There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.
~George W. Bush, September 17, 2002
That’s our W! Perhaps the single biggest beneficiary of the Trump era. It only goes to prove rehabilitation is relative. For decades to come, sliced bread–as in “the best thing since” — will have a new counterpart in Donald J. Trump — as in “the worst thing since.”
We all know what W was trying to say. Learn from the past. And when it comes to giving people something to learn from, the Bush years were a master class. Today, let’s just focus on the economy. Thanks to sound economic policies including tax INCREASES, jointly crafted by a Democratic administration and a Republican Congress, George Bush entered the White House after three years of surplus revenues and a reduction in the national debt of more than $425 billion.
But despite the historical evidence from the Ronald Reagan, David Stockman and Arthur Laffer era that supply side and trickle down policies were in fact “voodoo economics (per George H. W. Bush),” the “Po’ Thang Clan” of W advisors thought it deserved another shot. And to make sure it got off to a roaring start, Bush proposed and Congress passed the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. (Remember the $800 check and the money the Treasury wasted on postage to tell you that check was in the mail.) But that was just the beginning of this unpaid-for-federal-free-for-all. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which scores the fiscal impact of all bills estimated the legislation would add $1.5 trillion to the national debt over ten years. (Keep that number in mind. It will miraculously reappear later in this post.”
So how did that turn out? Sure, we had a major terrorist attack which was a drain on the national economy, but an analysis by CBO in 2011 resulted in the following graph. While the cost of two unfunded wars do regularly contribute to the annual deficit, it pales in comparison to the impact of the Bush tax cuts and the economic recession resulting from that and other Bush era policies. As the old saying goes (or should), “A picture speaks a thousand billion dollars.”
On November 2, 2017, the GOP-led House introduced The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. There are many things to dislike about the proposal including how the liar-in-chief claims he will lose money under the revised tax code even though the bill contains the following three provisions which, based on what little we know about Trump’s finances, will save him and his progeny over a TRILLION dollars in taxes.
- Elimination of the Alternative Minimum Tax.
- Retention of the carry forward provision.
- Elimination of the estate tax. (Maybe the younger Trumps consider this reparations for having been saddled with a narcissistic, dishonest father figure.)
I’m just waiting for Trump to claim he would have written the check but he has bone spurs in his fingers. Perhaps we should call these provisions tax deferments rather than tax cuts.
But the bigger tragedy is who will pay for this reverse Robin Hoodism. CBO says the bill may cost at least $1.5 trillion over the next decade and more in the out-years. (I told you to keep that number in mind.) We’ve seen and heard this before. So where is W when we really need him. Listen closely, maybe you can hear him practicing his next speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce annual conference.
There’s an old saying SOMEWHERE — exactly where, I’m not quite sure — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you, you know — the Republican mantra of personal responsibility. Fool me — even if I’m the one fooling me — still shame on you. Buy this hokum a third time, shame, shame, shame on YOU again. Too bad you didn’t get it the first time.
For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP
Yet, it is next to impossible to erase Smith Barney spokesperson John Houseman’s voice reminding us, “We make money the old fashion way, we earn it.” I thought about the commercial when I read Washington Post writer Petula Dvorak’s article about, “…the middle-finger salute seen around the world.” The story chronicled how an employee Juli Briskman of Akima, a government contracting firm, had been fired after admitting she was the unidentified cyclist who, when biking past Donald Trump’s motorcade, visually expressed her displeasure with Trump’s policies and behavior. As one would expect, the alt-right propaganda machine became more hysterical than Gone with the Wind’s Aunt PittyPat during the burning of Atlanta. “My, my, how awful. Such disrespect. Is chivalry and honor dead? Whatever will become of us?”
As for the trip to Ft. Knox, Kentucky, there was no scheduled event which required Mr. Mnuchin’s presence. And he later claimed he had no interest at all in the solar eclipse. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Mnuchin said, “You know, people in Kentucky took this stuff very serious. Being a New Yorker and [living for a time in] California, I was like, the eclipse? Really? I don’t have any interest in watching the eclipse.” So much for Republican claims it’s the Democrats who are coastal elites.
Which brings us to North Korea. For some reason, sticky issues always come back to Sam Kinison’s controversial declaration, “I don’t condone wife-beating, but I understand it.” That’s exactly how I feel about North Korea. I don’t condone nuclear proliferation, but in this case, I understand it. Put yourself in Kim Jong-un’s shoes. You watched the United States invade the sovereign nation of Iraq and overthrow its government. What would keep the USA from doing the same thing in North Korea? The obvious answer is nuclear deterrence. History suggests it works. Nuclear capability kept the cold war from heating up. It maintains a relative state of peace between India and Pakistan. And it remains Israel’s wild card as a weapon of last resort in the event of a second potential holocaust.