Well, the topic of conversation in Washington DC has shifted to “tax relief” or “tax reform” depending on who you’re listening to.  While, in my view, the conversation should be ONLY on Hurricane Harvey, at this point, let’s just deal with the reality of Trump at this point.  He did spend a couple hours in Texas marveling at the size of the crowds, but we know what’s on his mind.  He wants to FINALLY be able to BRAG about accomplishing something.  And, there’s something else that’s obvious.  He’s got everything set up so that if Congress produces something he’ll take the CREDIT and if, as is likely to happen, “tax reform” either gets stalled or doesn’t make it through Congress they’ll get all the BLAME.  That’s one thing Trump is really good at!

So I can BRAG that you “heard it here first” I’m going to tell you what will happen if something actually gets through Congress.  First, it won’t be “tax reform” – that’s way to complicated to expect to happen in any time frame that would keep Trump from wearing out his “Twitter” account and further embarrassing anyone who’s a true blue American.  If they pass anything it will be a “Tax cut” and MOST OF IT will go to the infamous 1%.  That is, those making MILLIONS will get a tax cut they don’t need in the tens to hundreds of thousands depending on how rich they really are.  Those of us in the so-called “Middle Class” will find a way to pay at least as much as we pay now, or like in the days of Reagan, they’ll figure out creative ways to make it so the “Middle Class” pays more. “We the people” just won’t understand it until way later – at which time we’ll get mad again and republicans will find a way to BLAME democrats and too many of us will believe them – because too many of us watch Fox “news.”  This is another in a long line of “deja vu’s all over agains” since the days of Reagan.

Will democrats be able to stop them?  I don’t know.  Something tells me that if their “tax reform” increases the deficit it’s got to get 60 votes – which may explain why Trump was in Missouri telling voters there that if Claire McCaskill votes against the bill they should vote her out of office.  (And, of course, adding the McCaskill jab into his speech may have violated the Hatch Act – but, as we all know by now, the laws don’t apply to Trump)  At some point in America’s history “we the people” will STOP falling for the “trickle down” theory of economics republicans have been using since the days of Reagan to pillage hard working American’s taxes.  For some of the wealthy, it appears there’s no limit to what’s “enough.”  (For example, Wall Street is probably 1500 to 2000 point too high on the Dow in anticipation of a huge tax cut for the “rich”)

Do you think the question of whether or not we all should be wanting our government to send “boatloads” of money (pun intended) to help out those in Texas who’ll surely be needing to rebuild their homes and pay for extended periods where they can’t stay in their homes – not to mention all the businesses that must be experiencing unbelievable amounts of damage – instead of cutting taxes at this point in time will come up?  How do you think, for example, Ted Cruz will feel about that?  (Do you remember him during the “Sandy” crisis?)  How are all the “deficit hawks” in the “Tea party” who don’t believe in “big government” going to react to this dilemma?

What is the dilemma, you ask?  Well if we’re going to actually “balance the budget” have any of  these republicans figured out that every tax cut (except ones where the money goes to people who are actually going to spend the money) has caused the deficit to get WORSE.  Trust me, this won’t be any different!  (Here’s the main question: will they still be able to blame Obama for the deficits?)  Trump wants to cut FEMA, by the way, by 11% – how is that going to work with the damage to “Harvey” still to be determined?  Additionally, he wants to cut the State Department by 30% – does that tell you how serious he really is regarding diplomacy with North Korea?  They even want to cut school lunches for kids in poverty!  All, so they and their rich buddies can get even more money!  (I spent the last 23 years of my working life teaching in a high poverty middle school and I can attest that for many of the students school was where they got their food!)

Here’s something very few people I’ve heard are even talking about.  These hurricanes get their energy from the water underneath them.  As the temperature of the water rises the hurricanes generate more energy – for example “Katrina” during the Bush administration and “Harvey” now.  Harvey wasn’t even a “hurricane” a matter of a week or two before it started gaining “steam.”  The reality for all the climate change deniers is that the additional 2 degrees (or more) in temperature in the gulf waters makes a huge difference in the power of the storm.  Just one day prior to landfall “Harvey” was category “2” and within one day it hit landfall with winds around 160 mph – category “4.”  What’s the old saying? “More to come.”

Honestly, I’m praying for the people of Texas.  I’ve donated (a small amount) to the Red Cross and will likely donate more as I can while this all plays out.  But, our “leaders” need to wake up.  As I’ve said many times, republicans are masters at getting “we the people” to be arguing amongst ourselves over the so-called “wedge issues” while they continue the greatest heist in the history of mankind – one tax cut for the rich after another.  Dick Cheney defended the two outrageous tax cuts that took our only (in my lifetime) surplus and turned it into a massive deficit by saying “Ronald Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.”  The only question I have this time is “what phony LIE will Trump use to defend his pilfering of the middle class?”

And, of course, we all know by now that if Trump’s lips are moving, he’s LYING.  It was reported by one of the very popular websites or newspapers that Trump refers to as “failing” of “fake news” that in his first 200+ days in office he had committed over 1000 VERIFIABLE LIES!  For all you who say, “all politicians LIE” – there’s been no one who comes even close to this.  Now, of course, if you start considering people like Sean Hannity and others on Fox “news” and right wing “talkers” on the radio airwaves like Rush Limbaugh, you might think Trump is normal.  But, for the rest of us, this is – well, lots of terms come to mind – like “shocking,” “disgusting,” “deplorable,” “terrible,” “alarming,” “disgraceful,” and I could go on (and on).

Here’s the bottom line for me.  I hope “we the people” put the welfare of the people of Texas – including, I guess, Ted Cruz, ahead of ANY talk of “tax relief” or “tax reform.”  Whatever it takes, we should all stand together on this.  And, believe me, I understand that MANY of the people who’ve been devastated by this hurricane think much differently than myself – I mean, they voted Ted Cruz into office.  I’ve stated many times on this site that I believe a significant portion of those who vote for republicans do so because of their strong anti- abortion beliefs.  To me, that one is as much on democrats for making them unwelcome as to republicans who use that issue to allow themselves to pursue issues those people would NEVER support if they actually knew what they were voting for.  What I’m saying is they’re good Americans and we need to band together at times like these.

The pictures and videos I’ve seen regarding “Harvey” range from devastating to heartwarming.  Clearly, the damage is devastating and you have to feel for the people who are losing virtually EVERYTHING they’ve worked hard to earn over who knows how many years.  The heartwarming part is the amazing people who are relentlessly working to save lives, to get people to shelters, to do whatever they can to make some kind of a difference in a terrible circumstance for those affected by the hurricane.  And, the so-called “fake media” people who appeared to me to be risking their own safety to keep the rest of us informed – they’ve been amazing.

The bottom line though, is that “we the people” need to keep our focus on what’s happening in Washington DC.  Bush/Cheney used the 9/11 crisis to legitimize their invasion of Iraq that continues to haunt our nation and the world to this day.  If you’ve read Natalie Klein’s book “The Shock Doctrine” you know that they do their worst “business” during times of crisis.  Those who call themselves the “resistance” need to be resolute right now – because, just as Trump pardoned “Sheriff Joe” as this hurricane was hitting landfall, he’s likely to try to slip in this “tax reform” while the rest of us are figuring out how to help the victims of “Harvey.”

And, let me say this again – and, yes, it’s a prediction – any “tax reform” coming out of Washington DC will include MASSIVE benefits for those in the 1% (I believe that would include those with incomes in excess of $600,00 per year) and subtle changes to the tax code that actually raises taxes on those of us in the “middle class.”  Reagan did this, Bush/Cheney did this and why would you expect anything different now?’

Oh yes, one final thing.  They’ll (of course, that means republicans) claim that by giving hundreds of millions to the top 1% it will “trickle down” and we’ll all have better jobs that pay more.  If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge…………..  There’s a reason I’ve always called it “trickle up” economics – and, that’s EXACTLY how it’s played out.  But, people like Trump keep pushing it because it’s worked since the 80’s and, what’s the old saying?  “Don’t beat a dead horse”  If “we the people” keep falling for their NONSENSE then why wouldn’t they keep doing it.  They’re getting richer and richer and we keep complaining because things seem stagnant – and, then we – well, enough of us for them to keep doing this – keep falling for their BS.  (Trump will gain from the tax cuts, and, undoubtedly, there will be another push to repeal the estate tax.  How much would Trump’s family gain on that one?)

The old saying, “Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me” comes into play here.  (Interestingly, GW Bush couldn’t mouth this saying correctly, but he still pulled off a massive heist of middle class taxes directly to his benefactors – fooling us for the second time – Reagan, of course, being the first)  So, if “we the people” fall for Trump’s proposed “tax reform” it’s “shame on us” – because this will be the third time we’ve been “fooled” since Reagan.  At some point we’ll ALL figure out that “trickle down” really means “trickle up” and, that if we really want a “balanced budget” massive tax cuts won’t get us there.  (Unless, of course, you’re willing to eliminate a HUGE portion of our military industrial complex that Dwight Eisenhower prophetically warned us about in the 1950’s.  Republicans say, “we can’t be the policemen of the world” and then ask for a $60 BILLION increase in defense spending)

I’ve got to add that I’m not opposed to true “tax reform.” If you “get” I don’t trust Trump to do it, you would be ABSOLUTELY correct!  (I don’t trust him to do anything – actually, I don’t think he should be ALLOWED to do anything until the “Russia thing” is finished.  Anyone COLLUDING with the Russians to get elected should NOT be an office holder in this nation – PERIOD!)  Tax reform that actually put more money in the pockets of middle class Americans would at least infuse money back into the economy.  However, to me, a better solution to many economic problems in America would be solved via “single payer health care.”  That would, of course, require working Americans to pay taxes to pay for it, but it would solve the most serious problem we face (which republicans have been blocking since WW II).  At some point I’ll write a complete post on this – but suffice it to say that I believe many Americans who have a medical “benefit” as part of their work “package” would actually pay less if this happened.  As Trump himself figured out – health care is complicated – but, at some point in time, America will HAVE to deal with the health care crisis in a way that works for all Americans – even “the least of these.”  (sorry “conservatives”)  And, the solution just may fix many other problems as well!