I keep hearing from Republicans that the tax cuts for middle and lower-income people will not expire. The reason is the Congress won’t let them expire because they will be so popular.[1] I just have one question.
Why Aren’t Tax Cuts on the Rich so Great They Would Be Renewed?
If the tax cuts on capital gains are going to create so many jobs the people will love them. If the tax cuts on huge estates are going to trickle down to the poor people, then people will love them. So there should be no problem making them temporary given that they will be so popular.
In fact, the way things should go is that they should make the tax cuts for the lower classes permanent because we know they will be popular. But we don’t know that the other tax cuts will work and be popular. So it would make more sense to make them temporary. Then after 8-years we can see if the people really do love them.
Tax Cuts for the Rich Aren’t and Won’t Be Popular
We won’t do that of course. That’s because the tax cuts are only there to give money to the rich. The tax cuts to the middle and lower classes are only put in there to take pressure off the fact that the Republicans one purpose of the tax cut — Ever! — were giving huge amounts of money away to the rich.
So what is clear is that the Republicans are simply conning the American people. They know that the capital gains tax will be unpopular because it is unpopular now.[2] They know the estate tax cut will be unpopular because it is unpopular now. They are only popular among two groups of people those who get the tax cuts and those voting for them.
The Media Used to Like Getting the Evil-Doers
The rich will be given money that they don’t need and the poor will be deprived of programs that they do need. Children will starve. This is the America we live in. Forget the American Dream, which died decades again. Now America itself has died.
What I find remarkable is that the news is not talking about this all the time. It would seem an obvious thing. The people want to hear about it when their government is conning them. Or at least the media use to like to tell the people that. That’s what made 60 Minutes the first news show to make a profit.
But now for some reason, they are afraid to tell the truth. They are afraid to anger the people with information that will make them angry. Why is that? Aren’t they still trying to sell papers and get people to watch them?
Why the Media Doesn’t Care That America Is Being Ripped Off
I have come up with a reason for why this is. The people who own the media companies are all rich and will make a huge amount of money from this tax bill. And all the reporters are in the top 20% so while they may not make as much money they’ll do very well with this tax cut bill. So why kill a good thing? Who cares about the prols? Certainly not the Republican Party and the “journalists” who cover them.
Cynicism Has Set In
But it hardly matters because everyone has just gotten to the point where they know the game is rigged against them. The rich will be given money that they don’t need and the poor will be deprived of programs that they do need. Children will starve. This is the America we live in. Forget the American Dream, which died decades again. Now America itself has died.
It’s very sad. But it’s also the sign of an Empire that is dying. So we won’t have to put up with it for very much longer.
The super-power is dead; long live the new super-power.[3]
[1] In general, people of smaller incomes don’t notice tax cuts. A big part is that they are paid by the hour and so their paychecks change every week. When Obama gave a bigger tax cut than this one to the middle class in 2009, half a year later, over 50 percent didn’t think their taxes had changed at all, and more people thought their taxes had gone up than thought they had gone done.
A big reason for this was because the Obama administration didn’t make a big deal out of the tax cuts. They wanted people not to notice them so that they would just spend more and help restart the economy. The Republicans, of course, will be screaming about how much money they have given to the middle class. Still, I don’t think it will work. Because we just aren’t talking about that much money. They may notice them, but they’ve already been primed to respond, “Yeah, but these are temporary, and you only gave them to us so you could help out your rich friends.
Generally, people don’t notice tax cuts and they don’t reward politicians who give them out.
[2] For the record, I’m all for reducing the capital gains tax. But it has to go along with the elimination of loopholes. The way it works now is that the super-big corporations don’t pay the going rate — often they pay nothing at all. It is the small the medium-sized businesses that pay it. So sure: cut the capital gains rate down to 28 percent. But then make sure that Walmart is paying 28 percent every year. Instead, the publicans lowered the capital gains rate far too much and they introduced new loopholes — the worst possible thing tht could be done.
[3] Actually, America died the moment it became a super-power. And if not, it definitely did once it became the only super-power. November 9, 1989 — a day that will live in infamy.
This is how they work. It’s always how they work. No Republicans give a flying shit about the future, and too few Democrats do. It’s all about future board memberships for these careerist jerks.
I was listening to the local liberal radio station today (it’s a fucking treasure and helps keep me slightly sane). They’re in the process of interviewing, once daily, each different Democratic candidate for next year’s gubernatorial primary.
Today it was Chris Coleman, the empty-suit dipshit current mayor of Saint Paul. He was asked a tough question on farm policy, had no idea how to answer, and said “when farmers are on their combines, they know how much yield they get per bushel.”
It was a total Morty answer! Mr. Mayor, you can’t just string random agricultural words together!
And word has it, he’s a lock for the local Democratic Party’s official endorsement. Par for the course; these spineless twerps always back one of their own.
The good thing is that the parties don’t have the power they once did. Or at least it is good for the Democratic Party. It doesn’t much matter for the Republicans. Trump ran as a populist and then became a standard, far-right Republican once in office. But this may be because he knows if he doesn’t do their bidding, they will throw him out. If the Democrats had control of the Senate, he’d already be gone.
It’s a ratchet. Deficits only matter when Democrats are in office. It’s the two Santa Claus theory.
Right. Although I will admit that there is a little bit of that with Democrats. There are some at the federal government who start talking deficits when Republicans are in office. But I would say that’s something like 10% for Democrats and 99% for Republicans. Plus, their news outlets (Fox News, hate radio) do it 100%. I really don’t know how these people live with themselves.
A big part of the difference is the proliferation of media outlets. When there three networks and each had support staff, Walter Cronkite didn’t have to worry that the President could cut off his access. Politicians had only a few methods to plead their case.
Now MSNBC spends most of its time going after the administration, but doesn’t get much access. Fox gets plenty of access because it’s completely behind the Republican party. Two years ago, this was reversed. And dozens of other outlets stand ready to fill the void if either gets uppity ideas about integrity.
I largely agree with that.
But the main thing is that now most people know how they will vote before the campaign starts. I cannot imagine myself voting for anyone who won a Republican primary. The worst the Democrats could do is nominate someone I simply wouldn’t vote for. I tend to think that I wouldn’t vote for Andrew Cuomo if he won the Democratic primary in 2020. But it’s hard to say because anyone the Republicans would nominate would be so much worse, that I would have no choice. But if the Republicans nominated the very best person they have and Democrats nominated Cuomo, they mightn’t be any reason to vote.
I agree, but a big part of the reason I already know how I will vote in 2020 is that there’s no available source of information that could change my mind. MSNBC never has a story I don’t expect (though the details constantly change) and Fox never has a story that makes sense to me. It’s a Nash equilibrium; any journalist who behaved differently would be punished for doing so, and the same is true for any politician.