Patterico's Pontifications

12/19/2017

House Passes GOP Tax Bill

Filed under: General — Dana @ 12:43 pm



[guest post by Dana]

The House of Representatives passed the final version of the GOP’s tax overhaul bill today by a vote of 227-203, with no Democrats supporting it and 12 Republicans voting against it.

There was a little commotion during the House floor debate when inflatable movie screen protesters shouted, “Kill the bill, don’t kill us!” and “You’re fired! You’re fired!” Another protester shouted at Paul Ryan, “you’re lying!,” after he said:

Today we are giving the people of this country their money back. This is their money, after all.

Phil Kerpen also notes that it’s unsurprising that “every House Democrat voted to keep a tax break for sexual harassment and abuse hush money payments.”

The bill now heads to the Senate for approval.

–Dana

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]

263 Responses to “House Passes GOP Tax Bill”

  1. whatabout Chappiquiddick?

    but, Gorsuch

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  2. Is it violent to want to smash a cream pie in every Yes! voters face?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  3. i think the tax break is fair legal fees are a legitimate codb, and particularly so with all these vapid and insecure millennial chicks entering the work force

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  4. all but one R what voted No was from CA, NY, or NJ

    and that’s Walter Jones from NC

    he’s the sleazy douchebag what was the first R to call for Mr. Nunes to recuse himself as chair of the House Intelligence Committee

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  5. Who cares? Trump won.

    Twenty-six percent of voters approve of the bill, while 55 percent disapprove, according to a Quinnipiac poll last week. The bill’s cap on certain deductions figures to hit hardest in some of the nation’s most competitive Republican-held House districts. And Priorities USA, the leading Democratic super PAC, reports that it saw dips in House incumbents’ ratings after voters were shown internet ads about the plan.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/amp/passing-gop-tax-bill-hard-selling-it-voters-may-be-n830836

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  6. is capping SALT deductibility as effective as phasing it out altogether from a good governance perspective?

    the restraining effect a cap will have on fiscally rapacious states like NY will be indistinguishable from an elimination i think BUT

    think about this

    going forward we’ll have stats on what percentage of taxpayers in a state max out the deductibility

    and we’ll have a trend line for that (powerpoint chart)

    this is exciting stuff

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  7. DONATE
    Help us raise $350,000 by December 31 with a tax-deductible, year-end donation— or read why this moment feels so critical.

    The GOP Tax Bill Takes Aim at Victims of Natural Disasters
    It’s about to become much harder to deduct losses incurred from fires and floods.
    AMY THOMSON
    DEC. 19, 2017 6:00 AM

    Brush burns near a home on the Bug Creek Fire near Cordes Lakes, Arizona, in 2016.Les Stukenberg/AP

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    Americans suffered from a spate of deadly wildfires, hurricanes, and floods in 2017. Next year, they’ll likely have one less resource to deal with such catastrophes: The GOP tax bill, expected to pass any day now, would eliminate a tax deduction for uninsured casualty losses from natural disasters. Right now, disaster victims can deduct losses that aren’t insured and that amount to more than 10 percent of their incomes. Under the new tax plan, the deduction could only be claimed for those disasters that the president declares a federal emergency.

    In 2015, more than 72,000 people filed a casualty or theft deduction, resulting in $1.6 billion in claims, according to the IRS’ Statistics of Income Division. (The IRS lumps casualty and theft deductions together in its count). The proposed change would go into effect January 1, 2018, meaning disaster victims could file one final deduction this year if they experienced a loss that did not receive Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) support.

    The tragic fires that blazed through California in recent months, along with Texas’ and Puerto Rico’s horrendous hurricanes, did receive federal emergency declaration, so their victims would still qualify for the deduction under the new tax bill. But most disasters aren’t large enough to attract attention from the White House.

    “So what will happen with tax deductions in the future—will the color of the state matter?”
    “Casualty losses occur in isolation; you’re just unlucky and your house burns down in a fire,” Steve Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute, said. He thinks getting rid of the casualty loss deduction for most natural disasters is just one more way the Republicans are hoping to raise some revenue: “Really, you can look at this as denying deductions in the future for individuals to help pay for the large corporate tax cuts.”

    The proposed change has some legislators fuming. “After the worst fire season in California history, it’s unbelievable that Republicans are considering eliminating the tax deduction for losses suffered during a natural disaster,” Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris said in a joint press release last month. “Asking victims of wildfires or earthquakes to suffer in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich is the height of cruelty.”
    http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/12/the-gop-tax-bill-takes-aim-at-victims-of-natural-disasters/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  8. Sorry. That’s clever of MJ.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  9. Sad Face. MFW Ben gives up his dream Dakota for light rail because: Tax Cuts.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  10. The highjacking of America is courtesy of The Republican Party.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  11. Trump can’t be responsible for his incompetence to stand trial.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  12. You’d be well advised to consider voting in your best interests unless you prefer mental incompetence.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  13. I wonder how much media production is going to flee high tax states now?

    Oak Ridge Boys feat. Shepard Smith Callin’ Baton Rouge

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  14. My best interest looks a lot like whatever makes you blow a head gasket.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  15. The highjacking of America is courtesy of The Republican Party.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/19/2017 @ 1:21 pm

    You and Eric Holder’s minions need to get rollin’ ABBB.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  16. Your incompetence is a matter of record.

    You decorate your warts?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  17. thank you President Trump for this lovely tax cut

    we’re a more free people for electing you on the election

    we’re better and more just as a nation

    we have pizazzle and sparkle motion both!

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  18. Next up VAT!

    Of course skewed to small purchases like FOOD.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  19. That’s after they step on their di#ks again with Social Security.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  20. Obama’s Iran Deal Makes Trump’s Russia ‘Collusion’ Look Like Child’s Play. Obama outdoes his “Tell Vlad I will have more flexibility after the [2012] election” Russia collusion…

    http://thefederalist.com/2017/12/18/obamas-iran-deal-makes-trumps-russia-collusion-look-like-childs-play/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  21. Rear Admiral is lashing out… that tax bill must be a great one!!!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  22. Elections have consequences, Rear Admiral Deebagger!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  23. Ben are you not prepared for a dignified retirement? Why is that our problem?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  24. Maybe 1/3 is Republican math for majority but I think, they think all they really need is one di<ktator.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  25. I am retired and I just emailed my opponent telling him the only thing pissing me off more than his Yes vote is he’s forcing me out of retirement to flame his arse.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  26. I’ve never heard a Gnostic call in to Dave Ramsey but I don’t think he’d block you for asking sincere questions on budgeting.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  27. I think it’s about time you let Dick Grayson run the Batcave BB.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  28. Hey! Have y’all seen the flick Scrooged?

    …..I understand.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  29. If you and a couple of BLM’s get into a wrestling match over a microphone I might even kick in ten bucks ABBBB.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  30. I pledge I will not suck the kneecaps of rich Pharisees, nor shall I seek their endorsement. Further, any endorsement from vile hypocrites will be baked into a Vhristmas pie and fed to K street disciples yearning to be free of charity not involving unlaundered cash.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  31. I heard there’s an app now for people walking in San Francisco to avoid the human filth in the streets.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  32. I pledge to always give Scarlett Johanssen the last piece of chicken.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  33. I hear there are about a dozen healthy kidneys in Kentucky and all of them are Gnostics.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  34. I heard rumors there is intelligence in the Republican Party but the source is FOX/Breitbart

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  35. Those tragic fires Mother Jones talks about were caused, at least in L.A., by a homeless guy’s fire. So do we now have to pay taxes to guard against anarchy in the hills?

    Last time I broke the law and walked across the street too slowly I was fined $109. Where is the compassion for me?

    Patricia (5fc097)

  36. ALL those Texans who laughed at flood insurance can go suck an egg eh, Patricia?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  37. We need to refurbish the Carolla bit into: What Can’t BB Complain About?

    Pinandpuller (154312)

  38. Ice cream sales out of your ice cream truck has to be slow this time of year, Rear Admiral.
    But the kids are safe.

    mg (60b0f7)

  39. You see it is complaint when its really abject and unanswered condemnation.

    You minimalize your own Har-de-har-mageddon fantasy in the bad bargain.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  40. Objection, argumentative, No. 37.

    Patricia (5fc097)

  41. Since state taxes (at US median income levels) are lower in CA than in 44 other states, I expect we’ll see people hit the SALT cap at lower income levels than CA.

    Of course, CA income levels are generally higher than the US median (it costs more to live here), so the percentage of folks in CA hitting the cap might be above average. CA is a high-tax state mainly because it is a high-income state, not because it squeezes Joe Six-pack (although the landlord might).

    Kevin M (752a26)

  42. Overruled..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  43. The Brentwood fire was caused by homeless folks living near $10 million estate lots. I suspect that some of those folks were working at those estates and living rough during the week rather than commuting to East Armpit. There are a LOT of folks packing into mobile homes around town for that reason.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  44. Last time I broke the law and walked across the street too slowly I was fined $109. Where is the compassion for me?

    Willie Sutton can explain this.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  45. A bonus for y’all is if I launch this attempt to clear the decks of your bulloney I won’t plague you with my Hall of Mirror so frequently. Donations from non hypocrites welcome

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  46. Rear Admiral is beside himself. Sad!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  47. One of the more interesting internet rabbit holes is the California moving violation continuance/change of venue by mail hack.

    Pinandpuller (154312)

  48. If you do launch, learn by your past mistakes and try a different name than the last time. Vermin Supreme ain’t gonna make it.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  49. Although “Rear Admiral Vermin Supreme” does describe your sewer rat personality…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  50. Being able to make a u-turn at every intersection is one of the few things California has going for it.

    mg (60b0f7)

  51. They could screw a one car parade.

    narciso (d1f714)

  52. Texas flat, featureless terrain is it’s highpoint for seeing the vermin approaching.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  53. They tellin’ Rear Admiral Vermin Supreme, “back that rig up right ovah heah, son…”

    Colonel Haiku (cc5504)

  54. I want the Admiral to go full Sovereign Citizen.

    Pinandpuller (154312)

  55. It’s not flat, silly. You can see the curvature of The Earth.

    Pinandpuller (154312)

  56. i love the erf!

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  57. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/republicans-tax-bill-pass_us_5a395ec8e4b0c65287acc5f5

    Republicans Goof Up While Passing Tax Bill

    The House will have to revote on the bill after the Senate passes a corrected version.

    …they passed a tax bill with provisions that were struck down by the Senate parliamentarian.

    Even though House Republicans already congratulated themselves in a series of speeches, the House will have to vote again on Wednesday, after the Senate passes the final tax bill. House Republicans had passed what they thought would be the final tax proposal on Tuesday 227-203, with 12 Republicans voting no.

    But now the Senate will send back to the House a similar bill ― with the stricken provisions omitted ― before the tax legislation will go to President Donald Trump for signature.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  58. They must be on yeti alpha 6, not eArth.

    narciso (d1f714)

  59. every House Democrat voted to keep a tax break for sexual harassment and abuse hush money payments.”

    The official sponser for that was…

    …Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.)

    One of ony a a few Democratic amendments that got into the bill.

    They suppose it was adopted because it saved money.

    Corporations will not be able to deduct settlements or legal fees related to sexual harassment or sexual abuse if the settlement includes a nondisclosure agreement.

    It’s not expected to cause corporations to drop nondisclosure agreements.

    One probem is what if the corporation was sued on several grounds? I think the best answer would be they can deduct it provided that the nondisclosure provision does not apply to allegations of sexual impropriety. It might be a roblem separatuing legal fees for one thing ioor another. Maybe just disallow everything if there’s a nondisclosure agreement that covers sexual harassment or sexual abuse.

    It’s been said this is one sided, as plaintiffds will not be able to deduct legal fees. But is that right?

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  60. Old news, Sammeh.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  61. How would you know haikoo-ka-choob?

    Your arse is old news.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  62. And that postcard return will be postage free, right?!

    “Instant gratification takes too long.” – Suzanne Vale [Meryl Streep] ‘Postcards From the Edge’ 1990

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  63. Speaking off,, cartie fisher came off well (except for a Mary poopins in spAce sequence) in the last Jedi.

    narciso (d1f714)

  64. Flat Earthers UNITE to consolidate the Tux bill to our perpetual disadvantage..

    HUZZZZAAAAAHHHH

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  65. Anyone know if Burnie boy gets paid by the hour or by the post? I’m guessing by the post as he spams as many as possible.

    NJRob (f84459)

  66. Remember what happened with baron tagged when he mocked waders abilities. Donhall gleeson is a remarkable straight man, like smash’s colonel flagg

    narciso (d1f714)

  67. Gratis…just for the Nutjobs masquerading as pious christians.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  68. His like the coyote, running out the acme catalog, the funny thing is these rates don’t go into effect till next February.

    narciso (d1f714)

  69. Even Brookings Institute says most Americans will see their taxes reduced and will benefit from this tax cut.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  70. Meanwhile in the real world, SS recipients- many of which were ardent Trump supporters- got a 2% COLA bump for 2018 which averaged out to about $25/recipient. Unfortunately Medicare premiums withheld rose averaging about $24/month. So the net gain/month for average SS recipients: $1/month. Two first-class postage stamps.

    Making America grate again, Captain, sir.

    Strawberries still off, Donald, but the raspberries remain fresh.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  71. @71. =Haiku!= Gesundheit!

    “For Gawd’s Sake, Jamie, give your brain a chance.” – Colin Harvey [Christopher Plummer] ‘Battle Of Britain’ 1969

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  72. Did Trump cause the Medicare premiums to rise? Or do we just blame everything on Trump?

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  73. @64. Forced delivery; deadpan. A finch to pinch an Oscar nom, no? A win- no.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  74. But admiral ackbar had less screen time

    narciso (d1f714)

  75. @76. And never recognized by members of the Academy.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  76. Medicare premiums raises have been in every budget since Trump was a child, and they always get clawed back at the end. I’ve always expected everyone before me to be grandfathered in, and my cohort to eat sh1t when it was our turn.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  77. — Daddy, where do taxes come from?
    — Here’s a chart, honey. Daddy will see if he can find where those taxes marked “income taxes” come from.

    nk (dbc370)

  78. It dpesnr fit on his cue card, Kevin, ready player one looks interesting, for next summer.

    narciso (d1f714)

  79. 73… ASPCA… wipe yer chin!

    “Why, Ada here never… never spoke a word to me for the first ten years we were married. Heh! Them were the happiest ten years of my life.” – Jeeter Lester (Charles Grapewin) ‘Tobacco Road’ (1941)

    “One of these days, ma… I’ma gonna plow that field…” – Jeeter Lester (Charles Grapewin), ‘Tobacco Road’ (1941)

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  80. @78. Not this time ’round:

    Medicare premiums might devour your increased 2018 Social Security benefit

    -The average Social Security monthly benefit will rise by $25 next year.

    -Medicare recipients who have benefited from the “hold harmless” provision could see that advantage largely eliminated for 2018.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/13/medicare-premiums-may-devour-increased-2018-social-security-benefit.html

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  81. House Passes Gas.

    Yes, it stinks, too.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  82. They don’t know for sure, unlike the 500 billion that was taken out of Medicare advantage

    narciso (d1f714)

  83. You know it’s on target when the mincing and flak increase…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  84. Like tube dreadnoughts over the rebel base.

    narciso (d1f714)

  85. @84 They do. It’s done.

    Whoopee! Dollar Day every month at Denny’s!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  86. Mincing & Flak; representing the Trump family since 1978.

    “Make a deal… a deal, deal! Maybe the guy’s a Republican.” – ‘Crapgame’ [Don Rickles] ‘Kelly’s Heroes’ 1970

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  87. Gratis…just for the Nutjobs masquerading as pious christians.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/19/2017 @ 4:48 pm

    Was Pope Pious the first Humble Brag?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  88. DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/19/2017 @ 4:23 pm

    And that postcard return will be postage free, right?! </blockquote. That is sch an old idea that time has passed it by.

    On the Internet, it may be free. I think the invcome has to be below a certain point.

    But to file, you need to know what your Adjusted Gross Income was in your previous year's tax return/ This is the first tax return you filed for that year even if you lter filed a 1040X) You also need a PIN – this can be any 5 digits except for 00000. Of you used a PIN last year you can use that instead of AGI.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  89. 82. DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/19/2017 @ 5:47 pm

    The average Social Security monthly benefit will rise by $25 next year.

    Note that the extra personal exemption for people over the age of 65 (and/or blind) is gone, along with the exemption that everybody gets, and the standard deduction only increases by $5,700 a person, with maybe a $500 tax credit or maybe that’s only for dependents in the final version of the bill – earlier it was $300) so Taxable income starts at a lower base.

    Some people have written letters to newspapers saying their taxes could go up even seven times. That would be true for people over 65 who now barely pay any tax.

    A $500 tax credit would equal appoximately what an exemption is worth at the lowest tax brackets, (the second lowest 15% tax bracket is now 12%) but I don’t know who gets it. Maybe it now excludes the signer(s) on the retur now that it’s been raised from $300 to $500..

    The news reporters don’t seem to have read the bill enough. They’ve had 4 days now.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  90. The news reporters don’t seem to have read the bill enough. They’ve had 4 days now.
    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380) — 12/19/2017 @ 6:56 pm

    Well, let us all wait, then.

    felipe (023cc9)

  91. @92. Doing 1st qtr., planning for a retiree living on SS now, Sammy. The SSA sent out its statement for 2018 earlier this month. Monthly COLA increase: $25. Less MC premium bump: $24. Net monthly increase for 2018 to blow on Grassley’s movies, booze and broads: $1.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  92. Hopefully, ASPCA, that retiree had enough sense to fund his/her own retirement enough to augment SS monthly benefit. If not, poor planning by that retiree. What’s your point? Has this not been the case under the last several administrations?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  93. 93… don’t hold your breath, felipe!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  94. A person showing visible signs of deterioration of mental faculties is troubling, made all the worse by how often Pelosi opens her yapper.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  95. Für Kapellsh*ster Ben

    Revolutionary Etude Frederic Chopin Valentina Lisitsa

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  96. TIL some words are so bad they don’t even go to moderation.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  97. Was Pope Pious the first Humble Brag?

    The first Pius seems to have lived in the mid second century, when the word was used as a name and might only refer to respect for parents. I’d suggest instead Gregory the Great, who came up with “Servant of the servants of God” to get in a dig at the Byzantines, who had recently decided to call their guy “Oecumenical Patriarch”. To this day both titles remain in use.

    kishnevi (31ec7b)

  98. today’s the first i heard they have a university endowment tax in there

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  99. kishnevi

    I think I already referenced Pope Sixtus the Fifth. Or was that to the 5th power?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  100. polizette/pelosi-off-deep-end-decries-holy-season-tax-cuts-as-moral-obscenity/

    narciso (d1f714) — 12/19/2017 @ 7:39 pm

    Bishops to Queen’s “Six”.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  101. Wikipedia says the original form of the name was Xystus. So Michelangelo actually painted the ceiling of the Xystine Chapel.

    kishnevi (31ec7b)

  102. Do you or someone you know, keep anger and anxiety bottled up. Time to unleash. The Anger Room provides a fun and safe environment for you, family, and friends to let it out and unleash.

    Anger Room

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  103. kishnevi

    Saint Peter was shown crucified up side down on an X cross. ???

    Did you know Bob Jones University has one of the largest collections of religious art outside The Vatican?

    It’s True.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  104. BTW

    Today we are giving the people of this country their money back.

    No they aren’t. They are just taking less now with a promise that sometime around the Greek Calends, we’ll have to pay 1.5 Trillion more…

    kishnevi (31ec7b)

  105. Walking Dead Marathon: CSPAN2! Tonight’s episode: Orrin Hatch reads 22 pt. type.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  106. So Stephen King actually wrote Xstine?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  107. 108
    Yes. Legend says he asked for it to be done that way out of humility, to mark the difference between him and Jesus.

    kishnevi (31ec7b)

  108. The Senate is debating the bill right now – or rather, a few Senators are making speeches – and will soon vote. The bill will then go back to the House for a second vote (or to look at it another way, a third vote.)

    And they wanted to make the Hous go first! (actually last week, at first they were going to have the House vote second.)

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  109. No, Christine. But the actress turns out to be named Xyssy Spacek.

    kishnevi (31ec7b)

  110. writing Xstine’s ok you just should never write in a trashy honey boo boo’s yearbook EVER (danger)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  111. Excuse me, Xyxy Xpaxek.

    kishnevi (31ec7b)

  112. The X cross is the Cross of St. Andrew. Only upside down for St. Peter.

    nk (dbc370)

  113. 95. DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/19/2017 @ 7:28 pm

    @92. Doing 1st qtr., planning for a retiree living on SS now, Sammy. The SSA sent out its statement for 2018 earlier this month. Monthly COLA increase: $25. Less MC premium bump: $24. Net monthly increase for 2018 to blow on Grassley’s movies, booze and broads: $1.

    And medical expenses will probably go up, although anything purchased repetedly may go down as someone becomes aware of other places to buy.

    What I was saying was that if they are paying any federal income taxes, or are on the cusp of doing so, I think that may go up for 2018, but you may not find out till the spring of 2019.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  114. In general, withholding on wage s and salary will go down, starting maybe as early as February, but for a signifcant fraction of people, taxes owed for 2018 may go up!

    Unless people redo their W-4s, which they either may have to do or would be well advised to do. since heer are no more personal exemptions.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  115. Mr Feetd
    The tax on school endowments was part of the original package, although I think it’s been reduced in the final bill. I guess everyone will have to pass it to know what’s in it.

    kishnevi (31ec7b)

  116. =Haiku!= Gesundheit!

    $1 buys a little booze, a few movies and most women when dragged through a trailer park in Grassley’s Iowa.

    Has this not been the case under the last several administrations?

    Nyet. 2017 COLA was just 0.3%.

    “Senator, don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining.” – Fletcher [John Vernon] ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’ 1975

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  117. Several times recently the COLA increase was 0.0

    Year COLA
    2005 4.1
    2006 3.3
    2007 2.3
    2008 5.8
    2009 0.0
    2010 0.0
    2011 3.6
    2012 1.7
    2013 1.5
    2014 1.7
    2015 0.0
    2016 0.3
    2017 2.0

    From the SSA website

    kishnevi (31ec7b)

  118. kishnevi (31ec7b) — 12/19/2017 @ 8:13 pm

    I guess everyone will have to pass it to know what’s in it.

    The IRS will be very very busy writing instructions.

    When it begins to have practical effects, media outlets will start writing about it. (or getting it right, anyway.)

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  119. @118. Point is Sammy it’s classic slight of hand; sounded good but in reality, empty spin; one IOU chit traded for another IOU chit. Still, $1 and a dream gets you a play at Lotto. That’s where you make your play for the American Dream in the Trump Times.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  120. Here’s a chart for Medicare premium raises since 1966
    https://g.foolcdn.com/editorial/images/431961/medicare-part-b-premium-history_large.PNG

    Also remember that the deductible rises at least a little every year.

    kishnevi (31ec7b)

  121. @122. Incorrect. SS COLA increase for 2017 was 0.3. For 2018 it will be 2.0. Not really the issue- the kicker is/t bump in MC premium deduction. That’s what spiked and is eating up folks 2018 COLA.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/13/medicare-premiums-may-devour-increased-2018-social-security-benefit.html

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  122. Reminds me of the municipal water bill I get. The city posts a credit every October for interest on the deposit we gave them when we moved in. That bill happens to be the one which starts the annual increase in fees. So I don’t see how much more I am actually paying until November.

    kishnevi (31ec7b)

  123. Which was ridiculous because the cost of staples thanks tie qe infiniti and ethanol subsidies were much higher.

    narciso (d1f714)

  124. That was cut and paste from the SSA website. They seem to be a year off of the list you are using.

    kishnevi (31ec7b)

  125. @129. The list here is from the official SSA paperwork. The CNBC piece has it right as well and pegs where/how the 2018 COLA gets chewed up for most seniors. It’s just a classic case of slight of hand to the people who ‘made America great’ but $1 is a laughable slap to those retirees who were devoted Trumpeteers.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  126. I do think this is a big enough cut to be consequential, and that it will stimulate a lot of new business investment. Its political significance in terms of a “promise kept” will be significant in 2018, especially and probably mostly tellingly in the GOP primary season, as in: Without this, a metric ton of GOP congress-critters would have been seriously primaried.

    I think we’re just about out of gimmicks that the GOP can get through Congress under reconciliation of anything, however, so further progress on any other controversial topic will require 60 votes in the Senate. That will remain the choke-point unless and until the GOP gives up on the filibuster and puts it out of its (or more precisely, the GOP senators’) misery; it’s been an undead zombie since the Dems nuked it for POTUS appointments — except, nonsensically, SCOTUS appointments. When the Dems tried to filibuster the Gorsuch nomination, the GOP instantly coalesced, without a single dissenting vote among GOP senators (!), in doing away with SCOTUS filibustering. Why they won’t show similar courage and practicality now for the legislative filibuster — why they continue to pretend that the Dems are remotely capable of self-disciplining themselves to retain it the very next time the Dems have the majority, as exiting Dem majority leader Reid predicted and promised on his party’s behalf — remains a source of great frustration.

    In the big picture of the federal fisc, though, this is not comprehensive tax reform, and without corresponding major spending reform (meaning: means-testing entitlements), we’ll never address the national debt, never achieve fiscal sanity, and always be, at best, two steps ahead of national insolvency.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  127. And what were the Medicare increases when Obama was trashing healthcare?

    NJRob (f84459)

  128. CSPAN2 is entertaining: Tedtoo preaches; Wyden screeches and then “We think you’re messing up America.” – Chuckie-Chuckie-Schum-Schum. Oy vey. Leave that to Debra, Chuck.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  129. ‘…. it will stimulate a lot of new business investment.’

    Not really; not in the United States. Wages won’t rise; but the gap between rich and poor will grow along w/t deficit. Just lots of stock buy backs and some sweet windfalls for the door class who don’t need it is about it. It’s Trickledown Two; Reaganomix Redux. And the inequities will swell with a generation of socialists.

    Woolly The Mammoth lumbered into the pond, thirsty for a win, trumpeted in triumph and discovered to its horror the pond was actually a tarpit, roared defiantly all the same and slowly sank into the abyss.

    Fossilization is fated for dinosaurs.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  130. ^door= donor class

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  131. nk

    I’m certain I’ve seen depictions of X cross crucifictions. Maybe I conflated with Peter.

    Pinandpuller (154312)

  132. @136. ‘Planet Of The Apes’ perhaps… or were they merely scarecrows; but then, what’s the difference?

    “My God. I’m home!” – George Taylor [Charlton Heston] ‘Planet Of The Apes’ 1968

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  133. Crux Simplex, Crux Comissa, Crux Decussate and Crux Immissa. Yes, yes rector. You are cross cultured, you are.

    Pinandpuller (154312)

  134. Is Andrew patron saint of railroads?

    Pinandpuller (154312)

  135. After passing:

    “If we can’t sell this to the American people we ought to be in another line of work.” – Mitch McConnell.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  136. Russia, Scotland, the city of Patras in Greece, and the Confederate States of America, that I know of. What do you think the Confederate flag is?

    nk (dbc370)

  137. What do you think the Confederate flag is?
    nk (dbc370) — 12/19/2017 @ 10:34 pm

    Wait, I know this one. According to my mandatory re-edumacation class, the Conf flag is hate speech.

    felipe (023cc9)

  138. All the no Trumpers and all their buddy democrats have no chance against the silent majority.
    Canada awaits you malcontents.

    mg (60b0f7)

  139. It’s a nice walk ruined by Union Cavalry.

    Pinandpuller (743cbf)

  140. “Not really; not in the United States. Wages won’t rise; but the gap between rich and poor will grow along w/t deficit. Just lots of stock buy backs and some sweet windfalls for the door class who don’t need it is about it. It’s Trickledown Two; Reaganomix Redux. And the inequities will swell with a generation of socialists.”

    —- Nostracrapus

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  141. 126… you’re the one claiming it’s the issue, bub.

    It seems the quality of the legislation is in direct proportion to the volume and insanity of the rhetoric leveled against it.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  142. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BoN4VLVgCE

    الجزية في الإسلام

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  143. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=48&v=Rr8Ehtx75s8

    Islam & ISIS – Killing relatives

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  144. Don’t click on the link unless you have a strong stomach.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  145. The newsppapers aren’t carrying stories that go into the details of te tax legislation. We get summaries over ategories of people. They were doing this, a little haphazardly, whhen the legislation was being worked on. I expect that later there’ll be some articles, in newspapers, magazones or websotes that will go intoit a lot, and maybe there are now in some less circulated places.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  146. As we reported earlier this month, the damage begins with the so-called Paygo law (for “pay as you go”), which requires Congress to offset any increase in the federal deficit with spending cuts. The law limits Medicare cuts to 4% of its budget per year, or $25 billion of its $625-billion budget. Because the tax cut proposals the Senate was preparing to vote on late Friday would expand the deficit by about $1.5 trillion over 10 years, it’s likely to trigger the cuts.

    https://www.google.com/amp/www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-gop-social-security-20171130-story,amp.html

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  147. It’s like the SS prommisory note republicans left in the box holding future assets in place of tax breaks for Trump during the urban legend, St Ronaldus and Trickle down Hobbits.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  148. Prommisory notes and handshake agreements don’t require integrity according to the moral lackey Party of Republicans.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  149. 131. Beldar (fa637a) — 12/19/2017 @ 8:59 pm

    I do think this is a big enough cut to be consequential, and that it will stimulate a lot of new business investment. </blockquote. What will stimulate new business is something that make it easier to start a business. Like lower interest rates, or perhaps exemptions from taxation, and even reporting, of the first X thousand dollars of income or until certain threshholds have been met, like bank loans, bank accounts, number of employees, or receipts. Of course minimize licensing. Or exemption from estate tax, so that very wealthy people will be inspired to become silent partners. Or various forms of income averaging, something that did not come up at all in the tax legisllation. I would think, for instance, a marginal tax rate of 10% for the excess of income over either of the previous two years would be very stimulatory and wouldn't lose very much revenue. You could cap it too – alloing only, say, $60,000 or $100,000 to be taxed at that rate. This is very small business but that is where innovation and most economic growth comes from.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  150. …Happy days are here again
    The skies above are clear again
    So let’s sing a song of cheer again
    Happy days are here again

    Altogether shout it now
    There’s no one
    Who can doubt it now

    So let’s tell the world about it now
    Happy days are here again…

    ropelight (8c3310)

  151. Sorry – I didnt close the quote. What beldar said went up ony to where you see the incompletely typess b;ockquote.

    Its political significance in terms of a “promise kept” will be significant in 2018, especially and probably mostly tellingly in the GOP primary season, as in: Without this, a metric ton of GOP congress-critters would have been seriously primaried.

    I don’t think so. People get primaried where they otherwise wouldn’t, over matters of principle, and taxation is not a matter of principle, except maybe among Democrats whoo don’t want tax cuts.

    Getting something done might encourage some members of Congress to say in Congress, which does affect the majority, but as you sad, we’re just about out of gimmiks, and the budgetrreconciliation process cannot be used for otehr controversial topics. This topic, by the way, was particularly suited to the budget reconciliation process, but even there it imposed some limitations.

    Regarding means testing, I think it’s pernicious when used anywhere, and motivates people not to work or acquire assets.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  152. Republican fingerprints were all over SS when finally enacted under FDR. Only a small percentage lived to receive benefits as life expectancy was 20 years earlier than present. Just like Obamacare,they did their worst to sabotage popularity.

    But one of the least expected outcomes by repukes was Survivors benefits for widows and orphans when the breadwinner dies prematurely. That sealed its popularity .

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  153. Republicans want to serve the middle-class but their strategies are straight out of a cookbook

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  154. Take yer Maalox®, Rear Admiral, before you blow a seal.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  155. 157. Go back and read through the op-eds or the Congressional Record from the era. History rhymes.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  156. Compared to current law, 5 percent of taxpayers would pay more tax in 2018, 9 percent in 2025, and 53 percent in 2027.

    http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/distributional-analysis-conference-agreement-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  157. =Haiku! Gesundheit!=

    ‘It’s Trickledown Two; Reaganomix Redux.– Nostracrapus’

    Yes it was. So keep Mexicans employed thru the next sh-tstorm, Colonelle: stock up on CVS adult diapers.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  158. The 35%, the undemocratic tail continues to wag the US dog.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  159. It’s Lefty Mincy Shrieky Wednesday!!!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  160. 163
    Kernel had a thought not cut and pasted?

    It must be Christmas.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  161. 157. Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/20/2017 @ 6:32 am Only a small percentage lived to receive benefits as life expectancy was 20 years earlier than present. You don’t understand what’s wrong with a life expectancy statstic like that?

    Life expectancy is the age at the probability of living tohat point, if every age bracket had the same life expectancy as it did in the sample year drops to 50%. It isredced by early death. There was high infant and child mortality in the past, although by 1935 hat was mostly over.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  162. ropelight,

    Is this tax cut worth giving amnesty to Dreamers? I think most people would say Yes but what do you think?

    Dems stayed low key on tax reform so Trump can get his one Congressional accomplishment, and Pelosi/Schumer can keep her promise of amnesty for Dreamers and placate their base. This is what the next three years will be like: Trump doing deals with his Democratic pals if they control the Senate.

    DRJ (15874d)

  163. I rally shouldn’t use blockquote with this version of this browser, as I have to type it in, and it sometimes fails when I make a mistake, and I’m not checking, although after a few times I should remember to do so.

    What’s the 35%?

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  164. Your horsesh*t may half-float with those not old enough to remember the two successful Reagan terms, Nostracrapus, but you can go sell crazy elsewhere.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  165. Sammy:

    When the Social Security program was initiated in 1935, the average life expectancy was 61 years old. Considering that the average age for retirement has remained consistently around 65, beneficiaries in the early years of the program were receiving payment for a much shorter time. Currently, average life expectancy has increased to 75 and the average retirement age has remained at 65.

    https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/soc_sec/hsocialsec.htm

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  166. Your alternate history belongs in the comics section kernel. Your history acumen at least matches Trumpty Dumpty.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  167. DRJ @168. There may be a government shutdown after Friday, and not getting a government shutdown may be tied into that. For sure it won’t be extended beyond the deadline for DACA to expire. And Senator Flake got promised this wold be taken care of.

    The republicans did, of course, a little bit of meanness toward illegal immigrants. To claim the child tax credit you will now need a Social Security number and not just an taxpayer identification number as wasnewly institued for 2016.

    Now there was an element of tax fraud here. People could claim to be supporting children (who were close relatives but also didn’t necessarily exist) in Mexico or Canada. (no other countries) I think this was with the child tax credit, althouh it might have been personal exemptions.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  168. The Republicans who voted No on tax reform are all from New York, New Jersey and California. They did it because of the SALT deduction.

    Doing this signals — for the first time I can remember — that the GOP has given up on winning these states. Maybe that’s realism but the Republican Party used to be a national Party trying to represent all conservatives. Under Trump, it has become a factional populist Party.

    DRJ (15874d)

  169. It seems the quality of the tax bill is in direct proportion to the frantic mincing and incessant babble launched against it by the fever-swamp m00nbats.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  170. I’ll look to Cruz.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  171. =Haiku! Gesundheit=

    Crazy is on sale again: Reagan raises taxes 11 times.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  172. When the Social Security program was initiated in 1935, the average life expectancy was 61 years old. Considering that the average age for retirement has remained consistently around 65, beneficiaries in the early years of the program were receiving payment for a much shorter time.

    That life expectancy of 61 is misleading.

    It doesn’t mean theer was any special tendency to die at or around age 61. The question is what is life expectancy at age 20, or 30 or 40. That hasn’t changed so much. A lot of the increase comes from infants and children not dying.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  173. DRJ

    California republicans voting no are just cynics and nest-gatherers but Paul Cook of the 8th District voted yes. Other than conservative intransigence, what hat is he wearing?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  174. The Republicans have always represented more than just the conservative wing, which has usually talked a good game but then put on its robe and slippers when the going got rough.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  175. @146. =Haiku! Gesundheit!=

    It directly effects 66 million seniors in the U.S., most of which vote many of who were ardent Trumpeteers…bubba.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  176. No Sammy. The program was designed to avoid pay outs. If you lived to 65 they wouldnt pay very long.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  177. For unfathomable reasons, the Mooch was invited to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s Hanukkah party to speak about his trip to Israel, just weeks after a tone-deaf Holocaust poll appeared in the Scaramucci Post. But the man who lasted a mere 10 days in the West Wing, before being fired over an obscenity-filled interview, once again went wildly off-script during his Sunday night sermon at the rabbi’s Upper West Side townhouse.

    Of Bannon, he told the crowd, “He’s a loser. He’ll be a stalwart defender of Israel until he’s not. That’s how this guy operates. I’ve seen this guy operate. He was a stalwart defender of me until it became better for him not to be.” The Mooch added, “The problem with Bannon is he’s a messianic figure. It’s his way or the highway. He was dramatically and incredibly divisive in the White House . . . He was leaking on everybody . . . You don’t leak on the president if you’re the president’s senior adviser. So the guy’s a loser.

    https://pagesix.com/2017/12/19/the-mooch-rips-loser-steve-bannon-at-hanukkah-party/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  178. @179. CA’s Issa voted no on the House bill but it’s a win/win for him personally– he’s desperately trying to save his seat next cycle; barely squeaked in; gerrymandering aside, the demographics of his constituency are changing. A wall can’t stop it; condoms might.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  179. When Reagan took office, the top rates on income and capital gains were 70% and 28%. When he left, they were 28% and 28%, respectively.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  180. 118. 124. It’s not (intentional) sleight of hand. The annual COLA increase in Social Security predates by many yeasr any significant increase in Medicare premiums.

    As I pointed out, it’s even worse for actual individuals, as medical expenses tend to go up with age. Then we have that they are now going to be taxed more at lower levels of income.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  181. Yes Cook has a solid district but many baby boomers who have not been farmed. That’s where I’m going.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  182. Have a safe flight, Rear Admiral… https://tenor.com/view/bat-cute-adorable-gif-6002349

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  183. The best part about this is some blue states get a lump of coal for Christmas.

    mg (60b0f7)

  184. Social Security, in more ways than one the mother of all U.S. entitlement programs, has been the dragon that conservatives have succeeded in slashing, but never slaying, over its 80-year history. Their opposition has morphed from outright ideological grounds as the program was being debated during the New Deal era to a campaign masked in careful rhetoric once Social Security became virtually untouchable as a political animal.

    They never quit trying

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/conservative-war-on-social-security-history

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  185. @189 BITuminous.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  186. Piketty says the American and French economic elite have taken almost all the benefit of income growth in the past few decades, and don’t need any more. Both countries’ new tax laws would—

    Leave working people feeling even more alienated from their governments than before.
    Leave the public feeling even more unwilling to make sacrifices need to curb global warming. If rich people can live even more lavishly than before, why should the rest of us accept the burden of a carbon tax?
    Leave governments even fewer resources to reduce poverty, either on a national or a global scale.
    As Piketty wrote, economic policies that benefit the economic elite at the expense of everybody else, in addition to being bad in themselves, are like to lead to a nationalist backlash that benefits nobody.

    This is not an issue that is limited to the USA and France.

    https://philebersole.wordpress.com/2017/12/16/trump-macron-tax-plans-both-favor-the-rich/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  187. ‘During Reagan’s presidency, the national debt grew from $997 billion to $2.85 trillion. This led to the U.S. moving from the world’s largest international creditor to the world’s largest debtor nation. Reagan described the new debt as the “greatest disappointment” of his presidency.’

    Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  188. Forget it DC.

    It’s Trumplandia

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  189. Alternate Facts..alternate history…alternate reality.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  190. URANUS ONE!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  191. “HUSH MONEY: Pennsylvania House Democrats pay $248K to settle sexual harassment complaint against 40-year lawmaker.. “A payment of $248,000 went to resolve a complaint in 2015 against State Rep. Thomas Caltagirone, a Democratic lawmaker from Berks County, by a longtime legislative staffer. The settlement included a nondisclosure agreement, according to a source familiar with the matter. . . . It was not clear whether Caltagirone, who faced a separate and widely publicized sexual harassment complaint in the mid-1990s, was disciplined or reprimanded after the 2015 payout. House Democrats would not discuss details of the case, and Caltagirone did not respond to requests for comment.”

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/283875/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  192. @194. It’s the ‘Art Of The Deal’- with $60 trillion, you get egg roll.

    DCSCA (797bc0)


  193. @194. It’s the ‘Art Of The Deal’- with $60 trillion, you get egg roll

    Eggs or no, they love to roll the unwary voter for his pocket change and we have to tell them how much the Bastard’s stole.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  194. Creeping authoritarianism, creeping autocracy, creeping kleptocracy—call it what you want. But the creep has turned into a sprint. The offenses to good government and fundamental values are happening each day, often several times a day—and in such a fusillade that there is often not enough time to ponder the horrendous implications of each one. And not enough space to consider the fundamental deterioration under way. Another aquatic metaphor: We are too busy being slammed by what’s coming out of the fire hose to see the water damage that is being done.
    http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/12/donald-trumps-holiday-gift-to-america-a-fundamental-crisis/#

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  195. “President Reagan campaigned on an explicitly articulated, four-point economic program to reverse this slow motion collapse of the American economy:

    1. Cut tax rates to restore incentives for economic growth, which was implemented first with a reduction in the top income tax rate of 70% down to 50%, and then a 25% across-the-board reduction in income tax rates for everyone. The 1986 tax reform then reduced tax rates further, leaving just two rates, 28% and 15%.

    2. Spending reductions, including a $31 billion cut in spending in 1981, close to 5% of the federal budget then, or the equivalent of about $175 billion in spending cuts for the year today. In constant dollars, nondefense discretionary spending declined by 14.4% from 1981 to 1982, and by 16.8% from 1981 to 1983. Moreover, in constant dollars, this nondefense discretionary spending never returned to its 1981 level for the rest of Reagan’s two terms! Even with the Reagan defense buildup, which won the Cold War without firing a shot, total federal spending declined from a high of 23.5% of GDP in 1983 to 21.3% in 1988 and 21.2% in 1989. That’s a real reduction in the size of government relative to the economy of 10%.

    3. Anti-inflation monetary policy restraining money supply growth compared to demand, to maintain a stronger, more stable dollar value.

    4. Deregulation, which saved consumers an estimated $100 billion per year in lower prices. Reagan’s first executive order, in fact, eliminated price controls on oil and natural gas. Production soared, and aided by a strong dollar the price of oil declined by more than 50%.

    These economic policies amounted to the most successful economic experiment in world history. The Reagan recovery started in official records in November 1982, and lasted 92 months without a recession until July 1990, when the tax increases of the 1990 budget deal killed it. This set a new record for the longest peacetime expansion ever, the previous high in peacetime being 58 months.

    During this seven-year recovery, the economy grew by almost one-third, the equivalent of adding the entire economy of West Germany, the third-largest in the world at the time, to the U.S. economy. In 1984 alone real economic growth boomed by 6.8%, the highest in 50 years. Nearly 20 million new jobs were created during the recovery, increasing U.S. civilian employment by almost 20%. Unemployment fell to 5.3% by 1989.

    The shocking rise in inflation during the Nixon and Carter years was reversed. Astoundingly, inflation from 1980 was reduced by more than half by 1982, to 6.2%. It was cut in half again for 1983, to 3.2%, never to be heard from again until recently. The contractionary, tight-money policies needed to kill this inflation inexorably created the steep recession of 1981 to 1982, which is why Reagan did not suffer politically catastrophic blame for that recession….”

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2014/09/18/the-obama-economy-vs-the-reagan-economy-its-literally-no-contest/amp/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  196. You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch
    You really are a heel
    You’re as cuddly as a cactus, you’re as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch
    You’re a bad banana with a greasy black peel!

    You’re a monster, Mr. Grinch
    Your heart’s an empty hole
    Your brain is full of spiders, you have garlic in your soul, Mr. Grinch
    I wouldn’t touch you with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!

    You’re a foul one, Mr. Grinch
    You have termites in your smile
    You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile, Mr. Grinch
    Given a choice between the two of you I’d take the seasick crocodile!

    You’re a vile one, Mr. Grinch
    You’re a nasty wasty skunk
    Your heart is full of unwashed socks, your soul is full of gunk, Mr. Grinch
    The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote
    “Stink, stank, stunk”!

    You’re a rotter, Mr. Grinch
    You’re the king of sinful sots
    Your heart’s a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots, Mr. Grinch
    Your soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful
    Assortment of rubbish imaginable mangled up in tangled up knots!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  197. at the end though Mr. Grinch is super-nice and he saves Christmas

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  198. Rear Admiral exhibits his reading-level prowess…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  199. When Reagan cut funding for school lunches and nutrition issues/children Raygun was compassionate..

    ketchup is a vegetable.

    When welfare could be trashed..

    Yeah. They might be needy, but are they truly needy?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  200. Republican Senator John Heinz (whose company owns Heinz ketchup) said “Ketchup is a condiment. This is one of the most ridiculous regulations I ever heard of, and I suppose I need not add that I know something about ketchup and relish — or did at one time.”
    The New York Times (9-28-81) noted that “Democrats are still chortling at what they hail as ‘the Emperor’s New Condiments’ — the attempt to declare ketchup a school-lunch vegetable.”

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  201. Democrat demographic displays behavior it’s known for… https://nypost.com/2017/12/19/women-brawl-in-front-of-kids-party-at-chuck-e-cheeses/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  202. Haiku, you are consistent. Is there anyone you don’t hate?

    DRJ (15874d)

  203. ketchup is rich in lycopene i love it so much

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  204. but not with egg rolls

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  205. Where did the Colonel indicate hatred? All he did was point out very bad and inappropriate behavior by the usual Democrat suspects. In front of kids. I guess you think calling out idiots acting like animals=hate?

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  206. What a bunch of misers full of stingy faux Christian charity and it’s Christmas ffs!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  207. Not hate, more tough-love… for thin-lipped, hard-scrabble, North Texas shysters and hopelessly confused leftwingers.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  208. Even #NeverTrumpers have some redeeming qualities.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  209. WEEKS BEFORE THE Republican-led Congress moved toward final passage of its corporate tax cut bill, major companies had already begun a surge of stock buybacks — confirming critics’ fears that the windfall of lower rates will be used for self-enrichment rather than job growth.

    Home Depot led the buyback splurge, pocketing $15 billion. On an earnings call held earlier this month, the company’s CFO Carol Tomé quietly admitted the strategy, when asked about the impact of tax reform on the firm:

    It really all depends on if it happens and when it happens and how we would spend it. Cash is fungible. Right now, we’re thinking it might not happen until 2019, so obviously we are using internally generated cash in 2018 to invest in the business and return capital to our shareholders. If it were to happen in 2019, we might use the tax — cash tax savings to invest in the business and then use — generated cash to back buy [sic] shares, it’s all fungible. The point is, we’re going to generate a lot, we may get some from tax reform and we will use it. We will invest back in the business, and we will return it our shareholders.

    https://theintercept.com/2017/12/19/tax-bill-corporate-cut-stock-buyback-republican/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  210. I sense a huge increase in Bizness thanks to Trumpublicans.

    mergers and acquisitions

    Small bizness advicates!!!! Lol.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  211. #168, DRJ, I think that cutting taxes and amnesty for illegal aliens are distinctly separate issues, dispite your attempt to conflate them, and dispite the excuses leftist apologists offer to ameliorate the President’s magnificent victory over the Democrat Dark State

    Additionally, if you’re concerned about Trump’s options for moving his America First agenda forward during the remaing years of his first term, then obviously electing candidates for Congress openly passionate in their support for, and commitment to, Making America Great Again is in your best interests, and the best interests of our people and our nation.

    PS: I’m not without sympathy for Dreamers, however their future in the US will be properly decided in open debate by our elected representatives and not by violent rent-a-mobs, two-faced TV deceivers, or Soros funded community organizers, working secretly in back rooms to usurp the absolute right of Americans to decide who shall and who shall not be welcome among us. We had way too many terrorists, enemy supporting immigrants, freeloaders, murderers, rapists, thieves, gang members, drunk drivers, disease carriers, crooks of all sorts, and other fascist evils inflicted on us during the Obama dictatorship.

    ropelight (8c3310)

  212. Soros funded community organizers, working secretly in back rooms to usurp the absolute right of Americans to decide who shall and who shall not be welcome among us.

    You do irony? What do you make of the 35% dicktating to the 65% in the manner you describe Obama? Goose? Gander?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  213. Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 12/20/2017 @ 4:43 am

    HA! I enjoyed that.

    felipe (023cc9)

  214. Don’t click on the link unless you have a strong stomach.
    Steve57 (0b1dac) — 12/20/2017 @ 5:26 am

    Thaks for the warning, Steve57, but “killing relatives” was all the warning I needed. No further proof of barbarity required.

    felipe (023cc9)

  215. ropelight (8c3310) — 12/20/2017 @ 6:31 am

    It’s good to see you in high spirits, Rope!

    felipe (023cc9)

  216. Unlike the leftists who constantly tell us how lousy, racist, homophobic etc, etc, America is:

    https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B0eS9AxV7CM/Wjm3DJpU1NI/AAAAAAABTa8/cYDuWzmI22IJs551bVbcqLy3rK9owJiGgCLcBGAs/s1600/1%2B1_190m_p0xibjubmE1w9qs8jo1_1280-800.jpg

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  217. You do know the difference between words and behavior, right hoagie?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  218. On the Today Show, when pressed on whether he was living in a “fantasy world” that the $1.6 trillion lost revenue in tax cuts would be equaled by growth, Ryan says:

    “Nobody knows the answer to that question.”

    YOU LIE!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  219. Disney’s robot Trump is so good they should send it out on the stump to sell the wall.

    https://youtu.be/IiUFLAMsvLk

    Or park it out front Rosie O’Donnell’s house to occasionally flip her the finger.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  220. =Haiku!= Gesundheit!

    Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

    The national debt tripled from one to three trillion dollars during the Reagan years.

    http://www.ushistory.org/us/59b.asp

    – ‘As president, Reagan “raised taxes in seven of his eight years in office,” including four times in just two years. As former GOP Senator Alan Simpson, who called Reagan “a dear friend,” told NPR, “Ronald Reagan raised taxes 11 times in his administration — I was there.”’

    Reagan nearly tripled the federal budget deficit. During the Reagan years, the debt increased to nearly $3 trillion, “roughly three times as much as the first 80 years of the century had done altogether.” Reagan enacted a major tax cut his first year in office and government revenue dropped off precipitously. Despite the conservative myth that tax cuts somehow increase revenue, the government went deeper into debt and Reagan had to raise taxes just a year after he enacted his tax cut. Despite ten more tax hikes on everything from gasoline to corporate income, Reagan was never able to get the deficit under control.’

    ‘Unemployment soared after Reagan’s 1981 tax cuts. Unemployment jumped to 10.8 percent after Reagan enacted his much-touted tax cut, and it took years for the rate to get back down to its previous level. Meanwhile, income inequality exploded. Despite the myth that Reagan presided over an era of unmatched economic boom for all Americans, Reagan disproportionately taxed the poor and middle class, but the economic growth of the 1980’s did little help them. “Since 1980, median household income has risen only 30 percent, adjusted for inflation, while average incomes at the top have tripled or quadrupled,” the New York Times’ David Leonhardt noted.’

    Reagan grew the size of the federal government tremendously. Reagan promised “to move boldly, decisively, and quickly to control the runaway growth of federal spending,” but federal spending “ballooned” under Reagan. He bailed out Social Security in 1983 after attempting to privatize it, and set up a progressive taxation system to keep it funded into the future. He promised to cut government agencies like the Department of Energy and Education but ended up adding one of the largest — the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, which today has a budget of nearly $90 billion and close to 300,000 employees. He also hiked defense spending by over $100 billion a year to a level not seen since the height of the Vietnam war.’

    ‘Reagan gave amnesty to 3 million [illegals.] Reagan signed into law a bill that made any immigrant who had entered the country before 1982 eligible for amnesty. The bill was sold as a crackdown, but its tough sanctions on employers who hired undocumented immigrants were removed before final passage. The bill helped 3 million people and millions more family members gain American residency. It has since become a source of major embarrassment for conservatives.’

    https://thinkprogress.org/10-things-conservatives-dont-want-you-to-know-about-ronald-reagan-7a87723a4f68/

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  221. Sammy Finkelman (9e0380) — 12/20/2017 @ 7:00 am

    You are onto something, here, Sammy. Talking about life expectancy without including the “fruits” of Roe v Wade, is foolish; perhaps as foolish as including them. Lies, damned lies, and statistics.

    felipe (023cc9)

  222. You linked to Thinkprogress?

    The shame of it!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  223. The fruits of Roe v. WADE for you hypocrites are the cannon fodder for your wars of choice. You love them soldier babies.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  224. @213. Ben, our Colonelle is a Kwanzaa man: “voodoo economics” ‘ya know.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  225. This rasping, snarling, mincing version of Rear Admiral Bunzbeenburning is very amusing!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  226. That’s that hoo doo voo doo doo-doo they doo so well.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  227. Haiku, you are consistent. Is there anyone you don’t hate?
    DRJ (15874d) — 12/20/2017 @ 8:06 am

    Drj, I believe that the Colonel, like many of us, has learned to suffer fools in silence; that he refuses to suffer them all in silence is not a sign of hatred, just discipline.

    I, on the other hand hate everyone on the road who drives slower than I do and everyone who drives faster than I do. Now that is hatred.

    felipe (023cc9)

  228. It seems our own comrade Ben! is in agreement with Komissar al-Blogunov of thepeoplescube.com who wrote:

    “Tr*mp is such a bumbling amateur politician that he’s actually keeping his campaign promises! Of course, this only further proves his underlying character flaws and mental instability which make him unfit to be the leader of the once free world.

    Of all the promises he’s had the temerity to keep, none has been more destructive than his plan of “tax relief” for the wealthiest Americans. So much could be said, but let’s focus on the two worst aspects of how tax relief is bad for the middle class, bad for America, and bad for the planet.

    First, more Americans will be allowed to keep more of what they’ve been conditioned by Fox “News” to perceive as their money. Never mind for now the ethical and moral issues of robbing the government, even though that’s one inevitable outcome, but think of what will happen if more Americans have more access to more money.

    Americans will engage in riskier behaviors that they otherwise couldn’t afford like skydiving. When Obama was president, fewer Americans could skydive which meant fewer innocent people were at risk of being crushed by a falling octogenarian celebrating his 80th birthday. But now all that’s about to change. Unbiased studies indicate that over 1.3 million children are at risk every day of being struck by just such a human meteor, most of them underprivileged minorities, women, and transgendered.”

    There can be no justice as long as Trump and his supporters are allowed to live. In the immoral words of Komissar-Reverand Sharpton: Resist we much!

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  229. @226. If you wanna see a man having micro-strokes live on television, catch Trump’s scattershot-riff at his final Cabinet meeting riff of the year today. Synapse misfires galore. The Carson Prayer and Pence Praise are a comedy classics, too.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  230. This is the Colonel, hating everyone. Can you spot Ben?

    felipe (023cc9)

  231. 237

    The least they could do over the Holidays is sing Happy Birthday Jesus!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  232. Dr Evil states his terms of surrender :or we’ll add TWO TRILLION DOLLAHS to the deficit!!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  233. Good stuff, felipe!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  234. @239. Guthrie’s b-tch-slapping grilling of Lyin’ Ryan on Today is just classic. Guthrie, of all people; and Goober’s response was to wave a postcard.

    And Putin smiled.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  235. House determining 2018 mix right now.

    May they have the cajones to face the music.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  236. @226. Guthrie fileted and deep-fried Ryan on live television. “Are you living in a fantasy world?”

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  237. How many seats will face sacrifice?

    Principled conservatives are glad to open an artery for the sake of posterity.

    They want to be remembered fondly, even if extinct and mummified.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  238. Lyin Ryan the granny-starving child abuser?

    He’s a man of profound faith and piety.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  239. Just ask Flippy.

    You know, Pepe Le Pew.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  240. No matter how much prep Savannah Guthrie does, she’s still just a Democrat Operative Talking Head…

    http://youtu.be/qALLZf6o9fE

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  241. Oooohhhh… psych!!!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  242. Rear Admiral Mean Gurl High, Jr.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  243. They definitely don’t want to be remembered as fondlers

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  244. She was very close ahem, to Matt lauer the cbo said robertscare would come in under a trilling dollars after it passed they got blutos reply to flounder when they trashed the car.

    narciso (d1f714)

  245. Savannah Guthrie couldn’t filet her way out of a large, wet paper bag.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  246. Oddly he works for NBC news so hes been farrowed

    https://muckrack.com/josh-meyer/bio

    narciso (d1f714)

  247. Who turned on the router at the mental hospital? Someone’s chewed through the canvas straps.

    SPQR (240837)

  248. I warned them, he was going piddle all over the carpet, but do they listen to zathras no.

    https://qz.com/author/jmeyerqz/

    One of the sticking points was a mere 500 million for school supplies for home schoolers, because what we need UN thought control.

    narciso (d1f714)

  249. “The Obama administration’s decision to let the Iranian proxy Hezbollah build a criminal empire in the Americas in exchange for a coveted nuclear deal provides a glimpse into the strategic thinking of the former president.”

    https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/betrayed-by-time/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  250. Yes he worked for the dog trainer, but he did some significant work along with another reporter, chronicling hoecthe five cells established themselves

    narciso (d1f714)

  251. @255. =Haiku= Gesundheit!

    All the more hilarious that she sliced and diced the whittle spud with the ease of a ginsu.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  252. God help you if that was your takeaway, ASPCA.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  253. felipe (023cc9) — 12/20/2017 @ 8:58 am

    You are onto something, here, Sammy. Talking about life expectancy without including the “fruits” of Roe v Wade, is foolish; perhaps as foolish as including them. Lies, damned lies, and statistics.

    That doesn’t affect life expectancy, because life expectancy only counts from birth, but it does affect in Cuba where stillbirths and infants taht die within a week or so maybe, I don’t know, are simply not recorded.

    What does effect life expectancy is something like opiod epidemic. Life expectancy in the United States went down about a month in the last year, but it has nothing to do with life expectancy at age 65, and not so much even at 40.

    This happened because policy is very stupid and rigid, and so rigid that nobody even talks about changing.

    They are opposed to prescribing heroin to addicts. Or even a more dangerous substitute without being involved in a whole big program. This is considered almost the greatest sin a doctor can do.

    They are also somewhat successful in stopping the importation of heroin into the United States from Mexico and other places.

    So what has happened is that fentanyl and other chemically engineered custom made drugs are used instead. These are much more concentrated and often are mailed into the United States. Some may not have had time to made illegal. In China they switch drugs every six months or so. (drugs are classified illegal based on exact chemical formula)

    The worst time for any drug addict is when they get discharged from a drug program or released from jail. They may not realize that the proper dosage has been reduced and nobody knows what the proper dosage of these heroin substitutes from China are. Nobody may know even what’s in them. While an addict can stay on Oxycodone fairly safely for a long time.

    This was done by the Obama Administration. Depriving people of access to Oxycodone, once they are addicted, is almost criminal. What happens as a result is perfectly predictable, as night follows day.

    It doesn’t make the addition go away. It leads people to the illegal market, which is getting more and more dangerous. The death rate rises. Of course Trump doesn’t have the answer, which is more than making Narcan (aka naloxone) more readily available. Which was already happening when Obama was president.

    Doctors should be allowed to prescribe Oxycodone to addicts, but the company should not be allowed to make much of a profit – maybe it should just be made generically available, perhaps manufactured by the government.

    Sammy Finkelman (83cfe1)


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