KRUGMAN: "Taxpayers, You've Been Scammed"

[kpete]

Trump and his allies pretended to give you a gift, but they gave themselves and their wealthy patrons much bigger gifts

...............

So you go out for dinner with a wealthy acquaintance. “I’ll take care of everything,” he says, and orders you a hamburger. Then he orders himself an expensive steak and a bottle of wine, which he doesn’t share. And when the waiter comes with the check, he points at you and says, “Charge it to his credit card.”

Now you understand the essence of the Trump tax cut, signed into law a little over two months ago.

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How’s that $75-a-year saving going to look when the teacher finds out that, partly because of that tax cut, her mother’s Medicare plan has been converted into an inadequate voucher system and Medicaid won’t pay for her father’s nursing home care?

...............

So far, we’ve seen about $6 billion in bonuses versus more than $170 billion in stock buybacks, that is, handing money to wealthy stockholders. And money spent on buybacks is money that isn’t being invested in plants and equipment, the supposed point of the tax cut.

..............

Donald Trump and his allies pretended to give you a gift, but they gave themselves and their wealthy patrons much bigger gifts — and they’re going to stick you with the bill. You’ve been scammed.


https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/opinion/taxpayers-scammed-republicans.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

[Ohiogal]

1. Krugman always nails it.

And what a totally embarrassing photo of the Ugly Dumpster. Such a positive and cheerful persona, NOT!

[spanone]

2. K&R...

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. This was all explained beforehand by Krugman and others.

Many Trumpanzees will be surprised but even there some were against it from the start and have soured on tRump.

[Beartracks]

18. Yes, they'll be surprised -- and yet they'll STILL wonder...

... how Obama and Hillary managed to screw them over when they're not even President.

=======

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Steal the money, crash the markets - stock & housing - and buy it back dirt cheap

Hey it's a plan. If you can pull it off, you're not bragging.

[Sophia4]

14. Worked for people when George W. Bush was in office.

And it was timed just right to crash as GWB was leaving office.
I can't say that they planned it that way, but that is how it worked.

[bucolic_frolic]

20. They thought they had timed it right to dump it on the next

Democratic president. But people were wiser to what they were up to and brought it down sooner.

[dalton99a]

5. Kick

[hueymahl]

6. Perfect analogy

100% of the funding for the tax cut comes from the pockets of future generations. I could quibble with the "charge it to his card" because they are really charging it to both cards, but his phraseology is much more impactful.

[smirkymonkey]

7. K&R

and bookmarked!

[Wounded Bear]

8. The good doctor is definitely "go to" when it comes to economics...

[Kurt V.]

9. And then

they will come after the safety net. Because of the national debt, which they created. ugh

[Martin Eden]

10. What kind of fools didn't see this coming?

No doubt they were wearing MAGA hats.

[HenryWallace]

11. Important Point... But hardly new.

Reagan dropped the top rate by 42%, I got a tax break of about $320. (in effect it amounted to a temporary bribe, not to protest the windfall at the top).

More importantly, it removed an important social benefit of the progressive tax structure. Aside from generating government revenue, a progressive tax structure promotes equality of incomes, and a thriving and broadly prosperous society. Ultimately, this progressive structure promotes growth and insures the long-term viability of a market-based economy.

[mgardener]

12. Brought to you by the Republicans

Let's not forget this was from the Republican congress.
Every single Republican should have to answer for this disaster.
Also, they are allowing this Trump presidency to proceed, unchecked.

[Cha]

13. Thank you, Paul Krugman!

[Kajun Gal]

15. Funny how every one of our bills went up when we got our measly tax break.

Still breaking even. One cancels out the other.

[Kajun Gal]

16. And bill increases are permanent. Tax break isn't!

[onlyadream]

17. Actually, he points to your children,

And says they’ll pay.

[duforsure]

19. Good analogy Paul

Trump uses this tactic often saying something completely false and the opposite of the truth, and I've always used that habit of his to see what he is really doing. The tax scam, and now we're seeing them working to destroy Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, and remember how he claimed the opposite, and did the same with health care claiming he'd give us the greatest best most fantastic lower costing better covering plan when in reality he was going to do the opposite to our health care plans, and Social Security. Bait and switch is taken to another level from this lifelong con artist, so this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who's followed his history.