Robber Baron Mnuchin: "Tax Scam Will Pay For Itself!" - Sen Warren: "NOT SO FAST, BUCKO! It won't!"

[CousinIT]

Link to tweet

THE ENTIRE THREAD: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/940356607095042048

After I requested an investigation, @USTreasury finally released its "analysis" of the #GOPTaxScam. This one-page report is pathetic – and shows Secretary Mnuchin has no basis for claiming that the tax plan "will pay for itself with growth." https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Documents/TreasuryGrowthMemo12-11-17.pdf



In this bogus report, @USTreasury was supposed to use its economic models to project how the GOP tax plan would affect economic growth.

It didn't do that. It just made up the numbers.

The @USTreasury report says that IF economic growth is 2.9% instead of 2.2% over the next ten years, then the national debt will go down despite the GOP plan’s massive tax giveaway to big corporations. Oh really?

But how does the report show that economic growth WILL be 2.9% instead of 2.2% thanks to the GOP tax plan? It doesn’t! Instead, @USTreasury "expects approximately half" of this additional growth to come from corporate tax changes.



A bit of important background on this claim. @USTreasury includes the Office of Tax Policy (OTP). The OTP is staffed by non-political tax experts and economists, who are responsible for projecting the economic impact of changes to the tax code.

While @USTreasury’s OTP made other projections in this report, it didn’t make the key projection that growth would go up about .35% annually thanks to the corporate tax changes in the GOP tax bill.

In other words: @USTreasury’s OTP couldn’t support Mnuchin’s claims about economic growth, so he just said it again without evidence.

Mnuchin’s projection is completely out of line with other projections. It's way higher than credible estimates, and even higher than right-wing projections that ignore the effect of the national debt on growth.



But it’s worse: even Mnuchin’s made-up numbers on the corporate tax changes only get Republicans halfway to the economic growth numbers they’re claiming.

Where does the other half of the growth come from according to @USTreasury? Partly from proposals that haven’t even been introduced in Congress and may never happen.



To recap: After claiming repeatedly he had projections showing the #GOPTaxScam paid for itself, Mnuchin released a report showing that there were no such projections, and that even his own wildly optimistic made-up projections weren’t enough for the plan to pay for itself.

The American people deserve to know how this #GOPTaxScam will impact the economy and how it will affect middle-class families. @USTreasury promised an economic analysis – but this isn’t it. I look forward to the IG’s investigation providing real answers for American families.

[SeaDoo77]

1. Stop Lying You Sack Of Shit Munchin

God I hate you bastards.

[BigmanPigman]

2. It is NOT a done deal, far from it!

The GOP propaganda machine wants us to believe that it is and that is why they are pushing it through. They do not want the calls, town halls, blocked hallways, etc. They think we do not know that bit is a scam and if we do they don't want the word to get out hampering their clandestine efforts.
That is GOP wishful thinking so DO NOT FALL FOR IT. They need 51 votes, after Jan ast they will need 60. Our voices are being heard by them and they are scared...and should be. Only 28% of Americans approve of it.
DITRACTIONS are all over and expect more daily. If people on DU would fight the Tax Scam as much as they fight Franken's resignation their energy would be used to stop it dead in its tracks.
This is NOT OVER! People have been organizing and there is a lot that YOU, me and everyone we know can do and DO it NOW!

I was part of the Not One Penny nationwide phone call with Indivisible, Cory Booker, Bernie, MoveOn, etc. We all need to get up and be active instead of whining that it is over, that is GOP and MSM BS used to distract us. The bill is not a win, it is a disaster and we can stop it. There are still a few weeks left and the three things we must do...
1. Attend protests, town halls, etc and make sure the media is there, no matter how big or small it is. The media has been absent due to the non stop distractions. There are many important issues but this is our BIGGEST PRIORITY for the next few weeks.
2. Keep up the CALLS. They started late but eventually their staffers were busy ...call, tell your family and friends in other states to call too. [phone]
https://www.trumptaxscam.org/
3. Social media is crucial. Retweet and share whatever you can. Send it to the media. Events, town halls, protests are occurring and over 100 are planned for this week alone. Bernie, Cory Booker, Indivisible, MoveOn have been going to Kentucky, Ohio and PA all weekend.

New info is already coming out. One new fact since the Fri vote is that there will be 1/2 trillion more dollars added to the deficit. Only 28% of Americans approve of the Tax Scam. This week Ryan will appoint Repub to his closed door "conference committee" and then we can target those reps. The house and senate have to "negotiate a compromise". What they voted on is different in each chamber. For now we know of 28 Rep congressmen who voted against one of the two bills/plans. We need to flip 23 of them. The Senate will need to be PRESSURED NON STOP...this means calling the 9 senators that were wavering. If we get Alabama we only need two more senators with Corker. This would be great.
We have been the catalysts of the grass roots efforts for a year and have stopped major legislation. We have a few more weeks until the holidays. After that we have to spread the word about what the GOP has done to the stability and future of our country with this tax cut for the rich and they are taking money from the sick and poor which will bankrupt millions and take over 13 million off of health care. Meanwhile tax cuts for multi million dollar corporations will not be trickling down at all and never will. The bill ensures that the country will be taxed more over the next 10 year (but not the corporations...you and me are paying).
Call [phone]

We must HAMMER them on this bill. Put pressure on these greedy, cruel eastwards and DO NOT STOP!

[CousinIT]

3. THANK YOU. I agree. We ALL STILL NEED TO CALL and BLOCK THE HALLS - DAILY.

These dirtbag robber barons need to know in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that we know their shit sandwich is PURE SHIT.

[House of Roberts]

4. If the US economy was ever able to

achieve the growth needed to come CLOSE to offsetting the tax cuts, the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates to stop the runaway inflation that would inevitably result.

[CTyankee]

5. Paul Krugman has been on this FOREVER.

This is just one more try for the "trickle down" theory.

I managed one course (all I could take) in Econ in grad school. This old idea was once called "supply creates its own demand" by Jean Baptiste Say and known as Say's Law. It justifies government handing out tax favors to business owners because they will hire more workers and pay competitive wages. Similar to "a rising tide lifts all boats." We saw it rise like a zombie in Reagan's "supply side economics." Same old, same old.

Marx had his own ideas about this. He formulated the Labor Theory of Econ. Value, he said, is found in the work of the laborer, not in capital or land ownership.

It was an interesting course centered on the idea of "value." It was a fascinating course for the non-Econ major (me).

[jmowreader]

6. Say's Law, of course, is total bullshit

The "law" states,

A product is no sooner created, than it, from that instant, affords a market for other products to the full extent of its own value.

This leads to a very large issue: What "market for other products to the full extent of its own value" does a product create if no one wants it?

Another bullshit theory economists push states that prices are self regulating in that if the price of one commodity goes up, its purchasers will move to another product. Or "if apples are too expensive people will buy oranges instead." Now hang on a second, Jack; if I am a baker who sells a thousand apple pies a day, I'm going to have a hell of a time convincing my customers orange pies are just as good. A driver who doesn't like the price of gasoline can't buy diesel instead. And if I really want an apple with my lunch, an orange may be a poor substitute. Most of the science of economics is not borne out in the real world, because in the real world people don't necessarily act rationally. (Witness Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs...which would make sense if people always behaved rationally, but there are a LOT of people who will spend $500 on clothing for the New Year's party they're going to attend when they probably should use that $500 to replace the tires on their cars.)