Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

We will not go back.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

The revolution will be supervised.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Republicans do not trust women.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

When we show up, we win.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Tax Bill Protests Open Thread: “A Corrupt, Cruel, Budget-Busting Hairball”

Tax Bill Protests Open Thread: “A Corrupt, Cruel, Budget-Busting Hairball”

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John Cassidy, in the New Yorker:

Grant the Republican Party leaders one thing: their tactics in passing their hugely unpopular tax bill have been consistent—consistently evasive. A few weeks ago, the Senate version of the bill was passed in the middle of the night. This weekend, the final iteration of the legislation was made public on Friday evening—a traditional dumping ground for bad news. The Republicans intend to hold votes on the bill early next week in both houses of Congress, and it seems certain to pass.

It is hardly surprising that Republicans don’t want to give anyone too much time to look closely at their latest handiwork. The final tax bill is the product of a conference committee that was tasked with reconciling the different bills passed in the House and the Senate. Almost eleven hundred pages long, the final bill is just as regressive and fiscally irresponsible as either of the two earlier bills, and it is arguably more so. At its center is a huge tax cut for corporations and unincorporated business partnerships—such as the ones that Donald Trump owns—while arrayed around the edges are all sorts of carve-outs and giveaways to favored industries and interest groups…

As for fairness, that principle was junked a long time ago. The final bill reflects the same principle as the previous two G.O.P. bills: Dom Perignon for the plutocrats, cheap swill for the masses. The bill is also cruel. In abolishing the Affordable Care Act’s mandate to purchase health insurance, it will make individual plans even more costly and more difficult to obtain, especially for sick people. This isn’t just a tax bill. It is a backdoor effort to overturn the principle of universal access to health care.

As reporters went through the bill on Friday evening, they discovered various quirks, giveaways, and clawbacks, which appeared to reflect last-minute lobbying and rushed rewriting. Businesses owned by trusts were given a break, and so were architectural and engineering firms. On the personal side, the bill was found to contain a substantial marriage penalty: the maximum deduction of ten thousand dollars for state and local taxes is the same for individual filers and couples. That’s bad news for people who are wed—though the blow will be cushioned for those married couples who own sports franchises. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday night that the bill “preserves the ability to use tax-exempt bonds for professional sports stadium bonds—a priority for Mr. Trump, a GOP aide said.”

Another provision, which wasn’t in the House or Senate bills, allows real-estate developers who own buildings through L.L.C.s, as Trump does, to deduct twenty per cent of the income that these properties generate. To qualify for the break, the properties have to be newish ones that haven’t been fully depreciated. “This helps people who have held property for a while, like Donald Trump,” David Kamin, a law professor at New York University, told David Sirota and Josh Keefe, of the International Business Times.…

Look who (says he)’s wavering…

Reader Interactions

161Comments

  5. 5.

    Ohio Mom

    I like that video. The marchers are relaxed but determined. They are confident. They are chatting with one another, they are enjoying being together. It’s a good look. The polar opposite of those creeps with the tiki torches.

  8. 8.

    efgoldman

    I intend 2 vote no on tax bill. Due 2 pressure of several members like me, bill was improved, but not enough for a significant # of my constituents.

    I’ve been wondering for the last few weeks if Granny Starver’s KKKrazy KKKaukkus would gum up the works. They’ve been awfully quiet.

  11. 11.

    efgoldman

    @Fair Economist:

    Why not both?

    The doctor, and her Leftier-Than-Thou cohort, aren’t worth the time and trouble. Don’t do anything that might give credibility or raise her profile.

  12. 12.

    jl

    Corker marching? I heard on the news that he was absolutely outraged about the Corker Kickback…. until he decided it was completely beyond him to ever figure out what the dang thing is (just all so complicated… swoooosh… right past him, let him tell ya), and will still vote yes on the tax scam bill with it in there anyway, and the deficit he hates so much going up just as much as before. But, I heard he was just outraged by it…. at first.

  13. 13.

    sdhays

    @efgoldman: The KKKrazy KKKaukkkus will not kill this bill. Who knows what Rohrabacher’s problem is with it – he probably wants his own Corker-bucks, paid in rubles.

  14. 14.

    Another Scott

    TheHill – They’re already talking about making all the tax cuts permanent:

    The pre-Christmas votes will follow new reports that say the tax plan’s costs could exceed $2 trillion over 10 years before factoring in economic growth if the bill’s temporary tax cuts are made permanent. That’s significantly higher than the Joint Committee on Taxation estimate that the bill as written would cost $1.46 trillion.

    Most of the tax cuts for individuals expire after 2025, and some other provisions in the bill are also temporary, while the reduction in the corporate tax rate is permanent. Some of the tax changes are temporary in order to comply with budget rules that prevent the bill from adding to the deficit after 10 years if it is to avoid a filibuster from Democrats.

    The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan deficit hawk group, estimated that making the tax cuts permanent would increase the bill’s cost to $2 trillion to $2.2 trillion using traditional scoring and would result in the bill costing $1.5 trillion to $1.7 trillion after accounting for economic growth.

    The right-leaning Tax Foundation estimated that making the plan permanent would cost $2.7 trillion before accounting for economic growth and $1.4 trillion after doing so.

    House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) pointed out that the Tax Foundation also indicated that the tax bill would boost economic growth, and was optimistic that the legislation would be successful in strengthening the economy and the U.S. business climate.

    “We just finished eight years with Washington spending your money. How about we try eight years of you spending your money. And then a future Congress will decide which one works best for the country,” he told reporters Monday. “I’m convinced they’ll decide that stronger growth and a far more competitive tax code means continuing those permanently.”

    They don’t care that it’s going to add (at least – their magical growth numbers aren’t going to be there, so of course they will want to cut taxes more (for their friends) to “boost growth”…) $3T to the debt because Republicans are running things. They’re happy about it, because it means that next month they can whine and cry and rend their hair pieces about how the Deficit Will Kill Us All In Our Beds if we don’t Cut Entitlements and Privatize Social Security NOW NOW NOW.

    They’re shameless liars.

    What do we have to do?

    Fight them every single day!!

    Fortunately, Democrats can reverse these horrible policies once they have the majority again – at the cost of yet more needlessly wasted time and effort. That’s why we have to do everything we can to elect sensible Democrats.

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  15. 15.

    jl

    @Another Scott: I think the word ‘entitlements’ should be avoided. Use ‘social insurance’ instead. Or ‘retirement and medical benefits we paid for’. I’m bad at doing that too, and have been using ‘entitlements’ as often as I use ‘social insurance’ but I remind myself regularly to reform.

  16. 16.

    PPCLI

    @sdhays: it’s a huge tax increase on Californians. Especially wealthy ones with big mortgages. Lots of those in Orange County, where his district is located.

  17. 17.

    Mike in NC

    But Fat Bastard stated, “This is going to cost me a fortune, believe me!”

    Being a pathological liar, his crime family will make out like the scumbag bandits they are.

  19. 19.

    Duane

    You can’t be cynical enough with these evil bastards. They do the bidding of their corporate masters, and no longer try to hid it. I’ve never been a vindictive person, but there’s not enough bad that can happen to these scum. Their heads on pikes would please me.

  20. 20.

    Cheryl Rofer

  22. 22.

    smintheus

    @jl: “entitlement” means ‘something you’re entitled to’. People have been listening for too long to Republicans sneering about entitlements. It’s a good word, it’s an accurate word, and Democrats ought to use it like a club to beat the Paul Ryans with rather than running away from it.

  24. 24.

    Another Scott

    @jl: That’s the word they use. I remember Rmoney spitting “Entitled!!” in his infamous after-dinner speech.

    I used to think that worrying about finding the right words to describe things was really important. Meme matter, and all that. Now I’m not so sure. Even things like “Democrat Party” don’t bother me much any more. It’s just not worth it. Remember what HRC said about Donnie being goaded by a Tweet. We need to put some protective covers over our reflexive buttons and keep our eyes on the prize. (Most people don’t pay attention to politics daily – they’re too busy living their lives.)

    “If McConnell and Ryan and the Republicans want to argue that programs that your parents and grandparents built to keep people in need from being destitute, programs that you and I and everyone you know has paid into for decades or more, to argue that those programs are broken when you and I and millions of others depend on them to help our neighbors and loved ones and ourselves some day, while simultaneously arguing that corporations and fatcats who know how to twist the tax code to keep from paying their fair share and who are earning record profits that somehow they need even more of America’s national income and wealth, well if they want to have that argument I say Let’s Go. Let’s have a real debate about that, rather than ramming through legislation without hearings, without regular order, without following the rules and conventions about major legislation. Let’s do it, and see what the American people think is the better course. They won’t do that, because they know that they cannot win that debate….”

    There comes a time when sound bites get in the way. Twitterizing politics has only made that worse.

    My $0.02.

    ‘Night all. Back on the barricades in the morning!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  25. 25.

    jl

    @Yarrow: Thanks. That is totally good for Social Security.

    Medicare is more complicated. ‘earned benefits is fine for Medicare Part A (hospital). But general fund revenues pay about three quarters of Medicare part B (outpatient) and Medicare Part D (drug), for about 40 percent of total. So, we pay for that social insurance, but can’t say that ‘we’ finance them out of total premiums paid by beneficiaries.

    We can figure out some good names that are better than ‘entitlements’ Though maybe ‘earned entitlements’ would be good for Social Security and 60 percent of Medicare.

    @Another Scott: @smintheus: Fair enough. But just be ready to have a snappy and easy-to-understand correction when people misuse the term ‘entitlements’ to mean an unearned benefit.

  27. 27.

    Barbara

    @PPCLI: “The Republican Party hates California. It doesn’t matter how your own House rep voted. His mere presence does not soften the blow — it enables their destruction.” Every Republican candidate in California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Pennsylvania should be attacked with this message.

  28. 28.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @jl: Silly jl, we’ll let the Private Market* handle it and we’ll all be rich! Rich, I tell ya.

    *The term Private Market is a Registered Trademark of the Republican National Committee.

  30. 30.

    Shalimar

    @efgoldman: Rohrabacher is probably out anyway next year, but he has absolutely zero chance if he votes for this bill. If Scalize has any ability at all to count votes, he knows who is voting against and who he has to strong-arm into voting yes. I would be shocked if the House falls short after passing a less generous tax cut already.

    The real question is whether it will meet the reconciliation requirements in the Senate. They have added a lot more goodies to the bill that barely got under the limit the first time.

  35. 35.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @mike in dc:

    Spending any time attacking or even addressing someone who got 3 million fewer votes that fucking Gary Johnson may not be a wise use of time, no?

  36. 36.

    different-church-lady

    Here in this thread in which people are talking about more important things than the last thread, I would like to take this opportunity to make fun of people for not talking about things that are more important than the thing the last thread was about.

    [nods]

  37. 37.

    tobie

    I’ve been feeling deflated about this whole tax bill today. I used the Indivisible tool O. Felix Culpa linked to this morning to call voters in Maine over my lunch break. In a mere hour, I reached many and was able to patch through 6 or 7 to Collins’ DC office. I’m sure Collins’ office phones were ringing off the hook but the views of her constituents didn’t seem to matter one iota. The GOP is really pushing this bill through for the benefit of their donors, plebes be damned. That they so brazenly govern for the privileged few is what is so galling. It will be hell to repeal this bill. We will need 67 votes to do so as long as a Republican is President. Sorry…I know we’re not supposed to admit despair on this blog but I’m pretty depressed.

  38. 38.

    Yarrow

    @smintheus: “Entitlement” has the baggage of the way “entitled” is used these days, as in a person who acts as if they have something due to them when they probably do not. That’s why Romney could spit out “entitled” so easily because it already carries that negative connotation.

    We can work to reclaim the word itself or we can redefine what the actual thing is. In this case I think it’s easier to find a word or short phrase to define it in a more positive light. “Earned benefit” may not be completely accurate or the very best option, but, as an example, it sets up the discussion as “you earned it” so if “they” try to take it away they’re taking away something you earned. That doesn’t sit well with people and would make the discussion harder for Republicans to defend.

    The use of the word “entitlements” was started by Nixon and popularized by Reagan. I’m not in favor of using Republican framing. I don’t like “pro-life;” I prefer “forced birth.” Etc. I think it’s worth considering whether “entitlements” is the best word to use.

  39. 39.

    Fair Economist

    @efgoldman:

    The doctor, and her Leftier-Than-Thou cohort, aren’t worth the time and trouble. Don’t do anything that might give credibility or raise her profile.

    It’s not to raise her profile. The problem is that Putin, and the Republicans, have been skillfully splitting the left with “useful idiots” (maybe covert agents) like Stein. This needs to be exposed. We need to get people to the point that when somebody screams “sellout” over invented or secondary issues, the proper response is “who’s paying this screamer?”

    See also Taibbi, and the Young Turks.

  42. 42.

    Amaranthine RBG

    Taxonomy of morons

    1. People who get upset by stupid crap on the internet
    2. People who are so fragile that they need to install filters to block things that upset them
    3. People who then feel the need to announce that they are not reading the thing that upset them.

  43. 43.

    Fair Economist

    @tobie:

    It will be hell to repeal this bill. We will need 67 votes to do so as long as a Republican is President. Sorry…I know we’re not supposed to admit despair on this blog but I’m pretty depressed.

    And it will only take 51 to repeal in 2021. 4 years will be 400 billion or so looted by the rich (the bad stuff is back-loaded), which is a lot, but far from the end of the country. They will pay a heavy political price, too. If we lose this (not over yet and thanks for the calls) it’s a lost battle but not a lost war and the long-term is looking decidedly brighter than it did a year ago.

    You really can’t expect the Republicans to get the trifecta and get *nothing* done. They’ve done less than almost anybody expected.

  44. 44.

    tobie

    @Yarrow: I like to call Medicare and Social Security “annuities” or “earned benefits.” We’ve paid into them our whole working lives and have a right to them at 65. It’s our goddamned money with interest accrued.

  49. 49.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @different-church-lady:
    Yes, because if there is anything I have learned from Balloon Juice, it is the value of measured, reasonable arguments that squarely address the issues without resorting to snark. Thank you for the reminder.

  50. 50.

    MomSense

    I’m hearing that protesters were arrested at Collins’ office. I believe it was the Lewiston office. We’re doing our best but I fear the fix is in with the GOP tax scam.

  52. 52.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Amaranthine RBG:
    You know, using filters to block assholes like you does necessarily imply that one is “fragile” or a moron, just not willing to kill brain cells

  55. 55.

    Brachiator

    Working definition of trickle down

    From a WSJ article…

    Middle Class to Get 23% of Tax Cuts for Individuals Under GOP Bill

    Benefits mostly peter out after a decade, joint committee on taxation finds

    Middle-income households will get $61 billion in tax cuts in 2019 under the Republican tax plan poised for passage this week, according to an analysis released late Monday by Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation.

    That amounts to 23% of the tax cuts that go directly to individuals. By 2027, however, these households would get a net tax increase, because tax cuts are set to expire for individuals,[ but are permanent for corporations.]

    Peter out. Heh.

  58. 58.

    Gravenstone

    @jl: Bob Corker: ‘No sir, don’t like it. Not one single bit.

    Doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy the millions of dollars I’ll make directly as a result of it though.’

  59. 59.

    Yarrow

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: That’s great and that’s what should be used in common parlance. In more polite discussion “earned benefits” or something along those lines is needed.

    @tobie: Yep. That’s why I like framing it as something “earned.” It gives the impression people have worked for it and it’s theirs.

    @MomSense: I fear the fix is in too but you never know. We have to keep fighting.

  61. 61.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    aka say stupid, self refuting shit, get called on, attempt snark

    Are you describing your entire commenting history here?

  62. 62.

    jl

    @different-church-lady:

    ” Fun times on Cole’s Twitter feed as of the moment. ”

    Thanks for the tip. I clicked on Cole’s twitter just as he retweeted news that Corker’s chief of staff has been investing big time in real estate that would benefit from the Corker Kickback. So… wow… did Senate leadership bribe Corker’s chief of staff? That is such good old fashioned old school corruption. Credit Mobilier and Teapot Dome here we come!

    Corker might come out looking less crooked if this is true, but the compensation is that he will look far more clueless, inept, and in-over-his-head (which is also true).

    Edit: after thinking about it, Corker being in the dark after Senate leadership bribed his chief-of-staff behind his back has entertainment value, and if true, and reported widely in the news, would be an edifying spectacle for the next election.

  67. 67.

    efgoldman

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    There was a whole thread devoted to that moments ago.

    Thank you, you patronizing twit. Somehow in the last 65+ years I must have forgotten my reading skills.
    Or maybe I might have other things to do, like having dinner with mrs efg, talking to my daughter, administering necessary medications, and ignoring you.
    Now I remember why I pied you in the first place.

  79. 79.

    efgoldman

    @Amaranthine RBG: 1a-1z: People who don’t want to be annoyed by assholes trying to run their lives and the whine about it when they’re told to go away.
    Amazing how know it all trolls go where they’re not wanted

  81. 81.

    jl

    @jl: If true, I guess Senate leadership bribed Corker’s chief of staff, who promised to say whatever, bring in right people to get Corker’s ear, to get Corker’s vote. Corker. Like most other Senators, Corker has no clue what’s in the bill. He just goes with whatever ‘the right’ people tell him.

  89. 89.

    Brachiator

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    95% marginal rates under Eisenhower.

    Not the same as the top effective tax rate. Practically no one paid this, which is one of the reasons the alternative minimum tax was later introduced. Also, this era was not noted for a huge amount of social spending or for a restraint of plutocrats.

    And putting this into some perspective, from a 2013 Forbes article,

    Eisenhower’s quote is often put in the context of the fact that the top marginal income tax rate in 1953 was 92%. The 92% tax bracket applied to income over $400,000 in 1953, equivalent to an income of $3,439,611 today. Since this tax bracket applied to very very few, the economic destruction was small. It was still a large disincentive for those subject to these rates, but the total effect on the economy was small.

    In 1953 total federal tax receipts were just 18.7% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (17.6% On-Budget and 1.1% Off-Budget) while federal outlays were 20.4% of GDP. We were running a deficit equal to 1.7% of GDP. And the Gross Federal Debt was 71.4% of our GDP.

  91. 91.

    Suzanne

    @tobie:

    I know we’re not supposed to admit despair on this blog

    Yeah, this is a problem. This is the only place where I know I am not alone in my despair about the state of the country.

  92. 92.

    Fair Economist

    @jl:

    after thinking about it, Corker being in the dark after Senate leadership bribed his chief-of-staff behind his back has entertainment value, and if true, and reported widely in the news, would be an edifying spectacle for the next election.

    No. Just No. There’s nothing rich people care about more than money, so Corker knew about his kickback. The innocent act is just a laughable pretense for the rubes.

  93. 93.

    Fair Economist

    @Gravenstone:

    I won’t be satisfied with simple repeal. I want fucking vindictive rates on the top brackets. Let’s bring back 90% or bust!

    Go for it! We should all have inspiring goals.

  94. 94.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Gah, I had a “day” a work. I didn’t get home until 10:30 and I expect a day like that tomorrow. I need to get some sleep, but I am too wired to sleep. Shit.

  95. 95.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    Logged on to twitter and noticed two tweets I couldn’t see.

    Apparently, both John Cusack and John Cole have blocked me. Which is odd. Feel like I may have gotten onto some hair trigger “block together” list somewhere.

    Fuck John Cole if he outsources his blocking to some list someone else put

    together.

  96. 96.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @tobie:

    Sorry…I know we’re not supposed to admit despair on this blog but I’m pretty depressed.

    Despair and depression are different from gleeful doom-saying. We all have our bad days. I tend to be a gut it out guy, but fo what you need to do. And, please, seek help if you need it. Doing that is not weak; it is the mark of good judgment.

  97. 97.

    Fair Economist

    Corker may protest his innocence, but the Republicans, in their typical incompetence, have already established the corruption case. Cornyn *admitted* the kickback was added to win Senators’ votes. Does anybody really think Cornyn added a proposal to get votes and didn’t tell the Senators whose votes he was trying to get? I mean, really?

  98. 98.

    James E. Powell

    What happened with Ta-Nehisi Coates? People are commenting about him on twitter but no one is saying what exactly occurred.

  104. 104.

    danielx

    @Mike in NC:

    “This is going to cost me a fortune, believe me!”

    When Lord Shortfingers says “believe me”, it’s more or less like a Bill Kristol prediction – do the opposite. Except that Kristol may have semi-honestly believed his predictions, whereas the malignant mango wants people to believe what is clearly untrue.

  106. 106.

    Major Major Major Major

    OT: reading an Elmore Leonard book (Killshot) and came across this amazing character description.

    His ambition was to rob a bank in every state of the union—or maybe just forty-nine, fuck Alaska—which he believed would be some kind of record, get him in that book as the All-American Bank Robber. He had thirty-seven states to go but was young.

  111. 111.

    jl

    @Fair Economist: You’re probably right. I just speculated on an alternative that would make Corker look like the biggest fool in the history of the Senate, in addition to being one of the most corrupt.

  117. 117.

    eemom

    @Fair Economist:

    Corker may protest his innocence, but the Republicans, in their typical incompetence, have already established the corruption case. Cornyn *admitted* the kickback was added to win Senators’ votes. Does anybody really think Cornyn added a proposal to get votes and didn’t tell the Senators whose votes he was trying to get? I mean, really?

    Even in my advanced state of jaded cronedom, I occasionally manage to surprise myself with naivete. This morning, for example, I was honestly and truly shocked that the brazen buying of Corker’s vote, the admission by Cornyn, and the fact that the subject provision is also specifically designed to further enrich trump and ryan, was NOWHERE to be found in the day’s “top news” at NYT et al.

  118. 118.

    JGabriel

    Dana Rohrabacher:

    I intend 2 vote no on tax bill. Due 2 pressure of several members like me, bill was improved, but not enough for a significant # of my constituents.

    Must not be enough tax write-offs for Russians.

  120. 120.

    Dman

    Hey is anyone else experiencing a no rss feed found? I use a reader on my phone and have lost my feed

  121. 121.

    JustRuss

    @eemom: Look, they have important things to do, like concern-troll Republican talking-points about how corrupt Mueller’s FBI task force is because some of the members don’t love Herr Trump. You can’t expect them to notice blatant corruption (by a Republican).

  123. 123.

    Chet Murthy

    @Dog Dawg Damn: Oh noes. I was watching those tweets come thru. He said something like “leftists, white supremacists, and feminists all think I’m shit; fuck it, I’m out”. That was preceded by (1) a retweet of someone saying TNC was an imperialist, unwilling to confront what PBHO did to black/brown people worldwide; (2) a rettweet of a woman saying lots of feminists were dissing TNC, but people only paid attention to Cornel West; and (3) that fascist Spencer saying “he’s not wrong” about Cornel West’s critique of TNC.

    At the time, I didn’t realize that TNC was signing off twitter — I just thought he was quitting that conversation. But yeah, I can’t find his tweets anymore. Sigh.

  130. 130.

    No One You Know

    @tobie at 41: That’s not my understanding at all. The money I paid into Social Security isn’t mine; it’s spent on current retirees.

    When I retire (which seems frighteningly unlikely), my social insurance will be paid by people who are working, and my retirement accounts will supplement that.

    Unless I’ve bought Enron again. In which case, I’ll be roasting sparrows under the bridge, with similarly-situated others.

  132. 132.

    Elizabelle

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    @WaterGirl:
    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Good morning, insomniac and West Coast jackals. Coffeeing up and heating leftover Indian food for breakfast, then to train to go visit the Heidelberg Christmas market today. I will try to share some photos with Alain later today; the holiday lights, the cobalt skies, the hot mulled wine. Tis the season.

  134. 134.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Major Major Major Major: Probably more apt to call them rage twitter. West is a classic example. He had no problem with Obummer until someone in the campaign forgot to give him front row seats to the inauguration.

    Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned” is the best-known line from William Congreve’s The Mourning Bride. But I’m concerned with the phrase preceding it, which captures wrath in more universal terms: “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned.” Even an angry Almighty can’t compete with mortals whose love turns to hate.

    Cornel West’s rage against President Barack Obama evokes that kind of venom.

    Michael Eric Dyson

  135. 135.

    NR

    Great line from the Twitters:

    “Everyone in Washington is playing checkers & thinks they are playing chess. Except Carter Page, who is playing Candyland & knows it & doesn’t care.”

  136. 136.

    mai naem mobile

    The property tax and state tax limits are not attached to any inflation rates because you know,the prices of NY and CA real estate have stayed static the past two decades. I.hope if the Dems ever come back to power they pull the exact same shit on red states. Also lots of stuff only for the joy of conservative punching and especially Dolt45 punching. Shit should be aimed at ex-presidents who own a lot of real estate and their spawn and their spawns spawn. Also getting changing Reagan National Airport to Obama National.

  137. 137.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    View of downtown LA from Beacon Hill*. This my favorite spot to photograph downtown, it’s not the highest point but gets Silverlake with downtown in the background. A good summer day would provide the best lighting since this is due north of downtown, but a nice fall afternoon gives a nice feel with it’s shadows.

    *Beacon Hill is the highest point furthermost east in Griffith Park, it’s named Beacon Hill because there used to be a beacon on it’s summit for Glendale’s Grand Central Air Terminal.

  142. 142.

    Sab

    @mai naem mobile: That airport ‘s name should be changed back to National. Stop changing the name of pre-existing named places to naming after politicians with minimal relationship to the named place. Reagan Airport should be National. Cape Canaveral never should have been Cape Kennedy. Mount McKinley should never have been changed from Denali.

  145. 145.

    different-church-lady

    @Dog Dawg Damn:

    Richard Spencer endorsed Cornel West’s trashing of him and Coates posted it on twitter and said “fuck it I’m out”. Then deleted his account.

    It is really really nice to finally see an intelligent media person finally figure out that Twitter is corrosive.

  147. 147.

    Ruckus

    @Sab:
    Not only little relationship to the named place but named in honor because otherwise they have little to none. Reagan whatever deserves to be renamed. It does have one redeeming concept though, naming things after an asshole like Ronnie, and that is to remind us who he really was and why it’s important to find much better. It’s like all the confederate statues, don’t hate them because they attempt to glorify a truly horrible human trait, which they do, let them remind you of what we all need to do to be better humans and how truly horrible we can be if we try.
    Don’t judge me, I can’t sleep so I’ve gotten up to see if I can find a way to put me there. Only have to get up for work in 4 1/2 hrs.

  148. 148.

    Sab

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I had cut the grumpy old senior some slack until I googled him and realized he is only a year older than me and not even eligible for Social Security yet.

    He’s been playing the grumpy old man since middle age. Asshole, not oldster.

    Doesn’t he realize how much he is diminishing his own work? Why should I seriously consider the ideas and moral implications in plays written by such a pompous asshole.

    That’s probably an injustice to him, but hey, I’m using his rules here.

  150. 150.

    Elizabelle

    @Sab: Agreed. Past time to change it back to Washington National.

    Nancy has left this world. Ronald has an elegant govt building named after him. Locals never wanted to name it after Reagan. That was GOP Congress critters forcing the name change and expensive sign changes.

  151. 151.

    Elizabelle

    Ps. Reagan kids Ron and Patti would be fine w the name change.

    Washington is both the destination and the first President. Change it back. Maybe we should write to Ron Jr suggesting he and Patti request name change. Their dad has been plenty honored already. They know it.

  152. 152.

    Elizabelle

    @Ruckus: Best to you. Wishing you victory over any health challenges. For me, you are one beloved jackal and a voice of humane sanity.

  153. 153.

    Ruckus

    @Amir Khalid:

    Consumed by vanity and asshole are not really different things.

    That could be a rotating tag line. It has the added bonus of being true. Look at the current US president as another example.

  154. 154.

    Ruckus

    @Elizabelle:
    Well thank you very much. That’s very nice of you to say.
    This one doesn’t have a victory. It’s like a book, it has a beginning, a middle and an end. It’s not a good book, look, I’m only in the first chapter and it’s already keeping me up. Maybe I’ll get motivated and write the great American novel, or whatever.

  155. 155.

    Sab

    @Ruckus: It’s 5 am eastcoast time. Don’t want to be maudlin but you are one of my favorite jackals (love them jackals living in the real world.)

  156. 156.

    Ruckus

    @Sab:
    Thanks as well. Given my typing and all I just spelled that like this, Thanks ass well. Even with autocorrect that would get through. Proofread everything. In my case it’s not just necessary, it’s vital.

    ETA yes the blog shows the time with each post in eastern time. We who live in other zones have to do maths.

  157. 157.

    cleek

    Almost eleven hundred pages long,

    the bill itself is 500+ pages.
    there are another 500+ pages of conference report in that PDF.

  158. 158.

    J R in WV

    @mike in dc:

    I don’t think there is a shred of leftist in Dr Stein. She’s an oddball, miseducated at length, who believes in her heart that if everyone just shut up and does as she tells them to, exactly, she will be better off. A stalinist at heart, and just as romantically inclined. Remember Lysenko’s learned genetics program? Just as goofy as Dr Stein’s cuddly federal vaxxine programs would be. And how many people would die without annual flu shots?

  159. 159.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @different-church-lady: I had this sudden flashback to the scene in Airplane! when the hysterical passenger gets slapped silly…& the camera pans back along the line in the aisle of others with nasty implements lined up to take a whack at knocking aforementioned hysteric into the right-field bleachers…& I coulda swore I saw a whole passle of Juicers there!

  160. 160.

    PaulWartenberg

    They’re voting on the tax cut bill today.

    Expect the Beltway media to go all “ooh and ahh” as though this is an epic moment rather than the shitstorm it truly is.

    Expect the Fox Not-News sycophants insult the Democrats for refusing to make this a bipartisan disaster.

    Expect the global economy to quake and start selling off whatever stock holdings they’ve got on Wall Street causing the bubble there to finally burst.

    Expect all the Republican voters who opposed the tax cuts sit there and wonder why voting for the COUGARS EAT YOUR FACE PARTY all these years is suddenly letting cougars eat their faces.

    Welcome to Hell, kids.

    Part of me wonders if this coming federal budget collapse will give Republicans the excuse to cancel all elections in 2018 “because the money’s not there.”

  161. 161.

    PaulWartenberg

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    But that was back when the top rate was 92 percent. If we take the Laffer Curve seriously, the rate that JFK slid back to (about 65 percent I think) we were still on the right side of that Curve, we still had revenues coming in.

    Today? We’re on the wrong side, the low side, somewhere around 25-35 percent and GOING LOWER to where no revenues will come in (because these cuts DO NOT PAY FOR THEMSELVES).

    What JFK did made sense at the time. What the Republicans are doing right now is insane (tax rates on upper incomes should be GOING UP). Welcome to the Randian Apocalypse.

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