Take It From A Republican, Deficit Hawks Will Emerge Once The Ink Is Dry On The Tax Cut
Joan McCarter over at Daily Kos writes:
"Take it from a Republican, not just any Republican but a domestic policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the Treasury Department in the Bush 41 White House."
That would be Bruce Bartlett. Bruce Bartlett was the senior economic advisor to Ronald Reagan, he was the domestic policy adviser and he was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the Treasury Department during George Herbert Walker Bush's presidency. This guy has impeccable Republican credentials. He helped shape the Reagan and post Reagan era. And he woke up. Bruce Bartlett figured out the scam that the Republicans are running. He tweeted:
"Literally the second the ink is dry on the tax cut, deficit hawks will emerge from their hibernation, where they have had nary a word of criticism about increasing the deficit by $1.5 trillion, to demand that SS & Medicare be slashed b/c the deficit has mysteriously increased."
This is a prediction and I absolutely agree with Bruce Bartlett - I believe that this prediction is 100% true because every single time in the past that this kind of a scenario has happened, this is what's happened. He goes on to say in a piece he wrote for the Washington Post:
"They've played this game before... "For decades, conservative intellectuals have pushed for big tax cuts; less to grow the economy and more because they want to 'starve the beast.' They want to force a major overall spending cut that would be a political non-starter without first passing a tax cut that creates a deficit so large, something must be done about it."
And this is this is nakedly an attempt to cut Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid.
That's what's going on.
Comments
"One day they will go too far." It is my opinion that -that- day is going to get here far, -far- quicker than people -- =all= people, rich, poor, liberal, conservative, et alia -- are aware of and/or may want. I 'read' -a- =lot= of history. I notice patterns (among other things). When "the balloon goes up", as we used to say in the army =many= years ago, it will surprise, shock, and scare the pee out of people to quite an extreme degree. Yes, even the utter nut-jobs who -want- to see the world burn! Only this time, unlike the French Revolution, very few, if any, of the self-styled "aristocrats" [read here - the ultra-wealthy and heads of mega-corporations .. and congressional Republicans] will survive with their lives and/or sanity.
I sincerely hope I'm wrong .. but I have 'a feeling' I won't be.
Lets hope that day was yesterday with the absolute theft of "Internet" ! And to turn it over to the corporatist? Just wait for inflation as it relates to that! I know many southern rednecks that ain't a gonna be happy with that. They and he knows it's over (hence the FBI attacks). This weekend I think, is one of the most dangerous times we have ever faced, even more so than October 1962 when I rode my bicycle on a ballfield under convoys of planes headed to Florida. It really is amazing what they have done in brainwashing merely 30% with Algorythyms and KGB help for Damn sure! Are we gonna jump in and try to save them? Usually people who are drowning will do the same to you if you try to help them. Just saying; no "bless heart" left in me for any of them! Not very "Christian" but; they have redifined that term "themdamnselves" to zealot fools. Perhaps "I hope the real God has mercy" is applicable; and that is meant for all elected senators and congresspeople, all "R's" that vote for the tax burden on 99.7% of Americans.
The American population has less than a year to remember all of this and vote them out. This tax cut gives Trillions more to the 1% to bribe politicians and run ads. That is what they count on. Everytime they expect a large ROI and they get it. This is modern day Fascism.
Of course Legend. And 25% still havent a clue! Uncle Draggi; thank you for your service good sir. I hope you are incorrect also but; we have what we have; greed is the driver now! Which sin in the Hiereachary (sp sorry) was that, what number was greed? I'm not versed Biblically by no means....other than the "Golden Rule"....
People need to educate themselves about how currency actually works at the federal level. There is absolutely no connection between tax revenue and federal spending. If cutting taxes results in cuts to social programs, that is a purely meanspirited political decision, NOT a fiscal one. Over the last 5 years or so, Thom has had on his show economists who are proponents of Modern Monetary Theory, but has failed his listeners by failing to promote their insights. An important contribution of MMT is a factual description of what it means to an economy to have a sovereign currency, as the US does. We learn that our government still operates as though our currency was still linked to gold, as it was until 1971, even though our present fiat currency gives us far more policy latitude than we are using. Here are two key realities revealed by the MMT folks: 1) Federal income taxes do not fund federal spending, and 2) The "national debt" is actually the sum total of savings that individuals, institutions and foreign governments have invested in US Treasury instruments.
Taxes are collected at a rate to keep inflation in check, then "deleted" once recorded. The government creates new money every time it spends. Since it is the sole producer of the dollar, it never needs to borrow in its own currency. The government can never run out of money (but Congress can fail to authorize spending, creating an artificial currency crisis). The 1% knows how this works and uses that knowledge to their advantage, while keeping the rest of us in the dark. Hence, the huge bank bailout after 2008, and the runaway military budgest, neither of which were support by huge tax increases that one would imagine would be necessary. The trick is to get Congress to authorize spending. Once they do, the funds are guaranteed to be available.
Learn MMT.
One can hope that 2018 begins the turnaround...one can only dream that by 2018, Trump is on his way out.
At the least, 2018 bodes well (better?) for lower hanging fruit as Progressives, Socialist Democrats, et.al. start winning as Mayors, council members, school board members, and dare I suggest it?...Governships
Outback: Obama also offered a juicy cutback on Social Security, to appease the Republicans. They turned it down, thank God. Both parties are corrupt. See:
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/obama-offers-cut-social-security-...
So; MaxM is the troll for the evening..... That is exactly what "they" will be saying in 6 months! Deficits don't matter. After the 2018 (hopefully massacare election); they will say we're broke! Holy Hell!
So; MaxM is the troll for the evening..... That is exactly what "they" will be saying in 6 months! Deficits don't matter. After the 2018 (hopefully massacare election); they will say we're broke! Holy Hell!
See... The internet done messing up! LMAO!
Uncle Draggi: You just blew my mind, BIG TIME. Thank you?
In Illinois, republiCon venture capitalist Bruce Rauner over two years ago donned blue jeans, a plaid shirt and a carhart jacket and went down state illinois, and talked to farmers and working class people , dropping the "g's"on his ing's in his sentences, trying to talk like local good ole boy , and it worked, even some of my "poorly educated" union brothers bought his line of crap "were going to shake Springfeild up'' (that's republicon double speak, for making Illinois a -right-to-work- state)(his TURN AROUND AGENDA) and for the following two years after his election he vetoed budgets brought forward by the Democratic majority untill he just about broke the state, but his re-election is on the horizon ,and the republiCons worried abought their re-elctions joined the democrats and started overriding his vetoes,we have some good Dems running for governor in 2018, hopefully people wake up to this right wing crap and come to their senses..........
Legend: How right you are! We all need to vote Democrat in every direction we can; we have no other choice at this juncture, no matter how justifiably repulsed we are, by our own party's decades of spinelessness and kissing the ass of big oil and other corporate entities. "Republican Lite" as the title goes. (Here I'm assuming you're a registered Democrat; my apologies if you're not.) Then, once we achieve /that/, we must just as rapidly, and forcibly, shove out all the Centrist and other DINOs if we are to have any hope in real change. Or...we can form a spanking new, grassroots movement that doesn't necessarily need to function within the structure of the Democratic Party...nor for that matter, within any kind of party structure, including one that doesn't yet exist. Though I strongly doubt we can achieve such heroic victories above the ground. If you get my drift. My web site FWIW: gay-bible.org
Hey MAX: Your boy Rand Paul is voting yes on the tax bill, thus adding trillions more to the deficit, just saying!
But of course, zero info from the corpse media on PAYGO and how that relates to the tax bill triggering mandatory cuts to the programs we already pay for through our payroll taxes. Keep the masses confused and misinformed and when that fails, just blame Hillary and Obama.
The Kochpublicans have no problem with massive out of control spending on war for profit though...the right-wing fascist SOB's.
I see Rubio pulled a fast one on the tax bill .....yep he's truly worried about the child tax credit, what a great guy, and the media fell for it, he got free publicity alright. These self-serving hypocritical scoundrels never cease to amaze me. What a Teabagger.
Oldskool--Do some homework before trashing valuable ideas.I am not expressing opinion on MMT. This is the work of professional economists who have the nerve to challange orthodox economic thought. You know, in the manner of Galileo. Do not be afraid. What they are laying out is quite liberating and holds great promise for society (assuming you would like to see less poverty and unemployment, Medicare for All and more generous social Security).
Here's a good place to start: http://moslereconomics.com/wp-content/powerpoints/7DIF.pdf
#18 I use to think that people would not sell their car for crummy paper dollars and would sell it for Krugerrand or gold coin of your choice. Why sell a good car for bad money? But I never saw it happen. People will sell a car for crummy paper dollars because they can buy another for crummy paper dollars. In other words the gold coin has not become a currency of choice. But I can buy one for $1256 crummy dollars on todays market.
Fake money???? How about we focus on the hyper inflated 1929-esque stock market? When this massive bubble bursts and craps out the economy.... working people get ffkkk.ed, not the lazy bastards who committed the fraud in the first place.
All of that stock is bought with paper money. Or as MaxM calls it MMT.
We need some people more knowledgeable than Thom and us to jump in and comfort us. To gently correct our flawed thinking, and why we need not be in fear of the wealthy taking anything else from us. How they will instead give back to us as promised, as they prosper more. Time will tell who is right here. I hope it's you.
Cut tax ? Less revenue. Less revenue, more deficit. More deficit ? Cut spending. Cut spending? Infrastructure decays, poverty increases. and military strength diminishes. Solution ? More deficit. More deficit ? Cut spending ? Infrastructure decays, poverty increases, military strength diminishes. Solution ? More deficit ? More deficit ? A bankrupt casino !
Let us not forget that the billionaires and corps behind the fascist tax scam are already awash in more surplus billions than they know what to do with..... We all need to continue to call attention to the big lie that they'll actually do something to stimulate the economy with the theft of more billions.
You cut taxes and lower interest rate when a recession starts to stimulate the economy. The Economy is booming with low unemployment and Bull Market. Interest rates cannot go to much lower and how can you cut more taxes If the economy turns, and it will. This will only make a recession worse and make it longer to recover from. A repeat of the Bush 2007 Depression. If you gave the middle class and poor a tax cut, increased minimum wage dramatically then money would be spent to stimulate the economy. As it is the 1% are just going to stash more money. Corporations will buy back more stock. All proven before.
Well once again I am a little confused. What is it that is so scary? The booming economy, record low unemployment rates, investor confidence at a all time high, rising wages for the first time in decades, lower taxes. Lighten up. It's not so bad. Ya Trump says the stupidest things you have ever heard from a president but he is getting gray haired white guys to invest again. That is good for everyone.
Every step of the way since the 1990s, it is Democrats that have been dismantling the New Deal/Great Society. Reportedly, Dems agreed to slash or end Medicaid in 2018, the program that current liberals disregard. The elderly poor and the disabled rely on dual benefits, Medicare/Medicaid, with Medicaid covering essential prescriptions, etc. Targeting Medicaid ensures a falling number of elderly poor and disabled. This is not a surprise. Note that in 2015, Democrats agreed to slash food stamp bemnefits to the same group, from $115 per month down to $10. Did you hear the liberal outrage? Right, neither did I.
Trump is just another step along the way on the course that was first set by Reagan, when the US began shipping out jobs. Democrats ended actual welfare aid in the 1990s. We lost over 5 million manufacturing jobs alone since 2000. Ever wonder what happens to those who are phased out of the job market? Nothing to worry about, until you become jobless.
Overall, the US itself has slowly been transitioning into just another third world labor state that discards those who aren't of current use to employers. Again, no problem, until it's your turn to go.
Yes Kend, as always, you are a bit confused. If fact you are more than a bit confused. You are very confused in your Hooverish appraisal of the economy and state of the Union.
But it begs to question, if everything is going so swimmingly as you say, then why would you want to fuck it up by gambling on this "trickle down" gimmick…the biggest, so called "tax reform" ever? If everything is going so well? Why change horses in midstream?
But of course, the billionaire oligarchs cannot stand the fact that there are trillions of dollars in the Social Security and Medicare trusts that they cannot get their hands on. It no doubt, eats at them every second of every day. Like the bank robbers they are, they cannot stand the idea that there is this money there that is not in their pockets, where they believe it belongs! After all, God made them rich and God wants them to be richer. Wouldn't it be immoral and anti-American to think otherwise? There is no end to their ability to convince themselves that this money belongs to them and not to the people that put it there.
They somehow assume that their wealth was given to them by divine intervention…in a vacuum...without any help or obligation to anything or anyone else. Least of all, the great unwashed masses.
Of course, this is not the first time they have tried to raid the treasury and bankrupt the country for the purpose of gaining complete control over the wealth of the nation. It started with the "Voodoo Economics" of Reagan, then again with the Bush's. But now they believe this is their best opportunity. They are literally licking their lips and foaming at the mouth in anticipation of the great windfall…the great "sucking sound" of money gushing into their bank accounts as the middle-class and poor are left more and more to fend for themselves.
Much of the nation seems mesmerized by their prophet Trump. There is nothing he can do or say…no lies…no hypocrisies to great, that can dissuade them from their adoration of Trump. They can easily ignore his obvious transgressions and his total ignorance of all things presidential, his myriad of lies, his endless contradictions, his embarrassing lack of diplomacy, his total lack of knowledge of foreign policy. In fact, they believe Trump can do no wrong or say no wrong. The cruder and more unbalanced he seems, this they interpret as desirable and the new normal, even though it flies in the face of everything that thousands of years of societal evolution, progress and enlightenment have brought to us in the forming of our constitutional government. To them, he is perfect in every way, and to say otherwise is blasphemy.
So, the greedy power hungry oligarchs watched as Trump descended from his heavenly perch, via the Trump Tower escalator, as the selfish, ignorant bigots bowed and scraped and groveled at his feet, and they said to themselves "now is the time."
Actually, I give the deficit hawks about 6 months after the ink is dry to emerge. Given the current unpopularity of this "tax reform" bill, it would be too much for the majority of Americans to swallow the immediate need for deficit reduction after being sold the promises of sweeping economic growth resulting from this action. And even his sycophantic base is starting to show cracks and after all the 2018 elections are right around the corner.
No, better to wait 6 months or so while the public's attention span loses focus and the propaganda machines can do their work. Then as the failings of the new "tax reform" begin to sink in, then the need for deficit reduction could be more easily sold to the American public as the next logical step in Trump's guarantee to "Make America Great Again." Not to mention fulfilling a major campaign promise of Trump and his fellow Republicans.
Legend and stopgap are spot on wiith their comments, just too bad the general populous doesn't get this same info/truth via our much needed fourth branch of government.
Case in point: This AM Chuck Todd let George Will lie to millions when he stated that the effective corp tax rate is currently at 28%...fact check, the OCED charts shows it at18.6%, which is below the 21% rate proposed in the tax scam bill, thus no new business stimulus will be generated from this fake tax cut ....just further evidence that this is all a scam to increase the deficit in order to go after the social security, medicaid, and medicare programs.
In fact on the same Meet the Republicans show, Kochpublican John Kasich admitted "everyone knows this tax bill won't reduce the deficit , so we're going to have to concentrate on savings now," or something very close to those words. Well I guess almost everyone on this site knows what that means....Paul Ryan calls it entitlement reform, Tom Reed calls it fixing social security, etc. This is really all about transferring the trillions in the social security trust fund over to the fascist bankers and ending Medicaid and Medicare...but don't worry, Kochbaggers are convinced your local church and charities will take care of you.
Less than 11 months to vote as many Republican Congressmen and Senators out as possible.
The thing that should make any voter skeptical about the Trump "Christmas gift to the middle class" - "tax reform bill" is the hard sell that Trump and his fellow Republicans are using to push this ugly monstrosity through.
Just like Bush when he began selling the need to invade Iraq, the hard sell was relentless. No matter how many debunked lies piled up to the contrary of Bush's case to invade Iraq, the hard sell became more and more strident. As Bush himself said, "the message needs to be repeated over and over to catapult the propaganda."
Good things usually sell themselves, but rotten turkeys need the hard sell to make the unreal real, the wrong right, the lies facts, the experts uncredible, propaganda truth.
Anyone who believes this tax bill is for the benefit of anyone other than the richest of the rich, I have a choice toll booth on the prestigious Pennsylvania Turnpike, I'd like to sell you. In no time at all you should become richer than your wildest dreams. Imagine the steady income, day after day, week after week, year after year, just from owning this one property…never have to work again. I've made a fortune from this asset, but now it's time for me to pass it on to some other lucky , enterprising individual. No reasonable offer refused.
Stopgap. I respectfully disagree. The "wealthy" which I guess I am. Do not want to touch Social Security or Medicare. Actually we would like to increase it. The problem is it is not substantial at the rate we are going. Our population is aging, living longer and the medical advances that make that possible are extremely costly. So how can we maintain even what we have. The problem is people like me are not going to invest or spend our wealth if the return after tax is minimal. Why would we we have a great life now. So for the last eight years the fifty rich sat on their wallets waiting for a government who they believe would put in some ridiculous tax to pay for their spending problems. I know that sounds bad but it is the reality. I wouldn't be to worried about the debt as soon as this tax cut is passed the Republicans are going to go on a massive spending cut so it will balance. They just can't say it now.
By the way what do you consider rich or wealthy. Million or millions.
Well said Kend.
"rich" to the leftie/socialist crowd is anybody with more money then themselves and "tax the rich" is their mantra but only until it invades their own tax bracket.
BTW, after last weeks net neutrality kerfuffle, it is a nice surprise to see Al Gore's invention is still up and operational.
Kend, since we have no way of verifying your wealth or lack of it, your point about the wealthy regarding Social Security or Medicare cannot be considered valid. For all we know, you may think you are Napoleon too.
Again and again it has been said here a million times; to insure the longevity of the Social Security trust, all that would have to be done is to at least raise the earnings cap that is paid into Social Security from about 117,000 currently, to say 250,000 or so. That is by far the easiest and most feasible way to solve the Social Security problem. And it could be done immediately. If it was raised to a million or so, we would never have to worry about it at all.
A sure sign of the rightwing's desperation is Diane "Pussy Hat" Chelsea Clinton Reynolds' reaching back into the old Republican bullshit lie bag and pulling out one of their old tried and false myths about Gore claiming that he invented the internet. However, I guess if you believe a pathological liar like Trump, why wouldn't you believe all the other Fox News and rightwing think tank lies.
Stopgap you didn't answer my question. Is it 100 thousand or 100 million or somewhere in between.
Kend, were talking about billionaires controlling the government. Millionaires are just willing participants going along for the ride. What could it matter what I quantify as rich? Believe me, I'm not a millionaire. But I have no debt and I have a good deal of cash and a variety of other desirable assets, and I'm richer than I ever thought I'd be. Believe it or not! As I said before; rich enough to live out my life comfortably, at least until Trump came along and everything became a crap-shoot.
At 71, there is a good chance that I can slide along before the ultimate shit hits the fan. But uncertainty has definitely clouded the picture and if anyone thinks that the rich are going to invest beyond reasonable limits while there is this unstable, delusional president in power, then buy my toll gate on the Penn. turnpike.
Economics 101. Supply and demand. There will be relatively little extraordinary investment beyond reasonable or actual demand, pure and simple. No matter how much extra money you give the filthy rich, they will not feel the urge to return it to the economy on extravagant excess, unless they think that they are guaranteed a profit. This bullshit of "build it and they will come," aka, "trickle down economics," is pure fantasy that only exists in Hollywood. They will not invest in ventures that there is little or no demand for and as a result, will not expand the economy unless they are assured that there is a demand for the product insuring them a profit.
They will invest in research, regardless of any tax benefit , because they know that innovation is the mother of invention, resulting in products that there is actually a market for and that they can actually profit from, wether there is a tax benefit or not. Because, if they don't, someone else will. That is what competition is all about.
So, even if they don't have some incredible tax benefit to encourage them to explore new innovations. They will be compelled to do so to stay ahead of the game.
If this tax bill goes through, my advice is: buy gold!
It is easy to research. Amazed how right wing trolls seem to be incapable of crasping fact and reference. Do they teach this in Canada Kend? Do you ever have a fact or reference to your points? That is what makes an opinion writer. Not just posting what comes out of your asshole. Simple research. Just 1 of many.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/26/1-percent-in-each-state-map_n_...
The real problem is the 0.1%. The ones that dropping a billion into an election is like me donating a $100. Just the other night they showed Rupert Murdochs home in CA being threaten by fire. They said it was worth $39 million. They did save it. But when you are worth $80 billion that property is nothing but pocket change. These people are so rich that they cannot conceive of the way that anyone else thinks. They donate so much that they now have total control.
Al Gore and the internet. Seems that right wing Troll Diane cannot post fact or reference. Fake News.
Legend. The problem with your fascism and oligarchs theory's is the Democrats out spent the Republicans last election and lost. So the one person one vote holds true. Plus most new billionaires are Democrats. So I am not convinced money has a whole lot to do with elections anymore. I think Democrats should start looking at their policies and candidates to blame for their loses.
Cha Ching Diane and Kend: The Fascists who can afford to purchase your party and our government are the wealthy elite I refer to. The Kochs being the most aggressive have funded the Teabagger movement and thus far have gotten a fantastic return at an extremely high cost to the rest of us... the demise of representative government.
Talk about being washed up. What don't you get about what is happening? After all of Crooked Donny's lies, his cabinet picks, and the upcoming tax scam bill, you still have the nerve to post without embarrassment ..really! .....my god what is between your ears???
Kend: STOP, For christ sakes, listen to me for one second, every Dept. head Trump has installed, every cabinet pick, every sexual assault, every lie, all is reality...How can you defend him and the party that supports him, unless you live in an evil alt reality??????? What don't you get here?????.. are you simply naive, misinformed, what the hell...or are you a troll looking for this response to make it look like I'm picking on you???? What the hell?
Haha -- "I feel your pain!" Truth tellers and Trump trolls mix together about as well as oil and water ...and guess who represents the oil slick in this analogy.
Those who worship money over life forever fail to justify the real-world wickedness and destructive consequences of their selfish attitudes and bankrupt ideologies. Obscene profit-taking does not excuse the inherent evil of unregulated greed, i.e. , unregulated capitalism -- extreme poverty, endless war, irreversible environmental degradation, the inevitable decay of democracy and rise of fascism, in short, the end of human "civilization."
That is the harsh reality. Wishful as they might be, the Republicans' happy-talk "alternative reality" simply does not exist, nor will it ever.
Your heartfelt frustration is loud and clear, 2950-10K -- eloquently expressed, completely justified, and clearly understood by those with the ability to hear.
Out of respect for his bravery, the Sioux never mutilated Custer's body in order to cripple him as a warrior in the afterlife, which they did to most of the soldiers under his command. Instead, one of the women stripping bodies and collecting weapons after the battle grabbed a stick and reamed out his ear canals, so that he might hear better in the next life.
The extent that they go to cover money donations:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/A_Maze_of_Money.png
The real reason Trump won, the 1% owned media.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/A_Maze_of_Money.png
https://television.gdeltproject.org/cgi-bin/iatv_campaign2016/iatv_campa...
Billions in free media coverage. See, posting fact and reference is easy.
Study: 91 percent of recent network Trump coverage has been negative
Study: News Coverage Of Trump More Negative Than For Other Presidents
https://www.npr.org/2017/10/02/555092743/study-news-coverage-of-trump-mo...
Byron York: Harvard study: CNN, NBC Trump coverage 93 percent negative
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/byron-york-harvard-study-cnn-nbc-trump...
Harvard study: Media has been largely negative on Trump
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kass/ct-trump-media-covera...
Billions in free NEGATIVE media coverage. See, posting fact and reference is easy.
That is because he has been such an idiot jerk. He made tons of promises when campaigning. You bought it. Now he cannot come through. Plus he is selling the likes of Roy Moore and a tax cut for billionaires. Not to mention obvious ties to Russia. Of course it generates negative publicity. Doing the job is more scrutanized than campaigning where they can promise the world of roses. Going back to 2009:
https://www.usnews.com/news/washington-whispers/articles/2009/09/14/medi...
According to the NY Times, I'll receive an additional $2,740 under the new tax plan....Check how it will affect you.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
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Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
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With His Holiness The Dalai Lama, at His home in Dharamsala, India (Synthesis Dialogues - made into a movie narrated by Harrison Ford)
They've already been starving Social Security recipients. We go no COLA the year before last, 0.3% last year which all went toward a Medicare premium increase and a whopping 2% COLA for 2018, 1% of which was offset by a Medicare premium increase in my case. They claim no inflation. I've noticed my home-owners insurance, property taxes, utilities and food have all gone up significantly, however. Obama presided over much of this Stagnation in Social Security and even flirted with the "chained CPI", code for "let 'em eat cat food" (which has also gone up). These heartless fat cats, and it's not just Republicans, are not about to cut anybody a break, except for members of their own "class". One day they will go too far.