It looks very bad for millions of brave Americans. That seems to be all we know at this point in time.
What about this $4,000 gift to Americans? You trust our government to follow through, right? Nope, most don’t anymore; there’s a learning curve we’ve invested a year to.
“Amazingly, that $4,000 figure was not drawn from estimates of what average Americans might save on their tax bill, but rather was based on an unsubstantiated assumption that corporate America will be floating in so much extra cash from passage of the bill that some of its immense wealth will trickle down to Americans in the form of wage increases,” Truthdig’s Sonali Kolhatkar writes.
Trickle-down economics is a tall tale that somehow gets another chance to fail each time another Republican moves into the White House. Why doesn’t it work? The wealthy who get the tax cuts simply decide they don’t want to play the game once they have the money.
Insanely wealthy individuals and their mega-corporations should clearly be feeling the love from the GOP 2018 tax bill. They will be well taken care of; the government has their backs. And, in return, those politicians will keep getting their donations from them.
Have you realized yet that these very plans against the people had been in progress for decades, being polished and adored? I ran across the following name in my research; thought I’d share it.
Lewis Powell, soon to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Richard Nixon in 1972, “drafted a confidential memorandum for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that described a strategy for the corporate takeover of the dominant public institutions of American society,” Common Dreams’ Charlie Cray writes.
The Chamber decided it was time to make a change from a passive business group into a powerful political force capable of taking on what Powell described as a major ongoing “Attack on the American Free Enterprise System,” as the memo was so titled.
Corporations had been getting publicly called out for pollution they created. Emerging from this time: Earth Day, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Guess who the biggest rabble-rouser fighting General Motors was at that time? You probably remember it was political activist extraordinaire Ralph Nader, author of the book “Unsafe at any Speed” about GM.
The Chamber kept Powell’s memorandum as a secretive blueprint, yet it still became well known and well used. Following along with the memo guidelines, corporations put up hundreds of millions of dollars for hiring business-loving political candidates to fight liberals and the media. Lobbyists began to advocate for removal of regulations, tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, the slashing of social programs and so on.
“Bankrupt corporate capitalism is on its way to bankrupting the socialism that is trying to save it,” Nader wrote. “That is the end stage. If they no longer have socialism to save them, then we are into feudalism. We are into private police, gated communities …”
Today’s president and his grinning, head-bobbing GOP conduct attack after attack on Americans who are overwhelmed by daily threats to our stability as a nation, to our own health, to our very own survival. This has been a hell of a year for us insignificant Americans.
Our government is attempting to give the wealthy and their corporations massive tax breaks. Our president and his family will make hundreds of millions from this process. So will the incredibly selfish directors of D.C., the Koch brothers and others.
Let’s try to find a square foot of sanity here.
“President Trump took to Fox News to brag about his so-called tax reform plan, which he said will include the ‘biggest tax cuts ever in the history of this country.’ Maybe for millionaires, billionaires, and corporations, but working families? They’ll potentially pay even more in taxes if President Trump and Republicans get their way,” Sen. Patty Murray writes.
Gov. Jay Inslee emailed, “The president and Congress should be expected to act in good faith to better the lives of the American people. But we know we can’t count on that — not from this president. So the American people, all of us, must step up. Our health and our financial security are at stake. So let’s get to work.”
Groups like Indivisible and others are working against this lethal tax budget. Meet the resistance: #NotOnePenny, Americans for Tax Fairness, North Kitsap Indivisible, Public Citizen, Resisterhood.
Meanwhile, keep calling Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, 202-224-3441; Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, 202-224-2621; U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, 202-225-5916. It does help.
— Marylin Olds is an opinion columnist who resides in Kingston. Contact her with questions or comments at marylin.olds@gmail.com.
