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A Guide to Why the Trump-Republican Tax Plan is a Disgrace (for When you Confront Your Republican Uncle Bob During the Holidays)
Developing Economies. He
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2017
ROBERT B. REICH is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior
served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written fourteen books, including the best sellers "Aftershock", "The Work of Nations," and"Beyond Outrage," and, his most recent, "Saving Capitalism." He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning documentary, INEQUALITY FOR ALL. + FOLLOW ON TUMBLR + TWITTER + FACEBOOK
Here are the 3 main Republican arguments in favor of the Republican tax plan, followed by the truth. 1. It will make American corporations competitive with foreign corporations, which are taxed at a lower rate. Discuss on Facebook
Rubbish. (1) American corporations now pay an effective rate (after taking deductions and tax credits) that’s just about the same as most foreign based corporations pay. (2) Most of these other countries also impose a “Value Added Tax” on top of the corporate tax. (3) When we cut our corporate rate from 35% to 20%, other nations will cut their corporate rates in order to be competitive with us – so we gain nothing anyway.
Ec o n o m i c s i n Wonderland A cartoon guide to a political world gone mad and mean
(4) Most big American corporations who benefit most from the Republican tax plan aren’t even “American.” Over 35 percent of their shareholders are foreign (which means that by cutting corporate taxes we’re giving a big tax cut to those foreign shareholders). 20 percent of their employees are foreign, while many Americans work for foreign-based corporations.
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(5) The “competitiveness” of America depends on American workers, not on “American” corporations. But this tax plan will make it harder to finance public investments in education, health, and infrastructure, on which the future competitiveness of American workers depends. (6) American corporations already have more money than they know what to do with. Their profits are at record levels. They’re using them to buy back their shares of stock, and raise executive pay. That’s what they’ll do with the additional $1 trillion they’ll receive in this tax cut.
TELL THE FCC NOT TO END NET NEUTRALITY! The FCC is voting Thursday on whether to repeal the “Net Neutrality” rule adopted in 2015.
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Since its creation, the internet has been an
2. With the tax cut, big corporations and the rich will invest and create more jobs.
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open exchange of ideas and information, free from corporate control and influence. But corporations could soon have tremendous power over what we can access and share
Baloney.
online, ending the internet as we know it.
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(1) Job creation doesn’t trickle down. After Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush cut taxes on the top, few jobs and little growth resulted. America cut taxes on corporations in 2004 in an attempt to get them to bring their profits home from abroad, and what happened? They didn’t invest. They just bought up more shares of their own stock, and increased executive pay.
prevents internet service providers from favoring some sites over others – slowing down connections or charging customers a fee for streaming or other services. It gave Americans equal access to all the content that’s available on the internet – videos,
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(2) Companies expand and create jobs when there’s more demand for their goods and services. That demand comes from customers who have the money to buy what companies sell. Those customers are primarily the middle class and poor, who spend far more of their incomes than the rich. But this tax bill mostly benefits the rich.
social media, e-commerce sites, etc – at the same speeds. Now, though, Donald Trump’s handpicked chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, wants to abolish “Net Neutrality.” He wants to give
(3) At a time when the richest 1 percent already have 40 percent of all the wealth in the country, it’s immoral to give them even more – especially when financed partly by 13 million low-income Americans who will lose their health coverage as a result of this tax plan (according to the Congressional Budget Office), and by subsequent cuts in safety-net programs necessitated by increasing the deficit by $1.5 trillion.
telecommunications giants like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T the upper hand. Pai – himself a former Verizon executive – defends the rollback by “Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the internet.” Baloney. His plan would be a huge gift to cable companies. It would: 1. Drive up prices for internet service.
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Broadband providers could charge customers
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3. It will give small businesses an incentive to invest and create more jobs.
higher rates to access certain sites, or raise rates for internet companies to reach consumers faster speeds. Either way, these prices hikes would be passed along to you
Untrue.
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In 2015, the FCC passed a landmark rule that
and me.
(1) At least 85 percent of small businesses earn so little they already pay the lowest corporate tax rate, which this plan doesn’t change.
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2. Give corporate executives free reign to slow down and censor news or websites that don’t match their political agenda, or give
Su p e r c a p i t a l i s m The Transformation of Business,
(2) In fact, because the tax plan bestows much larger rewards on big businesses, they’ll have more ability to use predatory tactics to squeeze small firms and force them out of business.
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3. Stifle innovation. Cable companies could certain apps or online services. Small businesses who can’t afford to pay higher
Don’t let your Uncle Bob be fooled: Republicans are voting for this because their wealthy patrons demand it. Their tax plan will weaken our economy for years – reducing demand, widening inequality, and increasing the national debt by at least $1.5 trillion over the next decade.
rates could be squeezed out altogether. Broadband providers claim that Net Neutrality rules actually hurts consumers because it discourages investment in their networks. Rubbish. Since Net Neutrality was adopted,
Shame on the greedy Republican backers who have engineered this. Shame on Trump and the Republicans who have lied to the pubic about its consequences.
Re a s o n
reason at all. severely hurt their competitors by blocking
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preference to their own content – for any
investment has remained consistent. During calls with investors, telecom executives themselves have even admitted that Net
Why Liberals Will Win the Battle for
Neutrality hasn’t hurt their businesses.
America
In the modern age, unfettered access to the internet is essential to a vibrant democracy
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The Meaning of Doug Jones’s Upset Victory
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2017
Lo c k e d i n t h e Ca b i n e t
There’s still time. Please help stop this corporate power grab over what we can say and do online.
Common sense and decency have prevailed in Alabama. It was a vote not just against sexual abuse but also against racism and against those who would ride roughshod over our democratic institutions.
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Yes, the margin was small, and Roy Moore was the worst candidate Republicans could possibly have dredged up. But remember, this is Alabama – where Democrats are hated, where minority votes are suppressed, where Trump won overwhelmingly last November. SLAPP LAWSUITS: THE BIGGEST
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In the most Trumpian of all states, Trump has been delivered the most powerful repudiation to date. First it was Virginia; now, Alabama. I’d like to think this is a precursor of what’s to come next November – the beginning of the end of the nightmare.
THREAT TO THE RESISTANCE YOU NEVER HEARD OF Have you heard of SLAPP lawsuits? You soon will. SLAPP stands for “Strategic Lawsuit Against
Today Alabama demonstrated that America is better than Trump, and better than House and Senate Republicans who have jumped into the swamp Trump has created. Congratulations, Doug Jones. Congratulations, Alabama. Congratulations, America.
Public Participation.” It is a lawsuit brought by big corporations intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the overwhelming costs of a legal defense until they’re forced to abandon their criticism or opposition. And it may be the biggest threat to the resistance you’ve never heard of. Here’s an example: Resolute Forest Products, one of Canada’s largest logging and paper companies, has sued, in a U.S. court,
TRAVIS SMILEY, NOVEMBER 30, 2017
environmental groups that have been campaigning to save Canada’s boreal forest. Resolute based its lawsuit on a U.S. conspiracy and racketeering law (RICO) intended to ensnare mobsters. Resolute alleged that the environmental groups have been illegally conspiring to extort the company’s customers and to defraud their own donors. MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2017
MORNING JOE, NOVEMBER 9, 2017
The suit wasn’t designed to win in court. It was designed to distract and silence critics.
TELL THE FCC NOT TO END NET NEUTRALITY!
This is punishment for speaking out. Thankfully, a federal court agrees and a judge
The FCC is voting Thursday on whether to repeal the “Net Neutrality” rule adopted in 2015.
just dismissed Resolute’s claims. But other corporate bullies are still trying to use this playbook.
Since its creation, the internet has been an open exchange of ideas and information, free from corporate control and influence. But corporations could soon have tremendous power over what we can access and share online, ending the internet as we know it.
ABC, APRIL 30, 2017
Here’s another example: Remember the indigenous led movement at Standing Rock, when hundreds of nations and their allies came together and stood up against the destructive Dakota Access Pipeline?
In 2015, the FCC passed a landmark rule that prevents internet service providers from favoring some sites over others – slowing down connections or charging customers a fee for streaming or other services. It gave Americans equal access to all the content that’s available on the internet – videos, social media, e-commerce sites, etc – at the same speeds.
In August, Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind that pipeline, filed a similar RICO case against Greenpeace entities and two other defendants over Standing Rock. The suit accuses them of participating in a sprawling criminal conspiracy to disrupt business and defraud donors. The lawsuit
ABC, FEBRUARY 26, 2017
Now, though, Donald Trump’s handpicked chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, wants to abolish “Net Neutrality.” He wants to give telecommunications giants like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T the upper hand.
even alleges they support eco-terrorism and engage in drug trafficking. The lawsuit claims Greenpeace cost the company $300 million. Since RICO claims entitle plaintiffs to recover triple damages, the
CNN, FEBRUARY 21, 2017
Pai – himself a former Verizon executive – defends the rollback by “Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the internet.” Baloney. His plan would be a huge gift to cable companies. It would:
million. That would be the end of Greenpeace. But, again, winning isn’t necessarily the goal of SLAPP suits. Just by filing the suits,
1. Drive up prices for internet service. Broadband providers could charge customers higher rates to access certain sites, or raise rates for internet companies to reach consumers faster speeds. Either way, these prices hikes would be passed along to you and me.
CNN, FEBRUARY 2, 2017
case potentially could cost Greenpeace $900
Energy Transfer Partners and Resolute are trying to drain environmental groups of time, energy, and resources they need, so they can’t continue to fight to protect the environment. Connect the dots, and consider the chilling
2. Give corporate executives free reign to slow down and censor news or websites that don’t match their political agenda, or give preference to their own content – for any reason at all.
effect SLAPP suits are having on any group seeking to protect public health, worker’s rights, and even our democracy. Who’s behind all of this? Both the lawsuits I
3. Stifle innovation. Cable companies could severely hurt their competitors by blocking certain apps or online services. Small businesses who can’t afford to pay higher rates could be squeezed out altogether.
just mentioned were filed by Michael Bowe. He is also a member of Donald Trump’s personal legal team. Bowe has publicly stated that he’s in conversations with other corporations considering filing their own
CNN, DECEMBER 10, 2016
Broadband providers claim that Net Neutrality rules actually hurts consumers because it discourages investment in their networks.
SLAPP lawsuits. If the goal is to silence public-interest groups, the rest of us must speak out. Wealthy
Rubbish. Since Net Neutrality was adopted, investment has remained consistent. During calls with investors, telecom executives themselves have even admitted that Net Neutrality hasn’t hurt their businesses.
corporations must know they can’t SLAPP the public into silence.
In the modern age, unfettered access to the internet is essential to a vibrant democracy and strong economy.
CNN, DECEMBER 7, 2016
There’s still time. Please help stop this corporate power grab over what we can say and do online.
The New Poll Tax Hundreds of thousands of Americans are being denied the right to vote because they
CNN, DECEMBER 7, 2016
are poor. In nine states, Republican legislators have enacted laws that disenfranchise anyone with outstanding legal fees or court fines. For example, in Alabama more than 100,000 people who owe money – roughly 3 percent of the state’s voting-age population – have been struck from voting rolls. This is unconstitutional. In 1964, the 24th
DEMOCRACY NOW!, AUGUST, 2016
amendment abolished the poll tax, a Jim Crow tactic used to bar poor blacks from
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2017
voting.
SLAPP LAWSUITS: THE BIGGEST THREAT TO THE RESISTANCE YOU NEVER HEARD OF
disproportionately disenfranchising people of Income and wealth should have no bearing on
SLAPP stands for “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.” It is a lawsuit brought by big corporations intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the overwhelming costs of a legal defense until they’re forced to abandon their criticism or opposition. And it may be the biggest threat to the resistance you’ve never heard of. Here’s an example: Resolute Forest Products, one of Canada’s largest logging and paper companies, has sued, in a U.S. court, environmental groups that have been campaigning to save Canada’s boreal forest.
COLBERT REPORT, NOVEMBER, 2013
that unconstitutional system, color.
Have you heard of SLAPP lawsuits? You soon will.
C-SPAN BOOK TV, OCTOBER, 2015
These new laws are a modern reincarnation of
Resolute based its lawsuit on a U.S. conspiracy and racketeering law (RICO) intended to ensnare mobsters. Resolute alleged that the environmental groups have been illegally conspiring to extort the company’s customers and to defraud their own donors.
the right to vote. Many Americans are struggling to make ends meet. But they still have a constitutional right to make their voices heard. Preventing people from voting because they owe legal fees or court fines muzzle lowincome Americans at a time in our nation’s history when the rich have more political power than ever. These state laws are another form of voter suppression – like gerrymandering, voter ID requirements, and bars on anyone with felony convictions from voting. We must not let them stand.
The suit wasn’t designed to win in court. It was designed to distract and silence critics. This is punishment for speaking out. Thankfully, a federal court agrees and a judge just dismissed Resolute’s claims. But other corporate bullies are still trying to use this playbook.
WITH BILL MOYERS, SEPT. 2013
Here’s another example: Remember the indigenous led movement at Standing Rock, when hundreds of nations and their allies came together and stood up against the destructive Dakota Access Pipeline?
A YEAR WITHOUT A PRESIDENT It seems like forever, but it was just one year ago that Donald Trump was elected president.
In August, Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind that pipeline, filed a similar RICO case against Greenpeace entities and two other defendants over Standing Rock. The suit accuses them of participating in a sprawling criminal conspiracy to disrupt business and defraud donors. The lawsuit even alleges they support ecoterrorism and engage in drug trafficking.
So what have we learned about the presidency and who is running the country? 1. The first big thing we’ve learned is that Trump is not really the president of the United States – because he’s not governing. A president who’s governing doesn’t blast his Attorney General for doing his duty and
DAILY SHOW, SEPTEMBER 2013, PART 1
The lawsuit claims Greenpeace cost the company $300 million. Since RICO claims entitle plaintiffs to recover triple damages, the case potentially could cost Greenpeace $900 million. That would be the end of Greenpeace.
recusing himself from an FBI investigation of the president. A president who’s governing doesn’t leave the top echelons of departments and agencies empty for almost a year.
But, again, winning isn’t necessarily the goal of SLAPP suits. Just by filing the suits, Energy Transfer Partners and Resolute are trying to drain environmental groups of time, energy, and resources they need, so they can’t continue to fight to protect the environment.
He doesn’t publicly tell his Secretary of State he’s wasting time trying to open relations with North Korea. Any president with the slightest interest in governing would already know and approve of what his Secretary of
DAILY SHOW, SEPTEMBER 2013, PART 2
Connect the dots, and consider the chilling effect SLAPP suits are having on any group seeking to protect public health, worker’s rights, and even our democracy.
State was doing. He doesn’t fire half his key White House staff in the first nine months, creating utter chaos. A president who is governing works with his
Who’s behind all of this? Both the lawsuits I just mentioned were filed by Michael Bowe. He is also a member of Donald Trump’s personal legal team. Bowe has publicly stated that he’s in conversations with other corporations considering filing their own SLAPP lawsuits.
cabinet and staff to develop policy. He doesn’t just tweet new public policy out of the blue – for example, that transgender people can’t serve in the military. His Secretary of Defense is likely to have some thoughts on the matter – and if not consulted
DEMOCRACY NOW, SEPTEMBER 2013
If the goal is to silence public-interest groups, the rest of us must speak out. Wealthy corporations must know they can’t SLAPP the public into silence.
might decide to ignore the tweet. He doesn’t just decide to withdraw from the Paris Accord without any reason or analysis. A president who is governing works with Congress. He doesn’t just punt to Congress hard decisions – as he did with DACA, the Iran nuclear deal, insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, and details of his tax
INTELLIGENCE SQUARED DEBATES, SEPTEMBER 2012
Why Making American Corporations More Competitive Doesn’t Help Most Americans
plan.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017
what I did to that? Boom, gone” – when any
Trump and congressional Republicans are engineering the largest corporate tax cut in history in order “to restore our competitive edge,” as Trump says.
So restoring their “competitive edge” has little or nothing to do with helping American workers. For years they’ve been cutting the jobs and wages of American workers in order to generate larger profits and higher share prices. Some of these jobs have gone abroad or been outsourced to lowerpaid contractors in America. Others have been automated. Most of the remaining jobs pay no more than they did four decades ago, adjusted for inflation.
COLBERT REPORT, OCTOBER, 2010
When GM went public again in 2010 after being bailed out by American taxpayers, it boasted of making 43 percent of its cars in places where labor is less than $15 an hour – often outside the United States. And it got its American unions to agree that new hires would be paid half the wages and benefits of its old workers. Capital is global. Big American corporations are “American” only because they’re headquartered and legally incorporated in the United States. But they could (and sometimes do) leave at a moment’s notice. They employ or contract with workers all over the world.
So when taxes of “American” corporations are cut – as the TrumpRepublican tax bill seeks to do – foreign investors get a windfall. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that the Senate majority’s tax bill would give foreign investors a tax cut of $31 billion in 2019. The House bill would give them $50.4 billion. That’s money that foreign investors would otherwise be paying into the U.S. Treasury. By way of comparison, the combined tax cuts for families in the bottom 80 percent of the income distribution in the 30 states won by President Donald Trump comes to just $39.4 billion. That’s far less than the House bill gives away to foreign investors. I’m not blaming American corporations. They’re in business to make profits and maximize their share prices, not to serve America. I’m blaming politicians like Trump and the Republicans who are trying to persuade Americans that tax cuts on American corporations will be good for Americans.
DAILY SHOW, APRIL 2005
It’s different for many corporations headquartered in Europe or Canada. Big corporations headquartered there are far more responsible for the well-being of the people living in those nations. That’s mainly because labor unions there are typically stronger there than they are here – able to exert pressure both at the company level and nationally. As a result, American corporations distribute a smaller share of their earnings to their workers than do European or Canadian-based corporations. And top American executives make far more money than their counterparts in other wealthy countries.
DAILY SHOW, JUNE 2004
Governments in other rich nations often devise laws through bargains involving big corporations and organized labor. This process further binds their corporations to their nations. But in America, lawmakers respond almost exclusively to the demands of big corporations and of wealthy individuals (typically corporate executives and Wall Street moguls) with the most lobbying prowess and deepest pockets to bankroll campaigns. Meanwhile, unions are weak here, and “the preferences of the average American appear to have only a miniscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy,” according to researchers. Which is one reason why most Europeans and Canadians receive essentially free health care, generous unemployment benefits, paid medical leave, and an average of five weeks paid vacation.
TRUTH AS A COMMON GOOD, APRIL, 2017
So it shouldn’t be surprising that even though U.S. economy is doing well by most measures, and American-based corporations are overflowing with profits, the benefits are not trickling down to most Americans. Given the dominance of American corporations on American politics, combined with their singular concern for share prices rather than the well-being of Americans, it’s folly to think they’ll turn tax cuts into good American jobs.
MUNK DEBATE ON THE US ELECTION, OCTOBER, 2016
Instead of governing, Donald Trump has been insulting, throwing tantrums, and getting
protest against them. Questioning the patriotism of NFL players who are peacefully protesting police violence and racism. Making nasty remarks about journalists, about his predecessor as president, his political opponent in the last election, national heroes like Congressman John Lewis and Senator John McCain, even the mayor of San Juan Puerto Rico. Or he’s busy lying and then covering up the lies. Claiming he would have won the popular vote if millions hadn’t voted fraudulently for his opponent – without a shred of evidence to support his claim, and then setting up a fraudulent commission to find the evidence. Or firing the head of the FBI who wouldn’t promise to be more loyal to him than to the American public. A president’s job is to govern. Trump doesn’t know how to govern, or apparently doesn’t care. So, logically, he’s not President. 2. The second thing we’ve learned is that Trump’s influence is waning. Since he lost the popular vote, his approval ratings have dropped even further. One year in, Trump is the least popular president in behind him.
According to research by the Tax Policy Center’s Steven Rosenthal, about 35 percent of stock in U.S. corporations is now held by foreign investors.
DAILY SHOW, OCTOBER 2008
then withstand court challenges.
history with only 37 percent of Americans
And they’re owned by shareholders all over the world.
WITH CONAN OBRIEN, JANUARY, 2010
such repeal requires a legal process, and must
Equating white supremacists with people who
Most American corporations – especially big ones that would get most of the planned corporate tax cuts – have no particular allegiance to America. Their only allegiance is to their shareholders.
DAILY SHOW, APRIL 2012, PART 2
ended the Clean Power Plan – “Did you see
even:
Our competitive edge? Who’s us?
DAILY SHOW, APRIL 2012, PART 1
He doesn’t tell a crowd of supporters that he’s
The tax bills big corporations are pushing through Congress are designed for one thing: to boost their share prices, not to boost the vast majority of Americans.
Most Republicans still approve of him, but that may not be for long. He couldn’t get his pick elected to a Senate primary in Alabama, a state bulging with Trump voters. Republican senators refused to go along with his repeal of the Affordable Care Act. And they’re taking increased interest in Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Business leaders deserted him over his remarks over Charlottesville. They vacated his business advisory councils. NFL owners have turned on him over his remarks about players. Tom Brady, who once called Trump “a good friend,” now calls him “divisive” and “wrong.” There’s no question he’s violated the Constitution. There are at least three grounds for impeachment – his violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution by raking in money from foreign governments, his obstruction of justice by firing the head of the FBI, and his failure to faithfully execute the law by not implementing the Affordable Care Act. And a fourth if he or his aides colluded with Russia in the 2016 election. But both houses of Congress would have to vote for his removal, which won’t happen unless Democrats win control in 2018 or Republicans in Congress decide Trump is a political liability. 3. The third big thing we’ve learned is where the governing of the country is actually occurring. Much is being done by lobbyists for big business, who now swarm over the Trump administration like honey bees over a hedgerow of hollyhocks. But the real leadership of America is coming from outside the Trump administration. Leadership on the environment is now coming from California – whose rules every automaker and many other corporations have to meet in order to sell in a state that’s home to one out of eight Americans. Leadership on civil rights is coming from the federal courts, which have struck down three different versions of Trump’s travel ban, told states their voter ID laws are unconstitutional, and pushed police departments to stop profiling and harassing minorities. Leadership on the economy is coming from the Federal Reserve Board, whose decisions on interest rates are more important than ever now that the country lacks a fiscal policy guided by the White House. Most of the rest of leadership in America is now coming from the grassroots – from people all over the country who are determined to reclaim our democracy and make the economy work for the many rather than the few. They stopped Congress from repealing the Affordable Care Act. They’re fighting Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s plan to spend taxpayer money on for-profit schools and colleges that cheat their students. They’re fighting EPA director Scott Pruitt’s crusade against climate science. And Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s attempts
The True Path to Prosperity
to tear down the wall between church and
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017
They’re fighting against the biggest tax cut
state. for the wealthy in American history – that will
WHY WORRY ABOUT INEQUALITY, APRIL, 2014
It’s often thought that Democrats care about fairness and not economic growth, while Republicans care about growth even at the cost of some fairness.
be paid for by draconian cuts in services and dangerous levels of federal debt. They’re fighting against the bigotry, racism, and xenophobia that Trump has unleashed.
Rubbish. Growth and fairness aren’t opposites. In reality, Democrats are the party of economic growth and fairness. Republicans are the party of neither.
And they’re fighting for a Congress that, starting with next year’s midterm elections, will reverse everything Trump is doing to America.
The only way to grow the economy is by investing in the education, healthcare, and infrastructure that average Americans need in order to be more productive. Growth doesn’t “trickle down.” It rises up.
But their most important effort – your effort, our effort – is not just resisting Trump. It’s laying the groundwork for a new politics in America, a new era of decency and social
LAST LECTURE, APRIL, 2014
Consider the two biggest legislative initiatives over past decade – the Affordable Care Act, achieved without a single Republican vote, and the current Trump-Republican tax overhaul, speeding ahead without a single Democrat.
justice, a reassertion of the common good. Millions are already mobilizing and organizing. It’s the one good thing that’s happened since Election Day last year – the silver lining on the dark Trump cloud.
The ACA extends coverage to 21 million mostly lower-income Americans, including millions of children.
INEQUALITY FOR ALL, NOVEMBER, 2013
It’s largely paid for by two tax increases on the rich – a 3.8 percent increase on their capital gains taxes and other investment-related income, and a 0.9 percent surcharge on their Medicare taxes. Those tax increases are a major reason why Republicans have wanted to repeal it. But the ACA isn’t just about fairness. Healthier Americans are also more productive workers. Children who receive health care are better learners. The Act thereby fuels economic growth and widens prosperity.
THE RICH ARE TAXED ENOUGH, OCTOBER, 2012
Republicans say their tax overhaul will promote growth by increasing the profits of American corporations and investors. This is trickledown nonsense. Every major study (including Congress’s own Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation) finds that its benefits would go mainly to big corporations and the wealthy. Share prices may rise for a time. They’re already at record highs in anticipation of the tax cut. But higher share prices don’t trickle down, either. The richest 1 percent owns almost 38 percent of the stock market. Eighty percent of Americans together own just 8 percent of all shares of stock.
AFTERSHOCK, SEPTEMBER, 2011
This won’t fuel growth. Corporations expand and invest only when customers are eager to buy what they produce. And most of these customers are middle-income and below, who spend just about all they earn. The rich spend only a small fraction. Profits are now at record levels but corporations aren’t investing them. They’re using them instead to pump up share prices and executive pay.
THE NEXT ECONOMY AND AMERICA'S FUTURE, MARCH, 2011
HOW UNEQUAL CAN AMERICA GET?, JANUARY, 2008
If you’re not yet part of it, join up.
After the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, economic growth stalled and then dissolved in recession. After the 2004 corporate tax holiday for bringing foreign profits home, corporations didn’t invest or expand. The Reagan tax cut of 1981 didn’t cause wages to rise; they flattened. What’s the real formula for growth? Better access to education, healthcare, and transportation, all of which make workers more productive. These more productive workers command higher wages. With higher wages, they purchase more goods and services. These purchases motivate companies to expand and invest, and create more and better jobs. American experienced this virtuous cycle for thirty years after World War II. We invested unprecedented sums in education, healthcare, and infrastructure. We financed these investments through higher taxes on the rich and on big corporations. The economy boomed and wages shot upward. The wages of the bottom fifth rose even faster than the wages of the top fifth. This unleashed consumer spending, which generated more growth. The Clinton administration tried this formula on a much smaller scale in the 1990s, raising taxes on the top and investing in education and infrastructure. The economy boomed, 23 million new jobs were created, and for the first time since the late 1970s the typical American’s wage rose.
TRUMP’S TROJAN HORSE TAX CUT The goal of Trump and the Republican leaders is to pull off a giant redistribution of over $1 trillion from the middle-class, working-class, and poor to the rich, who are already richer than ever. They’re selling this to the public with a false claim that the middle-class will benefit from their tax cut plan. It’s a gigantic Trojan horse. For most Americans, the proposed tax cuts are tiny and temporary. That’s right – temporary. They will shrink in just a few years. And some middle class Americans will actually get a tax increase. Meanwhile, the top 1 percent will get a gigantic tax cut. The Tax Policy Center estimates that the current plan will save the bottom 80 percent between $50 and $450 in taxes per year, but that it saves each person in the top 1 percent an average of $129,000 a year. For people at the very top, like Trump himself, the tax cuts are humongous. And the corporations they own will also get a massive tax cut. Republicans say economic “growth” will pay for the tax cuts, so there’s no need to cut social programs like Medicare and Medicaid. But Republicans have just passed a budget that would cut nearly $1.5 trillion from Medicare and Medicaid to pay for these tax cuts. Pell Grants, housing assistance, and even cancer research are also on the chopping block. Now, they say we shouldn’t take their budget resolution seriously. It was just a device to get the tax bill through the Senate with 51 votes. But once these tax cuts are passed, the budget deficit will explode. The Tax Policy Center predicts that it will cut federal revenue by $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years. When that happens, the only way out of the crisis will be something dramatic – exactly the cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, and maybe even Social Security – that Republicans have wanted for years. By this time, any talk of raising taxes on the rich will be dismissed. Using the promise of middle-class tax cuts as a Trojan horse for a tax windfall for the rich and deep spending cuts is a tactic dating back to the Reagan administration. But the version they’re aiming for now is “YUGE.” We must see the strategy for what it is. And it must be stopped.
The Trump-Republican tax overhaul would take us in the opposite direction. It raises taxes on the middle class, which would reduce their purchasing power. The Senate version would cut the Affordable Care Act, causing millions to lose coverage. It also explodes the federal debt, which will stymie growth. Debt service itself would likely require cuts in other programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, education, and transportation. Senator Orrin Hatch warned last week that the Children’s Health Insurance Program may not be refunded “because we don’t have money anymore.”
AMERICA NOW HAS 6 POLITICAL PARTIES The old Democratic and Republican parties are exploding. When you take a closer look,
The current tax proposal would also eliminate the state and local tax deduction, which would likely cause states to cut back spending, including education and infrastructure.
America actually has six political parties right now: 1. Establishment Republicans, consisting of large corporations, Wall Street, and major GOP funders. Their goal is to have their taxes
All of this would slow economic growth.
cut.
For years, Republicans have been selling tax cuts by lying that they spur growth, which trickles down to average Americans.
2. Anti-establishment Republicans, consisting of Tea Partiers, the Freedom Caucus, and libertarians. Their goal is to have
For just as long, Democrats have been selling fairness, but without explaining why a fairer economy is also more productive and prosperous.
a smaller government with shrinking deficits and debts. Many of them also want to get Big Money out of politics and end crony capitalism.
It’s time for Democrats to make the case. It has the virtue of being true.
3. Social conservative Republicans – evangelicals and rural Southern whites. They want America to return to what they call “Christian” values. 4. Establishment Democrats – corporate and Wall Street executives and upper middle-class professionals. They’d also like a tax cut, but
Fools or Knaves?
they believe in equal rights. 5. Anti-establishment Democrats – younger,
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grassroots movement types, and progressives
One of the most dangerous consequences of this awful period in American life is the denigration of the truth, and of institutions and people who tell it. There are two kinds of liars – fools and knaves. Fools lie because they don’t know the truth. Knaves lie because they intend to mislead.
who still call themselves Democrats. Their biggest issues are widening inequality, racism, sexism, and climate change. They also want to get Big Money out of politics and they reject crony capitalism. 6. The sixth party is Trump. This party consists of Donald J. Trump and his fanatical
Trump is both, because he doesn’t even care enough about the truth to find out what it is. He’ll say whatever he thinks will get people to believe what he wants them to believe.
followers. Trump’s goal is to get more money
What about people like Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s point person on the Republican tax bills now making their way through Congress?
governing coalition among these six parties
Mnuchin continues to insist that the legislation puts a higher tax burden on people earning more than $1 million a year, and reduce taxes on everyone else. “I can tell you that virtually everybody in the middle class will get a tax cut, and will get a significant tax cut,” Mnuchin says repeatedly.
money out of politics and who reject crony
But the prestigious Tax Policy Center concludes that by 2027, almost all of the benefits of both bills will have gone to the richest 1 percent, while upper-middle-class payers will pay higher taxes and those at the lower levels will receive only modest benefits.
same.
for himself, get more power for himself, get more attention to himself, and get even. Whoever can put together elements of a will win future elections. One possibility is a coalition of antiestablishment Democrats who want to get big capitalism, and anti-establishement Republicans who want the same. The other possible coalition is establishment Democrats who want their taxes cut and establishment Republicans who want the
So is Mnuchin a fool? His career before he became Treasury Secretary doesn’t suggest so. He graduated from Yale, and worked for seventeen years for investment bank Goldman Sachs. Perhaps Mnuchin doesn’t find the Tax Policy Center credible. Maybe he agrees with Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro, who describes it as “a left-leaning center that produces analyses that favor Democratic tax-and-spend programs and disfavor Republican programs.”
Why We Must All Fight for the Dream Act. By repealing DACA – Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals – Trump has endangered both these young immigrants and the economic security of America.
In the age of Trump, even prestigious organizations once considered non-partisan are either “with us” or “against us.”
In 2012, the Obama administration created DACA as a temporary way to address the needs of young people who came to America
Problem is, virtually all other studies by every other source show the House and Senate tax bills overwhelmingly benefit the rich and, within a few years, harm the middle class.
as infants or toddlers, and know no other country. To apply and qualify for DACA, these young people had to risk entering the system by
Even Congress’s own Joint Committee on Taxation – the House and Senate’s official scorekeeper on tax issues – finds that the Senate’s version of the bill would increase taxes on all income groups making under $75,000 per year.
giving their identifying information. Once approved, they were granted two years of “deferred action” on deportation, with the promise that they could reapply every two years indefinitely.
By 2027, it would give its biggest tax breaks to those making $1 million or more. The House bill would be even more generous to millionaires and billionaires.
This allowed “dreamers” to go to college, get a job, and pay taxes without fear of deportation. DACA was never perfect, but for 800,000 immigrant youth it meant freedom
Mnuchin’s response? He has none. He just keeps repeating the same lie.
from fear and an opportunity to fully contribute to the country they were raised in. But now these young people are threatened
Mnuchin also maintains that the Senate and House tax plans won’t cause the federal deficit to rise. “This isn’t about the deficit,” he said recently. “We’ll create economic growth to pay down the deficit.”
with deportation. For no reason. These young people are not taking jobs away from native-born Americans. Even the conservative Cato
But even the Tax Foundation – a major proponent of the corporate tax cuts – estimates the House bill will cause a $1.08 trillion revenue loss over ten years and the Senate bill, a $516 billion loss.
Institute has said that the economic cost of cancelling DACA would be $200 billion over ten years. And that’s just direct costs. The Center for American Progress estimates that if
Assuming Mnuchin isn’t a fool, he’s a knave. He intends to deceive the public.
we lost these young workers the U.S. gross domestic product would shrink by $433 billion over the next decade.
By doing so he has abandoned his duty to the American people inherent in the oath of office taken by every cabinet official, in favor of advancing the goals of his boss and other Republicans in Washington who are desperate to pass their tax bill.
The moral case is even more compelling than the economic one. These kids grew up in America. To enter the DACA program they already had to step forward and show that they were contributing
He has also sacrificed his credibility and integrity.
to their communities and then prove it again every two years to stay in the program. It is
Why? Because he’s Secretary of the Treasury in an administration that has no integrity. Merely by joining Trump, he made a Faustian bargain and lost whatever integrity he might have had.
immoral to now put them in the crosshairs of deportation. This is just the latest effort by Trump to play to his base and divide us, but we must not
Recall that after Trump equated white supremacists with protesters in Charlottesville, and several hundred of Mnuchin’s Yale classmates urged him to resign in protest, Mnuchin found it “hard to believe I should have to defend myself on this, or the president.”
allow that. Americans of all races and creeds must push congress to pass the Dream Act, and allow these young people to become American citizens – without the Act being a bargaining chip for more border security or
After Trump demanded that NFL owners deal harshly with black athletes protesting police brutality, Mnuchin said the athletes should “do free speech on their own time. This is about respect for the military and first responders in the country.”
anything else. These DACA young people are our neighbors, our colleagues, and our classmates. They represent the the best of the dream that my parents and most of our ancestors had when
Apparently Mnuchin will say anything to retain his power and influence in the Trump administration.
they came to America: To make a better life for themselves, and for their kids. Trump’s attempt to divide us and fuel our differences
He knows he’ll never have anything close to this power again.
along racial and ethnic lines is an attack on the America I believe in, and we must not let
Mnuchin probably figures: So what if he lies about the true consequences of the tax bills? Trump lies about them, too. So does the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, and the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
it stand. That’s why the DACA fight is my fight, and why I stand with the dreamers – and I hope you will too.
He probably assumes most of the public will never know he lied. Even those who know will soon forget. In this era of Trumpian big lies, there are no consequences for lying. But history may not be kind to Steve Mnuchin. Over the last century, authoritarian and fascist regimes have intentionally and systematically denigrated the truth. The knaves who helped them are remembered in ignominy.
WHY THE REPUBLICAN TAX PLAN IS MORE FAILED TRICKLE-DOWN ECONOMICS* Trump and conservatives in Congress are planning a big tax cut for millionaires and billionaires. To justify it they’re using the oldest song in their playbook, claiming tax cuts on the rich will trickle down to working families in the form of stronger economic growth. Baloney. Trickle-down economics is a cruel joke. Just look at the evidence: 1. Clinton’s tax increase on the rich hardly stalled the economy. In 1993, Bill Clinton raised taxes on top earners from 31 percent to 39.6 percent. Conservatives predicted economic disaster. Instead, the economy created 23 million jobs and the economy
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
grew for 8 straight years in what was then the longest expansion in history. The federal
The New Poll Tax
budget went into surplus.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans are being denied the right to vote because they are poor.
2. George W. Bush’s big tax cuts for the rich didn’t grow the economy. In 2001and 2003, George W. Bush lowered the top tax rate to 35
In nine states, Republican legislators have enacted laws that disenfranchise anyone with outstanding legal fees or court fines. For example, in Alabama more than 100,000 people who owe money – roughly 3 percent of the state’s voting-age population – have been struck from voting rolls.
percent while also cutting top rates on capital
This is unconstitutional. In 1964, the 24th amendment abolished the poll tax, a Jim Crow tactic used to bar poor blacks from voting.
3. Obama’s tax hike on the rich didn’t slow
gains and dividends. Conservative supplysiders predicted an economic boom. Instead, the economy barely grew at all, and then in 2008 it collapsed. Meanwhile, the federal deficit ballooned. the economy. At the end of 2012, President Obama struck a deal to restore the 39.6
These new laws are a modern reincarnation of that unconstitutional system, disproportionately disenfranchising people of color.
percent top tax rate and raise tax rates on capital gains and dividends. Once again, supply-side conservatives predicted doom.
Income and wealth should have no bearing on the right to vote. Many Americans are struggling to make ends meet. But they still have a constitutional right to make their voices heard.
Instead, the economy grew steadily, and the expansion is still continuing. 4. The Reagan recovery of the early 1980s wasn’t driven by Reagan’s tax cut.
Preventing people from voting because they owe legal fees or court fines muzzle low-income Americans at a time in our nation’s history when the rich have more political power than ever.
Conservative supply-siders point to Ronald Reagan’s 1981 tax cuts. But the so-called Reagan recovery of the early 1980s was driven by low interest rates and big increase
These state laws are another form of voter suppression – like gerrymandering, voter ID requirements, and bars on anyone with felony convictions from voting.
in government spending. 5. Kansas cut taxes on the rich and is a basket case. California raised them and is thriving. In 2012, Kansas slashed taxes on
We must not let them stand.
top earners and business owners, while California raised taxes on top earners to the highest state rate in the nation. Since then, California has had among the strongest economic growth of any state, while Kansas has fallen behind most other states.
The Backlash Against the Bullies
So don’t fall for supply-side, trickle-down nonsense. Lower taxes on the rich don’t
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generate growth and jobs. They only make
Why are so many women now speaking out about the sexual abuses they’ve experienced for years? Is there anything unique about the time we’re now living through that has encouraged them to end their silence? I can’t help think their decisions are part of something that’s happening throughout much of American society right now – a backlash against what has been the growing domination of America by powerful and wealthy men (and a few women) who came to believe they can do whatever they want to do, to whomever they choose.
the rich even richer, at a time of raging inequality, and they cause bigger budget deficits. [*Our thanks to Alexandra Thornton and Seth Hanlon from the Center for American Progress]
“When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ‘em by the pussy,” said Donald Trump in the infamous 2005 Access Hollywood tape. Sexual assault is one obvious assertion of dominance. Other forms include economic bullying and the stoking of bigotry to gain political power.
WHY WE NEED SANCTUARY STATES California lawmakers have just passed “sanctuary state” legislation – the first state since Oregon, which 30 years ago passed a
Trump epitomizes it all. As a businessman he stiffed contractors, used bankruptcy to avoid paying creditors, and wielded lawsuits to threaten critics.
law preventing state agencies from targeting undocumented immigrants solely because of their illegal status. Other states should follow California’s and
As a politician he gained traction by alleging Obama was born in Africa, Mexicans are rapists and murders, and Muslims must be kept out of America.
Oregon’s lead. Since January, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered immigration authorities to target “public safety” threats, federal arrests of
As president, he has bullied everyone who disagrees with him – journalists, judges, members of congress, his own staff and cabinet.
undocumented immigrants have increased by over 37 percent. California is home to an estimated 2.3 million unauthorized
And he’s bullied the vulnerable and innocent – “dreamers” who came to the U.S. as small children but could be deported because of him; the elderly and sick who may lose their health coverage because of him; the needy families who will no longer receive assistance because the the massive corporate tax cuts he’s pushing will require cuts in programs they depend on.
immigrants. California’s law limits the authority of state and local law enforcers to communicate with federal immigration authorities, and prevents officers from questioning or holding people depending on their immigration status or immigration violations. But it still allows
But the days of Trump and the bullying he represents are numbered.
federal immigration authorities to enter county jails to question immigrants, and
Soon after the 2016 election, millions of women marched against Trump, and the Resistance was born.
allow police and sheriffs to share information on people who have been convicted of serious crimes. This is a fair balance. Sanctuary protections
Americans are rising up against bullying.
like these make sense because:
On November 7, Virginia Republican candidate Ed Gillespie’s hatefilled Trump-style campaign for governor of Virginia collapsed in a nearly nine-point defeat to Ralph Northam. Democrats swept statewide elections in Virginia, won the New Jersey governor’s race, and achieved other victories across the nation.
1. Under them, undocumented immigrants are more likely to come forth with information about crime when doing so won’t put them at risk of deportation. This improves public safety and builds trusts with law enforcement.
One consequence of Trump’s presidency has been a sharp increase in the number of female candidates and winners. More than 20,000 women have declared themselves candidates for public office so far, according to Stephanie Schriock, the president of Emily’s List – an unprecedented number. This should be the Democrat’s hour – especially if they stand up against the bullies of America, and stand for the millions who have been humiliated, intimidated, disenfranchised, and disempowered. Democrats will need to gain 24 seats to take control of the House in 2018. It will be difficult, given the amount of gerrymandering and other forms of voter suppression imposed by Republican legislatures. Nevertheless, last month Cook Political Report shifted 12 House districts in favor of Democrats, a full year ahead of the 2018 midterms.
2. By contrast, turning state and local police into immigration agents invites more crime because it diverts limited time and resources to rounding up undocumented immigrants. 3. Undocumented immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than native-born citizens, so it makes even less sense for local and state police to spend their precious time and resources rounding them up. 4. A dragnet aimed at finding and deporting all of America’s 11 million unauthorized immigrants is cruel, costly, and contemptible. It turns this country into more of a police state, breaks up families, and hurts the economy. We must resist Jeff Sessions and his dragnet. Help make your state a sanctuary.
A poll released at the beginning of November showed Democrats with an 11-point lead over Republicans on a generic House ballot. The Washington Post/ABC News poll found that 51 percent of registered voters said they would vote for the Democrat in their district, while 40 percent said they would vote for the Republican. The revolt against Trump is a backlash against bullying in all its forms. Powerful and wealthy men who have felt free to impose their will on others, regardless of the pain they cause, are in for a rude awakening.
Six Reasons Why American Corporations Shouldn’t Get a Tax Cut Trump and Republicans are trying to sell you the idea that American corporations need a tax cut in order to be competitive. That’s rubbish. Here are 6 reasons why: First, American corporations don’t need it in
Patriotism, Taxes, and Trump
order to be competitive internationally. After tax credits and deductions, their effective tax
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2017
rate is just about the same as paid by
Selling the Trump-Republican tax plan should be awkward for an administration that has made patriotism its central theme.
corporations in most of our major trading
That’s because patriotism isn’t mostly about saluting the flag and standing during the national anthem.
more money than ever. Their after-tax profits
partners, according to the U.S. Treasury. Second, American corporations are making are a higher share of the total economy than ever. American corporations earn nearly half
It’s about taking a fair share of the burden of keeping America going.
of all global profits, even though the U.S. economy is about a fifth the size of the world
But the tax plan gives American corporations a $2 trillion tax break, at a time when they’re enjoying record profits and stashing unprecedented amounts of cash in offshore tax shelters.
economy. Third, the long-term competitiveness of American corporations depends far more on a well-educated and skilled workforce,
And it gives America’s wealthiest citizens trillions more, when the richest 1 percent now hold a record 38.6 percent of the nation’s total wealth, up from 33.7 percent a decade ago.
modern infrastructure, and basic research than on tax rates. And the way we finance these necessary public investment is through … taxes.
The reason Republicans give for enacting the plan is “supply-side” trickle-down nonsense. The real reason is payback to the GOP’s mega-donors.
Fourth, American corporations are now paying less in taxes than they have in 65 years. Corporate tax receipts are the lowest percentage of the economy since just after
A few Republicans are starting to admit this. Last week, Gary Cohn, Trump’s lead economic advisor, conceded in an interview that “the most excited group out there are big CEOs, about our tax plan.”
World War II. If corporate taxes are cut, you will have to pay even more in taxes in order to make up the difference. Fifth, if their taxes were cut, corporations
Republican Rep. Chris Collins admitted that “my donors are basically saying, ‘Get it done or don’t ever call me again.’” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham warned that if Republicans failed to pass tax reform, “the financial contributions will stop.” Republican mega-donors view the tax payback as they do any other investment. When they bankrolled Trump and the GOP, they expected a good return. The biggest likely beneficiaries are busily investing an additional $43 million to pressure specific members of Congress to pass it, according to The Wall Street Journal. They include the 45Committee, founded by billionaire casino oligarch Sheldon Adelson and Todd Ricketts, whose family owns the Chicago Cubs; and the Koch Brothers’ groups, Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners. They’re not doing this out of love of America. They’re doing it out of love of money.
won’t use the extra money to make new investments in plant, equipment, research and development, or jobs. They’re already using their vast stockpiles of cash to buy back shares and thereby boost stock prices, and for extravagant bonuses and salaries to CEOs and other top executives. That’s what they would do with any additional cash. Sixth, the reason they’re not investing more is because consumers don’t have the purchasing power to buy more, and that’s because most people’s incomes have gone nowhere for decades. And why is that? Because corporations have been holding down wages by outsourcing abroad, substituting software for jobs, contracting work out to part-time workers, and fighting unions. A corporate tax cut is the wrong solution to the wrong problem. The real problem is stagnant wages of most Americans, coupled with declining public investments in schools,
How do you think they got so wealthy in the first place?
roads, public transportation, and basic
As more of the nation’s wealth has shifted to the top over the past three decades, major recipients have poured some of it into politics – buying themselves tax cuts, special subsidies, bailouts, lenient antitrust enforcement, favorable bankruptcy rules, extended intellectual property protection, and other laws that add to their wealth.
research – all the things average working Americans need in order to become more productive and get higher wages. To finance these we need higher corporate taxes, not lower.
All of which have given them more clout to get additional legal changes that enlarge their wealth even more. Forty years ago, the estate tax was paid by 139,000 estates, according to the non-partisan Tax Policy Center. By 2000, it was paid by 52,000. This year it will be paid by just 5,500 estates. Under the House tax plan, it will be eliminated altogether. Why do Americans pay more for pharmaceuticals than the citizens of every other advanced economy? Because Big Pharma has altered the laws in its favor. Why do we pay more for internet service than most other nations? Big cable’s political clout. Why can payday lenders get away with payday robbery? The political heft of big banks.
How to Make the Electoral College Irrelevant We must make sure our democracy doesn’t ever again elect a candidate who loses the popular vote. That means making the Electoral College irrelevant.
Multiply these examples across the economy and you get a huge hidden upward redistribution from the paychecks of average working people and the poor to top executives and investors. (I explain this in detail in the documentary “Saving Capitalism,” airing next week on Netflix.)
Here’s how: As you probably know, the Constitution assigns each state a number of electors based on the state’s population. The total number of electors is 538, so any candidate who gets 270 of those Electoral College votes becomes president. Article II of the Constitution says states can
All this is terrible for the American economy.
award their electors any way they want. So all
More and better jobs depend on increasing demand for goods and services. This must come from the middle class and poor because the rich spend a far smaller share of their after-tax income.
that’s needed in order to make the Electoral College irrelevant is for states with a total of at least 270 electors to agree to award all their electoral votes to the presidential candidate
Yet the middle class and poor have steadily lost purchasing power. Partly as a result, a relatively low share of the nation’s working-age population is employed today and the wages of the typical worker have been stuck in the mud.
who wins the popular vote. If they do that, then automatically the winner of the popular vote gets the 270 electoral college votes he or she needs to become president.
The Republican tax plan will make all this worse by burdening the middle class and the poor even more.
Already 10 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws to do this – awarding all their electoral votes to the
A slew of analyses, including Congress’s own Joint Committee on Taxation, show that the GOP plan will raise taxes on many middleclass families.
candidate who wins the popular vote, as soon as the 270 elector goal is met. Together, these states total 165 electoral votes. So all we need now is some additional states
It will also require cuts in government programs that middle and lower-income Americans depend on, such as Medicare and Medicaid.
with 105 electors to pass the same law, agreeing to reward all their electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote – and it’s done.
And the plan will almost certainly explode the national debt, eventually causing many middle class and poor families to pay higher interest on their auto loans, mortgages, and credit cards.
We’ll never again elect a president who loses the popular vote. The effort is known as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. If your state hasn’t
I don’t care whether the top executives of big corporations, Wall Street moguls, and heirs to vast fortunes salute the flag and stand for the national anthem.
yet joined on, make sure it does.
But they enjoy all the advantages of being American. Most couldn’t have got to where they are in any other country. They have a patriotic duty to take on a fair share of the burden of keeping America going. And Trump and his enablers in Congress have a patriotic responsibility to make them. TRUMP’S OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE Steve Bannon recently called Trump’s firing of James Comey the biggest political mistake in modern political history. But it was more than that. It was outright obstruction of justice – another impeachable offense to add BACK TO THE TOP
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to the impeachable offenses Trump has already committed (violation of the Constitution’s “emolument’s clause,” failure to faithfully execute the laws, and abuse of
power). Obstruction of justice was among the articles of impeachment drafted against both Presidents Nixon and Clinton. The parallel between Nixon and Trump is almost exact. White House tapes revealed Nixon giving instructions to pressure the acting FBI director into halting the Watergate investigation. It’s worth recalling that two weeks after Trump told Comey privately “I need loyalty. I expect loyalty,” he had another private meeting with Comey in the Oval Office. After shooing out his advisers – all of whom had top security clearance – Trump said to Comey, according to Comey’s memo written shortly after the meeting,“I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.” Then on May 9, Trump fired Comey. In a subsequent interview with NBC Trump said he planned to fire Comey “regardless of [the] recommendation” of the Attorney and Deputy Attorney General, partly because of “this Russia thing.” Trump also revealed in the interview that he had had several conversations with Comey about the Russia investigation, and had asked Comey if he was under investigation. The federal crime of obstruction of justice applies to “[w]hoever corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law” in a proceeding or investigation by a government department or agency or Congress. As in Nixon’s case, a decision to support an “inquiry of impeachment” resolution in the House—to start an impeachment investigation—doesn’t depend on sufficient evidence to convict a person of obstruction of justice, but simply probable cause to believe a president may have obstructed justice. There’s already more than enough evidence of probable cause to begin that impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump.
WHY WE SHOULD ABOLISH THE DEBT CEILING Congressional Democrats have pulled a fast one on Republicans by striking a deal with Trump to raise the federal debt ceiling only until the end of the year. This will give them bargaining leverage in December to strike a bigger bargain with Republicans: Democrats will agree to raise the debt ceiling then in return for Republican cooperation on legalizing Dreamers (unauthorized immigrants brought into the U.S. as children), making small but necessary fixes in the Affordable Care act, and other things Democrats seek. Raising the debt ceiling is always a political football, used by whichever party is in the minority to extract concessions from the majority party or from the majority party’s president. The debt ceiling is how much the government is allowed to borrow. It shouldn’t be a political football. It should be abolished. It serves absolutely no purpose. When the debt ceiling was first adopted in 1917, it might have been a useful way to prevent a president from spending however much he wanted. But since 1974, Congress has had a formal budget process to control spending and the taxes needed to finance it. There’s no reason for Congress to authorize borrowing for spending that Congress has already approved, especially when a failure to lift the debt ceiling would be so horrific. Having a debt ceiling doesn’t discipline government, anyway. The national debt is obligations government has already made to those who lent it money. Discipline has to do with setting spending limits and legislating tax increases, not penalizing the lenders. Which is why most modern democracies don’t have debt ceilings. Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Australia – they do just fine without explicit borrowing limits. Even more basically, the nation’s debt is a meaningless figure without reference to the size of the overall economy and the pace of economic growth. After World War II, America’s debt was larger than our entire Gross Domestic Product, but we grew so much so fast in the 1950s and 1960s that the debt kept shrinking in proportion. Today’s debt is about 77 percent of our total national product. The reason it’s a problem is it’s growing faster than the economy is growing, so it’s on the way to becoming larger and larger in proportion. This is what we ought to be focusing on. Fighting over whether or not to raise the debt ceiling is a meaningless and dangerous distraction. So abolish it.
What Do Democrats Stand For? The Democratic Party can lead the country in a new direction, but will it? Millions of Americans who are politically engaged for the first time in their lives are crying out for a bold alternative to bigoted and destructive policies. But Democrats can’t just be anti-Trump or move to the middle. To be successful Democrats must address the forces that created Trump: The toxic combination of widening inequality and racism. The richest one percent now own more than the bottom 90 percent. Corporations and the rich are running our politics. The resulting economic stresses have made many people vulnerable to Trump’s politics of hate and bigotry. If Democrats stand for one thing, it must be overcoming this unprecedented economic imbalance and creating a multi-racial, multiethnic coalition of the bottom 90 percent, to take back our economy and politics. This requires, at the least: 1. Public investments in world-class schools and infrastructure for all. 2. Free public universities and first-class technical training for all; 3. Single-payer Medicare-for-All; 4. Higher taxes on the wealthy to pay for this; 5. Using antitrust to break up powerful monopolies on Wall Street, Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Agriculture. 6. Getting big money out of our politics. Together, these steps form an agenda to reclaim our economy and democracy for all. Will Democrats lead the way?
DEAR TRUMP VOTER If you voted for Donald Trump, I get it. Maybe you feel you’ve been so badly shafted by the system that you didn’t want to go back to politics as usual, and Trump seemed like he’d topple that corrupt system. You voted to change our country’s power base – to get rid of crony capitalism and give our government back to the people who are working, paying taxes, and spending more just to survive. Lots of Americans agree with you. But now, the president is turning his back on that idea and the many changes he promised. He did not drain the swamp. After telling voters how he would take control away from special interests, he has surrounded himself with the very Wall Street players he decried. Now, those who gamed politicians for tax loopholes and laws that reward the rich don’t even have to sneak around with backroom deals. Steve Mnuchin, Gary Cohn, Dina Powell and others from Wall Street, as well as corporate lobbyists by the dozens, are now inside the Trump administration rigging the system for the extremely wealthy from the inside. They want to make it easier for banks to once again gamble with your money and repeat our financial crisis. They want to cut health care for millions of you. They want to lower taxes on corporations and the rich. They want to get rid of rules that stop corporations from harming your health or safety. That’s not the change you were promised. Make America Great Again? The Trump administration wants to expand on policies that have kept American wages stagnant for almost four decades. Huge corporations and billionaires get the breaks, and hard working Americans once again get left waiting for the crumbs. That’s not the change you were promised. Bringing back fiscal responsibility? The Secret Service budget is skyrocketing to protect his family on international business trips, ski vacations, and separate New York City living quarters. At the same time, the president still refuses to untangle himself from his businesses and prove he’s not leveraging our government for his financial gain. You’re paying for his lifestyle while he’s doing nothing to help yours. That’s not the change you were promised.
A SUMMER SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR THE TRUMP ERA Here’s a summer survival guide, 10 ways to relax during the era of Trump. 1. Take a day off from the news, one day a week. 2. Don’t get into an argument with a Trump supporter, especially if it’s a member of your family. Remember, there are more independents and non-voters than Trump Republicans. And the 2018 midterm election will be won on the basis of turnout. 3. Pay no attention to Trump’s tweets. They’re becoming increasingly bizarre and irrelevant. 4. Watch an old movie of biting political satire, like “Wag the Dog.” 5. But don’t watch “Doctor Strangelove.” 6. Join an Indivisible group near you and take action with them, attending a congressional town meeting and organizing others to contact your members of congress. It’s having an effect. Plus, it’s therapeutic. 7. Drink lots of water and get plenty of exercise. Helps with the anger. 8. Read good books of fiction, like Harry Potter. Don’t read George Orwell’s “1984” or Sinclair Lewis’s “It Can’t Happen Here” or Philip Roth’s “The Plot Against America.” 9. Go to a county fair with your kids, and watch the pigs. 10. Have a cookout with your neighbors and see what resources you yourselves can offer to your community. Start a tool collective or teach a class in a library or out of someone’s house. Tangible change can come from your hands, not only your votes. Remember, resistance works best when people come together and work together. Have a great summer!
THE ART OF THE (TRUMP AND PUTIN) DEAL Say you’re Vladimir Putin, and you did a deal with Trump last year. Whether there was such a deal is being investigated. But if you are Putin and you did do a deal, what might Trump have agreed to do for you? 1. Repudiate NATO. NATO is the biggest thorn in your side – the alliance that both humiliates you and stymies your ambitions. Trump seemed intent to deliver on this during his recent European trip by bullying members about payments and seemingly not reaffirming Article 5 of the pact, which states that any attack on one NATO ally is an attack on all. (He’s backtracked on this since then, under pressure from Congress.) 2. Antagonize Europe, especially Angela Merkel. She’s the strongest leader in the West other than Trump, and you’d love to drive a wedge between the United States and Germany. Your larger goal is for Europe to no longer depend on the United States, so you can increase your influence in Europe. Trump has almost delivered on this, too. Merkel is already saying Europe can no longer depend on America. 3. Take the United States out of the Paris accord on the environment. This will anger America’s other allies around the world and produce a wave of anti-Americanism – all to your advantage. You’d also love for the whole Paris accord to unravel because you want the world to remain dependent on fossil fuels. Russia is the world’s second-largest exporter of oil after Saudi Arabia, and biggest exporter of natural gas. And the oil and gas industry contributes about half the revenues to your domestic budget. And, hey, there’s also all those Arctic ports that are opening up now that the earth is warming. Trump has delivered on this. 4. Embark on a new era of protectionism. Or at least anti-trade rhetoric. This will threaten the West’s economic interdependence and loosen America’s economic grip on the rest of the world. Trump is on the way to delivering on this one. 5. End the economic sanctions on Russia, imposed by the United States in 2014. Oil production on land is falling so you want to tap the vast petroleum and gas reserves offshore in the Arctic. In 2011, you and ExxonMobil’s Rex Tillerson, signed a $500 billion deal to do this. But the sanctions stopped it cold. Trump has promised to lift them, but he hasn’t delivered on this yet, because he has got to cope with all the suspicions in America about his deal with you. Once it dies down, he’ll end the sanctions. In the meantime, he’ll give you back the two compounds that were seized by the Obama administration when the U.S. intelligence discovered you’d interfered in the election. And what might you have agreed to do for Trump in return? Two things: First, you’d help him win the presidency, by hacking into Democratic Party servers, leaking the results, sending millions of fake news stories about Hillary to targeted voters, and tapping into voter lists. Second, after he was elected, you’d shut up about your help so Trump wouldn’t be impeached and convicted of treason. In other words, if you did a deal, you both still have every incentive to fulfill your side of it. That’s the art of the deal.
POLITICAL JUJITSU: NOW’S THE TIME FOR MEDICARE FOR ALL As Republicans in Congress move to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Democrats are moving toward Medicare for All – a singlepayer plan that builds on Medicare and would cover everyone at far lower cost. Most House Democrats are already supporting a Medicare for All bill. With health care emerging as the public’s top concern, according to recent polls, the choice between repeal of the Affordable Care Act and Medicare for All is likely to be the major domestic issue in the presidential campaign of 2020 (other than getting Trump out of office, if he lasts that long). And the better choice is clear. Private forprofit insurers spend a fortune trying to attract healthy people while avoiding the sick and needy, filling out paperwork from hospitals and providers, paying top executives, and rewarding shareholders. And for-profit insurers are merging like mad, in order to make even more money. These are among the major reasons why health insurance is becoming so expensive, and why almost every other advanced nation – including our neighbor to the north – has adopted a single-payer system at less cost per person and with better health outcomes. Most Americans support Medicare for All. According to a Gallup poll conducted in May, a majority would like to see a singlepayer system implemented. An April survey from the Economist/YouGov showed 60 percent of Americans in favor of “expanding Medicare to provide health insurance to every American.” That includes nearly half of people who identify themselves as Republican. If Republicans gut the Affordable Care Act, the American public will be presented with the real choice ahead: Either expensive health care for the few, or affordable health care for the many.
NOW’S THE TIME FOR MEDICARE FOR ALL As Republicans in Congress move to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Democrats are moving in the opposite direction, toward Medicare for All – a single-payer plan that builds on Medicare and would cover everyone at far lower cost. Most House Democrats are already supporting a Medicare for All bill. Senator Bernie Sanders is preparing to introduce it in the Senate. Both California and New York state are moving towards single-payer plans. With health care emerging as the pubic’s top concern, according to recent polls, the choice between repeal of the Affordable Care Act and Medicare for All is likely to be the major domestic issue in the presidential campaign of 2020 (other than getting Trump out of office, if he lasts that long). And the better choice is clear. Private forprofit insurers spend a fortune trying to attract healthy people while avoiding the sick and needy, filling out paperwork from hospitals and providers, paying top executives, and rewarding shareholders. And for-profit insurers are merging like mad, in order to make even more money. These are among the major reasons why health insurance is becoming so expensive, and why almost every other advanced nation – including our neighbor to the north – has adopted a single-payer system at less cost per person and with better health outcomes. Most Americans support Medicare for All. According to a Gallup poll conducted in May, a majority would like to see a singlepayer system implemented. An April survey from the Economist/YouGov showed 60 percent of Americans in favor of “expanding Medicare to provide health insurance to every American.” That includes nearly half of people who identify themselves as Republican. If Republicans gut the Affordable Care Act, the American public will be presented with the real choice ahead: Either expensive health care for the few, or affordable health care for the many.
THE CASE FOR OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE Obstruction of justice was among the articles of impeachment drafted against both Presidents Nixon and Clinton. The parallel between Nixon and Trump is almost exact. White House tapes revealed Nixon giving instructions to pressure the acting FBI director into halting the Watergate investigation. Two weeks after Trump told Comey privately “I need loyalty. I expect loyalty,” he had another private meeting with Comey in the Oval Office. After shooing out his advisers – all of whom had top security clearance – Trump said to Comey, according to Comey’s memo written shortly after the meeting, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.” Then on May 9, Trump fired Comey. In a subsequent interview with NBC Trump said he planned to fire Comey “regardless of [the] recommendation” of the Attorney and Deputy Attorney General, partly because of “this Russia thing.” Trump also revealed in the interview that he had had several conversations with Comey about the Russia investigation, and had asked Comey if he was under investigation. The federal crime of obstruction of justice applies to “[w]hoever corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law” in a proceeding or investigation by a government department or agency or Congress. As in Nixon’s case, a decision to support an “inquiry of impeachment” resolution in the House—to start an impeachment investigation—doesn’t depend on sufficient evidence to convict a person of obstruction of justice, but simply probable cause to believe a president may have obstructed justice. There’s already more than enough evidence of probable cause to begin that impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump.
7 Reasons Why Trump’s Corporate Tax Cut is Completely Nuts Donald Trump wants to cut the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, in order to “make the United States more competitive.” This is nonsense, for 7 reasons: 1. Profitable U.S. corporations already pay on average of only 14% according to the Government Accountability Office. That’s less than a lot of middle-class families pay. (And that’s less than half the official 35% corporate tax rate.) What’s more, some giant corporations pay little (if any) U.S. taxes because of loopholes or because they shift their profits offshore to tax havens. 2. Trump’s corporate tax cut will bust the federal budget. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center projects it will reduce federal revenue by $2.4 trillion over 10 years. This will either require huge cuts in services for all of us, or additional taxes paid by us to pick up the corporate tab. 3. It’s based on supply-side, trickle-down nonsense. The White House says the tax cuts will create a jump in economic growth that will generate enough new revenue to wipe out any increase in the budget deficit. Rubbish. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush both cut taxes mostly for the rich, and both ended their presidencies with huge budget deficits. 4. It will create a new special loophole for hedge fund managers, big law firms and real estate moguls like Donald Trump. They could slash the tax rate they pay on their business income from 40 percent to 15 percent. 15 percent is what a middle-class person pays. Do you think people like Trump should pay a tax rate that someone making $60,000 a year pays? 5. It creates an international race-to-thebottom on corporate tax rates that the U.S. cannot possibly win. One of its supposed attractions is it makes U.S. corporate taxes more “competitive” internationally. But we can’t match the rates in tax havens, which are often ZERO. And other countries will just lower their taxes in response. That’s what happened after 1986, the last time the U.S. cut corporate tax rates. 6. American corporations don’t need a tax cut to be competitive. They’re already hugely competitive as measured by their profits – which are near record highs– while the share of taxes they pay are at record lows. Corporations should be doing more to pay their fair share, not getting a giant tax cut! 7. Corporations won’t use the extra profits they get from the tax cut to invest in more capacity and jobs. That’s the White House line, but it’s baloney. Corporations are now using a large portion of their profits to pay their CEOs’ hefty pay packages and to buy other companies in order to raise their stock prices. There’s no reason to suppose they’ll do any different even with more profits. So don’t fall for Trump’s corporate tax plan. It will be a huge windfall for corporations and billionaires – like many of Trump’s own cabinet members, family members, and likely even Trump himself (although because he won’t release his taxes, we can’t tell how much he’ll enrich himself from his own tax plan). We do know who will lose out: The rest of us.
How Not to Balance the Budget on the Backs of the Poor Donald Trump wants to slash Medicaid, Social Security disability, and food stamps in order to expand the military and give the rich and corporations big tax cuts. There’s a far better way to help balance the federal budget – cap tax expenditures. The federal government is diverting hundreds of billions of tax dollars every year to help the wealthiest Americans become even wealthier through tax expenditures that are the equivalent of government handouts – allowing the wealthy to deduct or exclude from their taxable incomes large amounts of employer-provided health care, retirement savings, and mortgage interest. These tax expenditures demand reform for three big reasons: 1. First, they are unfair. Middle and lowincome workers don’t get from their employers nearly as much health insurance and retirement income as do corporate executives. Many get none at all. And their mortgages– if they have any– are usually much smaller, because they live in homes that don’t cost as much. 2. Second. these deductions and exclusions are nonsensical. Originally, they were put into the tax code to give people financial incentives to get health insurance, to save for retirement, and to buy a home. But the rich don’t need financial incentives to do these things because they’re … rich. 3. Finally these deductions and exclusions are hugely expensive. They cost hundreds of billions of dollars a year– $348 billion in 2015 alone– the lion’s share going to high income families. Instead of wasting these billions on making the wealthy even wealthier, we should be using these resources to provide better healthcare, retirement security and affordable housing to low and middle-income households, including households of color, who are currently losing out. There’s no reason why America’s wealthy should be able to deduct or exclude from their taxable incomes more than, say, $25,000 a year for employer-provided health care, retirement, and mortgage interest. Limiting those deductions and exclusions would be rational, fiscally responsible, and fair. Unlike Trump and Republican budgets that want to slash Medicaid, Social Security disability, and food stamps.
TRUMP’S UNNECESSARY CRUELTY The theme that unites all of Trump’s initiatives so far is their unnecessary cruelty. 1. His new budget comes down especially hard on the poor – imposing unprecedented cuts in low-income housing, job training, food assistance, legal services, help to distressed rural communities, nutrition for new mothers and their infants, funds to keep poor families warm, even “meals on wheels.” These cuts come at a time when more American families are in poverty than ever before, including 1 in 5 children. So, why is Trump doing this? To pay for the biggest hike in military spending since the 1980s – at a time when the U.S. already spends more on its military than the next 7 biggest military budgets put together. 2. Trump and his enablers in the GOP are on the way to repealing the Affordable Care Act, and replacing it in a way that could cause 14 million Americans to lose their health insurance next year, and 24 million by 2026. Why is Trump doing this? To give $600 billion in tax cuts over the decade mostly to wealthy Americans, when the rich have accumulated more wealth than at any time in the nation’s history. The plan reduces the federal budget by only $337 billion over the next ten years – that is a small fraction of the national debt, in exchange for the largest redistribution from the poor and middle class to the wealthy in modern history. 3. Trump is banning Syrian refugees and slashing the total number of refugees this year by more than half. This comes just when the world is experiencing the worst refugee crisis since World War II. So, why is he doing this? Your odds of dying by a lightening strike are higher than by an immigrant terrorist attack. No terrorist attacker inside the U.S. has come from Syria (nor, for that matter, from any of the 6 countries in Trump’s current travel ban.) 4. Trump is rounding up undocumented immigrants helter-skelter – including people who have been productive members of our society for decades, and young people who have been here since they were toddlers. Why is Trump doing this? These actions come when unemployment is down, crime is down, and we have fewer undocumented workers in the U.S. today than we did ten years ago. Trump is embarking on an orgy of cruelty for absolutely no reason. This is profoundly immoral. It is morally incumbent on all of us to stop it.
Trump’s Banksters and the Rollback of Dodd-Frank Donald Trump has ordered a rollback of regulations over Wall Street, including the Dodd-Frank Act, passed in 2010 to prevent another too-big-to-fail banking crisis. Perhaps Trump thinks that we’ve forgotten what happened when Wall Street turned the economy into a giant casino, and then – when its bets went sour in 2008 – needed a giant taxpayer funded bailout. Maybe Trump thinks Americans forget losing their jobs, homes, and savings in the fallout. Many people who voted for Trump got shafted. I hope they haven’t forgotten that while they suffered, not a single bank executive went to jail. Trump supporters need to join with Democrats and progressives in stopping this rollback, and holding Trump accountable. The biggest banks are far bigger today than they were in 2008. Then, the five largest had 25 percent of U.S. banking assets. Today they have 44 percent. If they were too big to fail then, they’re too big period now. Getting rid of Dodd-Frank triples the odds of another financial crisis. Meanwhile, Trump has brought more banksters into his administration than any in any previous administration – mostly, from Goldman Sachs. The head of Trump’s economic council is Gary Cohn who was president of Goldman Sachs. Other Goldman alumni include Trump’s right hand man, Steve Bannon, Trump’s pick for Treasury, Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s pick for the securities and exchange commission, Jay Clayton and another White House advisor, Dina Powell. Now remember, a decade ago, Goldman Sachs defrauded investors and ripped off its customers and it’s paid nearly $9 billion in government fines. Many of Trump’s banksters were there at that time. Don’t let Trump and the Republicans endanger our economy again. Let’s not make the same mistake twice.
4 REASONS WHY TRUMP’S PLAN TO STRIP THE IRS IS INCREDIBLY DUMB Donald Trump is proposing a 14.1 percent cut in the I.R.S.’s budget next year. This is incredibly dumb, for four reasons: 1. It won’t save money. To the contrary, this move worsens the budget deficit. That’s because every dollar spent by the IRS to collect taxes generates $4 in unpaid taxes. 2. It worsens the federal budget deficit. The current estimate of unpaid taxes per year is almost as large as the federal government’s annual budget deficit. 3. It widens inequality. Since most IRS audits are of high-income people, the real beneficiaries of Trump’s move are the wealthy, more of whom will now be able to skirt their duty to pay taxes. 4. The IRS is already understaffed. The number of individual tax return audits fell last year to its lowest level since 2004, and enforcement levels were already down by nearly 30 percent from 2010. Donald Trump hates the IRS and has spent years battling it. There’s reason to think he doesn’t even want to pay his own taxes. But this is no reason to explode the Federal Budget Deficit and give another windfall to the rich.
THE TRUTH ABOUT TRUMPONOMICS When Donald Trump spoke at Boeing’s factory in North Charleston, South Carolina – unveiling Boeing’s new 787 “Dreamliner” – he congratulated Boeing for building the plane “right here in the great state of South Carolina.“ But that is pure fantasy. Trump also used the occasion to tout his “America First” economics, stating “our goal as a nation must be to rely less on imports and more on products made here in the U.S.A.” Trump seems utterly ignorant about global competition – and about what’s really holding back American workers. Start with Boeing’s Dreamliner itself. It’s not “made in the U.S.A.” It is assembled in the USA. Most of the parts and almost a third of the cost of the entire plane come from overseas. For example: The center fuselage and horizontal stabilizers
came from Italy. The aircraft’s landing gears, doors, electrical power conversion system - from France. The main cabin lighting came from Germany. The cargo access doors from Sweden. The lavatories, flight deck interiors, and galleys from Japan. Many of the engines from the U.K. The moveable trailing edge of the wings from Canada. Notably, the foreign companies that made these parts don’t pay their workers low wages. In fact, when you add in the value of health and pension benefits, most of these foreign workers get a better deal than do Boeing’s workers. These nations also provide most young people with excellent educations and technical training, as well as universallyavailable health care. To pay for all this, these countries also impose higher tax rates on their corporations and wealthy individuals than does the United States. And their health, safety, environmental, and labor regulations are stricter. Not incidentally, they have stronger unions. So why is so much of Boeing’s Dreamliner coming from these high-wage, high-tax, highcost places? Because the parts made by workers in these countries are better, last longer, and are more reliable than parts made anywhere else. There’s a critical lesson here. The way to make the American workforce more competitive isn’t to build an economic wall around America. It’s to invest more in the education and skills of Americans, in on-the-job training, in a healthcare system that reaches more of us. And to give workers a say in their companies through strong unions. In other words, we get a first-class workforce by investing in the productive capacities of Americans – and rewarding them with high wages. Economic nationalism is no substitute for building the competitiveness of American workers.
4 (And maybe 5) Grounds to Impeach Trump By my count, there are now four grounds to impeach Donald Trump. The fifth appears to be on its way. First, in taking the oath of office, a president promises to “faithfully execute the laws & the constitution.” That’s Article II Section 2. But Trump is unfaithfully executing his duties as president by accusing his predecessor, president Obama, of undertaking an illegal and impeachable act, with absolutely no evidence to support the accusation. Second, Article I Section 9 of the Constitution forbids government officials from taking things of value from foreign governments. But Trump is making big money off his Trump International Hotel by steering foreign diplomatic delegations to it, and will make a bundle off China’s recent decision to grant his trademark applications for the Trump brand – decisions Chinese authorities arrived at directly because of decisions Trump has made as president. Third: The 1st Amendment to the Constitution bars any law “respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” But Trump’s ban on travel into the United States from 6 muslim countries – which he initiated, advocated for, and oversees – violates that provision. Fourth: The 1st Amendment also bars “abridging the freedom of the press.” But Trump’s labeling the press “the enemy of the people,” and choosing who he invites to news conferences based on whether they’ve given him favorable coverage, violates this provision. A fifth possible ground if the evidence is there: Article II Section 3 of the Constitution defines “treason against the United States” as “adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.” Evidence is mounting that Trump and his aides colluded with Russian operatives to win the 2016 presidential election. Presidents can be impeached for what the Constitution calls “high crimes and misdemeanors.” The question is no longer whether there are grounds to impeach Trump. The practical question is whether there’s the political will. As long as Republicans remain in the majority in the House, where a bill of impeachment originates, it’s unlikely. Another reason why it’s critically important to flip the House in 2018.
TRUMP’S INCREDIBLY DUMB BET ON COAL When Donald Trump was running for president, he talked a lot about putting people back to work. And one of the industries he focused on most was the coal industry. He even put on a hard hat and waved around a pick axe to show how much he loved coal. But there simply aren’t very many coal jobs to be had any more in the U.S. That’s not because of anything Obama did. Coal jobs are decreasing because demand for coal is decreasing, and because machines now do much of the work. In 1985 the coal industry employed a over 178,000 miners. By 2016, it employed just 56,000. By contrast, in 2016, wind and solar energy provided more than 6 times the number of jobs as coal. The trend is toward even more jobs in wind and solar, regardless of what Trump does. Solar energy is exploding worldwide, an almost sixfold increase in just the last 5 years. But America ranks fifth in the production of solar energy, behind China, Germany, Japan and Italy. If we really want to lead - if we really want to join the New Energy Economy - we have to go with the energy of the future, not the energy of the past. The other option — the one Donald Trump is proposing – leaves us following, not leading. It’s our choice.
GORSUCH SHOULDN’T BE CONFIRMED UNTIL WE KNOW THE PERSON WHO PICKED HIM IS CLEARED OF WRONGDOING Neil Gorsuch shouldn’t be confirmed until Trump comes clean. Nominating a new justice of the Supreme Court is one of the most important responsibilities of a president. But until we know Trump is a legitimate president, he can’t be presumed to have the authority to make such a pick. First, we need to be sure Trump didn’t collaborate with Russia to rig the election. The FBI says it has enough “credible evidence” that Trump aides colluded with Russian operatives to affect the outcome of the election, to move forward with a full-scale investigation. At the least, Gorsuch shouldn’t be considered until that investigation is concluded. We also need to be sure Trump isn’t motivated by financial conflicts of interest around the world. We need to see his tax records to know he doesn’t owe a bundle to Russian oligarchs or big global banks that would affect his judgement. And we need to know he’s not violating the Constitution by raking in money from foreign governments. For example, Trump still owns a 77 stake of his luxury hotel in Washington and his children are splitting the rest, even as foreign governments assign their dignitaries rooms at the hotel. China just granted Trump trademark rights to the Trump brand, potentially worth billions of dollars to Trump and his family. Although it’s normally difficult to obtain brand-name rights in China so quickly, the Chinese authorities apparently saw this as a payback in return for Trump’s backing away from recognizing Taiwan. Last year Senate Republicans wouldn’t move forward with Obama’s pick of Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court on the bizarre theory that a president in his last year of office has no legitimacy nominating a Supreme Court justice. But a true cloud of illegitimacy now hangs over the presidency of Donald Trump. Unless and until that cloud disappears, the Senate shouldn’t move forward with anyone Trump picks for the Supreme Court.
TRUMP’S BONKERS BUDGET Donald Trump ran for president as a man of the people, who was going to fight for those who were left behind – but everything we’re hearing about his forthcoming federal budget says exactly the opposite: Spending that’s a great deal for big corporations that have hired armies of lobbyists, and great for the wealthiest few like himself. But leaving everyone else a lot worse off. Here are four important early warning flares: 1. Trump’s budget will increase military spending by 10 percent (even though U.S. military expenditures already exceed the next seven largest military budgets around the world, combined). And that’s frankly scary for a lot of reasons from what it signals about his foreign policy priorities to the impact of that whopping spending hike like this on other parts of the budget. 2. Trump actually plans to cut corporate taxes (even though U.S corporate profits after are higher as a percentage of the economy than they’ve been since 1947). 3. He’s going to pay for this – in part – by cutting billions of dollars from the Environmental Protection Agency (which would strip the EPA of almost all its capacity to enforce environmental laws and regulations, at a time when climate change threatens the future of the planet). This is precisely the opposite of what the United States ought to be doing. 4. Last – but by no means least – huge leaps in military spending plus tax cuts will also mean big cuts to programs like food stamps and Medicaid (at a time when the U.S. has the highest poverty rate among all advanced nations, including more than 1 in 5 American children). This is only the first step in the budget process, but with Republicans in control of both the House and the Senate these priorities have a good chance of being enacted, which is why we have to raise our voices – and push back – now. Republicans in Congress are likely still recovering from the last recess – dubbed appropriately “Resistance Recess.” We need to take that winning spirit of resistance into the budget fight – and the time to start is right now. So, let your members of Congress know that Trump’s budget is not your budget. Trump’s spending and tax priorities are not in the best interest of most Americans. And then let’s get to work to make sure we get a Congress in 2018 that reflects YOUR priorities.
Trump’s 10 Steps for Turning Lies into Half-Truths Earlier this year the Wall Street Journal’s editor-in-chief insisted that the Wall Street Journal wouldn’t label Trump’s false statements as “lies.” Lying, said the editor, requires a deliberate intention to mislead, which couldn’t be proven in Trump’s case. But Donald Trump is the most lying president we’ve ever had, and he seems to get away with it. Here’s his 10-step plan for turning lies into near truths: Step 1: He lies. Step 2: Experts contradict him, saying his claim is baseless and false. The media report that the claim is false. Step 3: Trump blasts the experts and condemns the media for being “dishonest.” Step 4: Trump repeats the lie in tweets and speeches. And asserts that “many people” say he’s right. Step 5: The mainstream media start to describe the lie as a “disputed fact.“ Step 6: Trump repeats the lie in tweets, interviews, and speeches. His surrogates repeat it on TV and in the right-wing blogosphere. Step 7: The mainstream media begin to describe Trump’s lie as a "controversy.” Step 8: Polls show a growing number of Americans (including most Republicans) believing Trump’s lie to be true. Step 9: The media start describing Trump’s lie as “a claim that reflects a partisan divide in America,” and is “found to be true by many.” Step 10: The public is confused and disoriented about what the facts are. Trump wins. Don’t let Trump’s lies become near truths. Be vigilant. Know the truth, and spread it. The media should stop mincing words. Report Trump’s lies as lies.
Boycotting Trump Both Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, among other retailers, have dropped Trump brands, both Ivanka’s and her father’s. Their decisions came amid calls for a boycott against retailers that carry Trump products. Macy’s dropped Donald Trump’s clothing line early in his campaign after he called Mexican immigrants “killers” and “rapists.“ Now Macy’s is under increasing pressure to drop Ivanka’s as well. Travis Kalanick, Uber’s CEO, quit Trump’s economic advisory council after he was pressured by consumers and employees. That came after Trump’s Muslim ban and #deleteuber went viral. Keep the pressure on. Let’s make it unprofitable to work with Trump. Boycott Trump. Reject companies that do business with Trump. Boycott companies whose CEOs collaborate with Trump. You need to be both a political activist and a consumer activist. Go to www.grabyourwallet.org for a complete list of companies to boycott.
7 Signs of Tyranny As tyrants take control of democracies, they typically do 7 things: 1. They exaggerate their mandate to govern – claiming, for example, that they won an election by a “landslide” even after losing the popular vote. They criticize any finding that they or co-conspirators stole the election. And they repeatedly claim “massive voter fraud” in the absence of any evidence, in order to have an excuse to restrict voting by opponents in subsequent elections. 2. They turn the public against journalists or media outlets that criticize them, calling them “deceitful” and “scum,” and telling the public that the press is a “public enemy.” They hold few, if any, press conferences, and prefer to communicate with the public directly through mass rallies and unfiltered statements (or what we might now call “tweets”). 3. They repeatedly lie to the public, even when confronted with the facts. Repeated enough, these lies cause some of the public to doubt the truth, and to believe fictions that support the tyrants’ goals. 4. They blame economic stresses on immigrants or racial or religious minorities, and foment public bias or even violence against them. They threaten mass deportations, “registries” of religious minorities, and the banning of refugees. 5. They attack the motives of anyone who opposes them, including judges. They attribute acts of domestic violence to “enemies within,” and use such events as excuses to beef up internal security and limit civil liberties. 6. They appoint family members to high positions of authority. They ppoint their own personal security force rather than a security detail accountable to the public. And they put generals into top civilian posts. 7.They keep their personal finances secret, and draw no distinction between personal property and public property – profiteering from their public office. Consider yourself warned.
The Republican Tax Sham Watch your wallets. Republicans are pushing a new corporate tax plan that will end up costing most of you a bundle. Here’s what you should know about the so-called “border adjustment tax." The U.S. imports about $2.7 trillion worth of goods a year. Many imports are cheap because labor costs are much lower in places like Southeast Asia. Our current tax code taxes corporations on their profits. So, for example, when Wal-Mart buys t-shirts from Vietnam for $10 and sells them for $13, Wal-Mart is only taxed on that $3 of profit. But under the new Republican tax plan, WalMart would be taxed on the full price of imported items, so in this case the full $13 sale price of that t-shirt. As a result of this tax, Wall Street analysts expect retail prices in the U.S. to rise as much as 15 percent. The plan would also cut taxes on companies that export from the United States. This is intended to encourage companies to locate production here in the United States. But it wouldn’t reverse the tide of automation that’s rapidly eliminating jobs even from American factories. The worst thing about it the plan is it’s a hidden upward redistribution. Its burden will fall mainly on the poor and middle class because they already spend almost all of their incomes, so they’ll feel the greatest pain from higher retail prices. The benefits will go to companies that export and their shareholders, who will benefit from the tax cuts in the form of higher profits – and higher share prices. Shareholders, who are mostly upper-income people, don’t need this windfall. Republicans claim that the U.S. dollar would rise in response to higher taxes on imports, effectively wiping out the tax burden. But as a practical matter, no one knows if this will happen. Bottom line: The tax plan is dressed up as a way to make America more competitive. But underneath it’s just a typical Republican plan that redistributes from the poor and middle class to corporations and the wealthy.
The 4 Dangerous Syndromes of Coping with Trump With Donald Trump as president, some of you may be tempted to succumb to one of the following 4 syndromes. Please don’t. 1. Normalizer Syndrome. You want to believe Trump is just another president – more conservative than most, but one who will make rational decisions. You’re under a grave delusion. Trump and his ultraconservative cabinet pose a clear and present danger to America and the world. 2. Outrage Numbness Syndrome. You are no longer outraged by what Trump says or does because you’ve gone numb. You can’t conceive that someone like this is our President so you’ve shut down emotionally. Maybe you’ve even stopped reading the news. Please get back in touch and re-engage with what’s happening. 3 Cynical Syndrome. You’ve become so cynical about the whole system – the Democrats who gave up on the working class, the Republicans who suppressed votes around the country, the media that gave Trump free air time, the establishment that rigged the system – that you say the hell with it. Let Trump do his worst. Well, you need to wake up. It can get a lot worse. 4. Helpless Syndrome. You aren’t in denial. You know that nothing about this is normal and you desperately want to do something to prevent what’s about to occur. But you don’t know what to do. You feel utterly helpless, powerless and immobilized. Instead of falling prey to one of these syndromes, I urge you to take action – demonstrate, make a ruckus, join with others, demand your members of congress also resist, commit yourself to changing American politics. Fighting Trump will empower you. And with that power you will not only to minimize the damage, but also get this nation and the world back on the course it must be on. We need you in the peaceful resistance.
THE REAL REASON REPUBLICANS WANT TO PULL THE PLUG ON OBAMACARE Don’t be fooled by Trump’s and Republican promises to “repeal and replace” Obamacare. They could repeal it, but they can’t and won’t replace it. They’ve tried for years to come up with a replacement that keeps at least as many people covered. Their “replacement” never appears. So why do Republicans want to repeal Obamacare and leave millions without insurance? Because it would mean a huge tax windfall for the wealthy. Repealing Obamacare will put an average of $33,000 of tax cuts in the hands of the richest 1 percent this year alone, and a whopping $197,000 of tax cuts into the hands of the top 0.1 percent. The 400 highest-income taxpayers (with incomes averaging more than $300 million each) will each receive an average annual tax cut of about $7 million. It would also increase the taxes of families earning between $10,000 and $75,000 – including just about all of Trump’s working class voters. So what do we end up with when Republicans repeal Obamacare? – 32 million people losing their health insurance, – tens of thousands of Americans dying because they don’t get the medical care they need, – Medicare in worse shape, – And the rich becoming far richer. This is lunacy. We must stand up to it.
TRUMP’S INFRASTRUCTURE SCAM Our country is in dire need of massive investments in infrastructure, but what Donald Trump is proposing is nothing more than a huge tax giveaway for the rich. 1. It’s a giant public subsidy to developers and investors. Rather than taxing the wealthy and then using the money to fix our dangerously outdated roads, bridges, airports, water systems, Trump wants to give rich developers and Wall Street investors tax credits to encourage them to do it That means that for every dollar they put into a project, they’d actually pay only 18 cents and we would contribute the other 82 cents through our tax dollars. 2. We’d be turning over public roads and bridges to private corporations who will charge us expensive tolls and earn big profits. These tolls will be set high in order to satisfy the profit margins demanded by elite Wall Street investors. So—essentially—we pay twice – once when we subsidize the developers and investors with our tax dollars, and then secondly when we pay the tolls and user fees that also go into their pockets. 3. We get the wrong kind of infrastructure. Projects that will be most attractive to Wall Street investors are those whose tolls and fees bring in the biggest bucks – giant megaprojects like major new throughways and new bridges. Not the thousands of smaller bridges, airports, pipes, and water treatment facilities most in need of repair. Not the needs of rural communities and smaller cities and towns too small to generate the tolls and other user fees equity investors want. Not clean energy. To really make America great again we need more and better infrastructure that’s for the public – not for big developers and investors. And the only way we get that is if corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes.
The First 100 Days Resistance Agenda Trump’s First 100 Day agenda includes repealing environmental regulations, Obamacare, and the Dodd-Frank Act, giving the rich and big corporations a huge tax cut, and putting in place a cabinet that doesn’t believe in the Voting Rights Act or public schools or Medicare or the Fair Housing Act. Our 100 days of resistance begins a sustained and powerful opposition. Here’s what you can do (it will take about an hour of your time each day): 1. Get your senators and representatives to pledge to oppose Trump’s agenda. Reject his nominees, prolong the process of approving them, draw out hearings on legislation. Call your senator and your representative and don’t stop calling. 2. March and demonstrate. The Women’s March on Washington will be the day after the Inauguration. There should be “sister” marches around the country. And then monthly marches against hate. Keep the momentum alive and keep the message going. 3. Make your city and state sanctuaries that won’t cooperate with federal immigration authorities in deporting undocumented immigrants, especially people who have been here since they were very young. 4. Boycott all Trump products, real estate, hotels, resorts, everything. And then boycott all stores (like Nordstrom) that carry merchandise from Trump family brands. 5. Write letters to the editor of your newspaper and op-eds, with a steady flow of arguments about the fallacies and dangers of Trump’s First 100 Day policies and initiatives. 6. Contribute to social media with up-to-date daily bulletins on what Trump is up to, and actions in your region in opposition. 7. Contribute to the most effective opposition groups. The American Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Economic Policy Institute, Inequality Media, MoveOn, and others. 8. Make the resistance visible with bumper stickers, lapel pins, wrist bands. 9. Push progressive causes at your state and local level – environmental reform, progressive taxes, a higher minimum wage, ending gerrymandering, stopping mass incarceration. Make your state a model of what the federal government should do. 10. Start a move in your state to abolish the electoral college by committing your state’s electors to vote for the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote. 11. Reach out to independents and even Trump supporters who agree with this agenda, and get them involved. 12. Your idea goes here. Meet with family and friends this weekend, and decide what you’ll contribute. The First 100 Days Resistance Agenda. An hour a day. Send a powerful message. We aren’t going away.
Trump’s Attack on the Freedom of the Press Historically, tyrants have tried to control the press using 4 techniques that, worryingly, Donald Trump is already using. 1. Berate the media and turn the public against it. Trump refers to journalists as “dishonest,” “disgusting” and “scum.” When Trump lies – claiming, for example, “massive voter fraud” in the election, and that he “won in a landslide” – and the media call him on those lies, Trump claims the media is lying. Even televised satires he labels “unfunny, one-sided, and pathetic.” 2. Limit media access. Trump hasn’t had a news conference since July. (His two predecessors had news conferences within days of being declared president.) He’s blocked the media from traveling with him, and even from knowing with whom he’s meeting. His phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which occurred shortly after the election, was first reported by the Kremlin. 3. Threaten the media. During the campaign, Trump threatened to sue the New York Times for libel in response to an article about two women who accused him of touching them inappropriately years ago, and then another that revealed part of his 1995 tax returns. He says he plans to “open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money.” 4. Bypass the media and communicate with the public directly. Trump tweets incessantly, issues videos, and holds large rallies – all of which further enable him to lie directly to the public with impunity. The word “media” comes from “intermediate” between the powerful and the public. The media hold the powerful accountable by correcting their misstatements, asking them hard questions, and reporting on what they do. Apparently Trump wants to eliminate such intermediaries. Historically, these 4 techniques have been used by demagogues to erode the freedom and independence of the press. Donald Trump seems intent on doing exactly this.
WHY LIBERAL STATES WON AMERICA’S TAX EXPERIMENT For years, conservatives have been telling us that a healthy business-friendly economy depends on low taxes, few regulations, and low wages. Are they right? We’ve had an experiment going on here in the United States that provides an answer. At the one end of the scale are Kansas and Texas, with among the nation’s lowest taxes, least regulations, and lowest wages. At the other end is California, featuring among the nation’s highest taxes, especially on the wealthy; lots of regulations, particularly when it comes to the environment; and high wages. So according to conservative doctrine, Kansas and Texas ought to be booming, and California ought to be in the pits. Actually, it’s just the opposite. For years now, Kansas’s rate of economic growth has been the worst in the nation. Last year its economy actually shrank. Texas hasn’t been doing all that much better. Its rate of job growth has been below the national average. Retail sales are way down. The value of Texas exports has been dropping. But what about so-called over-taxed, overregulated, high-wage California? California leads the nation in the rate of economic growth — more than twice the national average. In other words, conservatives have it exactly backwards. So why are Kansas and Texas doing so badly? And California so well? Because taxes enable states to invest in their people – their education and skill-training, great research universities that spawn new industries and attract talented innovators and inventors worldwide, and modern infrastructure. That’s why California is the world center of high-tech, entertainment, and venture capital. Kansas and Texas haven’t been investing nearly to the same extent. California also provides services to a diverse population including many who are attracted to California because of its opportunities. And California’s regulations protect the public health and the state’s natural beauty, which also draws people to the state – including talented people who could settle anywhere. Wages are high in California because the economy is growing so fast employers have to pay more for workers. And that’s not a bad thing. After all, the goal isn’t just growth. It’s a high standard of living. Now in fairness, Texas’s problems are also linked to the oil bust. But that’s really no excuse because Texas has failed to diversify its economy. And here again, it hasn’t made adequate investments. California is far from perfect. A housing shortage has been driving rents and home prices into the stratosphere. And roads are clogged. Much more needs to be done. But overall, the contrast is clear. Economic success depends on tax revenues that go into public investments, and regulations that protect the environment and public health. And true economic success results in high wages. So the next time you hear a conservative say “low taxes, few regulations, and low wages are the keys to economic business-friendly success, just remember Kansas, Texas, and California. The conservative formula is wrong.
TAKE BACK THE SENATE! Amid all the focus on the presidential race it’s also important to keep in mind Democrats have a fighting chance to take back the Senate in November. There are at least 12
races in play. Win five, and Democrats are in control regardless of the outcome of the presidential election. Many of of the Democrats on the ballot this year are progressives who have been fighting to raise the minimum wage, expand Social Security, provide paid sick leave and paid parental leave. Many are women and people of color who will make the Senate look more like the rest of America. Win five of these races and we’d have a chance for a Supreme Court that would prioritize the rights and needs of average Americans rather than big corporations and overturn Citizens United! Win five of these races and we’d put Senate oversight of the government back into the hands of people who care that government actually works. We’d strengthen the ranks of progressives like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkley, Sherrod Brown, and others – who we are counting on in the fight to get big money out of politics, reduce income and wealth inequality, confront devastating climate change, and push a progressive foreign policy. A Democratic Senate would also give us a line of defense, a countervailing power in budget showdowns, foreign policy lock downs, and threatened government shutdowns. If Hillary Clinton becomes president, a Democratic Senate will help push her positive agenda, and hold her accountable if she veers away from it. If Donald Trump becomes president – well, let’s just say we’ll need a Democratic Senate more than ever. So please remember what’s at stake. And Vote on November 8th!
Why We’ll Need a Universal Basic Income Imagine a little gadget called an i-Everything. You can’t get it yet, but if technology keeps moving as fast as it is now, the i-Everything will be with us before you know it. A combination of intelligent computing, 3-D manufacturing, big data crunching, and advanced bio-technology, this little machine will be able to do everything you want and give you everything you need. There’s only one hitch. As the economy is now organized, no one will be able to buy it, because there won’t be any paying jobs left. You see, the i-Everything will do … everything. We’re heading toward the i-Everything far quicker than most people realize. Even now, we’re producing more and more with fewer and fewer people. Internet sales are on the way to replacing millions of retail workers. Diagnostic apps will be replacing hundreds of thousands of health-care workers. Self-driving cars and trucks will replace 5 million drivers. Researchers estimate that almost half of all U.S. jobs are at risk of being automated in the next two decades. This isn’t necessarily bad. The economy we’re heading toward could offer millions of people more free time to do what they want to do instead of what they have to do to earn a living. But to make this work, we’ll have to figure out some way to recirculate the money from the handful of people who design and own iEverythings, to the rest of us who will want to buy i-Everythings. One answer: A universal basic income – possibly financed out of the profits going to such labor replacing innovations, or perhaps even a revenue stream off of the underlying intellectual property. The idea of a universal basic income historically isn’t as radical as it may sound. It’s had support from people on both the left and the right. In the 1970s, President Nixon proposed a similar concept for the United States, and it even passed the House of Representatives. The idea is getting some traction again, partly because of the speed of technological change. I keep running into executives of high-tech companies who tell me a universal basic income is inevitable, eventually. Some conservatives believe it’s superior or other kinds of public assistance because a universal basic income doesn’t tell people what to spend the assistance on, and doesn’t stigmatize recipients because everyone qualifies. In recent years, evidence has shown that giving people cash as a way to address poverty actually works. In study after study, people don’t stop working and they don’t drink it away. Interest in a basic income is surging, with governments debating it from Finland to Canada to Switzerland to Namibia. The charity “Give Directly” is about to launch a basic income pilot in Kenya, providing an income for more than 10 years to some of the poorest and most vulnerable families on the planet. And then rigorously evaluate the results. As new technologies replace work, the question for the future is how best to provide economic security for all. A universal basic income will almost certainly be part of the answer.
Why Corporate Deserters Should Be Disowned Apple is only the latest big global American corporation to use foreign tax shelters to avoiding paying its fair share of U.S. taxes. It’s just another form of corporate desertion. Corporations are deserting America by hiding their profits abroad or even shifting their corporate headquarters to another nation because they want lower taxes abroad. And some politicians say the only way to stop these desertions is to reduce corporate tax rates in the U.S. so they won’t leave. Wrong. If we start trying to match lower corporate tax rates around the world, there’s no end to it. Instead, the President should use his executive power to end the financial incentives that encourage this type of corporate desertion. President Obama has already begun, but there is much left that could be done. In addition, corporation that desert America by sheltering a large portion of their profits abroad or moving their headquarters to another country should no longer be entitled to the advantages of being American. 1. They shouldn’t be allowed to influence the U.S. government. They shouldn’t be allowed to contribute to U.S. political campaigns, or lobby Congress, or participate in U.S. government agency rule-making proceedings. And they no longer have the right to sue foreign companies in U.S. courts for acts committed outside the United States. 2. They shouldn’t be entitled to generous government contracts. “Buy American” provisions of the law should be applied to them. 3. Their assets around the world shouldn’t any longer be protected by the U.S. government. If their factories and equipment are expropriated somewhere around the world, they shouldn’t expect the United States to negotiate or threaten sanctions, or use our armed forces to protect their investments. And if their intellectual property – patents, trademarks, trade names, copyrights – are disregarded, that’s their problem too. Don’t expect any help from us. In fact, their interests should be of no concern to the U.S. government – in trade negotiations, climate negotiations, international treaties reconciling American law with the laws of other countries, or international disputes over access to resources. They don’t get to be represented by the U.S. government because they’re no longer American. It’s simple logic. If corporations want to desert America in order to pay less in taxes, that’s their business. But they should no longer have the benefits that come with being American.
THE REALITY OF FREE TRADE DEALS Free trade is figuring prominently in the upcoming presidential election. Donald Trump is against it. Hillary Clinton has expressed qualms. Economists still think free trade benefits most Americans, but according to polls, only 35% of voters agree. Why this discrepancy? Because economists support any policy that improves efficiency and they typically define a policy as efficient if the people who benefit from it could compensate those who lose from it and still come out ahead. But this way of looking at things leaves out 3 big realities. 1. Inequality keeps growing. In a society of widening inequality, the winners are often wealthier than the losers, so even if they fully compensate the losers, as the winners gain more ground, the losers may feel even worse off. 2. Safety nets keep unraveling. As a practical matter, the winners don’t compensate the losers. Most of the losers from trade, the millions whose good jobs have been lost, don’t even have access to unemployment insurance. Trade adjustment assistance is a joke. America invests less in jobs training as a percent of our economy than almost any other advanced nation. 3. Median pay keeps dropping. Those whose paychecks have been declining because of trade don’t make up for those declines by having access to cheaper goods and services from abroad. Yes, those cheaper goods help but adjusted for inflation, the median hourly pay of production workers is still lower today than it was in 1974. So if we want the public to support free trade, we’ve got to ensure that everyone benefits from it. This means we need a genuine reemployment system – including not only unemployment insurance, but also income insurance. So if you lose your job and have to take one that pays less, you get a portion of the difference for up to a year. More basically, we’ve got to ensure that the gains from trade are more widely shared.
Why a Tax on Wall Street Trades is an Even Better Idea Than You Know One of Bernie Sanders’s most important proposals didn’t receive enough attention and should become a law even without a president Sanders. Hillary Clinton should adopt it for her campaign. It’s a tax on financial transactions. Putting a small tax on financial transactions would: 1. reduce incentives for high speed trading, insider deal making and short term financial betting. Buying and selling stocks and bonds in order to beat others who are buying stocks and bonds is a giant zero sum game. It wastes countless resources, uses up the talents of some of the nation’s best and brightest and subjects financial markets to unnecessary risk. 2. generate lots of revenue. Even a one tenth of 1% transaction tax would raise $185 billion over 10 years according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. It could thereby finance public investments that enlarge the economic pie rather than merely rearranging its slices. Investments like better schools and access to college. 3. it’s fair. After all, Americans pay sales taxes on all sorts of goods and services, yet Wall Street traders pay no sales tax on the stocks and bonds they buy, which helps explain why the financial industry generates about 30% of America’s corporate profits, but pays only about 18% of corporate taxes. Wall Street’s objections are baloney. Wall Street says even a small transaction tax on financial transactions would drive trading overseas since financial trades can easily be done elsewhere. Baloney. The U.K. has had a tax on stock trades for decades, yet remains one of the world’s financial powerhouses. Incidentally, that tax raises about 3 billion pounds yearly. That’s the equivalent of 30 billion in an economy the size of the United States, which is a big help for Britain’s budget. At least 28 other countries also have such a tax and the European Union is well on the way to implementing one. Wall Street also claims that the tax would burden small investors such as as retirees, business owners and average savers. Wrong again. The tax wouldn’t be a burden if it reduces the volume and frequency of trading, which is the whole point. In fact, the tax is highly progressive. The Tax Policy Center estimates that 75% of it would be paid by the richest 5th of taxpayers and 40% by the top 1%. So, why aren’t politicians of all stripes supporting it? Because the financial transactions tax directly threatens a major source of Wall Street’s revenue. And if you hadn’t noticed, the Street uses a portion of its vast revenues to gain political clout. Which may be one of the best reasons for enacting it.
BERNIE’S 7 LEGACIES Bernie Sanders’s campaign is now officially over, but the movement he began is still just beginning. He’s provided it seven big legacies: First, Bernie has helped open America’s eyes to the power of big money corrupting our democracy and thereby rigging our economy to its advantage and everyone else’s disadvantage. Polls now show huge majorities of Americans think moneyed interests have too much sway in Washington. And thanks, in large part, to Bernie’s campaign, progressives on Capitol Hill are readying a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, and bills requiring full disclosure of donors, ending gerrymandering, and providing automatic voter registration. None of these will get anywhere in a Republican-controlled Congress, but they will give progressives a powerful theme for the upcoming election. It’s called democracy. Second, Bernie has shown that it’s possible to win elections without depending on big money from corporations, Wall Street, and billionaires. He came close to winning the Democratic nomination on the basis of millions of small donations from average working people. No longer can a candidate pretend to believe in campaign finance reform but say they have to take big money because their opponent does. Third, Bernie has educated millions of Americans about why we must have a singlepayer health-care system and free tuition at public universities, and why we must resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act and bust up the biggest banks. These issues will be front and center in every progressive campaign from here out, at all levels of American politics. Fourth,the Sanders campaign has brought millions of young people into politics, ignited their energy and enthusiasm and idealism. Fifth, the movement Bernie ignited has pushed Hillary Clinton to take more progressive positions on issues ranging from the minimum wage to the Trans Pacific Partnership, the XL Pipeline, Wall Street, and Social Security. Sixth, he’s taught Americans how undemocratic the Democratic Party’s system for picking candidates really is. Before Bernie’s candidacy, not many people were paying attention to so-called “superdelegates” or whether independents could vote, or how primary elections and caucuses were run. From now on, people will pay attention. And the Democratic National Committee will be under pressure to make fundamental changes. Seventh is the real possibility Bernie has inspired of a third party – if the Democratic Party doesn’t respond to the necessity of getting big money out of politics and reversing widening inequality, if it doesn’t begin to advocate for a single-payer healthcare system, or push hard for higher taxes on the wealthy - including a wealth tax to pay for better education and better opportunities for everyone else, if it doesn’t expand Social Security and lift the cap on income subject to the Social Security payroll tax, if it doesn’t bust up the biggest banks and strengthen antitrust laws, and expand voting rights. If it doesn’t act on these critical issues. the Democratic Party will become irrelevant to the future of America, and a third party will emerge to address them. Bernie, we thank you for your courage, your inspiration, your tireless dedication, and your vision. And we will continue the fight.
The Five Principles of Patriotism We talk a lot about Patriotism, especially around July 4th, but we need also to take to heart its five basic principles. First: True patriotism isn’t simply about waving the American flag. And it’s not mostly about securing our borders, putting up walls and keeping others out. It’s about coming together for the common good. Second: Real patriotism is not cheap. It requires taking on a fair share of the burdens of keeping America going – being willing to pay taxes in full rather than seeking tax loopholes and squirreling away money abroad. Not just voting but becoming politically active, volunteering time and energy to improving this country. Third: Patriotism is about preserving, fortifying, and protecting our democracy, not inundating it with big money and buying off politicians. It means defending the right to vote and ensuring more Americans are heard, not fewer. Fourth: True patriots don’t hate the government of the United States. They’re proud of their country and know the government is a tool to help us solve problems together. They may not like everything it does, and they justifiably worry when special interests gain too much power over it. But true patriots work to improve our government, not destroy it. Finally, patriots don’t pander to divisiveness. They don’t fuel racist or religious or ethnic divisions. They aren’t homophobic or sexist or racist. To the contrary, true patriots seek to confirm and strengthen and celebrate the “we” in “we the people of the United States.” Have a happy and safe Fourth of July.
8 REASONS WHY REPUBLICANS MUST DUMP TRUMP The Republican Party still has time to change its mind. Right now it’s supporting for President of the United States a man 1. who divides us by race and ethnicity and religion. He says undocumented Americans “bring drugs, crime, they’re rapists.” That the Mexican government “sends bad ones over because they don’t want to pay for them.” And who says he’ll round up and deport all 11 million undocumented workers in the United States. This is a man who equivocated on repudiating an endorsement from David Duke, former head of the Ku Klux Klan. And when asked to repudiate the vicious antisemitism of some of his followers said “I don’t have a message to the fans.” A man who claimed “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated the Twin Towers collapsing, when there’s no evidence at all to support that statement. And whose response to terrorism is to prevent all Muslims from coming into the United States. A man who, in response to the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, did not mourn the victims, but instead crowed “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don’t want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!” and repeated his call for his temporary Muslim ban – even though the shooter was an American citizen. “What has happened in Orlando is just the beginning. Our leadership is weak and ineffective. I called it and asked for the ban. Must be tough,” he said. A man who says black criminals are responsible for 81 percent of homicides against whites, which turns out to be a racist myth. 2. whose incendiary lies are inciting violence across this land, but he excuses them. When he learned that some of his supporters punched, kicked and spit on protesters of color at his rallies, he said “people who are following me are very passionate.” When a handful of white supporters punched and attempted to choke a Black Lives Matter protester at another of his rallies, he said “maybe he should have been roughed up.” 3. who bullies, humiliates, and threatens those who dare cross him. He mocks their physical characteristics, makes up lies about them, degrades them, tries to intimidate them by unleashing hostile attacks on the Internet – announcing, for example, that a family who donated money to a political opponent “better be careful, they have a lot to hide.” He calls a federal judge who’s considering a case against Trump University a “total disgrace” and a “hater,” and alleging he’s Mexican although he was born in the United States. 4. who spreads baseless conspiracy theories. He conjectured that President Obama was not born in the United States, and that the government hid information about the Ebola virus and a plague would start in America if flights from Ebola infected countries weren’t cancelled. He opined that Ted Cruz’s father was with Lee Harvey Oswald during the Kennedy assasination in Dallas, and that child health vaccinations cause autism. And he suggested that the death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia might have been a part of a plot. Such baseless conspiracy theories can do great damage, when, for example, parents don’t vaccinate their children because they fear autism. 5. whose hateful and demeaning attitudes toward women and boastful claims of sexual dominance have been filling the airwaves for years. They’re best summed up in an interview where he said “women, you have to treat them like shit.” 6. who believes climate change is not caused by humans, contrary to all scientific proof. And he calls for more fossil fuel drilling and fewer environmental regulations, vows to cancel the Paris agreement committing nearly every nation to curbing climate change, and to rescind Obama’s rules to curb planetwarming emissions from coal-fired power plants. 7. who proposes using torture against terrorists, and punishing their families, both in clear violation of international law. And if all this weren’t enough, 8. who wants to cut taxes on the rich, giving the wealthiest one tenth of one percent an average tax cut of more than $1.3 million each every year - exploding the national debt and endangering the future of Social Security and Medicare. This man is Donald Trump, and the Republican Party wants him to be President of the United States. Why are there so few statesmen left in the Republican Party? Are there no principled Republicans whose loyalty to the nation is greater than their eagerness to win back the White House? No Republican leaders with the courage to stand up and say this is wrong – that this man doesn’t have the character or the temperament to be president, and his election would endanger America and everything we believe in and stand for? If not, shame on them. Republicans still have time to dump Trump. For the good of the country and the world, they must.
It’s Not Over Until It’s Over This morning I heard from an old friend here in California who said “I’m for Bernie, but he doesn’t really have a chance anymore. So isn’t my vote for him in the California primary just prolonging the agony, and indirectly helping Trump?” I told him: 1. True, the electoral numbers are daunting, and Bernie faces an uphill task, but a win Tuesday will help enormously. One out of 8 Americans lives in California. 2. Regardless of the electoral math, Bernie’s candidacy has never been mainly about Bernie. It’s been about a movement to reclaim our democracy and economy from the moneyed interests. And a win for Bernie in the California primary (and in other Tuesday primaries in Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota South Dakota, and New Mexico) will send an even clearer signal to Washington, the Democratic Party, and the establishment as a whole, that a large and growing share of Americans is determined to wrest back control. 3. The goals Bernie has enunciated in his campaign are essential to our future: getting big money out of politics and reversing widening inequality; moving toward a singlepayer healthcare system and free tuition at public universities (both financed by higher taxes on the richest Americans and on Wall Street); a $15 minimum wage; decriminalization of marijuana and an end to mass incarceration; a new voting rights act; immigration reform; and a carbon tax. All will require continued mobilization at all levels of government. A win Tuesday will help continue and build on that mobilization. 4. Bernie’s successes don’t help Trump. To the contrary, they are bringing into politics millions of young voters whose values are opposite to those of Trump’s. Bernie has received majorities from voters under age 45 (as well as from independents). He’s won even larger majorities of young people under 30 – including young women and Latinos. Many have been inspired and motivated by Bernie to become political activists – the last thing Trump and the Republicans want.
INTO THE WORLD OF WORK What do you need to know – about the new world of work, but also about yourself – as you graduate and launch yourself into the world of work? We made a short film of my last class of the semester, where I speak to graduating seniors about these questions and more. If you’re a graduating senior (or know one) we hope this is helpful.
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