"You made a Bear!!! Undo it! Undo it!" - response to tax plan passage

[shadowkat]

1. What is in the Senate's Massive Tax Bill -- aka the Tax Bill From Hell that a nonpartisan joint committee on taxation projected would add $1tn to the federal deficit over the next 10 years – even after factoring in the economic growth the bill is projected to generate. On Friday, the independent Tax Policy Center released similar findings, predicting that the Senate bill would add $1.2tn to the federal deficit over the next decade after accounting for increased economic growth.

The driving force of the Senate GOP tax bill, dubbed the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” is to cut taxes on businesses. Lawmakers on the right and left agree that the United States' 35 percent top tax rate on corporations is too high and not competitive with the rest of the world. The Senate bill would lower that rate to 20 percent, the biggest reduction ever for corporations. The big business cut would be permanent, while the rate reductions for real people are set to expire after 2025.

The Tax Cut and Jobs Act is more than a tax bill. It makes sweeping changes to health care that are expected to lead to 13 million Americans dropping insurance, and it opens up more land to oil drilling in Alaska. It also alters the treatment of state and local taxes, which could affect local government budgets for schools and roads.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was able to get 51 votes in favor of the bill. The final version was distributed to senators around 7pm on Friday (you can read all 479 pages here), leaving little time for analysis and debate before the vote just before 2am Saturday. No Democrats voted for the bill.

If you are struggling to figure out what the heck this means for you -- go to the LINK .

On the surface? If you don't have a million dollars, aren't making over $240,000 a year, don't own an expensive home with lots of property taxes, don't live in a state that doesn't have income taxes, don't own a business or a corporation...you are sort of screwed. Which is basically 99% of the US population. Alrighty then.

So, according to what I've read to date, the government threw the middle class and the environment under the bus to help the whiny millionaires and big business. This does not bode well. If people were pissed off before...just wait.

Everyone on my social media sites is pissed off. And terrified. One person is advocating not paying taxes next year as a form of resistance. (Which doesn't quite work if they are automatically taken out of your paycheck. Also it is a federal crime punishable by imprisonment and hard to expunge from one's record.)

I'm trying not to rant. It's not healthy for me.

But right now, Sweden is looking rather appealing. New Zealand is too close to North Korea to be comfortable.

Also why is it that all through 2017, I keep finding myself quoting Spike from Buffy's Pangs? "You made a BEAR?!!? Undo it! Undo it!"

My new nickname for the GOP is Greedy Old Pricks. I think it fits. Unless they find a way of redeeming themselves and proving they aren't greedy pricks. Don't see that happening any time in my lifetime. If anything they've gotten greedier. In fact, I'm thinking of adding Greedy Old Souless Pricks...but that that just doesn't have the same ring to it.

2. Disney is going overboard in promoting Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Every time I turn around there's another trailer. Stop it, Disney. I don't want to see too much of the movie spoilt in trailers.

Interviewer to Mark Hamill: When you started these films did you ever think they'd be this popular?
Hamill: Did I think they might become popular? Yes. So popular that they'd end up following me into middle age? No.

LOL. I have a feeling Shatner and Nimoy felt pretty much the same way about Star Trek.

3. Got my hair done. It's darker now. Went with a dark burgundy brown, as opposed to the lighter reddish brown. Mainly because my natural color is darker and when the roots came it, it was a bit glaringly obvious.

The colorist was good, but a bit rushed, and rough on my scalp. So I didn't give her as big a tip. Instead I gave the tip to the hair stylist who was sweet and very helpful. Usually it's the opposite.

4. Eh, off to watch television. Should work on my book. But don't want to. Did see This is Us which...was good. The show can get rather maudlin in places, but overall is rather enjoyable and a nice comfort show.

Comments

[mefisto]

Everybody's right to be pissed, but they won't notice anything next year. The new rules don't apply until April 2019 when you pay your taxes for 2018. That way they avoid having the 2018 election take place with everybody angry. Or at least that's the idea.

[shadowkat]

Ugh. With any luck, people will be angry enough for it to matter for the 2018 election. But after 2016, my confidence in the American voters intelligence is not high.

I really want the four horsemen kicked out. McConnell, Ryan, Pence and Trump.
But I have a feeling that ain't happening any time soon. This is going to play out like Watergate did, achingly slow.

[mefisto]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Mueller is proceeding much faster than Watergate did. OTOH, the Rs today are much more corrupt. Trump is likely to precipitate a crisis and I'm not sure the Rs will desert him as they did Nixon. I think it will be a close call. In the meantime, I grit my teeth a lot.

[shadowkat]

My co-worker, who used to work in the prosecutor's office going after similar types of crimes, informs me that Mueller is methodically building a case. And he thinks Trump has made a lot of enemies, and doesn't have the votes -- similar to Nixon. Also, regardless of whether Trump gets impeached, he won't be able to protect his kids.

Co-worker (aka Lando) is interesting for two reasons: 1) he's an African-American male who predicted as early as August 2015 that Trump would be elected. (He was driving me crazy with this prediction. To the point that I wasn't shocked when it happened.), 2) he worked as a prosecutor -- regarding white collar crimes in the Conneticut and NY State, and told me some interesting tales. He's also been on the defense side. But he said, when you build a case you start at the bottom, build your way up, and cut deals with the smaller fish -- such as Flynn and Manaforte (whatever his name is), and that's how you catch Trump. His speculation is that the corruption goes much further than we know, and the government is being really careful what they reveal. He thinks that they hacked into the polls and fixed the results. (I'm skeptical, but, considering he's been right about everything else...)

He also told me that what was happening now with both the police brutality and metoo# sexual violations had a lot to do with accessibility of information. This stuff always existed, but now, a bright light was being shone on it and people were reacting. I think the difference is people who had been turning a blind eye to all of this -- aren't now. They've woken up and realized there are consequences to being complacent, that their complacency may actually hurt them and their kids -- which is inspiring a lot of people to action.

I'm watching and seeing people do things who before just joked in the background.
So, I think we need to watch it play out and see where it goes.It's going to get worse before it gets better, unfortunately. Because a lot of this goes back a long way, and is deeply embedded in our society. It isn't going to change over night.

[mefisto]

Lando sounds like he has it basically right on Mueller.I think he's optimistic about Trump's lack of support. That may be true, but so far the Congressional Rs have done everything they can to cover for him and nothing at all to challenge him. I'm skeptical about any hacking of the polls.

And yeah, we're experiencing the really bad parts of some very long-standing issues. Racism especially, but more sexism than I thought existed until I saw how Hillary got treated last year. And it's gotten worse now -- the Rs have gone really deep down the rabbit hole. It's only the cynic in me that insists that no matter how low they go, there's always a deeper level.

BTW, loved your caption for the post. One of my favorite episodes and probably my favorite scene in it.

[shadowkat]

Racism especially, but more sexism than I thought existed until I saw how Hillary got treated last year. And it's gotten worse now -- the Rs have gone really deep down the rabbit hole. It's only the cynic in me that insists that no matter how low they go, there's always a deeper level.

I agree. I think Trump getting elected and the way Hillary was treated woke up some people, who previously had been shrugging it off as well, just locker room talk or boys will be boys. I think what surprised a lot of Hillary supporters was the deep-seated misogyny and sexism in women as well as men.

And yes, I think it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. We've just scratched the surface.

That may be true, but so far the Congressional Rs have done everything they can to cover for him and nothing at all to challenge him.

Next year's elections may or may not change things. Not sure. It also depends on what Mueller unearths and how deep the corruption goes. If it goes the way Watergate did, and Mueller discovers more people, people outside of Trump but within the GOP were involved...then that may be another story.

I don't think this is going to be quick.

Also, with the metoo# movement...it may only be a matter of time before Trump and the other GOP politicos find themselves up on similar charges. Unfortunately they aren't as easily fired.

I do know of various Republicans who have recanted their support for Trump. The Greedy Old Pricks never will of course.

[mefisto]

The problem is that R voters don't seem to care about #metoo. Dem voters do. That means we have an intolerable situation in which Dems have to resign if they do X, while Rs don't even if they do worse than X. We can't afford that kind of disparity. It's especially a problem with the Senate because lots of D Senators serve states with R governors. If we force a D Senator to step down, we create an even more hostile environment.

In the meantime, the biggest sexual harasser of them all remains in the Oval Office.

Do you know where I can order a guillotine for Xmas?

[shadowkat]

The problem is that R voters don't seem to care about #metoo. Dem voters do. That means we have an intolerable situation in which Dems have to resign if they do X, while Rs don't even if they do worse than X.

Not completely true. If it's Bill Clinton or Al Franken, they care. If it's Donald Trump or Moore they don't. Apparently the word Republican is now synonymous with hypocrite and possibly greed. Look up hypocrite in the dictionary after a few years and we'll probably see Republican sitting next to it. ;-)

That's my problem right now -- I'm having difficulty seeing anything redemptive, kind, honest, or good in that party.

But, I know a lot of Republicans and they are good people, I'm just wondering if they should be permitted to vote? Because every time they do -- they make a Bear.
And not the nice kind.

Do you know where I can order a guillotine for Xmas?

Eh feels a bit extreme and permanent. I just want them to be tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on the rail a la Mark Twain.

[mefisto]

Softie.

There are good people who out of ignorance or tradition or whatever vote R. There are no good R officeholders or activists.

[shadowkat]

Oh no not that soft...I do admittedly have rage-induced fantasies of decimating the current regime. But honestly, what good has that ever done? The French Revolution ended with Napleaon, and The Bolshevic Revolution ended with Stalin.

Lando was interesting -- he told me he felt compassion for the 45th. (More than the 45th would ever feel for him, an African American male). The guy is surrounded by people who hate him. Still hasn't filled 85% of the posts. Is beset by various on-going investigations. And took on a job he thought was easy, and isn't anywhere near what he thought it was, doesn't understand it, and is in over his head but can't admit it. Also...he thinks the 45th is ill. (Lando didn't say mentally ill or unstable, but it was implied.)

He's a better person than me, I'm struggling to feel compassion. Although I think I'm angrier at the nitwits who supported and elected him than I am at him. But that too doesn't get me anywhere. Despising the other side, doesn't help.

There are good people who out of ignorance or tradition or whatever vote R. There are no good R officeholders or activists.

True. Although I have a feeling they feel the same way about us. Which is the problem. We hate each other. This may well be the most divided our country has been since the early 1970s.

[petzipellepingo]

My new nickname for the GOP is Greedy Old Pricks

"snorts"