Tax Cut Big Winners And The Republican Economic TRICKle Down Theories

Yesterday, the Republican Dominated Senate passed a 479  page tax cut bill with illegible handwritten scribble indicating changes, that were less than hours maybe even minutes old. In other words, a lot of republicans voted for this tax cut bill without even knowing the details of what's in it.

And at least one republican, Marco Rubio, has made it clear that in order to give tax cuts to the wealthy (and some larger sized small businesses too) they are going to have to cut things like Social Security, Medicare, and Obamacare. That is, 88% white Kentucky, always battling to be 4th or 5th poorest state in the nation --which sucks down tons of federal dollars for it's large poor population-- is going to find the well has run dry thanks to the man they voted for to the tune of 80%

For instance, America's "poorest white town" -- Beattyville, Kentucky -- voted overwhelmingly for Trump. Any cuts to the safety net would be felt acutely by its residents: 57% of households in Beattyville receive food stamps and 58% get disability payments from the government. 

"I am still happy with President Trump," says Barbara Puckett, who lives in Beattyville and has been on Social Security disability since the late 1990s because of sclerosis. But she says she would worry if the budget becomes law and she loses her benefits. 

The only appeal President Trump can have to a needy white person like this is his white supremacy angle. And judging by how they stood by him after Trump's white supremacist remarks on Charlottesville, that's likely what it is.

WHITE SUPREMACY AT LEVELS HIGH ENOUGH TO MAKE WHITE PEOPLE SLIT THEIR OWN THROATS

As I've said before, there's a contingent of white people in this country willing to cut their own financial throats for so long as they can say their white skin is superior.  And this hasn't changed since the days of slavery

How stupid and superior did you have to be prior to 1861 to live next to a farm with free labor and while you have to do everything yourself yet NOT KNOW you are not going to be able to compete? 

Stupid enough to think white skin color meant you were superior -- and that's all that matters.

A few slave owning white folks may have gone to war in 1861 to preserve slavery -- as leaders, hiding in the back during battles. But it was the white poor that did damn near all the dying during the Civil War.

And it's going to be the white poor that gets it in the neck again.  If I could figure out a way for the black and brown poor to not suffer with them, I'd sit here and watch them bleed out.

The republicans say the tax cuts are going to pay for themselves because, according to trickle down theory, the economy is going to grow as a result of the cuts and make up the deficit. 

The Trickle-Down Theory is the idea that giving tax breaks or economic benefits to businesses and the wealthy will benefit the lower classes. The name is credited to Will Rogers, who said "money was all appropriated for the top in hopes that it would trickle down to the needy" during the Great Depression. The Trickle-Down Theory is related to Reaganomics and laissez-faire in today's society.https://lsaushistory13.wikispaces.com/Trickle-Down+Theory

However tax cuts, which supposedly give corporations more money to expand their businesses and hire more people have had mixed results over the decades.

In the 1980s Under Reagan there was a growth surge. But that was immediately following a period of astronomically high interest rates and other things putting pressure on the business sector. Even then, the 20% tax give back only gave us an eight-percent-ish positive change in the economy between 1982 and 1984. 

https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/gop-tax-rate-cut-wealthy/

There's never a dollar for dollar return. The rich people who profit most off these tax cuts are pocketing that money as exactly that --- "profit."

These tax cuts for the wealthy mostly free money for the wealthy. And this is one of the factors in CEO's being paid hundreds of times more than their lowest-paid worker, and that gaps continued growth.

THIS GAP IS ABOUT TO GET BIGGER AGAIN THANKS TO REPUBLICAN TAX CUTS

Today's conditions are nothing like the 1980s.  And the tax cuts that came after Reagan did NOT grow the economy at nearly the amount (8%) that Reagan's did.

https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/gop-tax-rate-cut-wealthy/

And the tax cuts aren't likely to produce a lot of growth this time either because the conditions are not the same as the 1980s. The corporations are not in major pain looking for money to invest in their businesses. That's likely why corporations  announced they are going to keep that free money from tax cuts in house as profit so they can give it to their shareholders.

"Corporations have openly admitted they have no intention to use their savings from a tax cut to boost wages or create jobs. Yet Trump and Republicans in Congress to make bogus claims that their massive corporate giveaways would trickle down to American workers.

The nation's top executives are instead promising to buy back shares of their own stock in order to line the pockets of their shareholders.

stock buybacks

In a recent earnings call, Amgen CEO Robert Bradway told investors that the company would continue “actively returning capital in the form of growing dividend and buyback." Executives for Cisco, Pfizer, and Coca-Cola have also made similar promises.

The sole purpose of these tax cuts, which are now very close passing in the Senate, is to reward the wealthiest interests in the country, not help middle-class and working families. Trump and Republicans in Congress are willing even willing to cut Medicare and Medicaid to boost corporate buybacks and stockholder dividends. 

This abominable tax bill must be stopped." 

~Richard Reich, Facebook

Read More: 
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-29/trump-s-tax-promises-undercut-by-ceo-plans-to-reward-investors

The TRICK inside TRICKle Down Economics

Not much of that tax cut money is going to get down to us in the middle class, much less the poor.
As for me?

I'm thinking my marginal tax rate may be cut by a small percentage. The increase in my standard deduction is decreased dramatically by the removal of the personal deductions. And now I'm also going to have to pay taxes on taxes I paid out on other things like property etc. I may break even or get a little more money. 

If this change had taken place ten years ago, I'd be paying more money -- while corporations got a huge payday in the form of not paying their fair share of taxes.

Let's say I get a couple thousand dollars more per year as a result of Trump's tax plan. Cuts to programs for the poor is not worth my being able to put away an extra $1000 and maybe buy a few more dresses, go out to dinner a few more times per year.   

It's kinda funny that 81% of white evangelical Christians don't see it the same way. They see white racism as a major sin either, so I guess that's not so surprising.

White folks investment in white supremacy is the foundation of their support for this stupid-greedy rich white man and his cronies. And we're all going to pay for it if something doesn't derail this mess soon.