Courtesy of Bastrop Advertiser
Jan. 7, 2021
By Joni Ashbrook
It’s unclear why President Donald Trump tossed a monkey wrench in the COVID-19 stimulus package that Congress recently passed, but his actions highlighted which party in Congress works for the people.
Trump didn’t participate in the negotiations, but refused to sign the bill until direct stimulus payments to Americans were raised from $600 to $2,000.
Trump finally signed that bill, but House Democrats quickly passed another one increasing payments to $2,000 to help struggling Americans.
Unsurprisingly, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, said “no” since he’s the grim reaper killing legislation that actually helps people.
McConnell refused to allow an up or down vote on the bill to increase payments to Americans. He had the gall to claim that it would send “thousands of dollars to people who don’t need the help.”
Once I cleaned up the tea that spewed from my mouth in disbelief, I heard him claim this would be “socialism for rich people.” Well, that’s rich given McConnell has been a major player in funneling yacht-loads of money to “people who don’t need the help.”
A prime example is the 2017 tax cuts that Republicans were tickled pink about passing, although the cuts didn’t pay for themselves or boost economic growth as they promised.
Republicans claim to care about the deficit, but the tax cuts will add $1.5 trillion to it over 10 years, and though it was sold as a “middle class tax cut” it overwhelmingly benefited corporations and the wealthiest Americans.
Shortly after the passage of that atrocity, then-House Speaker Paul Ryan said, “We’re going to have to get back next year at entitlement reform, which is how you tackle the debt and the deficit.”
Yep, that’s right, Republicans wanted to slash “socialist” programs like Medicare and Medicaid to plug the gigantic hole they blew in the deficit with their tax giveaways. Luckily, Democrats took over the House in 2018 and prevented that from happening.
Here’s a glimmer of what “socialism for rich people” really looks like:
Profitable corporations paying no federal taxes
A study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reported on the first year following the passage of the GOP tax cuts and found that 91 of the Fortune 500 companies effectively paid no federal taxes in 2018, and some even got refunds. Here are two examples from that list.
In 2018, Amazon (whose founder Jeff Bezos is the wealthiest person in the world) posted income of more than $11 billion, but paid $0 in federal taxes and received a federal tax refund of $129 million.
Chevron also paid no taxes in 2018 but received a $181 million refund.
Banks are making bank, but not jobs
Republicans claimed their tax scam would encourage companies to boost hiring.
However, Bloomberg reported that those tax cuts helped the top six U.S. banks save over $32 billion, and while they ramped up payouts to shareholders, they collectively shrank their workforce by about 1,200 people.
Pharmaceutical companies and billionaires are making out like bandits
According to a new Oxfam report, four pharmaceutical companies collectively kept $7 billion in tax savings in 2018.
Also, economists from the University of California calculated that the tax cuts helped billionaires pay a lower rate than the working class for the first time in history.
McConnell wants the aid more “targeted,” but Republicans did nothing for the past seven months since rejecting the House Democrats’ Heroes Act responding to the pandemic.
Millions of Americans are in food lines for the first time in their lives. Helping people in need isn’t “socialism,” it’s called humanity, but “socialism for rich people” is obscene.
Joni Ashbrook is a contributing political columnist for the Bastrop Advertiser.
