Tom,
You said...
Your assertion that Trump’s tax reform plan increased government revenues is right-wing propaganda. Please tell me what is not correct in the following table... compare Federal tax revenue growth under the old tax system from 2015 to 2018 versus after the new tax reform bill went into effect from 2018 to 2019. Clearly, 2020 will be impacted by the virus... but to see what the government projected revenues to be before the virus simply look at the forecasts for 2020 and 2021. Your Forbes article is a well thought out "opinion" piece... I am more focused on what really happened based on the Federal government revenue reporting.
https://www.thebalance.com/current-u-s-federal-government-tax-revenue-3305762
If you "unbundle" the rising deficits, they are all on the spend side... the government continues to collect more in taxes even after cutting the rates because of the impact of lower tax rates and job growth. If you look at tax revenues at a more granular level, you will see a massive increase in individual income taxes and payroll taxes which are a function of more people working and making more money.
You said...
About the Koch Brothers relationship with the White House. Timing is everything. Prior to 2018, the Koch Brothers were supporters of Trump and his tax reform bill. But two things have happened. First, they oppose Trump's tough immigration policies and other policies that restrict the supply of labor thus forcing them to pay workers higher wages. Secondly, the brother more closely aligned with Trump has stepped down for health reasons and the other brother does not like Trump very much... so your statement about the Koch Brothers was true once, but not know.
You included an opinion piece about the impact of Trump's rollback of regulations. I am not sure you realize that every state has its own EPA and its own rules. So Trump has largely said rather than make corporations have to deal with two sets of regulations, the Federal government will begin to rollback our regulations. I live in California and I have seen no impact from doing so, since our regulations already exceeded the Federal regulations in most areas.
You said I am clueless about racism....
I am in a bi racial marriage and five of my six grandchildren are African American. I get plenty of feedback on racial matters. Trump and Cuomo are both New Yorkers... if you lived close to New York you understand them, if you haven't, you never will. In the end Trump exhibits over and over again that he values talent over race. That is all we can ever ask for from society.
I know a lot about Trump's history. Can you show me where he denigrates Mexican legal immigrants? He does not defend the Confederacy, he acknowledges it happened and its part of our history like it or not. He believes the people and not a mob should decide about what to do with statures. If the people want to destroy them fine... if the people want them moved into museums fine... but 70% of Americans oppose destroying statues, so why do 30% of Americans get to have their way in our country?
Trump is not a misogynist, he is a womanizer. Those are very different. He has employed many very competent women in important roles showing he respects their intelligence and abilities. He has also chased skirts.
Charter schools... are you being silly or what? My brother founded it targets inner city children of color and provides them access to an education that prepares them for college... how is that discriminatory?
I have no issue with public schools where they work, but public schools today are far more discriminatory than public schools. My children all attended public schools in affluent towns that offered them superb educations... but I have lived 12 states and I have seen almost universally cases where public schools in urban areas are failing and after decades are not getting any better. So your answer is to force poor children to get poor educations?
You are right I don't support an egalitarian society, I support one where each person is able to reach their full potential, not one where each person is treated the same. If I study harder, work harder, and I have more talent, I deserve more... ditto if that applies to you. I support a meritocracy not socialism or an aristocracy. I have no issue with people being wealthy especially as history shows we have quite a bit of economic mobility in this country... economic mobility is something I do support with talent and education being the keys to moving up the ladder.
I am not a one percenter, but I am in the top 10%. As someone that support universal health care and as someone who spent a career in health care and finally as someone that was the Chief Financial Officer for the county's largest Medicare program administrator, I think Medicare for All is really dumb. Most people have no idea what that means... in their heads it means something very different than what it really is.
You are right about our absurd health care costs. A Harvard study comparing us with other countries had identified two problems with regard to our costs. The first is we don't really have a free market in health care... which is why I have gone so far as to promote "fair pricing" where the government sets a maximum "fair" price for every good and service in health care. As a conservative, I believe the "free market" is the best tool for price discovery... but when it does not exist as is the case in health care, I think prices should be regulated. The second reason are costs are higher is we have higher obesity rates... if you can figure out how to fix that... you can cut the cost "gap" with other countries by 30% (pricing is the rest).
You are also right about us not ranking as high as other countries on health (quality really is the wrong word). Most world comparisons focus on longevity and health status. Again with regard to America the two biggest things working against the US are obesity (impacting health status and longevity) and substance abuse (ditto).
Notice none of the variables suggest a "single payer" system... Japan has the highest life expectancy and health status of all developed nations... it has a universal health care system where care is administered by over 1500 private health insurance companies and it has lower cost then Europe as a percent of GDP. So you need to study health care before you opine on it.
I will be going on Medicare soon and like one third of seniors (the number increases as a percent every year), I have opted for Medicare Advantage (which is the private health insurance) option. Why, I want a company that make money on my health by keeping my healthy... I have Kaiser today and have signed up for their Medicare plan. Let me tell you about traditional Medicare... we don't care what happens to you... we get a claim we pay it... we don't try to keep you healthy... not our job. What is Medicare? A cost effective way to pay claims and a cost ineffective way to deliver care... one third of the care delivered under Medicare is unnecessary... and Medicare has no way in its design to get rid of bad doctors or facilities... not their issue... they do police for fraud... I want health care that benefits by me having good health outcomes...
I do support subsidies to citizens who health care is unaffordable due to income or pre-existing conditions... but why have the government collect my money... rake off 10% and then give it back? How does that make sense?
I do not embrace trickle down economics, not because it does not work, it does work. The problem is in a global economy if one country pumps money into the system the benefit is to diluted to work whether you try to pour the money in at the top and have it "trickle" down or you distribute the money at the "bottom" through government checks. I think Trump has this part right, along with the Chinese, and Europeans... the "new game" is about jobs... especially good jobs... this is why Milton Friedman's lecture on how to help the poor makes so much sense...
I grew up adjacent to the largest poor African American neighborhood in my town. A number of the children there became my friends through sports. We commuted together and walked home after practices together. I have lost touch with them since my parents died... but twenty years later (it is now forty years later), my friends that escaped poverty all did so by becoming tradesman including welders and mechanics. Sadly, most never really got a shot at college even though we went to the same excellent public schools because college was never a goal... but the make pretty good money (more than many college graduates as welders and mechanics). They escaped poverty by becoming valuable.
With regard to the Defense Budget, even under Trump is has been a constantly declining percent of our nation's GDP... it is now down to 3.4%. The current forecast is that it will continue to fall to levels similar to Europe's by the end of the decade.
I think Trump is on the right track. His focus has been to support our veterans and focus on military spending on modernizing our military. He has worked hard to avoid foreign entanglements. No Libya or Bosnia for Trump. He has reduced our forces elsewhere while chastising our allies to up their spending to meet their treaty agreements.
It is pretty clear, Trump is focused at "shrinking" the size of our military but increasing its effectiveness. Your issues with our military don't seem specific to Trump and you are entitled to your opinions.
Actually, you are right and wrong about Europeans being happier. Studies show people that are unhappy with their jobs are happier under the European system and people that are happy with their jobs prefer the American system. Makes sense... and I am okay with that... clearly a system with more entitlements would be more attractive to people unhappy with their jobs.
The one area where you are wrong is standard of living... Germany and Sweden are considered to of the "wealthiest" countries in Europe. If they were American states they would be among the poorest on a cost of living adjusted basis.
https://mises.org/wire/if-sweden-and-germany-became-us-states-they-would-be-among-poorest-states
So on average, you are right their incomes look quite good... but what you get for your money is far less than what you get in America. America has a similar issue... I live in California with one of the highest per capita incomes in the country and among the fewest percentage of people living in poverty based on income. But when you adjust for cost of living, we have the highest poverty rate in the nation with over 20% of our population living in poverty.
It is true that the Great Society was enacted in LBJ term. Now go back and see how the Congressional votes went... the Republicans supported it more wholeheartedly than the Democrats.
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/88-1964/h182
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/88-1964/s409
Similarly, it was Eisenhower that forced the southern schools to end segregation.
The slam against Republican came when Wallace tried to launch a third party and when it failed the Southern Democrats left the Democrat party at the Federal level, but if you check you will find long after the Blue Dog Democrats began voting Republican in national election, they kept voting Democrat in state elections...
Climate change... what a dumb issue. America's per capita use of fossil fuels has been on the decline for more about 50 years, since the big OPEC recession in the 70s. There really is nothing the US can do one way or the other to impact the climate... other countries especially China is driving this bus... personally, I think mankind is quite adaptable and well adapt to whatever climate change occurs...
But I am all for energy independence... but I don't believe the lip service liberals pay to the issue is matched by their actions. As a conservative, I believe in "conserving" our energy resources... why use up our limited fossil fuel resources... where cheaper alternative energy sources are available... so my house and both cars are powered from the solar panels on my roof... my electric bill since last August cumulatively is negative $900 and as I said, it runs my house and both our cars... my daughter does use a Prius... we call it the "gas guzzler". How about you have you gone electric?
The stupid thing about Democrats is they try to make the whole solar/electric vehicle into some big "green" issue and personal sacrifice... why not simply promote it as a way to save a lot of money... people respond to saving money... we have "sold" half a dozen friends on converting to solar. Our lease payments for electric cars are higher than they were for gas cars, but our all in operating costs are much lower... maintenance is almost nothing and fuel comes off the roof of the house... I never waste time at gas stations or inhale benzine fumes... Let me define going "green" differently... put more green in your wallet by going solar and electric in those states where it makes sense... for other states go natural gas... cheaper and cleaner.
Actually, as I am retired I study issues... I read BLS reports when they come out... I read Federal Reserve publications, I have corresponded with the International Agency on Climate Change in Switzerland and studied their models. I have met with Senators on health care. I have read most of the published studies on the Covid. I think for myself and go through the effort of getting to the real facts and not letting any media outlet "interpret" those facts...
Let me end with a link to the resignation letter by the editor of the NYT... I doubt she and I would agree on many things... but I admire her belief in the idea that journalism is about informing people and the exchange of ideas. You and I disagree... I appreciate you providing your opinion and some links to support your arguments and I have done the same with mine... it has been worthwhile exchanging thoughts even though we don't agree...
