GOP TAX PLAN = GOP GOES AFTER SOCIAL SECURITY & MEDICARE

…What is happening today is not what the founding fathers meant with this document.

 

House & Senate tax plans are NOT good for the middle-class, but are GREAT for the wealthy & Corporations.

I find it totally absurd that very few people understand why all the conservatives were so strong in getting the ridiculous tax bill passed.  This bill has been shown that it will do none of the things that our lying Commander-in-Chief and the Republicans in Congress have said it will do.

 

 

It raises the nation’s debts by $1.4 trillion, it is NOT the largest tax cut ever, as the president claims, it is NOT good for the middle class and the poor, and it is GREAT for the wealthy and or corporations, and of course, all of those individuals and corporations that contribute their millions to the Republicans in Congress.

 

 

In addition, because the bill is so bad, the Republican leadership offered zero debates in either the House and no one had seen the 477 page "Sharpie mark-up" of the bill until less than 24 hours of the Senate vote.

 

So, why did such a stinker of a bill get approved in the Senate?

 

That’s the real question, and the answer is much more frightening than anyone wants to admit.  (For a final bill, the word has it that instead of a joint House / Senate committee to come up with a single bill, the House may just send the Senate Bill to the president to get it done before the Christmas break.)

 

All the non-partisan tax experts in the capital all agree that the nation’s fiscal growth will not pay for the bill as the Republicans say.  In fact, many are saying that with the new provisions in the bill, the nation’s deficit might get to levels well above the $1.4 trillion, (could be twice that amount!)

 

This is exactly what the Republicans are planning on so they can start what the House Speaker, Paul Ryan, has been wanting to do ever since he came to the House of Representatives.

 

With what is expected from this tax bill, Ryan and other Republicans say it will give them the opening to start cutting spending on welfare, and entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, and other parts of the social safety net.

 

The Republican House Speaker said recently that he wants Republicans to focus in 2018 on reducing spending on government programs.  In addition, last month, President Trump said welfare reform will “take place right after taxes, very soon, very shortly after taxes.”

 

With the large “Baby-Boomer” generation, now into or entering their retirement, the needs for increased spending in Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid is even more important.

 

As Republicans stress the need for spending cuts, they frequently cite a need to reduce the national deficit while growing the economy.  But Trump’s and the GOP’s idea that the economy will hit a continued 3% to 4% level is a pure fantasy.  The nation hasn’t hit that level on a regular basis since right after WWII.

 

On national TV, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said this week: “You [need to] bring spending under control. And not discretionary spending. That isn't the driver of our debt. The driver of our debt is the structure of Social Security and Medicare for future beneficiaries,” . 

 

 

Many Republican politicians were very upset with the senator for truthfully letting their “cat out of the bag”.  But this is the GOP's long-term plan. 

 

When the GOP’s plan starts to fail, which it will, they will say the deficit is growing too much and they will then have to go after Social security, Medicare and Medicaid.

 

As proof for this, while pushing for votes for the GOP tax bill, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT) attacked “liberal programs” for the poor and he said Congress needed to stop wasting Americans' money: “We're spending ourselves into bankruptcy,” Hatch said. “Now, let's just be honest about it: We're in trouble. This country is in deep debt. You don't help the poor by not solving the problems of debt, and you don't help the poor by continually pushing more and more liberal programs through.”

 

So, why not ask the corporations to pay their fair share?  Some companies such as General Electric paid zero Income Tax last year.

 

The GOP tax bill just passed in the Senate.  This will increase the federal deficit by that $1.4 trillion over the next decade.  This is according to Congress's official tax analysts and multiple other nonpartisan analysts. When the expected economic growth that the measure “might create” is included in this analysis, Congress's official tax scorekeeper predicted the bill would still add at least $1 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years.

 

During the presidential campaign, Trump vowed that there would be “no cuts” to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.  But that is just one of many lies that the president has made before and since taking office.

 

Those off-hand remarks from leading Republicans have told the liberals that the GOP will use these higher deficits caused by their tax bill. Their use will be the excuse to accomplish the long-held conservative policy objective of cutting government health-care and social-service spending.  Of course, the effects of all this will hit the poor and the elderly the hardest.

 

“What’s coming next is all too predictable: The deficit hawks will come flying back after this bill becomes law,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the ranking Democrat on the finance committee. “Republicans are already saying 'entitlement reform' and 'welfare reform' are next up on the docket. But nobody should be fooled because that’s just their code for attacks on Medicaid, on Medicare, on Social Security, and even on anti-hunger programs.”

 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) asked Rubio and Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-PA) to promise that the Republicans would not advance cuts to Medicare and Social Security after passing their tax bill. Toomey said that there was “no secret plan to do so”, while Rubio said he opposed cuts to either program for current beneficiaries. However, neither Toomey nor Rubio closed the door to changing today’s programs for future beneficiaries.

 

Let’s hope that the Democrats can make it difficult for Republicans to make those devastating changes before the 2018 midterm elections.  If the Dems can get their act together in the many swing states and districts where they are well-funded, Democratic challengers could possibly ride the current anti-Trump, anti-tax plan wave into office.

 

But today, this is still just a hope and a prayer.

 

Let’s all hope that the combination of Trump’s lies, tweet-storms and the realization of what the GOP’s tax plan will “really do”, makes its point for the 2018 mid-terms.

 

Now is the time for everyone against Trump and the GOP’s plans to go to the polls and vote for their own well-being.  And that’s the real truth.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017