September 24-26, 2017: Trump Wants to End Right to Protest (Against Him), Can Console Himself with Huge Tax Break

 

9/24/17: Trump insists kneeling NFL players are disrespecting veterans, the nation, the flag, and spitting on apple pie. 

He thinks they should be punished for exercising their right to protest, which is just what we’ve come to expect from President Thin Skin. On this Sunday, players from 28 of 32 NFL teams join in protest, not against veterans or the flag, but against a man in the White House they believe has racist inclinations. 

Rico Lavell, an African American, sings the National Anthem at the Detroit Lions game. When he finishes he takes a knee.

 

Both teams at the Seattle-Tennessee game remain in the locker room during playing of the National Anthem. Seahawks players release the following statement: 

As a team, we have decided we will not participate in the national anthem. We will not stand for the injustice that has plagued people of color in this country. Out of love for our country and in honor of the sacrifices made on our behalf [emphasis added], we unite to oppose those who would deny our most basic freedoms. We remain committed in continuing to work towards equality and justice for all.

___ 

 

9/25/17: Put away the “repeal and replace” champagne. Republican Senator Susan Collins says she’ll vote no on Graham-Cassidy too. 

The last-gasp GOP healthcare plan is dead.

___ 

 

9/26/17: Trump travels to Indiana to tout tax reform. He swears he has the biggest, baddest plan ever. He promises the rich won’t get richer. Not under his plan. 

Sadly, his “plan” is still only half-baked, like the “replace” part of the Republican healthcare plan. 

We do know the Koch brothers, Charles and David, are excited by the thought of fresh tax cuts for themselves. Why? Apparently, taxing the rich reduces their incentive to work! Each Koch brother is currently worth $42,000,000,000. So, you can understand why they have trouble getting motivated and climbing out of bed every Monday morning. What do they have to work for, with all those taxes? 

One exciting facet of the GOP plan: Eliminating the estate tax entirely, paid by any individual with assets of $5.5 million and up and any couple with assets of $11 million or more at his or her, or their decease. 

One estimate puts the cumulative savings for members of Trump’s cabinet at $1.5 billion if this tax is wiped from the books. As for Mr. Trump, the day he passes on to heavenly glory, his children would be well-repaid for their time working in government and gabbing with every Russian they meet. (And they meet a lot.) Depending on how much Trump is worth he might save as “little” as $554 million or as much as $1.9 billion if he can get the estate tax repealed.

October 26, 2017: Trump Blows Up the Federal Deficit - Like George W. Bush

 

10/26/17: Trump declares an opioid emergency for the nation. Okay, problem solved. It’s been declared. 

Are we going to spend more money to attack the problem? Nope. Time to get to work on tax cuts for billionaires! 

Republicans are busy voting, by a 216-212 margin in the House of Representatives, to speed “tax reform.” No one knows what the reform plan will look like, not even Speaker Ryan. But it’s going to be great! Most estimates seem to indicate it will add $1.5 trillion to the national debt. 

This is not as bad as the Bush tax cuts in 2001, which added several trillion to the deficit, but no one needed to worry then either. Those cuts were sure to goose the economy and pay for themselves. Only they didn’t. Budget deficits combined for Fiscal Years 2002-2009 totaled $3.548 trillion.

November 17, 2017: Have You Stashed Your Cash in the Isle of Man Today?

 

11/17/17: In a Quinnipiac poll 52 percent of Americans disapprove of the GOP tax cut plan. 

Only 25 percent approve. 

We must assume those are fat cats who have cash stashed in the Isle of Man and other tax havens round the globe. 

The Economist estimated in 2013 that the wealthiest people in the world had $20 trillion hidden in secret, untaxed offshore accounts.

Do you pay your taxes? The superrich often don't.

November 28, 2017: Big Tax Cuts Coming for Koch Brothers, Walton Siblings, and Trump Family Members

 

11/28/17:  The Trump tax reform plan is being fast-forwarded through Congress. But don’t worry. Everyone will love the final result. The Koch brothers, Charles and David, have donated $200 million to the GOP during the last two presidential elections. Now they’ll be repaid when Congress eliminates the estate tax. 

The three Walton siblings, Jim (worth $38.4 billion) Robson ($38.3 billion) and Alice (the near-do-well, with $38.2 billion) will no longer have to pinch pennies when they head to Olive Garden for the “Senior Special.” 

Secretary of Commerce Ross can finally make up for the losses he suffered selling his New York City apartment for $16.5 million and can move out of the dilapidated building where apartments went for as low as $2 million. Ross might be able to use his tax cut savings and repair the broken light over the front door of his 16,247-square-foot Palm Beach cottage, for which he paid $13.3 million in 2008. 

And he can finally put a fresh coat of paint on his digs in D.C., which cost another $12 million. 

Luckily, the fiscal suffering of the Trump clan will also be ended. Ivanka will enjoy a huge tax cut and be able to spend $3,000 with ease to buy giant clamshells to decorate her Thanksgiving table. The president will get a huge cut and he can buy Melania another $51,500 designer jacket to wear about town. Don Jr. will see his tax bill go down, which will leave him extra cash to spend on lawyers to protect himself from the Robert Mueller probe.

 

(BLOGGER’S NOTE: As we will learn later, these tax cuts let President Trump with more money to pay off porn stars.)

The jacket worth $51,500.

October 5, 2018: The Federal Deficit Balloons with Trump in the White House

 

10/5/18: Remember when Republicans promised they could cut taxes and the deficit would shrink? Before you could say, “Boy, Republicans really seem to have a soft spot for men who molest young women,” the deficit would disappear. Americans could live happily ever after – without affordable health care, true – but able to shout, “Merry Christmas,” willy-nilly. 

First, you had the Bush tax cuts. We know how those worked. During Fiscal Years 1998-2001, President Bill Clinton ran four consecutive surpluses and cut $559 billion from the national debt. 

(And, yes, he did have sex with that woman.)

 

Republicans took over in 2001 and jacked the deficit by putting two wars on the federal credit card and cutting taxes! Estimated cost of those wars since, according to the Wall Street Journal: $5.6 trillion. 

For Fiscal Year 2008 the federal deficit had increased to $459 billion, the worst year on record, topping another George W. Bush year, FY 2004: $413 billion. But FY 2009, when GOP policies were locked in place before President Obama sat down in the White House, was terrible. 

The economy tanked and the deficit ballooned to $1.4 trillion.

 

* 

YOU COULD tell yourself the GOP cared about fiscal responsibility during Obama’s time in office. The Tea Party crowd had a point, even if they weren’t strictly honest in how they ascribed blame. You can’t run massive deficits endlessly. The math doesn’t work. Three years of trillion-dollar deficits resulted, as the U.S. dug out of the Great Recession. By FY 2015, however, the deficit was a more manageable $438 billion. 

Soon congressmen began itching to spend more, especially on defense. The FY deficits rose again in 2016 and 2017. 

Then the Republicans took charge. They had the House. They had the Senate. They had the White House. 

They quickly cut taxes, especially for the wealthiest Americans, who already had billions. Republicans promised. The economy would boom! 

GOP policies didn’t work the way they said. The budget deficit for FY 2018 was: 

$782 billion!

 

According to the Congressional Budget Office, with the Trump tax cuts in place and the GOP charting the nation’s fiscal course, the estimated deficits are expected to be: 

FY 2019: $984.40 billion! 

FY 2020: $986.95 billion! 

FY 2021: $915.92 billion!

 

The deficits for FY’s 2022 through 2029 are now estimated to be around a trillion dollars annually.

 

*

DONALD J. TRUMP, a.k.a. “Mr. Immaturity,” claimed today (without evidence) that women protesting the nomination of Brad Kavanaugh to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court were paid by…George Soros. 

“The very rude elevator screamers are paid professionals only looking to make Senators look bad. Don’t fall for it! Also, look at all of the professionally made identical signs. Paid for by Soros and others. These are not signs made in the basement from love! #Troublemakers,” he tweeted. 

Trump tweeted that claim because: 

A)    He’s a giant asshole. 

B)     He’s an idiot. 

C)    And he doesn’t care about evidence.

 

Ana Maria Archila, one of two women who had confronted Sen. Jeff Flake earlier, “and a self-identified sexual assault survivor, said in a statement that Trump’s tweet followed a pattern of ‘discrediting individuals who dare to raise our voices and force elected officials to listen to our stories.’” 

“No one can pay for someone’s lived experiences,” she continued. “The pain, the trauma, and the rage that I expressed when I spoke with Senator Jeff Flake in an elevator were my own, and I held it for more than 30 years to protect the people I love from it.” 

Trump’s claim was similar to right-wingers’ claims in 2017, that women who marched in protest against him, and his alleged sexual misconduct, early in his presidency, were paid …by Soros …to do so. 

The president’s claims also echo claims that the students who survived the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and then organized nationwide protests against violence, were paid “crisis actors.” 

David Hogg graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

 

Don Jr. is a nitwit. 

Since we’re talking about nitwits and nitwit conspiracy theories, we should note that Donald Trump Jr. “liked” at least one tweet, which offered up the theory that David Hogg, 17, one of the leaders of the student protests was actually a 28-year-old actor. The idea that Hogg was not really a student was undercut quickly. Hogg was pictured, for example in a 2015 newspaper story, running in a cross-country race for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. For good measure, the superintendent of Broward County Public Schools, Robert Runcie, told the  Tampa Bay Times about Hogg and other students: “These are absolutely students at Stoneman Douglas. They’ve been there. I can verify that.”

August 22, 2019: Future Generations Will Inherit a Pile of Orange Poop

 

8/22/19: More bad news for Trump and his Tea Party troops. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the deficit for Fiscal Year 2020 will rise to $1.01 trillion dollars. Part of the problem is that tax revenues have fallen short of estimates in 2018 and 2019 by $430 billion. 

The Trump Tax Cuts have not paid for themselves.

 

___________________ 

“An unsustainable course, projected to rise even higher after 2029.” 

CBO Director Phillip Swagel

___________________

 

 

CBO Director Phillip Swagel warns that the United States could well be in trouble in the future. 

The nation’s fiscal outlook is challenging. Federal debt, which is already high by historical standards, is on an unsustainable course, projected to rise even higher after 2029 because of the aging of the population, growth in per capita spending on health care, and rising interest costs.

 

Good luck millennials, and future generations, whatever you are called. You are going to inherit a pile of orange poop.