy slows?
Republicans USED to be the party of fiscal conservatism, but they had two years of both the presidency AND both legislative bodies, and, aside from giving a tax break to the rich, nothing happened. Just as life always leads inevitably to death, deficit spending inevitably leads to runaway inflation and the financial collapse that accompanies it. A pox on us all.
@George Wells:
80 % of tax payers got a cut, 15 % will see no change, 80% of tax payers are not rich get off that ignorant left wing talking point.
How huge the leviathan has grown beyond our control, If I were queen for a day hundreds of agencies would be eliminated. Income tax would be eliminated replaced with a consumer tax. The UN would be defunded, most foreign aid eliminated, we wouldnt have such power over education and none on healthcare. No federal dollars would be given to states not a dime, it would all be put on the national debt every damned penny. But not Queen, no super powers but if wishes were horses I would have quite a herd.
@George Wells: Yet you and Greg don’t seem to understand that with a one vote majority in the Senate, any budget that was passed by the House when they had a majority there would NOT pass through the Senate without Democrat support. Thus, we have “continuing resolution” after “continuing resolution”, voted on at the last minute, loaded with pork that if not approved, the government shuts down and Republicans get ALL he blame. As if to prove the point, Trump vowed he would not support any more like that and when the government shut down because SCHUMER would not support the CR with the proper border funding, WHO got the blame?
A suggestion: Allow the Republicans to craft a budget and get it passed over Trump’s signature. THEN blame the Republicans for not doing enough if they haven’t cut spending to whittle on the debt and deficit.
@kitt:
The problem is that we are STILL running a deficit. That must be stopped.
There would be a remedy in shrinking government AND shrinking the economy (one would not happen without the other, so big a slice of the economy is our government) to the point that we COULD balance the budget. It would in short order lead to our absorption by either China or Russia, either of which would then take EVERYTHING, but for a moment we could say we’d finally balanced our budget.
I think we’ll have to let our cities burn. Then we’ll have to open our borders to let in all of the Mexicans we’ll need to clean up the ashes. Finally, we’ll have to shoot anyone unwilling to pull their own weight: no Social Security, no Medicare/Medicaid, no disability, you get sick, pay for it yourself until you’re out of funds, then the gov. will LOAN you a gun with one non-returnable bullet. Aim wisely.
For the record, this is PREDICTION, not advocacy. It reflects my belief that we have gone too far down the path of social dependency to turn back without catastrophic consequence. The one thing that we can always depend on (besides death) is that things will change. There is no guarantee that change will be good. With our current unprecedented level of political hostility, I can’t see how it might end well.
@George Wells: Made the same predictions earlier, politicians are not willing to take the hit from weaning those on the tit. Others offering a huge breast augmentation (bigger tit)
If we can’t pay our current bills, how will we pay for free tuition, health care and reparations? Oh, yeah… by ripping the guts out of the economy. I forgot.
@Deplorable Me: They want to crash the economy and then have us beg for a solution, crisis management. Manage to create a crisis then pretend to manage it.
@kitt: Just as Hitler could not achieve any support until he could blame the Depression on the Jews, so the Democrats wish for economic collapse to blame on the Republicans so they can achieve more power. The Democrat seek misery to exploit.
@kitt:
And there is one of the most egregious flaws of democracy. The success or failure of a democracy rests on the willingness of the population to control themselves. Their appetite for drugs, their lust for a free ride, them being responsible enough to not make more babies than they can support. Sadly, politicians understand that there are more people who are NOT responsible in the balance than those that are, and in a democracy, all that matters is how many votes you can get. The lowest common denominator wins.
Well-meaning Democrats in the past took giant strides to IMPROVE the plight of the poor, but managed in the process to create a culture of dependency. With infinite attention to detail, perhaps their ideal could have been accomplished, but there was never enough money to pay for that level of oversight. So, running almost blind, the system ran aground – big surprise.
Capitalism during the industrial revolution provided the poor the incentive to aspire to upward mobility The grand Democratic flirtation with socialism robbed them of that incentive. Now, since neither side is willing to sit down together to work out a path to fix this mess, we will spend the next decades spasming left and right until one side ultimately “wins” by defeating the other. Either Socialism will win and capitalism will become reviled, and we will inherit all of the congenital defects that come with that consequence, or we will amputate our socialist institutions and return to a feudal state where only profit is worshiped. You will sugar-coat whichever eventuality your political persuasion suggests is preferable, but either way, it’ll be a sorry mess, and the popular remedy will be to simply point fingers at each other as the ship sinks.
@George Wells: It was all the destruction of the family, and basic decency. Rewarding self destructive behavior or removing the consequences.
Are you aware that tariffs are taxes? Do you know who pays them?
Trump’s Trade War With China Could Cost the Average Family Up to $2,300 a Year, Report Estimates
How does that compare with the average family’s tax cut? You can now throw a possible trade war with Mexico into the mix.
@Greg: Its simple avoid products made in China the tarriffs are being used as tools. It may cost 2300 per familty but made up for it with full time jobs that give benefits returning. Manufacturing Jobs +304,000 thats jobs that pay much better than walmart greeter or fast food burger flipper.
Buy American. Tell China to cram their cheap see through clothes that after 1 wash look years old. Poison dog food, lead paint on kids toys F them!
Mexico and their filthy veggies that have to be washed 3 times once in vinegar and peroxide. Buy local, go to your farmers market buy in bulk and preserve plant a garden.
@Greg:
That’s OK! With the $2500 they saved with Obamacare, they’re still $200 ahead.
“Could” cost. As long as you’re guessing, why not make it $25,000? The bigger the lie… you know the drill. The fact is, since no one else wanted to address our trade issues, solving them will cause some pain. Just like immigration. Just like health care. Just like Iran. Just like everything else liberals have ruined.
Costs go up only if we continue using the Chinese goods. If we use US made goods, who wins? That’s right… WE do.
Liberals never have the guts to face tough problems, then they bitch when someone works on them. This is why we simply don’t need liberals; they are worthless.