THE TAX BILL FROM HELL:

CONGRESS MUST VOTE NO!

The definition of insanity is doing something insane that fails and fails and fails. This is a good description of the current Republican tax bill. It took the country 20 years of budget hell to recover from the completely irresponsible tax cuts put in by Reagan in 1981. By the year 2000, the budget was only marginally back in balance when you included the payments to the Social Security trust fund.

The destructive effects of the Reagan tax cuts were not limited to the field of tax policy but also resulted in a staggering level of damage to vitally needed programs. In 1981, to pay for the Reagan tax cuts, Reagan decimated energy research. America had the most advanced renewable energy research program in the world and also had a good program on fusion research. Both those were destroyed to pay for these tax cuts.

Reagan also dismantled the CETA program, which was the primary federal government initiative for retraining workers—an essential program in a rapidly changing world economy. There's a direct connection between the destruction of the CETA program and the fact that we today have a staggering 2 million people in jail.

In 2001, the Republicans, having learned nothing from past experiences, implemented a new series of tax cuts that promptly led the government back into a budget crisis. Now, if that wasn't bad enough, in 2017, they passed yet another series of tax cuts that plunged the government into a further, deeper budget crisis. Today, we have a staggering 2 trillion dollar budget deficit and need a total of 6 trillion to keep the federal government lights on

This year, the individual tax cuts from the 2017 tax bill are set to expire. The Republicans propose continuing those tax cuts and adding other tax cuts. But that's not the end of it. They are planning to cut health care for the poor in this country. In other words, they are planning to kill poor people in order to pay for this disaster. This is criminal.

It is also foolish from a budget point of view because the prevalence of more sick people will affect the entire healthcare system. They are also planning to essentially destroy the solar renewable energy industry to pay for the tax bill.

This is a total disaster and should be voted down. While it is true that some investment-oriented tax cuts pay for themselves and generate surpluses, there is no evidence to support the notion that the so-called dynamic scoring is accurate. Mindless consumption-oriented tax cuts lead to budget deficits. That is the fact, and it has been demonstrated again and again.

What's particularly despicable is that those peddling this disastrous bill are suggesting that, somehow, magical forces from outer space will help generate revenue through growth. And they are also lying about the fact that the budget cuts for the poor in programs such as Medicaid will have absolutely disastrous effects.

We suggest that if they are going to pass it (which they should not), an amendment be made. All the members of Congress who vote for this bill should put themselves in the Medicaid program since, after all, they claim the budget cuts they're proposing will only eliminate "waste and fraud". That would be a good solution there.

Also, since the bill, as written, will actually increase an already disastrous, record breaking budget deficit, they should be required to list the time and place where their budget Tooth Fairy will appear with trillions of dollars in money from out of the sky via "dynamic scoring". At the Mall? Near the Lincoln Memorial? On Christmas Day?