Stuff you just can't make up

https://twitter.com/SenWhitehouse/statu ... 1757838337

This just speaks for itself. And it's emblematic of this entire pathetic excuse for an administration.

So... this actually happened.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nati ... story.html

At some point we all get let in on the fact these last 2 years have really been the most ambitious and elaborate practical joke ever played on humanity..... right?

RIGHT?

What's next, is NASA going to be barred from using the words "rocket" or "missile" or "astrophysics" or "orbit"?

Cubbie station is the largest irrigation property in the Southern Hemisphere.
They grow cotton, using metric shit tonnes of water taken from the feeders to the Murray-Darling river.
The Murray-Darling is dieing due to lack of water flow.

It's in the Maranoa electorate.

Guess which member is the new federal minister for water.

Trump's new tax bill, a core piece of his MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN strategy, gives a greater gift to foreign investors than it does to working- or middle class people in 30 states that voted for Trump.

It also, incidentally, makes Trump and GOP lawmakers richer at the expense of, again, working class people.

That's some real good swamp draining, isn't it, biochem?

The E wrote:Trump's new tax bill, a core piece of his MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN strategy, gives a greater gift to foreign investors than it does to working- or middle class people in 30 states that voted for Trump.

It also, incidentally, makes Trump and GOP lawmakers richer at the expense of, again, working class people.

That's some real good swamp draining, isn't it, biochem?

This entire tax bill could be it's own "stuff you can't make up thread".

It's without a doubt the single largest structured transfer of wealth from the poor and the middle class to the rich in the modern era of the United states, and it was absolutely designed that way. And the whole time Trump is running around the country telling his dead stupid supporters that the bill isn't going to be good for him or his rich friends "believe me".

Because you know... all those changes to the Estate tax, and the pass through rates, and the sweet deals for private jet and golf course owners and etc.... etc..... are for your average mechanic or plumber.

This is abominable. It should be classified as a criminal act of theft in any just world. And the GOP are dancing around thrilled because they just gave themselves and their donors a truly massive payday.

Perhaps the most despicable aspect of the entire thing is how transparently deceptively they structured it. Giving the poor and middle class some meager cuts in the FIRST year or two so they can wave those around like distracting shiny objects, then having those cuts disappear and transition to actual tax HIKES for many people in those groups while retaining the cuts for the rich and corporations. I mean they couldn't have been more obvious this was a deliberate act of theft directed against the poor and middle class on behalf of the rich if they titled the bill "the Reverse Robin Hood Act of 2017".

Actually unless you are a high earner in a blue state you should be even or get a small tax cut.

On the corporate tax, both sides wanted to cut it. The question is how much. The Republicans went with the global average. There has been a race to the bottom among first world countries regarding corporate tax rates. The USA needed to cut ours for our small/medium companies to remain competitive. Big companies already game the system to play next to nothing, like arranging to earn all of their income in Ireland etc. It's the small/medium companies that are actually paying US corporate taxes.

Today, the vice leader led the cabinet in a prayer, dedicated to praising the Grand Leader for his accomplishments, his vision and his leadership. He was appropriately demure in his words, crediting the Grand Leader at every turn, even finding room to praise the crown princess.

The Grand Leader was, reportedly, content with these humble words.

You know, we make a lot of fun of North Korea and its leadership's unceasing need to be complimented, but it's suddenly less funny when this is apparently standard operating procedure in the Trump administration.

biochem wrote:Actually unless you are a high earner in a blue state you should be even or get a small tax cut.

Ummmm, no. (Just setting aside that whole "hiking taxes on blue state high earners while cutting them for red state high earners" issue for now, which is it's own whole thing)

You're acting like the tax impact is the only thing this bill does. And that's nonsense. If we look *only* at the taxes yes the poor and the middle class mostly just break even. As in, GET SQUAT, while the rich and corps get trillions. Which is bad enough.

But the bill also kills the individual mandate. So up go the insurance rates for those poor and middle class people, unless of course they are in the group that just becomes uninsured.

And that gigantic handout to the rich and corporations is blowing a massive hole in the deficit. Guess who ends up paying for that? Those poor and middle class people because they're sure as hell not going to turn around and ask the rich they just gave a massive payday to to give the money back to pay the debt they're creating. No, Ryan is already signalling the need for "entitlement reform". a.k.a cut people's medicare and social security. Because of course they'll have to, look how big this deficit is!!!!!

This is a mass transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the rich. No two ways about it. That's how the entire bill is designed from top to bottom. It's the INTENT.

On the corporate tax, both sides wanted to cut it. The question is how much. The Republicans went with the global average.

Nope.

You are talking about the statutory rate, but NOBODY pays the statutory rate. The US has so many deductions and loopholes for corporations it's absurd. The EFFECTIVE corporate tax rate US corporations paid was already at or below the average for developed nations. Now it's going to be just ridiculously low.

There has been a race to the bottom among first world countries regarding corporate tax rates. The USA needed to cut ours for our small/medium companies to remain competitive.

Nonsense.

You want a competitive economy you need a healthy MIDDLE CLASS. You need CONSUMERS. That drives everything else, not the corporate tax rate. We have DECADES of economic data proving trickle down is pure con artist driven bullshit.

You do not need to look at a bunch of corporations with a Trillion dollars in cash on their books already and say "you know what the economy needs? For those guys to have a lot more cash, that will fix everything. Let's make it rain money on them!"

The E wrote:Today, the vice leader led the cabinet in a prayer, dedicated to praising the Grand Leader for his accomplishments, his vision and his leadership. He was appropriately demure in his words, crediting the Grand Leader at every turn, even finding room to praise the crown princess.

The Grand Leader was, reportedly, content with these humble words.

You know, we make a lot of fun of North Korea and its leadership's unceasing need to be complimented, but it's suddenly less funny when this is apparently standard operating procedure in the Trump administration.

That was just disturbing to watch on every level. And bio will no doubt claim comparisons to North Korea are "liberal hysteria" but they are entirely apt. Authoritarians and dictators are Trump's role models of "strong leadership", it's what he aspires to. He makes it clear constantly.