Honesty compels me to report that the final version of the bill passed out of conference represents a significant improvement over either the House or the Senate bill pilloried earlier in these posts. Many of the just plain mean provisions in the House bill went away; and the Conference committee…
In an earlier post I suggested you just can’t spin denial of healthcare. No marketing effort can overcome the horror of seeing a loved one die for lack of insurance, when that lack that was voted into law by an elected representative. Hell hath no fury … Today’s post is…
Early on the morning of December 2nd, Republicans in the Senate passed a tax bill that differed significantly from the bill posted in early November (a copy of the bill text is here; as of 12/7, there was as yet no plain English description of the changes posted at jct.gov).…
Sure, the Senate bill passed December 2nd contains lots of breaks for the wealthy. A new break for millionaire business owners is introduced; the estate tax exemption is doubled; and the cuts awarded to corporations will flow through mostly to wealthy stockholders. Plus, low capital gain rates are preserved; even…
In the movie, Quentin Tarantino plays a maniac sex killer, who is also a bank robber, and brother to George Clooney, who plays his usual role as the brainy head thief. After executing a robbery and kidnapping (and sundry other crimes), the brothers take their money and hostages to a…
Both House and the Senate plans zero out the personal exemption, now scheduled to be $4150 per dependent in 2018. Both plans also increase the standard deduction from the $13,000 scheduled for 2018 to $24,000 (married filing jointly). The first change hurts, the second helps. The net effect is a…
See my earlier post for a definition of the urban affluent class and the description of the four example households, and for an explanation of the shell game metaphor. Today’s post adds an analysis of the Senate Republican bill (JCX-51-2017, November 9th), allowing a comparison of what these families would…
Think of this bill as a game of Find the Pea under the Shell: will you pay more, will you pay less, will you owe neither more nor less? Keep your eyes on the pea, watch it, watch it, as the barker changes rates, removes deductions, limits deductions, adds to…
Ensconced here in my coastal elitist, affluent liberal bubble, upon occasion I try to expose myself to alternative points of view. It seems important to escape the silo. To that end, sometimes I browse the Washington Examiner on health care (!). Sometimes even (vapors!), I browse to Fox News—although I…
Forgive the metaphor; it was the most trenchant I could find. Tell me, after the Georgia election, how else can Democrats overcome? If nothing bad happens to Trump supporters, why should they change their vote? There’s the nub: Trumpcare will be very, very bad for Trump voters in rural, red…