At D.C. Report, David Cay Johnston writes—The Laugh’s On Us: How The Trump-Radical Republican Tax Cut Broke The Economy:
Donald Trump’s tax cut for the rich and the corporations they control is turning out to be a bust for the American economy.
It will, however, burden taxpayers with at least $1.5 trillion more federal debt because, instead of boosting tax revenues through increased economic activity as promised, it has caused a sharp drop in revenue.
In addition, millions of residents of blue states are about to get hit with big federal income tax increases while many American expatriates who own businesses overseas are also facing unexpected new tax bills, especially if they prudently saved for their old age under the systems of the countries where they now reside.
A host of economic indicators show that the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act failed to achieve its key promise, a major increase in investments by business that would create more jobs. This is exactly the result that many, including those of us at DCReport, predicted.
We call the 2017 tax law the Trump-Radical Republican tax law because not one Democrat voted for the bill in the House or Senate. It was also passed without a single public hearing. It is a terrible law that benefits the richest among us at the expense of the many—and needs to be fixed.
The Trump-Radical Republican tax law not only cut the corporate tax rate from 35% of profits to 21%. It also allowed corporations to immediately deduct 100% of capital expenditures instead of writing them off on their tax returns over periods from three years to decades.
This kind of corporate tax timing trick has been employed several times since the John F. Kennedy administration in 1962. The effect each time was to create a brief surge in corporate investment, called capital expenditures, followed by a slump. [...]
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QUOTATION
“Historical movements,” the historian Mary Jo Buhle rightly notes, “are rarely judged solely in the light they cast themselves.” In that sense it is a decidedly risky business to try to draw too many hard and fast conclusions about the present moment in history. Even so, I think the Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz was as accurate as anyone is likely to be when he pronounced our age—and our government—to be one “of the one percent, by the one percent, for the one percent.”
~~Eric Alterman (2011)
TWEET OF THE DAY
BLAST FROM THE PAST
On this date at Daily Kos in 2011—O’Keefe copycat who targeted Planned Parenthood faceplants out of the gate:
So another weirdo wingnut James O'Keefe wannabe has released a hoax video targeting "the left." This one was created by an anti-choice activist named Lila Rose and it targets Planned Parenthood. Rose, who collaborated with O'Keefe in the past, aimed to produce a carbon copy of his ACORN/pimp hoax videos, this time substituting ACORN with Planned Parenthood and O'Keefe's pimp outfit with actors and actresses claiming to be part of an underage prostitution ring.
Rose is just now releasing the videos in which she claims that Planned Parenthood conspired to cover up the prostitution ring. She only leaves out one detail: Planned Parenthood officials, who instantly realized they were probably being punked, nonetheless went to federal authorities on the off-chance that Rose's actors weren't part of another O'Keefe style hoax.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: US withdraws from INF treaty. Will spurned allies even want US missiles? DOJ IG to review the Acosta-Epstein case? Seattle : Schultz :: NYC : Trump. FBI once again sees anti-KKK protesters as the bad guys. Energy Dept. ignores court, ships plutonium to NV.