I want to write about how John Kelly fits so nicely in Trump’s “White House” but, first, I’ve got to “crow” a bit.  I still remember back in the early 70’s listening to Richard Nixon defend deficit spending by claiming it was like having a “mortgage on your house.”  Of course, back then the deficit was a few BILLION dollars.  Foolish people like myself have been complaining about deficit spending repeatedly since.  And, curiously, each time there’s a democrat in the White House, the annual deficit goes down – despite the claims from “conservatives” to the contrary.

Jimmy Carter took the deficits he inherited from Nixon/Ford and cut them in half.  Yet, in 1980 the deficit was one of the PHONY reasons given by Ronald Reagan why he and his “supply side” (“trickle down” economics, which I call “trickle up”) philosophy should be elected.  He claimed, “I’ll cut your taxes and balance the budget.”  Right!  Of course, republicans have been making that claim ever since and, recently, we saw version number three of Reagan’s “voodoo economics” – in the words of George HW Bush.  Reagan’s initial tax cuts raised the deficit (Well, yes, he also instigated a HUGE increase in military spending – sound familiar?) about “four fold” to over $200 BILLION annually within two years of taking office.  The deficits resulting from his initial tax cuts led to the one time in my lifetime I believe you could actually call “tax reform” tax reform – which happened in 1986.  However, Reagan left office with Deficits in, what was at the time, the stratosphere.

George HW Bush famously said, early in his term – which followed Reagan’s (despite both Reagan and Bush teetering on potential accountability for their role in Iran/Contra aside from the HUGE deficits) – “read my lips, no new taxes.”  Well, when the deficit looked as if it was going further into the stratosphere Bush did the responsible thing – which ruined his future in the eyes of MOST republicans – and signed a bill raising taxes.  Despite doing so, he still left annual budget deficits surpassing $300 BILLION (in 1992 dollars).  The national debt, at that point in time, was approaching 4 or 5 TRILLION – I’m too lazy to look up the actual amounts, but I believe I’m pretty close.  (going from my diminishing memory)

Well, along came Bill Clinton (and, yes, he had and gained a lot of “baggage” while in pursuit of and then while in the White House) and the first thing he did was propose a budget that RAISED taxes and was passed with NOT ONE republican vote.  Clinton and Al Gore actually reduced the size of government – a claim that republicans just can’t understand.  (That’s exactly what republicans CLAIM to do) They always seem to HATE deficits except when there’s a republican in the White House and they’ve successfully put their “big government” label on democrats.  This, of course, is contrary to the facts.  Well, we could argue all day about Clinton and his personal behavior (I find some of his actions deplorable – using a word of his wife in describing a portion of Trump supporters in the 2016 campaign – so, let’s focus on the topic) but, the reality is that when Clinton left office the budget had a surplus of $250 BILLION per year and was predicted to wipe out our national debt in 10 years!  Additionally, Clinton – and by extension, the United States – was very popular around the world – which, despite what some republicans say, is very important.

I believe Clinton’s personal failures led many Americans to shy away from Al Gore in the 2000 election although he won the “popular vote” by around 1 MILLION votes. (Over 500,000)  Of course, GW Bush’s brother was the governor of Florida and managed to create enough confusion around the Florida election results to cause a serious recount of the votes.  There were issues with voting machines that either changed votes from Gore or the famous issue with “hanging chads.”  Republicans controlled the Supreme Court (as they do today) and it “swooped in” to bail out the Bush campaign and declare Bush/Cheney the “winners” of the 2000 election.  That was the end of the budget surpluses  Bush/Cheney inherited and the beginning of astronomical increases in the annual deficit and the national debt that Barack Obama was getting under control until, well, you guessed it, another “republican” was in the “White House.”

Shortly after they took the oaths of office Dick Cheney famously said, “Ronald Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.”  That was the preclude to the MASSIVE increase in our national debt that was recently “restoked” with an ill timed tax “scam” and further increases to both the annual deficit and, of course, the national debt.  Bush/Cheney not only made two HUGE tax cuts, but they got America entrenched in TWO occupations that were “open ended.”  AND, they “hid” the budget effect of BOTH wars er occupations.  Until Barack Obama took the oath of office the money going to BOTH the Iraq fiasco and the Afghanistan fiasco were “off the books” – in a futile attempt to make the budget deficits look better.  But, the sad reality was by the time Bush/Cheney left office the annual deficit was hovering in the neighborhood of $1.5 TRILLION and, they left office with the nation mired in the “Great Recession” which, without the Obama administration’s “stimulus” (with, again, almost NO republican support) we could have gone into another “Great Depression.”

Bush/Cheney repealed many regulations that freed businesses to operate with a total disregard to customers and a complete focus on profits and little regard to actual “conservative” ideals – at least the ones I always thought made me a conservative.  (obviously, by today’s definition, I’m no conservative)  The Bush/Cheney administration was encouraging an economic disaster in waiting – and, it happened in 2007 – 2008.  The other day, as the stock market was “trimming” 1000 pts. for the second time in one week from the “Dow” I heard members of Trump’s “team” saying the “underlying fundamentals of the economy remain strong.”  Those were the exact words used over and over from 2007 until shortly before Bush/Cheney high tailed it out of Washington DC.  They stopped using that claim when Hank Paulson was forced to propose what became known as the TARP bailout of Wall Street.   Do you see any parallels?

There really are times when tax cuts are appropriate.  Two of the times when they would be inappropriate would be when the country is involved in a war – if “we the people” are unwilling to pay for a war, we shouldn’t have one – and when the economy is strong and unemployment is low.  Well, the Bush/Cheney tax cuts were ill-timed due to the “wars” and their other actions left President Obama with an unbelievable mess to “clean up.”  Despite the un-apologetic claims by republicans and their supporters that their NUMBER ONE goal was to ensure President Obama “FAILED,” (I’ll let you figure out why) Obama led a “correction” to the economy from what he inherited to a STEADY upward climb for the last 7 years of his term – taking Wall Street from the bottom of around 6500 in 2009 to about 20,000 when he left office AND taking unemployment from well above 10% when he took office to around 4% when he left.  4% unemployment has been considered FULL employment during my lifetime.

So, the last thing the economy needed upon our “so-called” president Trump moving into the “White House” was a tax cut (scam).  Honestly, listening to Paul Ryan say, “I’ve been wanting to say this for years, we’re giving the American people their money back,” made my stomach crawl.  First, it was ALL borrowed money (so, they weren’t giving “we the people” our money back – who knows where it’s coming from?)  Secondly, “we the people” weren’t/aren’t getting much of the money – OVER 80% is going to the top 1%. Ryan was LYING on so many levels – aside from the FACT, the economy didn’t NEED  a tax cut.  But, who’s surprised at Ryan LYING? Not me!  Corporations and the top 1% of Americans were FLUSH with cash, corporate profits were at near all time highs, and inflation was relatively under control.  The last part of that sentence, by my prediction, will be the major problem with the tax scam.

Yes, when Obama left office there was a definite issue of income inequality, but his attempts to deal with that were constantly “rebuffed” by republicans in Congress.  Mitch McConnell initiated around 700 FILIBUSTERS in his attempts to make sure President Obama “failed.”  Somehow, our “liberal media” was unable to grasp what republicans were doing and McConnell essentially “got away with it.”  (I’ve written numerous posts about my disenchantment with MSNBC – which, for whatever reason, is what I watch when I can stomach it) Trust me, GIVING 82% of this tax scam to the top 1% won’t “fix” the issue of income inequality.  This is just another example of “reverse Robin Hood” economic theory and republicans have convinced enough Americans they’re for the “working stiff” that they “get away” with it.  Hopefully, this will be the last time!

McConnell even blocked a Supreme Court appointment for almost a year making sure the right wing “bent” of the court continues for the foreseeable future.  Despite all this, when Obama left office the annual deficit had been reduced by almost 70% and stood  at around $400 BILLION.  It was gradually going “down” and conceivably could have been eliminated and we could begin the process of paying off the debt in just a few years.  But, NOOOO!  America, with the help of Vladimir Putin, “elected” – with THREE MILLION less votes than his opponent – Trump and, regarding the deficit and the debt, “here we go again.”  Trump’s right wing “Evangelical Christian base” is willing to trade America’s republic for a few right wing judges in their never ending fight against abortion.  Here’s the reality for any of them who might happen on this site.  Women were having abortions before Roe v Wade and they’ll be having them after – should it get repealed.  Maybe someday those “pro lifers” will actually participate in a dialogue on the issue of “life.”

There are two things obvious to me as I’m writing this – first, the annual deficit will surpass $1 TRILLION for this fiscal year – and, likely with increases over the next few years – until “we the people” elect another democrat to the White House.  The second thing I’m sure of is that right wing media and their “spin machine” will find a way to BLAME these increases to the national debt on democrats.  At some point, hopefully, the American people will understand what’s going on – this problem is continuing to get worse – and, keep in mind, these deficits are ushering HUGE amounts of money into the bank accounts of republican donors.  It’s not as if we’re investing in America – most of the money is going to the people and businesses who’ve bought off our right wing Congress.  (Yes, there are democrats who’ve allowed themselves to take money from wealthy donors, but MOST of them voted against, for example, Trump’s tax scam)

In summary, as I mentioned above, regarding when tax cuts are appropriate – obviously, the Bush/Cheney tax cuts came at the wrong time – during two “wars.”  (Yes, neither were ever declared a “war” by our recalcitrant Congress – I guess we could call them endless occupations)  And, now we have the Trump “tax scam” – while the economy is strong – close to “booming.”  Corporations are sitting on record amounts of CASH and are experiencing record profits.  The issue of income inequality was, prior to the tax scam, a major issue – it’s likely to get worse.  Too few people at the “top” and too MANY at the “bottom.”  Yet, the Trump “tax scam” will usher over 80% of the benefits to the top 1% of Americans OR to corporations that don’t need the cash.  If you read my previous post you know there’s a word my granddaughter won’t allow me to use anymore, (she heard Trump use it and told me it’s officially a “bad word”) but the Trump tax scam was foolish.  And, as this “scam” was being rolled out I was forced to listen to those LYING words Paul Ryan spoke as if they were coming from  Dick Cheney during the Bush/Cheney regime:  “we’re giving the American people their money back.”  (I’ll just add one more note to this thought – GREED is a terrible human failing – it reared its ugly head during the Bush/Cheney years and. well, I’m sure it’s no surprise to the “never Trumpers” – here it is again)

One more time for good measure, in the case of the Trump “tax scam” those words – “we’re giving the American people their money back” – were so ridiculous they almost made me gag.  First of all, as I’ve said several times on this site, they weren’t giving “we the people” our money back!  Aside from the FACT MOST of the money was going to the top 1% of Americans (who don’t “need” it – it’s reportedly giving $1.4 BILLION to the Koch brothers, for example) it’s NOT “our money.”  Virtually EVERY cent of this tax “scam” will be BORROWED money.  Who’s money they’re giving back is still to be determined, but what we do know is it WON’T be “we the people’s money.  Ryan was simply speaking ANOTHER republican LIE.  This tax scam, done at exactly the WRONG time, was done for two reasons.  First, it’s what republicans do.  Secondly, republican donors were demanding a return on their “investment” – and, they are getting what they wanted “big time.”  However, the end result may not look so good to them.  (It’s a deficit for “we the people” and a “bonanza” for the “top 1%)

We’ve seen, already, skittishness on Wall Street as investors who understand what inflation does to the economy are looking to find other places for their money.  Now that there’s been a “budget resolution” that further exacerbates the deficit issue I believe we can expect further negative impacts to our economy.  Obviously, I’m not an economic guru, but common sense tells me there’s got to be a limit on how much “we the people” can borrow.  My experience tells me Trump and the republicans are pushing “we the people” into an inflationary cycle that will cause the “Fed” to increase interest rates at an accelerating pace – likely causing distress to the housing market – which, traditionally, in my lifetime means recession.  Only time will tell, but it appears to me, the republicans are making one last fleecing of taxpayers before “we the people” wake up and understand what they’re doing.  Remember, in the 1950’s the top tax rate was 90% to counter act the GREED which is actually going on in America today.

It appears to me, Trump is dead set on taking America back to the “robber baron” days and his republican Congress is willing to go along with whatever he wants.  And, that’s giving his intentions a generous interpretation.  I’ve pointed out Trump’s authoritarian (Nazi like) tendencies many times on this site – beginning during the campaign for the republican nomination when I first started researching who he is.  There’s so many “NO’s,” to me, when I analyze Trump, that it’s unbelievable to me he’s our “so-called” president.  It’s not unreasonable for me to believe he’s the “work” of Vladimir Putin – who, by the way, is still hard at it trying to undermine the American system of government – but, whatever the reason he’s in the “White House” – the reality is Trump is FLEECING “we the people” of our tax money at a near record pace and, if we don’t figure this out soon, our national debt will surpass $30 TRILLION and we’ll be laying it at the feet of our children and grandchildren.   Sad!

Final Thought:  I said, at the start of this post, that I want to write about John Kelly, Trump’s “chief of staff.”  I was watching as he began remarks that defined him during the “Gold Star” fiasco with these words, “when I was young, women were considered sacred.”  He was giving a list of things he considered “sacred” that, according to him were no longer considered in that light.  Of course, right after saying that about women he proceeded to desecrate a woman member of Congress (who happens to be Black) with some incredible LIES that included LIES about President Obama, his former “commander in chief.”  Not only was he LYING, but he exposed his racist beliefs.  These racist beliefs have been on further display in his remarks since that day and, just the other day, he came to the defense of a man, serving in a very important role in the “White House,” who has a KNOWN history of domestic abuse – both mentally and physically.  John Kelly is showing himself to be one of the “deplorables” Hillary Clinton referred to in the campaign – words that cost her votes, but were Oh so true.  We saw many of the deplorables marching with Tiki Torches at Charlottesville and wearing Nazi armbands chanting anti-Semitic slogans and being referred to by Trump as “very fine people.”  As far as I can tell, Kelly would have felt right at home marching with all those “very fine people.”