We learned this week that the Republican Party is so concerned about religious rights that they'll compromise women's health and allow people who are supposedly committed to love and compassion to discriminate against fellow human beings who love differently than they do.
We also learned that the only suggestion they can come up with when scores of people are killed by altered weapons is to get rid of the alteration, thereby condemning the country to another mass shooting massacre, which I predict will happen sometime in the next 18 months. A bold prediction, no? Kind of like predicting the sunrise tomorrow.
And then of course there's the ongoing dismissal of African-American concerns regarding police actions, employment discrimination and voter suppression.
OK, you're right. We didn't really learn these things. We already knew them to be true, but having to actually live their reality is a reminder that the party truly does want to undo 60 years of progress for those people in society who have consistently felt the sting of discrimination and hate.
I certainly understand that the Republican Party favors the free market, lower taxes, less government and, shall we say, traditional morality, but under the present administration, those polices have become meaner and less fair than ever before. Add in the gerrymandering that keeps the GOP in power even in states where they are a minority only compounds the problem and the inequity. We can only hope that the Supreme Court rules favorably in the Wisconsin gerrymandering case it heard this past week. Courts have been good at preventing the administration from completely fouling the environment,
There's word that the president has reached out to Chuck Schumer about fixing the health care law, but that won't pass the House, so it looks like we're stuck with the stalling tactics that have made the health insurance market skittish and more expensive. The silver lining is that millions of people will not lose their insurance, but we're clearly not going in the right direction.
It's disheartening to know that this administration will not do the right thing when the opportunity presents itself.
For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest
Sunday, October 8, 2017
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Tax Cut Pizza Math: How Many Slices Will You Get?
Raise your hand if you thought the Trump tax plan would favor the middle class and the poor.
I see no hands.
Democrats in the House and Senate can fulminate all they want and the responsible media, and you know who they are, can put banner headlines about economic inequality on their sites and publications, but in the end, cutting taxes for the upper class will always be the GOP's number one priority.
What's different this time around is that the deficit hawks who haunted President Obama for his supposed wasteful spending that saved the auto industry and basically the entire economy are...silent. Actually, they've been defending the multi-trillion black hole that TrumpTax will blow in the deficit, with the otherworldly assumption that economic growth will pay for the tax cuts.
It will not. Yes, economic growth will likely rise in the first few months after the cuts are passed, but at some point the Federal Reserve, with or without Janet Yellin, will raise interest rates enough to cool off the resultant inflation. That will result in some more fulminating from the president who knows less about actual economics than he does about health insurance.
This assumes that the bill is passed as presented today, which also is not going to happen. There are too many moving parts and too many corporate interests that stand to lose for the law to stand. The home building industry is concerned about the mortgage interest deduction. People like me who live in states where state and local taxes are high will put pressure on legislators to put back the deduction for those taxes. The new proposed 25% tax rate for pass through entities could result in many people listing themselves as pass through entities, which would mean they'd pay a lower tax rate.
And, of course, there are other parts of the proposal (still only 9 pages long) that will come out soon that will benefit other groups. Tax bills run into the thousands of pages. I can't wait to see who gets the breaks and who gets the shaft.
The real impact, though, will mean the most when the bill is written and the true measure of what each group in this country will get out of it is measured in pizzas.
That's right, pizzas, as in, "the average person will see a $1,600 tax cut, which comes out to $31 per week, or about 2 pizzas." Right now, the average middle class worker will get about a $660 tax break per year which comes out to $12.70 per week, which is...one pizza. Are you ready to create a multi-trillion dollar addition to the deficit for your pizza? If we need to, we can pool our money together and add pepperoni. Or an anchovy. After the bill passes in its final form, I would not be surprised to see the middle class share fall from a whole pie to slices. And not fat Sicilian slices either.
No matter how you slice it, though, it ain't gonna to be much for the voters who thought Donald Trump was on their side or that the swamp would be drained. This bill is already fueling the lobbyists who are anticipating a windfall. And the president will still not show us his tax return, so any of his claims that tax reform will not help him are specious at best.
But this is par for the course for our golfing executive. You know: the one who's currently blaming Puerto Rico for its devastation.
For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest
I see no hands.
Democrats in the House and Senate can fulminate all they want and the responsible media, and you know who they are, can put banner headlines about economic inequality on their sites and publications, but in the end, cutting taxes for the upper class will always be the GOP's number one priority.
What's different this time around is that the deficit hawks who haunted President Obama for his supposed wasteful spending that saved the auto industry and basically the entire economy are...silent. Actually, they've been defending the multi-trillion black hole that TrumpTax will blow in the deficit, with the otherworldly assumption that economic growth will pay for the tax cuts.
It will not. Yes, economic growth will likely rise in the first few months after the cuts are passed, but at some point the Federal Reserve, with or without Janet Yellin, will raise interest rates enough to cool off the resultant inflation. That will result in some more fulminating from the president who knows less about actual economics than he does about health insurance.
This assumes that the bill is passed as presented today, which also is not going to happen. There are too many moving parts and too many corporate interests that stand to lose for the law to stand. The home building industry is concerned about the mortgage interest deduction. People like me who live in states where state and local taxes are high will put pressure on legislators to put back the deduction for those taxes. The new proposed 25% tax rate for pass through entities could result in many people listing themselves as pass through entities, which would mean they'd pay a lower tax rate.
And, of course, there are other parts of the proposal (still only 9 pages long) that will come out soon that will benefit other groups. Tax bills run into the thousands of pages. I can't wait to see who gets the breaks and who gets the shaft.
The real impact, though, will mean the most when the bill is written and the true measure of what each group in this country will get out of it is measured in pizzas.
That's right, pizzas, as in, "the average person will see a $1,600 tax cut, which comes out to $31 per week, or about 2 pizzas." Right now, the average middle class worker will get about a $660 tax break per year which comes out to $12.70 per week, which is...one pizza. Are you ready to create a multi-trillion dollar addition to the deficit for your pizza? If we need to, we can pool our money together and add pepperoni. Or an anchovy. After the bill passes in its final form, I would not be surprised to see the middle class share fall from a whole pie to slices. And not fat Sicilian slices either.
No matter how you slice it, though, it ain't gonna to be much for the voters who thought Donald Trump was on their side or that the swamp would be drained. This bill is already fueling the lobbyists who are anticipating a windfall. And the president will still not show us his tax return, so any of his claims that tax reform will not help him are specious at best.
But this is par for the course for our golfing executive. You know: the one who's currently blaming Puerto Rico for its devastation.
For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest
Sunday, September 24, 2017
The Dotard Wants War and Concussions
Take that, you John McCain you.
And NFL players who kneel for the national anthem? You need to speak the way we want you to speak. And hit harder, man! Be like Aaron Hernandez.
But what's happening with Stephen Curry you ask? We don't want your NBA Championship demeanor and terrific play and ambassador-like personality anywhere near the White House. You're not invited!
Kim Jong-un should not, in any way, feel singled out, but I certainly understand how hurt he must be that the old man in the White House is yelling at him for having a nuclear program and firing missiles into the air above our allies' heads. Rocket Man is a good song. He should see it as a compliment.
In other words, international diplomacy has been reduced to name calling and 6th grade playground theatrics. Remind me again; who thought it was a good idea to elect Donald Trump? Yes, I'm sure the base loves the muscular response, which they see as a refreshing change from those pantywaist presidents named Clinton, Bush and Obama. Threatening a scurrilous, dangerous, immoral dictator will get us what we want because, after all, we're the United States and all dictators cower when the president tells them he is unhappy.
Just look at Iran. They can certainly see that Donald Trump is going to decertify the nuclear agreement we signed with them two years ago. What the president doesn't see is that this is going to make him an unreliable deal-making partner with Iran, North Korea and any other country who might have an interest n United States' affairs and trade. The simple, elegant "No" will be this year's most diplomatic response, and one that will not make the White House happy. Not that the past 30 years of State Department public and private efforts have done much about North Korea. They've ignored agreements, broken them and generally thumbed their noses at us. But we could always say that we acted in an adult, dignified, internationally-approved manner while it was happening. In short, we were a role model for the democracies we represented. This administration has spent all of that political capital in nine months. Pregnancies should go better than this.
Just to show that a lack of diplomacy should not be limited to the world stage, the president has now picked a fight with Senator McCain for rightly opposing a disastrous bill that's not really related to health care, but to the tax savings it can generate for the $1.5 trillion dollar giveaway to the rich that the GOP has been salivating over since January.
Our federal system is a wonderful creation, but health insurance should not be subject to the whims of governors and state legislators who have, shall we say, a spotty record when it comes to science, women's health care, birth control, budget-balancing tricks and recognizing that religious belief will not cure all of our ills. All Americans should receive health care that takes into account their basic needs and doesn't allow anyone to charge them more for pre-existing conditions, maternity care, mental health or addiction services. What's worse is that this bill would penalize those states that expanded Medicaid to cover their most vulnerable citizens and give more money to those that shunned Obamacare.
Which means, in our contradictory world, that those states that despise federal involvement in their affairs will be the largest beneficiaries of...federal largess.
And really, some people, like the president, should just stay away from sports. Yes, the man plays golf. Oh, does he play golf! But in every other way, he misunderstands the professional sports culture in the same way that he misunderstands larger American culture. The athletes and teams that have decided not to visit the White House are doing so because of the president's words and actions, rather than as a result of some media cabal his supporters blame for his low poll numbers. Because, really, will professional football become a better game by having more players suffer concussions and brain damage and CTE?
As for the national anthem? Until 2009, NFL players used to stay in their locker rooms when the national anthem was played. You'd think the players had stood on the sidelines since 1814, when the song was written, but in fact that is not the case. You'd also think that they were the first athletes to cause controversy around the anthem, but that isn't true either, if you take Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith, John Carlos and a host of other athletes into account. The opposition to the president's words have come from players, coaches and NFL owners, many of whom are staunchly Republican. They get it. The president does not.
I understand that Trump is angry because it looks like the health scare law will lose, North Korea will not back down and his preferred candidate in the Alabama Republican Senate primary is behind in the polls. He's not the first president to face multiple crises.
But he's not helping himself or the country with his shameful responses.
For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest
And NFL players who kneel for the national anthem? You need to speak the way we want you to speak. And hit harder, man! Be like Aaron Hernandez.
But what's happening with Stephen Curry you ask? We don't want your NBA Championship demeanor and terrific play and ambassador-like personality anywhere near the White House. You're not invited!
Kim Jong-un should not, in any way, feel singled out, but I certainly understand how hurt he must be that the old man in the White House is yelling at him for having a nuclear program and firing missiles into the air above our allies' heads. Rocket Man is a good song. He should see it as a compliment.
In other words, international diplomacy has been reduced to name calling and 6th grade playground theatrics. Remind me again; who thought it was a good idea to elect Donald Trump? Yes, I'm sure the base loves the muscular response, which they see as a refreshing change from those pantywaist presidents named Clinton, Bush and Obama. Threatening a scurrilous, dangerous, immoral dictator will get us what we want because, after all, we're the United States and all dictators cower when the president tells them he is unhappy.
Just look at Iran. They can certainly see that Donald Trump is going to decertify the nuclear agreement we signed with them two years ago. What the president doesn't see is that this is going to make him an unreliable deal-making partner with Iran, North Korea and any other country who might have an interest n United States' affairs and trade. The simple, elegant "No" will be this year's most diplomatic response, and one that will not make the White House happy. Not that the past 30 years of State Department public and private efforts have done much about North Korea. They've ignored agreements, broken them and generally thumbed their noses at us. But we could always say that we acted in an adult, dignified, internationally-approved manner while it was happening. In short, we were a role model for the democracies we represented. This administration has spent all of that political capital in nine months. Pregnancies should go better than this.
Just to show that a lack of diplomacy should not be limited to the world stage, the president has now picked a fight with Senator McCain for rightly opposing a disastrous bill that's not really related to health care, but to the tax savings it can generate for the $1.5 trillion dollar giveaway to the rich that the GOP has been salivating over since January.
Our federal system is a wonderful creation, but health insurance should not be subject to the whims of governors and state legislators who have, shall we say, a spotty record when it comes to science, women's health care, birth control, budget-balancing tricks and recognizing that religious belief will not cure all of our ills. All Americans should receive health care that takes into account their basic needs and doesn't allow anyone to charge them more for pre-existing conditions, maternity care, mental health or addiction services. What's worse is that this bill would penalize those states that expanded Medicaid to cover their most vulnerable citizens and give more money to those that shunned Obamacare.
Which means, in our contradictory world, that those states that despise federal involvement in their affairs will be the largest beneficiaries of...federal largess.
And really, some people, like the president, should just stay away from sports. Yes, the man plays golf. Oh, does he play golf! But in every other way, he misunderstands the professional sports culture in the same way that he misunderstands larger American culture. The athletes and teams that have decided not to visit the White House are doing so because of the president's words and actions, rather than as a result of some media cabal his supporters blame for his low poll numbers. Because, really, will professional football become a better game by having more players suffer concussions and brain damage and CTE?
As for the national anthem? Until 2009, NFL players used to stay in their locker rooms when the national anthem was played. You'd think the players had stood on the sidelines since 1814, when the song was written, but in fact that is not the case. You'd also think that they were the first athletes to cause controversy around the anthem, but that isn't true either, if you take Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith, John Carlos and a host of other athletes into account. The opposition to the president's words have come from players, coaches and NFL owners, many of whom are staunchly Republican. They get it. The president does not.
I understand that Trump is angry because it looks like the health scare law will lose, North Korea will not back down and his preferred candidate in the Alabama Republican Senate primary is behind in the polls. He's not the first president to face multiple crises.
But he's not helping himself or the country with his shameful responses.
For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest
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