Fri August 31, 2018 12:09 pm
Fri August 31, 2018 1:47 pm
elliseamos wrote:Democrats in 2020: Refill The Swamp!
jk, it'll be something stupid embroidered on oversized blue hats.
Fri August 31, 2018 2:55 pm
BurtReynolds wrote:the next stock market crash is scheduled for early next year, so his popularity will drop then probably.
Fri August 31, 2018 2:56 pm
96583UP wrote:when americans are all eating shit again because this irresponsible tax cut some democrat can come back in and clean it all up
Fri August 31, 2018 3:18 pm
Fri August 31, 2018 3:18 pm
4/5 wrote:96583UP wrote:when americans are all eating shit again because this irresponsible tax cut some democrat can come back in and clean it all up
I agree that this tax cut was irresponsible, but what evidence is there that it is harming Americans more than irresponsible Democratic budgets?
Fri August 31, 2018 3:21 pm
bune wrote:
And how is my day going?
So you can afford that sweet tax break for the rich but screw the COLA increases for people who actually work. Nice.
Fri August 31, 2018 3:24 pm
Fri August 31, 2018 3:33 pm
meatwad wrote:4/5 wrote:96583UP wrote:when americans are all eating shit again because this irresponsible tax cut some democrat can come back in and clean it all up
I agree that this tax cut was irresponsible, but what evidence is there that it is harming Americans more than irresponsible Democratic budgets?
It created a massive deficit under the guise that the economic engine would be running so strongly that it would "pay for itself." Obviously that's a big, long-term promise, but in the meantime while the masses are waiting to see if that does indeed happen in our lifetimes, corporations and the ultrawealthy get a lion's share of the short-term benefits.
I'm no economist but it seems that the real problem in this country is the lack of wage growth. That needs to start happening soon or something is going to break. We've been living off of dollar menus, dollar stores, Walmart, etc., which has in turn fueled low wages because people feel like they can have "a lot" even though it's all low-end garbage that they'll have to replace in a year or two, or food that's slowly killing them.
Fri August 31, 2018 3:46 pm
4/5 wrote:meatwad wrote:4/5 wrote:96583UP wrote:when americans are all eating shit again because this irresponsible tax cut some democrat can come back in and clean it all up
I agree that this tax cut was irresponsible, but what evidence is there that it is harming Americans more than irresponsible Democratic budgets?
It created a massive deficit under the guise that the economic engine would be running so strongly that it would "pay for itself." Obviously that's a big, long-term promise, but in the meantime while the masses are waiting to see if that does indeed happen in our lifetimes, corporations and the ultrawealthy get a lion's share of the short-term benefits.
I'm no economist but it seems that the real problem in this country is the lack of wage growth. That needs to start happening soon or something is going to break. We've been living off of dollar menus, dollar stores, Walmart, etc., which has in turn fueled low wages because people feel like they can have "a lot" even though it's all low-end garbage that they'll have to replace in a year or two, or food that's slowly killing them.
Agreed about the massive deficit, but it's not as if we didn't have similarly massive deficits in the previous decade. And of course, the magical math they used to say the tax cut would pay for itself is pure fantasy. I don't disagree with any of that. And when taxes are cut, the wealthy get the largest share of the breaks since they pay the lion's share of the taxes.
My question is regarding the claim that these tax cuts are hurting/are going to actively harm Americans.
Fri August 31, 2018 4:09 pm
4/5 wrote:My question is regarding the claim that these tax cuts are hurting/are going to actively harm Americans.
Fri August 31, 2018 4:44 pm
Fri August 31, 2018 5:13 pm
meatwad wrote:I'm no economist but it seems that the real problem in this country is the lack of wage growth. That needs to start happening soon or something is going to break. We've been living off of dollar menus, dollar stores, Walmart, etc., which has in turn fueled low wages because people feel like they can have "a lot" even though it's all low-end garbage that they'll have to replace in a year or two, or food that's slowly killing them.
meatwad wrote:If you don't think that growing the gap between rich and poor and squeezing out the middle class for the benefit of corporations who don't trickle some of that down to workers isn't actively harming them, I don't know what else to say.
Fri August 31, 2018 5:16 pm
Strat wrote:Well, perhaps an immediate impact is the major tax cuts have now apparently left no money to increase wages for his federal workers.
Fri August 31, 2018 5:29 pm
Fri August 31, 2018 5:44 pm
4/5 wrote:According to a Brookings Institute paper, by 2020 50% of the world's population will be middle class. It states that as of December 2016 3.2 billion people were already part of the middle class.
That is incredible.
I know it's somewhat off topic since we're talking about American middle class, but I think it's another great reminder that the biggest beneficiaries of market economies have far and away been the poor. It's much sexier to write headlines about wealth gaps and the alleged concentration of wealth, but sometimes it's good to remember that we are living in a time of unparalleled prosperity in human history.
Fri August 31, 2018 5:46 pm
96583UP wrote:immediate term: no money for infrastructure spending or any public-benefit spending really This should be true, but unfortunately Congress has shown it is perfectly willing to spend a Trillion dollars more than it collects in revenue this year. So this is a matter of spending priorities, not a result of the tax cut.
medium term:
federal government will be insolvent in a few years This isn't any different than Bush and Obama era policies. It's a major problem, but it's not as if this tax cut created the problem. Just another in a long line of policies leading to the same eventual outcome. A massive infrastructure project or public benefit spending in place of the tax cuts would have done the same thing.
won’t be able to raise taxes I don't really follow this one. I might be misunderstanding what you mean, though.
which means will have to cut more from federal budget It should mean that. We'll see if it means that after all.
average americans need federal government spending and programs more than the 1%ers Federal spending has increased this year, though.
when it is belt tightening time again, ratchet will widen the rich poor gap even further This is possibly true. I have no doubt Republicans would like to start limiting TANF and SNAP and Medicaid.
they just raided the treasury. the stimulus to the economy is mostly a one-shot. I agree that there was no justification for the tax cut from a stimulus/expansionary policy standpoint.
Democrats have managed spending and earning gap more responsibly Idk. As far as spending goes, this depends on an individual's values, so I don't think this is right or wrong necessarily.
US govt is basically following the formula that trump’s businesses followed: load ‘em up with debt, abscond with funds, leave the shell in tatters for someone else to clean up Totally agree. Unfortunately, this is just another in a long line of policies that do that very same thing. Some of them are conservative policies, like ramped up military spending and war-making, others are liberal, like old-age security and income supports.
Fri August 31, 2018 5:57 pm
Fri August 31, 2018 6:05 pm
Fri August 31, 2018 6:20 pm
--- wrote:4/5 wrote:According to a Brookings Institute paper, by 2020 50% of the world's population will be middle class. It states that as of December 2016 3.2 billion people were already part of the middle class.
That is incredible.
I know it's somewhat off topic since we're talking about American middle class, but I think it's another great reminder that the biggest beneficiaries of market economies have far and away been the poor. It's much sexier to write headlines about wealth gaps and the alleged concentration of wealth, but sometimes it's good to remember that we are living in a time of unparalleled prosperity in human history.
The constituency of capitalism has always been the poor. "It's a race to the bottom!" say the Bernie Sanders of the world, completely incapable of understanding that that is precisely capitalism's virtue.