Top U.S. Senate Republican, White House, aim for tax bill by year-end

Trump will personally pocket hundreds of millions off of this latest GOP fraud. The repeal of the estate tax has been pushed by the Koch brothers for years as another way to evade billions in taxes. The repeal of the AMT also lines Trumps pockets tens of millions a year.

Hurry up and pass a tax cut for millionaires that is paid for by the middle class!

Now that is one heck of a rallying cry.

"We're just beginning the process of actually crafting the bills," McConnell said on CNN. "It's way too early to predict the various details."

Uh, "way too early" for such a major bill in normal times would be a year out, not a few weeks. Disaster approaching fast. Not even a unified philosophical exists.

"... all want to do tax cuts for - want to do trickle-down economics, big tax cuts for the wealthiest people in the country, and hope it trickles down," Brown said on CNN.

Pro-business policies don't work to increase wages through a non-existent "trickle-down" effect, but by boosting the incentives for investment, which in turn boosts the demand for new equipment and skilled labour to operate it.

Think in the Japan context - if you are one of those 70 year old ojichans in a shuttered-up shotengai, of course none of such benefits would "trickle-down" to you. 

The people who get the rewards are those who put their thinking caps on and try to better their lives by seizing upon the new opportunities that pro-growth policies present. Just doing what you have been doing an expecting someone to turn up and give you more cash is a fantasy.

And on the contrary, if there is less investment, there will be less new equipment and less demand for skilled labour. You'l get instead more concrete, more government debt, more scandals - more of stuff that we do not need. The jobs will be low-paying, unattractive ones, like what Japan is good at generating with its economic policies.

"We hit off $54 billion worth of discretionary cuts in our budget back in March. Only about 4 or 5 billion (dollars) have survived so far on the Hill," Mulvaney said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "We're not going to be able to cut our way to balance."

This is a big problem here in Japan too. Once the money is being spent, the politicians are too gutless to cut it. It's not so bad if you can grow your economy fast enough to be able to afford it, but low-growth places like Japan don't have this luxury.

Alas it'll take a national crisis before waste in Japanese government is addressed.

Drain the swamp!

"We're just beginning the process of actually crafting the bills," McConnell said on CNN.

Ah, McConnell says they are "crafting the bills" -- which makes it sound like smart, skilled, and reasonable people are doing good things.

In reality, of course, craven, illogical, and hyper-hypocritical Republicans are trying to weasel through legislation that they hope will fool their idiotic base, provide lots of dollars to their donors, and run the deficit up to a degree for which they would have absolutely crucified Obama.

The problem, as I see it, is we are in an era of excessive corporate greed, driven by activist investors and executives that live and die by short term profits. The mantra is profits over all and holding down wages increases short term profits.

The result, as we have seen the past few decades, is a shrinking middle class that cannot afford the products they produce. They are the real drivers of our economy but they do not have the wages to provide that drive. Until we break this cycle of greed and give workers better wages, our economy will suffer.

Never happen! The Republicans are STILL the do-nothing party. They cannot put a single bill on the President's desk.

CrazyJoe, 

the problem I find in your theory is that if the US economy is so terrible because consumers can't afford to buy products, where are those profits that are driving the US stock market to record highs coming from? To the extent it is possible to hold down wages, yes that would help the bottom line, but unless you have revenues (e.g. from sales) you are going to lose money after subtracting labour and other costs - not make it. 

So shouldn't profits be sinking, if people can't afford to buy stuff?

mukashiyokatta,

The Republicans are STILL the do-nothing party. They cannot put a single bill on the President's desk.

As a foreigner it is fascinating to me watching the diverse range of opinions in the Repulican party, and the lack of overall policy cohesion. In other western democracies, parties tend to toe-the-party-line, and even the US Democrats seem to act in unison relative to the Republicans.

But one thing I have heard about Republicans is that God put them on earth to cut taxes, so if they can coalesce around anything, it might be this tax cut plan. 

Personally I think that much will do good for the US economy (and thus the global economy, so I hope to see it), but they could certainly use better leadership in terms of putting together a broader policy platform. If you assume that they do actually end up cutting taxes, then what are they going to be any good for?

Trump will personally pocket hundreds of millions off of this latest GOP fraud.

How?

The repeal of the estate tax has been pushed by the Koch brothers for years as another way to evade billions in taxes.

Damn those rich elite libs!

The repeal of the AMT also lines Trumps pockets tens of millions a year.

He’s got more than enough money to spend, Zuckenberg has more money, what about him?

Hurry up and pass a tax cut for millionaires that is paid for by the middle class! 

Now that is one heck of a rallying cry.

And what’s the Democrat solution? Income redistribution? That worked so well, Chicago and South Central LA are feeling the Obama love.

The result, as we have seen the past few decades, is a shrinking middle class that cannot afford the products they produce.

Maybe the left should have stopped punishing wealth and success.

They are the real drivers of our economy but they do not have the wages to provide that drive. Until we break this cycle of greed and give workers better wages, our economy will suffer.

8 years and nothing in the private sector. Trump gets in office nines months later, the Dow and Stock market are hemorrhaging money. 3.1%. Confidence is once again restored in the market. If Dems just would get out of the way of business and let the markets dictate it will take care of itself, if we continue on this path and Democrats continue on with their income redistribution hunt, this country will be a giant financial mess.

So shouldn't profits be sinking, if people can't afford to buy stuff?

All else being equal, that would be true. Google "savings as percentage of disposable income 1950-present" to find out where the purchasing power is coming from. That's not the fault of corporations; it is a cultural shift in utility values away from delayed towards instant gratification.

...if they can coalesce around anything, it might be this tax cut plan. 

And which plan would that be? The majority of GOPers are like kids in a candy shop, gleefully stuffing their baskets with sweets and only slightly aware that mom and dad have the final say - but that mom and dad have very different priorities. They're gonna sort this out at the register, which won't be pretty - and there's a strong chance that they'll all go home with nothing.

So... For something close to 16 of the last 22 years the Republican party has had control of Congress... The branch of the USA government that decides how and when money is spent. An enormous amount of dead has been created during this time with the express approval of the Republican party, either in catering to Democratic or Republican presidents or at their own instigation. Similarly, any attempt at the redistribution of wealth, including tax breaks, corporate bail-outs, and give-aways to the poor, for the last 16-or-so of the last 22 years has been executed by the Rebublican congress. The Democratic party, which could not pick a winner in a one horse race, likes to tax and spend with great ineptitude while the Republican party, as evidences by their track record over the last 22 years, likes to spend and create debt. And, somehow, people conflate a growing stock market with the USA's government's money and believe that having corporations pay less taxes will lower the deficit. But, for most of the last 22 years the Republican congress has done such a bang-up job of cutting deficits and reining in spending (an exclusive power of theirs) no matter who has been president, surely the apathetic masses and Trump sycophants should be trusted... No, I think not.