This just in: I was in Miami Beach last weekend. As I walked along a harbor, I was able to marvel at the super yachts lining the piers. These are boats that can easily cost tens of millions of dollars.
The thought crossed my mind, “I wonder how many of these yacht owners took their multi-million dollar tax cut and turned it into jobs?”
The answer is zero, of course.
People and companies don’t hire people unless they need to. They also don’t give pay raises unless they need to.
In other words, the tax break for the rich did nothing to increase wages or create jobs. This is Economics 101. If you don’t agree with this, then you lack education. This is not “a matter of opinion.” It’s a simple fact.
So, where did that tax break money go to? Well, individuals bought yachts or nicer houses or new dresses. Corporations bought back stock which served to enrich shareholders. If you don’t own stock, then you missed out on this as well.
The latest Congressional Budget Office analysis of the Republican Tax Bill is that it is going to bankrupt our country. It is increasing our national debt by $1-$2 trillion a year…forever going forward.
Meanwhile…90% of American see no benefit. None….
Eventually we will have to make some choices. Let me list a few here…
- We can spend money on education. We can pay teachers living wages. We can buy textbooks and computers. OR…we can let the very rich continue to buy yachts.
- We can maintain our roads and bridges. We can invest in high speed transportation that brings labor into cities that are too crowded and too expensive to live in. OR…we can continue to elect Republicans which are funded by groups like the Koch Brothers who are now making an additional $1 billion a year thanks to the tax break.
- We can create a healthcare system that is the envy of the world. Or…we can allow income inequality to continue to grow so that for every $1 our country earns, $.99 go to the top 50 richest Americans…so they can buy more yachts.
- We can provide for Social Security so that our elderly don’t spend the last few years of their lives in poverty or as burdens to their children OR we can continue to believe the line that “Big Government is Bad” and thus continue to elect people that will govern to the needs of the rich.
These are the kinds of choices we face. They are not new choices. They have always been there.
The right choice seems clear in every case. The only roadblock is the Populist Agenda. This is where someone with no educational background to support their assertion will tell you, “Vote for me and I’ll give you the best healthcare in the world and it will cost you nothing,” or “Vote for me and I’ll give you the biggest tax break in history and our economy will blossom with high paying jobs.”
Populism is basically promising people whatever they want to hear knowing that a large percentage will vote for you “just in case you really do know how to turn lead into gold.”
Populists are gullible and therein lies the problem.
Time for me to save the world.
Up, up and away…
Jim
