Have you heard about...? (Politics edition)

[Hicks]

Well fuck, I hope everyone's happy now.

[Buffalo Budd]

pretty sure you have kids, dude.   :wink:

I tried my best but I didn't make those babies  :wink:

[mbw]

pretty sure you have kids, dude.   :wink:

I tried my best but I didn't make those babies  :wink:

Keep at it.   :-D

[sunrisevt]

The irony (and hypocrisy) is that the GOP and the right wing were talking about government over-reach and loss of freedom during the Obama era. Now we have a fucking wannabe dictator and the GOP, Fox news, and the right are letting him get away with it.

And the Democrats and the Paul Krugman's of the world used to say "deficits don't matter" but are now super concerned about the deficit implications of the tax bill. Complete and utter bullshit knows no party.

Super bummed about Bears Ears dudes. Fix that shit.

Back to the dark ages of December 27, 2016 I'm afraid.

Jimbo, you've lost me...

"Deficits don't matter."

https://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2009/11/the-emptiness-of-karl-rove/193628/

[sls.stormyrider]

^^
Exactly
Until this admin, Rove was  the master of hypocrisy
Compared to the present, he was not much more than a lightweight

[runawayjimbo]

Huh. Woulda look at that.

@CNBCnow
JUST IN: AT&T announces it will "pay a special $1,000 bonus to more than 200,000 AT&T U.S. employees" due to tax reform passage and will also increase US capital spending by $1 billion.

[sls.stormyrider]

that is awesome
I hope more companies follow suit
I would love to be proven wrong on this

I am afraid that I won't be

http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/19/investing/tax-plan-jobs-trump-ceo-yale-survey/index.html

Will companies spend tax savings to create jobs?
by Matt Egan   @MattEganCNN
December 19, 2017: 1:59 PM ET   
Watch: Times Trump denied the tax plan would help him
CEOs may like the idea of a big tax cut for businesses, but that doesn't mean they'll use the savings to create American jobs.
Just 14% of CEOs surveyed by Yale University said their companies plan to make large, immediate capital investments in the United States if the tax overhaul passes. Capital investments, like building plants and upgrading equipment, can lead to hiring.

Only a slim majority of the CEOs, 55%, said the Republican tax package should be signed into law. The Yale CEO Summit surveyed 110 prominent business leaders of Fortune 500 and Fortune 50 companies last week.

The findings, along with other surveys, suggest that the tax plan may not have the dramatic impact on jobs that President Trump and Republicans in Congress have promised.

Trump tweeted over the weekend that "TAX CUTS" will lead to "higher growth, higher wages, and more JOBS!" The GOP tax overhaul would slash the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and offer incentives for companies to bring foreign profits back home.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, who leads the Yale CEO Summit, said in an interview that it's "astounding" how few companies plan to reinvest their tax savings.

He called the idea of a jobs boom from the tax plan "a lot of smoke and mirrors," especially because the unemployment rate is just 4.1% and companies already have plenty of cash to make investments.

Sonnenfeld declined to name the CEOs who participated in the poll. He said it included "Trump supporters" and former members of the president's now-defunct advisory councils of business leaders.

Related: Why Wells Fargo could be one of tax plan's big winners

There are other signs that tax cuts may not spark a hiring boom. Just 43% of CEOs polled in November by the Business Roundtable, a powerful business lobby that has spent millions on ads championing tax reform, said they plan to ramp up hiring over the next six months. That was despite rising confidence that the Republican tax plan would be enacted.

And at The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council in November, only a few business leaders raised their hands when they were asked whether the tax plan would lead them to increase investment in the United States. Gary Cohn, Trump's top economic adviser, was surprised.

"Why aren't the other hands up?" he asked from on stage.

Wall Street expects companies will use a big chunk of the tax savings to reward shareholders with fatter dividends and stock buybacks, which makes stocks more attractive. That's one reason stocks have surged all year, putting the Dow in sight of 25,000.

"Markets just love it," Michael Block, chief market strategist at Rhino Trading Partners, wrote in a note on Tuesday.

He said it's "malarkey" to think that cutting corporate taxes will boost spending and wages.

"As we've seen in history, this doesn't raise wages," he wrote. "What it does lead to is richer shareholders."

In 2004, when Congress offered tax breaks for companies to bring foreign profits back home, businesses used much of their cash on share buybacks.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities later concluded that the 2004 tax holiday "did not produce the promised economic benefits" because companies mostly bought back stock instead of investing to grow their businesses.

Related: How much you will pay under GOP tax plan depends on a lot

Trump tweeted on Tuesday that "stocks and the economy have a long way to go after the Tax Cut Bill is totally understood and appreciated." Specifically, he said "immediate expensing will have a big impact."

Trump was referring to an element of the legislation that would allow businesses to immediately and fully expense most new capital investments. The provision, which would end after five years, should encourage companies to shell out money on new plants and equipment.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who chairs the Business Roundtable, recently predicted that tax reform will "lead to capital expenditures, productivity and wages," though he cautioned it may take time for workers to benefit.

One concern among the CEOs polled by Yale: the price of the GOP tax overhaul. The Joint Committee on Taxation, a nonpartisan scorekeeper for tax bills, estimates the legislation would add about $1 trillion to deficits even after accounting for projected additional economic growth.

Seventy-two percent of CEOs said it's "wrong" for the tax package to sizably add to America's mountain of debt.

[runawayjimbo]

that is awesome
I hope more companies follow suit

Ask and you shall receive, Doc!!

@Boeing
#Boeing announces $300M employee-related and charitable investment as a result of #TaxReform legislation to support our heroes, our homes and our future.

Now, could these announcements be elaborate ruses to curry favor with the administration (AT&T trying to buy it's Time Warner merger)? Sure, maybe. Does it matter when people have more of their own money in their pockets? Not a goddamned lick.

[Buffalo Budd]

I can only hope that in the long run, this will only hurt him at midterms as they will point to him lining his pockets with tax cuts to his companies.

And holy shit, this guy - https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/trump-threatens-cut-aid-jerusalem-vote-171220173323324.html

[runawayjimbo]

I can only hope that in the long run, this will only hurt him at midterms as they will point to him lining his pockets with tax cuts to his companies.

What about when 80% of people who are actually getting a tax cut in 2018 start seeing less money being withheld every week? (source)




Also, the hits keep on coming, sls. And the more companies that go along with this "gimmick," the more pressure there will be on their competitors to follow suit. So. Much. Winning.

@CNBCnow
JUST IN: Fifth Third Bancorp announces plan "to raise its minimum hourly wage for all employees to $15, and distribute a one-time bonus of $1,000 for more than 13,500 employees" following passage of tax bill.

@CNBCnow
JUST IN: Wells Fargo hikes its hourly pay rate to $15 & will aim for $400M in philanthropic donations next year due to the newly-passed GOP tax bill.

[mbw]

I guess back in the dark ages of yesterday companies like Wells Fargo couldn't afford $15/hr when their revenue was only 88 billion.

[ytowndan]

When it comes to the 2018 midterms, the passage of this bill doesn't worry me at all.  Whatever current gratitude there is among the working and middle classes for the dismal and temporary tax cut they're gonna (maybe) get will, by that time, pale in comparison to the mass anger over Ryan's plan to go after so-called "entitlements."  As the midterms approach, and people are fretting over the uncertain future of their SS and Medicare, they won't be thinking of much else. 

[sls.stormyrider]

like I said Jimbo, I'm happy to be wrong on this.

The political questions though are, like ytowndan said, what will happen when the GOP goes after Medicare? They have already said they can't afford CHIPS.

and, this is old news by now, but where is George Carlin when you need him?

The CDC has been prohibited from using 7 words in documentation for next year's budget
"vulnerable," "entitlement," "diversity," "transgender," "fetus," "evidence-based" and "science-based."

The centers of disease control can't use "evidence base" and "science base". What should they use?
Really, it sounds like Stalin

[VDB]

I can only hope that in the long run, this will only hurt him at midterms as they will point to him lining his pockets with tax cuts to his companies.

I assume you're talking about the pass-through provision? I saw a bit of coverage trying to pin that onto Corker as well. That was an obvious reach, if you ask me. The fact is lots of businesses, including wee little ones, are organized as LLCs and other pass-through entities. A whole lotta people will benefit from that cut (why should big, evil C Corps get all the tax breaks?), so I found the reporting on it to be either laughably naive or needlessly conspiratorial.

eta: Or both.

[runawayjimbo]

When it comes to the 2018 midterms, the passage of this bill doesn't worry me at all.  Whatever current gratitude there is among the working and middle classes for the dismal and temporary tax cut they're gonna (maybe) get will, by that time, pale in comparison to the mass anger over Ryan's plan to go after so-called "entitlements."  As the midterms approach, and people are fretting over the uncertain future of their SS and Medicare, they won't be thinking of much else.

While I don't think the GOP will seriously attack any significant entitlement reform in a midt4erm year, I do agree with the general premise that the Dems will see a massive pickup in 2018. But I think that is a natural cycle in politics where the party out of power (especially from all 3 branches) is much more engaged. It's completely analogous to 2010 in my mind. If I had to guess now, I think Dems take back the House, but GOP retains Senate. Which is great; divided government FTMFW!

and, this is old news by now, but where is George Carlin when you need him?

The CDC has been prohibited from using 7 words in documentation for next year's budget
"vulnerable," "entitlement," "diversity," "transgender," "fetus," "evidence-based" and "science-based."

The centers of disease control can't use "evidence base" and "science base". What should they use?
Really, it sounds like Stalin

Fake news alert:  the *suggestions* were meant to placate GOP legislators to secure funding.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/cdc-director-says-there-are-no-banned-words-at-the-agency

But in follow-up reporting, The New York Times cited "a few" CDC officials who suggested the move was not meant as an outright ban, but rather, a technique to help secure Republican approval of the 2019 budget by eliminating certain words and phrases.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, said the reported decree on banned words was a misrepresentation.

"The assertion that H.H.S. has 'banned words' is a complete mischaracterization of discussions regarding the budget formulation process," Matt Lloyd, an agency spokesman, said in a statement. "H.H.S. will continue to use the best scientific evidence available to improve the health of all Americans. H.H.S. also strongly encourages the use of outcome and evidence data in program evaluations and budget decisions."