Marco Rubio destroys his own tax plan argument, and other recent crazy news

Marco Rubio destroys his own tax plan argument, and other recent crazy news

So there is much to say about the tax plan currently be pushed by Republicans in congress, I am not an economic expert so I won’t say much.  My main concern, is that once taxes are cut, the Republicans will once again become concerned with the deficit and try to make major cuts to Medicare and other social programs.

But there is one thing I heard last night that sums up my main issues with this tax plan.  CNN hosted a very lively debate with members of congress about the tax plan.  Marco Rubio, Bernie Sanders, and others were going at it in front of a live audience who were asking the questions.  It was a great listen.

At one point a gentleman stood up to ask a question.  He pointed out that the tax cuts were targeted to provide major tax cuts to the wealthy and to corporations.  (in fact the tax cuts for the middle class are temporary, while corporate tax cuts are permanent - this of course is smoke and mirrors to make the impact on the deficit seem like less than it likely will be, for we can guess that in ten years, congress will not let the tax cuts expire.)  He pointed out that unemployment is at an all time low, the stock market at an all time high, and corporations are making record profits.  He agreed that a massive tax cut is a mighty weapon to spur the economy but asked why, when the economy is booming, would we use such a weapon, adding to the deficit and making it more difficult to pay for education, first responders, the military, etc.  

Marco Rubio spoke up and said something I agree with.  He said that the idea of a booming economy is interesting.  He said the people who have greatly benefited under Obama’s economic expansion in the past 10 years are the wealthiest people in the country.  He said billionaires have done really well under Obama, while the middle class is getting squeezed.  (interestingly people in poverty are not even talked about in these discussions)

What I can’t believe about this is that none of the people he was debating called him on this.  The entire argument that he and the Republicans were making about why this tax cut is going to help the middle class, is that it was going to cut taxes for the wealthy people and the corporations, and that they are the ones who will invest and cause economic growth.  They argued all night that if we give corporations and billionaires more money, that they will hire more people and increase their wages!  

So my follow up questions to Rubio would have been simple.  If in the past 10 years, billionaires have been doing so well (according to him) and if corporate profits are at an all time high, then why haven’t they been increasing wage?  Why hasn’t the wealth trickled down????  And if it hasn’t, why would more tax cuts, for the people already doing so well, make a difference?

The tone of the debate was a bit bothersome, even though interesting.  It did highlight how polarized congress is and how unwilling the Republicans are to compromise.  The entire time, the Republicans argued that they were the party trying to help the middle class.  Rubio kept saying things like “Bernie wants to take all your money” and that the Democrats were the enemies of the working class.  Health care came up since the Senate has attached a repeal of the Obamacare mandate to the tax plan and of course the Republicans blamed all of the problems with health care in this country on Obamacare.  With such exaggerations and untruths, it is no wonder compromise seems so difficult for these people.  

As I sit here in the doctor’s office writing this, I just read an article in Vanity Faire about the USDA and how people who work there are shocked by how incredibly unqualified Trump’s appointees are to the department.  This is a vital department in charge of agriculture, food safety, food stamps, etc.  Ironically this is having a negative effect on the very rural voters who put Trump in office.  The article made the point that what we really should be worried about these days, is what is happening to our government where the spotlights are not shining.  This is the same story at the EPA, the State Department, etc.  Since Reagan famously said the government is the problem, not the solution, Republicans have made sure this was a self fulfilling prophesy, and Trump is taking the destruction of our government to a new level.  

I digress, but this does lead to one other point from this week’s news that is very illustrative of our current administration.  The head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Richard Cordray, resigned and appointed his Chief of Staff, Leandra English, to run the agency.  Instead Trump appointed Mick Mulvaney to run the Bureau.  The CFPB was created by Obama and the democrats after the 2008 Great Recession in order to protect people from predatory lending practices and other financial scams.  It has since forced banks like Wells Fargo to pay millions of dollars to consumers who suffered from their illegal practices (like opening bank accounts in customers names without their permission or knowledge).  To me, this is what our government should do - protect people.  Holding Wall Street accountable is also good for our government, as it cost us 800 billion in tax-payer dollars to bail these banks out when their shady mortgage deals went belly up.  

Trump’s pick to run the agency, Mulvaney, has called the CFPB a sick joke and while in Congress, he voted to kill the agency.  He is also one of Trump’s architects of his push to deregulate.  Trump is consistent in his appointments.  It seems like the only qualification he looks for is someone who hates the agency the person is being appointed to.  Of course, of most concern to me are his appointments of climate deniers and enemies of renewable energy to positions in charge of energy and environmental policy.  For instance his most recent appointment this month to the highest environmental post in the White House - Kathleen White - has called carbon dioxide “the gas of life”, has called solar power ‘parasitic’, and suggested creating a ‘blue ribbon commission’ to re-litigate climate science, and develop an “alternative scientific methodology” to the IPCC.  This from a woman who has no science background - she has degrees in religion and humanities and is a cattle rancher and dog breeder.  

And back to Rubio’s admission that corporate profits and the super rich have been doing swimmingly under Obama, this once again contradicts Trump’s argument that regulation is hurting economic growth.  Trump said he wants to drain the swamp, stand up to Wall Street, and is not beholden to special interests because he has his own money.  During the debate yesterday, a guy actually said he voted for Trump because he wants to help the middle class and he asked the Democrats why they won’t work with Trump to help the middle class.  Getting rid of regulations that protect people and the environment; appointing people like Mulvaney to run (or ruin) the CFPB; filling his cabinet with Wall Street Bankers, oil company executives, pharmaceutical company execs, etc; these actions are not designed to help the middle class, they are designed to help rich people get richer.  As Kenny Ausubel said at this year’s Bioneers conference, “Trump is not draining the swamp, he is swamping the drain”.

Just look at Trump’s own actions as a business man.  This shows where his priorities lie, and it ain’t with the middle class.  Turns out just this week court documents were unsealed that reveal a settlement where Trump paid out $1 million to settle a lawsuit which was a result of him hiring undocumented laborers to demolish a building by working 12 hour shifts without safety equipment such as masks, hard hats, and gloves for which he paid as little as $4/hour.  And he rails against undocumented workers.  I guess he knows he needs to build the wall so he can’t have cheap labor to hire.  

P.S.  So I gotta just add one postscript before I publish this post.  Every day there is news to talk about, so I gotta publish and move on, but this is impossible not to comment on.

 Yesterday Trump retweeted racist videos, posted by a fringe, far right hate group from Britain.  These videos (at least one of which was fake) were said to show Muslims committing acts of violence.  This is a(nother) new low for our bigot-n-chief!  Most frightening is the fact that Trump actually spends time watching fringe right wing media and thinks it is so valuable that he retweets it, amplifying the racist messages.  What a horrible man we have in charge of this country.  It makes me sick!  And Sarah Huckabee-Sanders says it doesn’t matter of the videos are real, ‘the threat is real!’  Never mind fake news, we have a fake president.