- Republicans pushed a nearly $1.5 trillion tax bill through the Senate early Saturday after a burst of eleventh-hour horse trading, as a party starved all year for a major legislative triumph took a giant step toward giving President Donald Trump one of his top priorities by Christmas.
"Big bills are rarely popular. You remember how unpopular 'Obamacare' was when it passed?" Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in an interview, shrugging off polls showing scant public enthusiasm for the measure. He said the legislation would prove to be "just what the country needs to get growing again."
One of the investment deplorables I follow suggested back in January that political cycles tend to be proportional and that, rather than celebrate in an unbridled fashion over the coming guilded age, it was time to begin planning profit strategies under socialism. The Republicans in office are not acting as if they have any accountability. This is noteworthy behavior from a professional class that must win a popularity contest in order to keep their jobs until you realize that the funding from that popularity contest comes from corporate donors. I think every single one of them is looking over their shoulder for Robespierre. I think they've seen heavy casualties on both sides of their civil war and I think most of them recognize that this is their curtain call. This is their swan song. This is their final chance to make good to the guys that have been paying their bills all along so they can get those phatty board positions, consultancy gigs and in-house positions. My wife is upset. She's concerned about all the children that are going to lose healthcare. It sucks about the kids but I also know their parents wouldn't piss on me if I were on fire. I'm going to be fine - my family is going to be fine. I know a lot of people who are going to be fucked but that's not new. Their fuckitude is accelerating no doubt but without water the forest will burn anyway. That the wind picks up just means it burns faster. Robespierre is coming, and that right soon. The real question is who will survive the Reign of Terror and how we'll do it. The Republicans have their answer: stock the larders for winter and find a new seat while the music is still playing. Their constituency, on the other hand, hasn't even figured out the game yet.
The thing about this bill is that it's not going to last 10 years. Democrats will repeal it as soon as it's their turn. Hopefully they horror of it will be obvious enough that they can sell it as "reform" and get a few Republicans to sign on. If not it will be a see-saw for years. This bill brings with it such enormous uncertainty that if I were a financial planner, I'd warn my clients against doing too much long term planning with assumptions that this bill is going to around forever. If nothing else, Democrats are going to put back SALT and either reinstate the inheritance tax or at least cancel the step up basis loophole. I've never wanted to see the Democrats follow Mitch McConnell's lead on pure obstruction, but what choice do they have? Good luck to McConnell getting any Democrat votes on their next economic terrorism (government shutdown) bill. The president is melting down, the GOP may lose a seat in Alabama, and the tax bill's approval rating is like 20%. There's no reason to play nice right now.
The tax bill sucks, although I think personally I’ll end up ahead by a couple hundred dollars. I do wonder what the democratic version of the tax bill will look like. I have a feeling I’ll be paying a whole lot more in 3 years as a consequence of this Republican approach. The democrats are going to vote for more service but probably also more corporate giveaways and odds are it’s coming out of my tax bracket. 1% ers will remain untouched of course
While the Republicon tax farce did pass the Senate, it is not law, and far from being implemented. The Senate is supposed to be the defenders of the Constitution. The House is supposed to represent the People. So there is a Senate tax proposal, which is utter lunacy and has nothing to do with reality, because they are not beholden to people. And then there is the House of Representatives tax proposal, which has led to all of the ruckus we have seen recently at legislator's Town Hall meetings. These guys are responsible for their constituency, who are also their neighbors, and accost them at the grocery store, and while mowing the lawn. The next step is for the Senate and the House to get together and try to find common ground between the two - very different - proposals. This is why stupid shit like reframing what "abortion" is, has made it into the Senate's bill: They know it will be removed during negotiation, but they get to say they were "hard on abortion rights" by pasting it into an addendum in the tax bill. It's mostly theater, right now. Once the two different proposals are merged into one, we will have a much better idea of what specific parts we need to fight, and who we need to pester to get them eliminated, or voted against.
Unless Paul Ryan, America's chief budget hawk, decided to just send the Senate Bill to the floor. It doesn't need conference in that case. Probably unlikely but so many things that were 'probably unlikely' have happened recently that I'm not making hard predictions.
This is what happens when people live in a bubble and subsume themselves to some larger organization (in this case, a political party). You just kind of start taking on that organization's goals, and you have to spend so much time ignoring your own critical thinking about the whole thing that you forget what you're really doing or why.
...do I still get my student loan interest deduction for this year? :/