That assumption is most definitely wrong. 70 some million people voted against their best interests and they are sleepwalking to their own economic and social “slaughter”, like those cattle and hogs you mention. When their worlds come crashing down, who will they blame? I fear it will not be directed where it belongs (i.e., Trump and his DC minions), but at some other “evil.” I worry about our collective future.
For >99% of those people in the US who still enjoy the bliss of ignorance, the bliss will surely end when the country is hit by the full effects of the current politics of Trump and his acolytes in Congress.
But as long as they keep getting fed from the Fox trough, they will deny any pain. No?
I keep seeing prices rise ...1) car + home insurance premiums rose over 20% starting in March (agent informed us that this was due to tariffs -- i.e. increasing prices for car parts, cars, lumber, etc.), 2) starting around end of April or early May, prices at Walmart increasing 9% to 30% so far, 3) starting in April, prices at Costco being hiked 10%, 20%, 4) etc. I have the receipts to prove the price increase (pre and post), and yet the CPI numbers this week showed inflation cooling. Rather than asking why there is a disconnect, even the financial media keep touting the amazing resilience of the economy. I am left wondering whether any of these folks ever go in a store or do their own shopping?
Americans are not that bright . Lucky they were maybe for some time . But in the end we all know now Americans are nothing special . It’s a pity . The leader of the free world has now become its enemy
Perhaps it's more accurate to say that the average American is certainly not as bright as before social media, and that's certainly bad enough.
But when Trump announced how all-in he was with "stupid", it seemed to begin a nationwide "Race To the Bottom" reality show for half of America.
And those like Bill Gates or Mark Cuban, who use use their intelligence (and money) to help improve humanity, may no longer even exist beyond a few dinosaurs. Few of America's intelligent seem to see any purpose to their intellectual superiority beyond collecting money by inventing worthless apps, or furthering humanity's destruction.
Of course I basically agree . Social networks do have some sense but basically strongly contributed to America’s “dummification “. There was a reason for the hierarchical / educational filter function of classical journalism - and there is a reason. For peer review in scientific journals . They filter function is now highly questioned and we get bombardes with 90% waste and 10% quality - and average readers can’t make the difference . That was the basis of demagoguery and sadly even in this modern era folks are not equipped for for countering demagoguery. But the root - again - is America . Greed created SNS, sociopath Incel geeks like Zuckerberg who didn’t know how to approach women in real life .. but also the CIA “who” thought social networks will “crush” autocracies …America is very immature and young and not used to democracy . That secret longing for monarchy structures (Star Wars , frozen , Cinderella …) very tacky and primitive . Only when it set up the liberal world order America shone . But that was in a time education was appreciated and need were filtered by smart career journalists who vetted information . In the end America does what it always does - technologically advanced but on a human level below the amoeboid state . The unfiltered lust for anything new , the rebellion against naturally grown systems and hierarchies , the disgust of education .. the feeling everybody against everybody is somehow progressive …
True, but after most of 67 years in the rural Deep South, there is at least one factor to be ignored at democracy's peril.
These folks voted for Trump because they knew his racism was a feature, not a bug.
And The Southern Strategy has already cost these folks since 1960, so sacrificing is somewhat what they expect. Basically, this might best be described as:
"They don't mind being shot in the foot, as long as some total stranger from a demographic they hate gets shot in the knee."
And they get that with Trump every single day.
I don't know how many cultists have a top priority of "owning the libs", but I suspect it's not small.
I'm all too painfully aware of that. (Thus my original post above.)
For example, "Empty G" (MTG) most likely knows the truth of (mostly) all the crazy shit she spews. But after it's seen ONCE by the MAGA faithful, it replaces ANYTHING else that will come after.
"Jewish space lasers", "Controlling the weather". It's all about being the first to express something insane, then moving on to the next while collecting the clicks.
This is why it's SO important to talk to your kids about politics from when they are very young. They need to know everything is politics and vice versa. Anything that controls any aspect of our lives, it ALL comes back to politics. My son is now 34 and I was a young single mother but I always taught him not to just follow blindly. Question why they want you to do certain things. I removed him from school aged 9 and home educated him as I didn't want him dumbed down, or going along with stupid crap other kids were saying. His friends parents loved him (apart from one family, right wing, money mad, benefits and social housing fraudsters) as he'd call his friends out for being dickheads. The school washes their hands of your kids the day they leave, so it's only you who really cares what sort of human being they become. Which is why as parents we need to step up to the plate and stop expecting schools to do our job.
All being controlled by her fake brain. She actually went on Fox and adamantly asserted that Sen. Padilla didn't identify himself. We all saw and heard it on the video. Whatever is going on in her cranial neurons isn't thought.
More importantly, she opened her remarks by declaring ICE was in LA to “liberate” it from its duly elected officials. We may have strongly suspected elections would no longer matter after November 5, 2025 and she just outright confirmed it.
I have found, over and over, in my longish life that stupid people tend to put what little grey matter they possess into being as unpleasant as possible. I don't know why that is, I've just seen it over and over. They always think they can lie to you, rob you, stir up shit for you, etc. and you're not going to know it's them. Then they deny, deny, deny! I suppose you HAVE to be stupid to be so stupid, if you know what I mean.
AI's dumbing down effect on society will make social media's impact seem quaint by comparison. The good that AI will accomplish will be dwarfed by the social and economic devastation it will have on society.
I think I will be. This one is going to be much bigger than April 5 or April 19 - and those were "yuuuuuuuggggggeeee". I think we just might hit that 3.5% critical mass this time.
In case you are interested and haven't yet listened, during the May 6 episode of Chris Hayes' "Why is This Happening" podcast, Chris' guest, Dr. Erica Chenoweth (political scientist at Harvard) provided some great insight into the 3.5% indicator. Maybe you've also listened to the discussion with Dr. Chenoweth?
One analogy for my take-away from her description is that the 3.5% represents only the tip of the iceberg and in addition, apart from protests there also must be significantly more of the populace engaging in other visible and not-yet-visible forms of resistance.
“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”
This also reminds me of how some communities responded to requirements to integrate public facilities. Rather than being forced to allow everyone into community public swimming pools, pools in many communities were backfilled to eliminate them entirely!
Yes along with lack of education. Intentionally too expensive.
And loans are for profit
Many are not going to universities if it means going into over hundreds of thousands of dollars after graduation and not being able to afford their first home
marry and afford a small child
into the world and the costs incurred.
All part of the plan to keep out our average and above average americans with moderate incomes
out of our best universities
and create dismay to ever run a campaign to become a Congress person or even President of the United States of America in due course.
Disappointing those that as Martin Luther king said to all of us in one of his great speeches “‘I have a dream..”
Children grow up first with a dream, a wonderful way to be engaged with early conviction that for some become a reality.
This truly made “to be a America” land of the free.”
You can grow up to be what
you dream to be with hard work.
Is this true today in 2025? Or even the past decade?
As it is said with our military
that has fought decades of wars all over the world in countries with dictators or authoritarians
“ Freedom is not Free”
We ,i ,you , ALL must Fight to be Free ! Fight for Democracy” as a senator just said on a video we must have Courage! Not Complacency !
Your gallant men did not fight all over the world for freedom. Yes they did in WW2 and I for one am grateful. But later on they fought mainly for economic interests. You really think the Vietnamese, poor as they were, would get in row-boats to traverse an ocean and attack your west coast?
This country is deep in debt thanks to the costly wars fought in the last decennia. Already Louis XIV, on his death bed, saw that his constant warring had been an expensive mistake. He even warned his great-grandson. Too late.
None the less every war the American’s fought were truly gallant warriors as they were true patriots amongst us to sacrifice their lives for their country and fellow Americans.
As you were correct they were lied to in retrospect.
These hidden agendas were unknown to these men.
They believed the presidents telling them it was fought for freedoms of other countries of internal strife.
We did many behind the scenes
c i a missions to put the puppet government that benefited our best interests.
These were indeed galliant and brave men and women.
When I was a child - long ago - our parents took us to cemeteries with large numbers of identical small headstones, row after row. We were told these were the men (and women) that fought for our freedom and never to forget. We saw the names and the years. Most of them so young.
As a child it made me sad, when I got older it made me angry. Lives are too precious to be squandered like that.
“So by calling the legislation the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Republicans were in effect confirming that yes, Washington has turned into Pyongyang on the Potomac, where political survival depends on slavish flattery of the dictator.”
Yet nobody fights back…I don’t understand what happened to America but the country it used to be would fight for their own freedom. They fought for other people’s freedom!
but just how do you fight back when the voters in their wisdom have given you a minority in both houses of Congress? There are lots of tough questions being asked of administration officials in committee hearings, but they don't get widely reported, so the administration can just ignore them. There are lots of speeches ... ditto re being reported.
The Democrats need to put together an office of the Loyal Opposition and hire a press secretary and give briefings every day. Include a professional staff of writers and former journalists to create easy to package sounds bites and news clips that the main stream media can use with little effort. Pull together source lists for the fact checkers (are any left??). Then create a schedule of prominent politicians to rotate through the office - from sitting senators and congress people to friends like Pete Buttigieg. They need to make it easier for the media to pickup their message(s). Even if most of this messaging is rebuttals of the republican BS it would put a few obstacles in the wave of manure.
Yes the fault clearly is with the media, but the media is lazy and you need to make it easy for them to pick up your message to help correct this problem.
There were significant protests a month ago, and even NPR didn't bother to cover them. The NYT gave those protests a small section. If it were not for Substack, I would not have known how widespread and large they were.
The sad is - for some reason they won’t do this. I have left so many messages at the offices of Schumer, Jeffries & Gillibrand begging them to do this . I’m sure others have to but Dems haven’t lifted a finger to do this . I just don’t get it. Does anyone else have an idea?
I’ve lost faith in the media—all media since the election. They just support that lost faith on a daily basis. I think placing ANY faith in the mainstream media is misplaced.
You mean it’s not being reported on corporate media, right? The days of Fox, CNN, MSNBC, and newspapers like NYT and WAPO are nearly over. More people are getting news from podcasts, and Substack journalists and activists. No corporate overlords, just grassroots support.
But the problem is that the majority of social media posts are false or misleading at best. And responsible journalism is typically behind pay walls. Fox “News,” by far the most popular cable news channel, is blatant MAGA propaganda.
I know. Judgemental of me but when I see the crowd that stormed the Capitol I hark back to Hilary’s “basket of deplorables” comment.
I have spent time on the “other side” of Substack and it’s shocking. The utter devotion to Trump and Musk. The weird images of Trump all trussed up in a Superman suit and all that nonsense. Women saying what a gentleman Trump is and that god saves him so that he could save America. So many calls to hang Gavin Newsome and put Nancy Pelosi in front of a firing squad. It’s really evil stuff. It is like a cult, but they think we are in a communist cult!
Precisely. The right wing propaganda machine has worked so well that it may as well be MiniTrue from 1984. War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
We ARE fighting— every day across this nation. We the People keep showing up at Federal Courts, on streets to protect others against ICE, in local papers where are voices are still heard. We are showing up by the millions this weekend in massive demonstrations across this entire country to say NO to the destruction of our democracy. WE are angry and disgusted, but we will not stop until the felon president is stopped!!!!!!
The only way to make Republicans in Congress turn against Trump is to convince them that they will be voted out at the next opportunity. This will require massive public outrage.
Officially the US maintained neutrality during the first three years of WW II, as had been announced in Roosevelt’s Quarantine Speech delivered in 1937. After Japan attacked the US fleet in Pearl Harbor at December 7 1941 the US was at war with Japan. Four days later nazi-Germany declared war on the USA after which the US declared war on Germany.
Complacency. What's happening is unprecedented. A large percentage are listening to FOX, who doesn't dare tell the truth, and even worse who lie on a grand scale. A large percentage won't pay any attention until they or theirs are personally effected. Even then they may be pointed in the wrong direction.
Crypto is now the Kryptonite of Democracy. Noticed that even Adam Schiff is among the highest in taking in crypto donations in California, which was...depressing. I am still a fan of his, but Democrats like him had better start backing away from what is plainly foreign influence wolves in sheep's clothing. Crypto is quite simply the tender of global mafia these days.
I follow Molly White, who is one of the best experts I've seen covering cryptocurrency, crypto in all forms, including its corrosive results for laundering dirty money (often from Putin and his Russian oligarchs and for the foreign money pouring into our elections through this back door. Crypto has a whole bunch of bro boys cheering it on, a lot of gamblers out there, so it was hard to find an honest person covering the topic like Molly. I like Blockchain technology for other reasons than cryptocurrency. Blockchain got hijacked for more nefarious uses, unfortunately.
In one of her blogs, she talked about who is taking money from the crypto lobby and pointed to an Excel sheet that used publicly available information to track who took money from Crypto lobby. I ran some filters and noticed this fact.
Here's a few other articles talking about the same problem--less details on exactly how much Schiff got, but ultimately Schiff and Pelosi have both been taking too much money from the Crypto lobby and should get criticism for that:
Oh, and by the way, I gave generously to Schiff's campaign, I'm a solid supporter of his, even with this news. I liked Katie Porter a LOT, but felt like Schiff had earned the slot with his strong performances in the House, he showed a lot of courage and smarts.
But I don't like the fact that Schiff benefited from Porter's very correct opposition to Crypto and the way the Crypto lobby piled onto her. I get that huge money was flowing out of the Crypto boys over to all of our politicians, and it probably felt politically necessary to take the money, but I really wish Pelosi and Schiff had showed more forbearance.
Makes me wary, and I will be watching how he and any politician handles the billionaire crypto class carefully in the future. So should you. This is an open door to corruption.
What STILL gobsmacks me is that Trump’s approval ratings have barely moved in the past month, through all this craziness of tariffs, the BBB Act and the ICE raids. I get the Prof’s point about Republican legislators but to read that about 43pc of Americans still approve of him defies understanding. Talk about turkeys and Thanksgiving!
Well, Trump has locked down the 35% "basket of deplorables" who will lie down in traffic for him. They don't mind sleeping under a bridge, as long as immigrants have to sleep under cardboard. Trump knows his MAGA base well.
The other 8% just cannot admit they made a mistake. That will change. Within 6 months Trump's approval will be down to 35%. It's never going to go lower.
Why does so much of the public seem to have a visceral reaction to immigrants - other than the health aid helping grandma do they actually see them anywhere? In the Northeast, where there are large amounts of immigrants of all sorts, you rarely see them much unless you are a member of a diaspora. We are 97% descended from immigrants, (and maybe 100% depending on which anthropological theory you follow) so obviously over the years immigration created a few good things.
Depends on the poll. In some polls he gets negative marks even on immigration. And 1 poll had Kamala Harris winning a hypothetical do-over election. Most of even the polls showing little or no downward movement show him as highly UNpopular. If we work (hard) for it, we can expect a pair of blue waves (or at least red routes) in ‘26 and ‘28–and, like in ‘08, we may well elect someone for prez who’s a 1st of something. Trump should be grateful that he can’t run again, given how 2020 worked out.
Everyone dances around the topic and doesn’t want to say it: WE NEED MORE REVENUE! Would it be possible, in a future column, for you to do the calculations and propose a crude estimate of an alternative progressive Federal income tax plan that would balance the budget. If we keep tax rates at current levels for individuals with incomes up to $200,000 and couples at $400,000, what kind of a change would be needed for those above that level to produce the revenue to maintain current Medicare, Medicaid, assistance programs etc. without cuts? Maybe even tweak tax rates up a percent for $100,000/$200,000 if truly needed. Add to these assumptions that the Social Security cap would be raised to say $250,000 without increasing the maximum benefit. Please provide a few alternative rate structures for the higher income levels, reaching perhaps a 40% maximum rate (which would still keep the combined state and Federal in almost all cases, except maybe Manhattan and a few other local hot spots, under the off-putting 50% figure). Am I dreaming, or could this work?
You will need to also find a way to reach the super-rich, where most of their wealth is wrapped up in capital gains that is taxed at a very low rate and which can effectively be delayed forever by borrowing against the appreciated basis or flipped into new assets (look up real estate 1031 exchange) without triggering a capital gains tax.
One option is a wealth tax--similar to a property tax but applicable to all wealth, not just real estate.
There are a number of issues with wealth taxes. One is that valuing a business is more of an art than a science. For publicly held businesses you use the stock price, but there are a lot of privately held businesses in the United States. This problem can be reduced by having a large exemption amount.
European countries that have implemented wealth taxes have tended to experience capital flight, but that may be specific to Europe, where the existence of the European Union makes it easy to move from one country to another. This is why France switched from a tax on total wealth to a tax on the total value of real estate holdings worldwide in 2017.
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren both proposed wealth taxes during the 2020 Presidential primary. Donald Trump proposed them when he ran for President in 2000, but I assume he was no more serious about that than he was when he proposed eliminating the carried interest loophole when he ran for President in 2016. (Trump had no interest in eliminating the carried interest loophole once he won the election.) I think that the increasing wealth inequality in the the United States means that wealth taxes should be seriously considered.
As noted in other replies on this exchange, taxing capital gains as equivalent to income for wealthy individuals might accomplish your goal without being subject to so much potential for evasion.
Great point. A new tax plan might make the capital gains tax rate currently only weakly linked to income a bit more progressive such that it makes rates on capital gains equal to income for higher earners.
I would also like to know if there is a progressive tax plan that is optimal for economic growth. We are often told that the American economy experienced high levels of growth with a top tax rate of 90%. On another topic Professor Krugman has been doing a series of podcast episodes with FT senior editor Martin Wolf that are very good. In the last one they discussed how the weakening of organized labour has contributed to inequality and democratic back sliding, among many other things. Yesterday an FT story about Starbucks plan to increase the number of baristas in its cafes to improve customer experience was getting push back from shareholders who were afraid it would reduce profits. Is there a tension between wage earners and shareholders that can be optimized? Wage earners that are also union members usually have pension plans. In Canada it is often said “Don’t f***k with the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, and we have other powerful pension plans like CPP. Anyway, it’s a podcast and Professor Krugman ends with a great poem. I hope you will all stay safe out there tomorrow. The majority of Canadians hope you will be successful. Strong democracies are rich democracies. One suggestion, in Canada the limit for political donations is $1750. Corporations and unions are not allowed to make political donations. It costs leadership candidates $30,000 to take part in a leadership race. This is a good system that could be very popular. You would have to pack your court, but as they have lost all credibility that shouldn’t be a hard sell.
Here’s the link to the podcast. Link to the poem is in the show notes. Good luck everybody!
Yes, a very clear presentation, read by many who already were aware to some degree of the regressiveness of the legislation. But the challenge remains: how to inform and persuade other Americans who view Fox or Facebook or X as a mirror of reality?
Unfortunately, they won't be informed or persuaded until the catastrophe hits them personally, and even then they'll blame "the libs" for it, because TrumPox and Faux Newspeak tells them to.
“…we need to ask how any party in a democracy imagines that it could get away with taking money away from 80% of the American public.”
Another answer in just two words: Fox “News”
The American public has no clue. They are ignorant, and kept that way by skillful right wing messaging. Of course, the right wing propaganda machine doesn’t need to be that skillful, thanks to the feebleness of the Democratic Party. Those charts should be in the hands and/or faces of everyone - flood the nation with them knee deep.
You're right. The money is too good. Murdoch has a 340,000 acre ranch. I believe Hannity has several mansions. Internet influencers made millions pushing Russian propaganda.
We need a Constitutional amendment to prevent the likes of Faux Newspeak and Noisemax from taking cover behind the First Amendment while firing out their lies.
not until it is too late to undue the damage, history will show just how rotten the Republican party is and unfortunatly the Democratic party has no leadership which alllow the party of greed to rob all of us blind.
what should those leaders be doing, please, that they are not doing? How do they get coverage for their pointed attacks on administration officials? They can't win votes, remember?
Let’s just remember that the populists and the left were in a similarly dark place this time in 1929–and then things changed very much for the better. We defeated the oligarchs before, we can do it again. (And it seemed just as impossible back then.) Things are always darkest before the new dawn—but the dawn only comes if we fight like hell for it!
"How long will it take for the masses to realise this? "
Quite some time. The Medicaid cuts aren't scheduled to take place until 2029. The delay is intentional; by the time they take place, most of the public will have forgotten how and why they came to pass.
Back in 2017, the Reps never repealed or significantly cut back Obamacare (legislatively)—but they got pummeled in 2018 & 2020 simply for trying. And I doubt that had the repeal gone through, that it would have been “effective immediately”. People don’t necessarily have to *experience* loss first-hand to be politically animated by the prospect of it. Even when the threat of loss is small & outweighed by gains, this is often true—which is why Obamacare almost didn’t pass in the 1st place!
Professor Krugman: many of those who will be harmed are MAGA themselves. can they not read the writing on the wall?
just thought i'd mention there are more than 2,000 protests scheduled for tomorrow AND there are many hundreds (thousands?) more internationally across the globe. so we are not alone. our former allies are standing with us, and protesting.
"Professor Krugman: many of those who will be harmed are MAGA themselves. can they not read the writing on the wall?"
Again I say, people need to look at the South under Jim Crow for the precedent to this. For a solid seventy years after the Civil War, the place was a disaster area, and yet people kept voting for the same ex-Confederate elites preaching the same ex-Confederate bullshit over and over again. All they had to do was tell people that all their problems was the fault of the blacks and the [deleted]-loving Yankees, and they'd come to them like iron to a magnet.
As the famous quote from Lyndon Johnson said: "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
Thank you very much, Paul Krugman, for continuing to give us clear, educated info around which to organize ourselves for both the present and the future. Every time I read you I think of Matthew Desmond. Both of his books should be reissued in paperback format and become Handbooks of the Resistance. I am grateful for every effort you make on our behalf.
I would like to mention here that I myself would have preferred that the illustration of Trump as a North Koreaesque dictator had refrained from attributing Asian facial traits to him and simply settled for attaching his real, revolting, odious head to the approximation of KJU's preferred attire/uniform. We would all have gotten the drift. And avoided the racist subtext.
It's immoral, of course, but there is a cold, hard calculation evident in that CBO graph. The only deciles suffering an income decline are the three lowest deciles. By the fourth decile people sort of break even. The fifth through 9th deciles get from less than 1 to 1.5% improvement to their incomes. The tenth gets 2.5% or so.
The three lowest deciles either don't vote or vote Democratic. They're not worth rewarding. After that Republicans expect to more than break even.
So there's the Republican formula, and it seems to work more often than not.
The Republican formula as gerrymandering and a system that dramatically overrepresents rural reactionaries. You could fix the House by simply lifting the artificial cap on the number of Reps in the House or keeping the cap on number but permit districting across state lines. Fix the Executive by abolishing the electoral college and moving to a straight up popular vote. Fix the Judicial by imposing term limits with a certain percentage of judges being replaced every x years to take away the political gamesmanship. The Senate is the toughest nut to crack. It was designed the way it was to ensure the representation and power of people who thought it was OK to own other people. Perhaps take away the need for the Senate to pass something if it passes by a 3/4 majority in the House to eliminate the Senate's ability to block overwhelmingly popular legislation?
In short, there are many options to fix our very broken system, and it is critical to understand that the ONLY reason we aren't trying to fix it is that the oligarchs don't want it fixed because it serves them.
The tiles are not equal in size— and most folk have below-average income. That’s why most economists who want to measure a “typical” person’s finances rely on the median, rather than mean (average), income. So the Reps may not actually break even politically.
PS. Every time Reps try to gut any significant part of the safety net, they get pummeled politically. Remember 1992, 2006, & 2018?
But if they keep playing with fire, sooner or later they’ll get burned. And every action has an equal and opposite reaction—even politically. Dems got the majorities to pass Obamacare because of Bush’s overreach on Iraq War, Terry Shiavow, and Social Security. And if Reps go too far now, they might wind up facing their ultimate nightmare—a new New Deal.
It's time for what passes for leadership in the Democratic party to stop the harshly worded press releases and woe is me handwringing and go out and advertise just what a pig this bill is. The GOP didn't even bother with lipstick. Simultaneously, they need to coordinate a general strike, and a more specific boycot against goods or services from any company that has been funneling money to the GOP. Start by boycotting all goods from any company that advertises on Fox. Then, propose an alternate budget that sticks it to the oligarchs and tax evaders. The class war has broken out, it's time for the proles to counter attack.
Chris, this part, is a good start. “ . . .go out and advertise just what a pig this bill is. The question is how to get people interested in the details. Especially people who think they get no government benefits. For instance,
Loved ones in a nursing home? Three out of five are supported by Medicaid.
Krugman: Only the top 10% are clearly better off from a bill that increases the budget deficit. . . increasing interest rates and crowding out investment.” INCREASING INTEREST RATES! CROWDING OUT INVESTMENT!
“The OBBBA is, in fact, so terrible that we need to ask how any party in a democracy imagines that it could get away with taking money away from 80% of the American public.”
"This bill is truly unprecedented in the extent to which it takes away from the have-nots and gives to the ultra-haves."
it's evangelical: «For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.» (Mt 25,29)
Is that from the section where Jesus invites more money changers into the Temple, or the one where he auctions loaves and fishes off to the highest bidders?
In regard to that average 6.5% loss inflicted on the bottom 10% of the income distribution:
Let’s not forget that the average does not tell the whole story. A very significant number of people are losing much, much more, because a major portion of their income was from Medicaid, and they now lose that entirely, because they can’t meet the new work reporting requirements. Of course, even with Medicaid it is a terrible situation to have someone in the family with the kind of health problems that result in Medicaid being a major part of the family’s income. Now imagine what it means when on top of that, they’re suddenly cut off from Medicaid because of the cruelty of the so-called Republican party.
I'm not sure the American poor will be able to pay the bills. What will happen to the deficit when this anticipated revenue from the poor dries up? There is a lot of truth to the addage that "you can't get blood from a stone".
There must be something immensely pleasurable about ignorance for people to be willing to pay such a high price for it.
Haven't you heard? Ignorance is Bliss.
That's definitely true for cattle and hogs. One would assume that voters are a bit more aware. That assumption may be wrong.
That assumption is most definitely wrong. 70 some million people voted against their best interests and they are sleepwalking to their own economic and social “slaughter”, like those cattle and hogs you mention. When their worlds come crashing down, who will they blame? I fear it will not be directed where it belongs (i.e., Trump and his DC minions), but at some other “evil.” I worry about our collective future.
Truth is there is an entire industry built around selling lies and /or apathy. It needs to be brought down.
Not sure how this is going to get done, but it needs to get done.
Until it hits too close to home - which it will for most MAGAnuts, soon enough.
For >99% of those people in the US who still enjoy the bliss of ignorance, the bliss will surely end when the country is hit by the full effects of the current politics of Trump and his acolytes in Congress.
But as long as they keep getting fed from the Fox trough, they will deny any pain. No?
I keep seeing prices rise ...1) car + home insurance premiums rose over 20% starting in March (agent informed us that this was due to tariffs -- i.e. increasing prices for car parts, cars, lumber, etc.), 2) starting around end of April or early May, prices at Walmart increasing 9% to 30% so far, 3) starting in April, prices at Costco being hiked 10%, 20%, 4) etc. I have the receipts to prove the price increase (pre and post), and yet the CPI numbers this week showed inflation cooling. Rather than asking why there is a disconnect, even the financial media keep touting the amazing resilience of the economy. I am left wondering whether any of these folks ever go in a store or do their own shopping?
And now we also have to wonder if the stats coming from the Orange Taco can be trusted. I think not...
I suspect that conclusion was determined by someone ignoring other options.
I could be wrong...
“Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.” Thomas Gray. He was writing of schoolboys at Eton College, however, not of adults.
If fear is the root of all evil, ignorance is the trunk, hatred the branches, and murder the fruit.
I was always taught that love of money is the root of all evil. Our co-presidents offer confirmation.
Yeah. Greed is one of the foremost markers of psychopathy, aka human evil.
Have you not heard the new? Ignorance is bliss!
But that begs a question. If ignorance is, indeed, bliss then why is the Right always so damn angry?
Indeed.
This is one of the best comments I’ve read in some time.
Pandora's Box,
Thank you for your very kind comment.
I'd love only one thing more than to be proven wrong, ASAP. (Let's see what the Secret Service does with that!)
WILLFULLY ignorant, I might add.
Americans are not that bright . Lucky they were maybe for some time . But in the end we all know now Americans are nothing special . It’s a pity . The leader of the free world has now become its enemy
Kyu Chan,
Perhaps it's more accurate to say that the average American is certainly not as bright as before social media, and that's certainly bad enough.
But when Trump announced how all-in he was with "stupid", it seemed to begin a nationwide "Race To the Bottom" reality show for half of America.
And those like Bill Gates or Mark Cuban, who use use their intelligence (and money) to help improve humanity, may no longer even exist beyond a few dinosaurs. Few of America's intelligent seem to see any purpose to their intellectual superiority beyond collecting money by inventing worthless apps, or furthering humanity's destruction.
Of course I basically agree . Social networks do have some sense but basically strongly contributed to America’s “dummification “. There was a reason for the hierarchical / educational filter function of classical journalism - and there is a reason. For peer review in scientific journals . They filter function is now highly questioned and we get bombardes with 90% waste and 10% quality - and average readers can’t make the difference . That was the basis of demagoguery and sadly even in this modern era folks are not equipped for for countering demagoguery. But the root - again - is America . Greed created SNS, sociopath Incel geeks like Zuckerberg who didn’t know how to approach women in real life .. but also the CIA “who” thought social networks will “crush” autocracies …America is very immature and young and not used to democracy . That secret longing for monarchy structures (Star Wars , frozen , Cinderella …) very tacky and primitive . Only when it set up the liberal world order America shone . But that was in a time education was appreciated and need were filtered by smart career journalists who vetted information . In the end America does what it always does - technologically advanced but on a human level below the amoeboid state . The unfiltered lust for anything new , the rebellion against naturally grown systems and hierarchies , the disgust of education .. the feeling everybody against everybody is somehow progressive …
We simply could not continue to justify our existence without ignorance.
Something about "ignorance is bliss" perhaps?
Can’t wait for the following spiel: America invades Greenland and at the same time will fight together with NATO (article 5) against itself .
True, but after most of 67 years in the rural Deep South, there is at least one factor to be ignored at democracy's peril.
These folks voted for Trump because they knew his racism was a feature, not a bug.
And The Southern Strategy has already cost these folks since 1960, so sacrificing is somewhat what they expect. Basically, this might best be described as:
"They don't mind being shot in the foot, as long as some total stranger from a demographic they hate gets shot in the knee."
And they get that with Trump every single day.
I don't know how many cultists have a top priority of "owning the libs", but I suspect it's not small.
What a great goal for one’s life
Evolution stopped with these people.Their stuck in their own mire. Karma cannot be avoided
Give hatred you receive hatred
Show disrespect you get disrespected.
Terrible to think these places exist
Misery does love company
The level of disrespect gop officials display when speaking to their constituents is astounding
They are taking us down the rabbit hole
Almost everyone of them is worth millions of dollars no questions asked.
They represent themselves
And the people keep voting for them. That is why they laugh at us behind our backs
And call us stupid as they spend our taxes
When one of them gets bad publicity they simply hide out for weeks or longer because
they know as Mitch mc Connal said “ american people have short memories.”
And most of us do have short memories as we continue to get played
We are so far behind in everything that would benefit us
But they have convinced us the country’s about broke
If we get this or that
And we fall for it everytime while they laugh how easy it is to persuade us while another few million dollars for us go to their bank accounts
Laughing all the way to their banks.
It’s not so bad when your past 65 years old knowing your not going to live much longer.
Phil,
I'm all too painfully aware of that. (Thus my original post above.)
For example, "Empty G" (MTG) most likely knows the truth of (mostly) all the crazy shit she spews. But after it's seen ONCE by the MAGA faithful, it replaces ANYTHING else that will come after.
"Jewish space lasers", "Controlling the weather". It's all about being the first to express something insane, then moving on to the next while collecting the clicks.
...along with the capital from insider trading.
this is the actual point of the exercise
MTG is mentally ill and believes at least some of the craziness she spews out.
This is why it's SO important to talk to your kids about politics from when they are very young. They need to know everything is politics and vice versa. Anything that controls any aspect of our lives, it ALL comes back to politics. My son is now 34 and I was a young single mother but I always taught him not to just follow blindly. Question why they want you to do certain things. I removed him from school aged 9 and home educated him as I didn't want him dumbed down, or going along with stupid crap other kids were saying. His friends parents loved him (apart from one family, right wing, money mad, benefits and social housing fraudsters) as he'd call his friends out for being dickheads. The school washes their hands of your kids the day they leave, so it's only you who really cares what sort of human being they become. Which is why as parents we need to step up to the plate and stop expecting schools to do our job.
"All decked out"
If you had a name that sounds very much like "Crusty Gnome", might not you too become a little obsessive about your appearance?
She looked very different prior to her "maga makeover".
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/style/kristi-noem-teeth-trump-vice-president.html
With her fake face, boobs and lips (and who knows what else under her clothes) I can’t look.
All being controlled by her fake brain. She actually went on Fox and adamantly asserted that Sen. Padilla didn't identify himself. We all saw and heard it on the video. Whatever is going on in her cranial neurons isn't thought.
More importantly, she opened her remarks by declaring ICE was in LA to “liberate” it from its duly elected officials. We may have strongly suspected elections would no longer matter after November 5, 2025 and she just outright confirmed it.
I have found, over and over, in my longish life that stupid people tend to put what little grey matter they possess into being as unpleasant as possible. I don't know why that is, I've just seen it over and over. They always think they can lie to you, rob you, stir up shit for you, etc. and you're not going to know it's them. Then they deny, deny, deny! I suppose you HAVE to be stupid to be so stupid, if you know what I mean.
In our youth it was, but not recently.
Yeah, Tik Tok seems to have supplanted TV.
AI's dumbing down effect on society will make social media's impact seem quaint by comparison. The good that AI will accomplish will be dwarfed by the social and economic devastation it will have on society.
Yeah, it's really creepy what they're doing with AI now.
Television in the US was always seen as a means to sell things by advertising.
Very cool!
Thanks for the suggestion.
I think I will be. This one is going to be much bigger than April 5 or April 19 - and those were "yuuuuuuuggggggeeee". I think we just might hit that 3.5% critical mass this time.
In case you are interested and haven't yet listened, during the May 6 episode of Chris Hayes' "Why is This Happening" podcast, Chris' guest, Dr. Erica Chenoweth (political scientist at Harvard) provided some great insight into the 3.5% indicator. Maybe you've also listened to the discussion with Dr. Chenoweth?
One analogy for my take-away from her description is that the 3.5% represents only the tip of the iceberg and in addition, apart from protests there also must be significantly more of the populace engaging in other visible and not-yet-visible forms of resistance.
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“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”
- Lyndon B. Johnson
Wow!
Exactly.
Thanks. I'd forgotten this quote.
This also reminds me of how some communities responded to requirements to integrate public facilities. Rather than being forced to allow everyone into community public swimming pools, pools in many communities were backfilled to eliminate them entirely!
We have this thing now known as "internet".
I bet we have many school-age children in America know that live in homes without an actual "television."
To answer your question: brainwashed, definitely.
This is totally unrelated infomercial SPAM. Reported
and regan started it all
Yes along with lack of education. Intentionally too expensive.
And loans are for profit
Many are not going to universities if it means going into over hundreds of thousands of dollars after graduation and not being able to afford their first home
marry and afford a small child
into the world and the costs incurred.
All part of the plan to keep out our average and above average americans with moderate incomes
out of our best universities
and create dismay to ever run a campaign to become a Congress person or even President of the United States of America in due course.
Disappointing those that as Martin Luther king said to all of us in one of his great speeches “‘I have a dream..”
Children grow up first with a dream, a wonderful way to be engaged with early conviction that for some become a reality.
This truly made “to be a America” land of the free.”
You can grow up to be what
you dream to be with hard work.
Is this true today in 2025? Or even the past decade?
As it is said with our military
that has fought decades of wars all over the world in countries with dictators or authoritarians
“ Freedom is not Free”
We ,i ,you , ALL must Fight to be Free ! Fight for Democracy” as a senator just said on a video we must have Courage! Not Complacency !
silence is fear
How the oppressors win !
We can be courageous
We are Americans !
A proud people
Your gallant men did not fight all over the world for freedom. Yes they did in WW2 and I for one am grateful. But later on they fought mainly for economic interests. You really think the Vietnamese, poor as they were, would get in row-boats to traverse an ocean and attack your west coast?
This country is deep in debt thanks to the costly wars fought in the last decennia. Already Louis XIV, on his death bed, saw that his constant warring had been an expensive mistake. He even warned his great-grandson. Too late.
I agree with your assessment.
None the less every war the American’s fought were truly gallant warriors as they were true patriots amongst us to sacrifice their lives for their country and fellow Americans.
As you were correct they were lied to in retrospect.
These hidden agendas were unknown to these men.
They believed the presidents telling them it was fought for freedoms of other countries of internal strife.
We did many behind the scenes
c i a missions to put the puppet government that benefited our best interests.
These were indeed galliant and brave men and women.
Thank you
When I was a child - long ago - our parents took us to cemeteries with large numbers of identical small headstones, row after row. We were told these were the men (and women) that fought for our freedom and never to forget. We saw the names and the years. Most of them so young.
As a child it made me sad, when I got older it made me angry. Lives are too precious to be squandered like that.
I have benefits and scolded my little child that never grew up, me!
The flip side he still loves to play!
Have you studied the crusaders ?
This sadness and anger applies to the soldiers we fought as enemies?
History repeats itself
from the beginning to the end.
I appreciate your empathy as
today in the year 2025 we are told “ empathy”
is a weakness
what violence does this provoke?
I think you are wrong. TV and Facebook are for us old folks. If you want action today, you look at Tic-Toc, x, Instagram etc
Tv is okay
I can’t see Facebook is okay
Perhaps keeping family friends in touch
Just the facts that you get your personal information shared even if you don’t care if it is to me my privacy is simply private without my permission
And the politics or our billionaires and tax benefits if they donate money (to the cause) is based on corruption.
I put principles first
So sir you like your Facebook
For your own reasons, I still believe in Americans free choices.
You can’t tell anyone their wrong nor can they tell you the same.
Act your ages pleases.
I once read that Philo Farnsworth was appalled about what was done with his invention.
“So by calling the legislation the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Republicans were in effect confirming that yes, Washington has turned into Pyongyang on the Potomac, where political survival depends on slavish flattery of the dictator.”
Yet nobody fights back…I don’t understand what happened to America but the country it used to be would fight for their own freedom. They fought for other people’s freedom!
but just how do you fight back when the voters in their wisdom have given you a minority in both houses of Congress? There are lots of tough questions being asked of administration officials in committee hearings, but they don't get widely reported, so the administration can just ignore them. There are lots of speeches ... ditto re being reported.
The Democrats need to put together an office of the Loyal Opposition and hire a press secretary and give briefings every day. Include a professional staff of writers and former journalists to create easy to package sounds bites and news clips that the main stream media can use with little effort. Pull together source lists for the fact checkers (are any left??). Then create a schedule of prominent politicians to rotate through the office - from sitting senators and congress people to friends like Pete Buttigieg. They need to make it easier for the media to pickup their message(s). Even if most of this messaging is rebuttals of the republican BS it would put a few obstacles in the wave of manure.
Re: "They need to make it easier for media to pick up their messages." Could the fault, perhaps, be in the media?
Yes the fault clearly is with the media, but the media is lazy and you need to make it easy for them to pick up your message to help correct this problem.
There were significant protests a month ago, and even NPR didn't bother to cover them. The NYT gave those protests a small section. If it were not for Substack, I would not have known how widespread and large they were.
The sad is - for some reason they won’t do this. I have left so many messages at the offices of Schumer, Jeffries & Gillibrand begging them to do this . I’m sure others have to but Dems haven’t lifted a finger to do this . I just don’t get it. Does anyone else have an idea?
They should do what they do in virtually ever parliamentary democracy and have a shadow cabinet.
I’ve lost faith in the media—all media since the election. They just support that lost faith on a daily basis. I think placing ANY faith in the mainstream media is misplaced.
You mean it’s not being reported on corporate media, right? The days of Fox, CNN, MSNBC, and newspapers like NYT and WAPO are nearly over. More people are getting news from podcasts, and Substack journalists and activists. No corporate overlords, just grassroots support.
But the problem is that the majority of social media posts are false or misleading at best. And responsible journalism is typically behind pay walls. Fox “News,” by far the most popular cable news channel, is blatant MAGA propaganda.
This 👆🏻
This is one of the most profound comments I’ve read this year. They fought for other people’s freedom.
But the January 6th rioters believed they WERE fighting for freedom. Herein lies the rub.
I know. Judgemental of me but when I see the crowd that stormed the Capitol I hark back to Hilary’s “basket of deplorables” comment.
I have spent time on the “other side” of Substack and it’s shocking. The utter devotion to Trump and Musk. The weird images of Trump all trussed up in a Superman suit and all that nonsense. Women saying what a gentleman Trump is and that god saves him so that he could save America. So many calls to hang Gavin Newsome and put Nancy Pelosi in front of a firing squad. It’s really evil stuff. It is like a cult, but they think we are in a communist cult!
Precisely. The right wing propaganda machine has worked so well that it may as well be MiniTrue from 1984. War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
And what's even worse than laying down your life for a right-wing propaganda machine? Doing it for Donald Trump's personal grift.
We ARE fighting— every day across this nation. We the People keep showing up at Federal Courts, on streets to protect others against ICE, in local papers where are voices are still heard. We are showing up by the millions this weekend in massive demonstrations across this entire country to say NO to the destruction of our democracy. WE are angry and disgusted, but we will not stop until the felon president is stopped!!!!!!
Claimed to be fighting for other people’s freedom—in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq. But that was all a lie too.
The only way to make Republicans in Congress turn against Trump is to convince them that they will be voted out at the next opportunity. This will require massive public outrage.
Americans voted for this clown show - twice! We’re a democracy. Let’s see what happens when the “stuff” hits the fan.
Did you per chance see whats happened in Nepal? THATS what the usa needs to do, IMHO.
Better name would have been the “Jesus Go Fuck Yourself” bill
Officially the US maintained neutrality during the first three years of WW II, as had been announced in Roosevelt’s Quarantine Speech delivered in 1937. After Japan attacked the US fleet in Pearl Harbor at December 7 1941 the US was at war with Japan. Four days later nazi-Germany declared war on the USA after which the US declared war on Germany.
Complacency. What's happening is unprecedented. A large percentage are listening to FOX, who doesn't dare tell the truth, and even worse who lie on a grand scale. A large percentage won't pay any attention until they or theirs are personally effected. Even then they may be pointed in the wrong direction.
Crypto is now the Kryptonite of Democracy. Noticed that even Adam Schiff is among the highest in taking in crypto donations in California, which was...depressing. I am still a fan of his, but Democrats like him had better start backing away from what is plainly foreign influence wolves in sheep's clothing. Crypto is quite simply the tender of global mafia these days.
“Cryptonite” — love it!
I follow Molly White, who is one of the best experts I've seen covering cryptocurrency, crypto in all forms, including its corrosive results for laundering dirty money (often from Putin and his Russian oligarchs and for the foreign money pouring into our elections through this back door. Crypto has a whole bunch of bro boys cheering it on, a lot of gamblers out there, so it was hard to find an honest person covering the topic like Molly. I like Blockchain technology for other reasons than cryptocurrency. Blockchain got hijacked for more nefarious uses, unfortunately.
Try following her. I highly recommend her Citation Needed site: https://www.citationneeded.news/.
In one of her blogs, she talked about who is taking money from the crypto lobby and pointed to an Excel sheet that used publicly available information to track who took money from Crypto lobby. I ran some filters and noticed this fact.
Here's a few other articles talking about the same problem--less details on exactly how much Schiff got, but ultimately Schiff and Pelosi have both been taking too much money from the Crypto lobby and should get criticism for that:
https://prospect.org/politics/2024-02-14-big-money-bets-adam-schiff/
https://www.citationneeded.news/2024-cryptocurrency-election-spending/
https://www.citizen.org/article/big-crypto-big-spending-2024/
Oh, and by the way, I gave generously to Schiff's campaign, I'm a solid supporter of his, even with this news. I liked Katie Porter a LOT, but felt like Schiff had earned the slot with his strong performances in the House, he showed a lot of courage and smarts.
But I don't like the fact that Schiff benefited from Porter's very correct opposition to Crypto and the way the Crypto lobby piled onto her. I get that huge money was flowing out of the Crypto boys over to all of our politicians, and it probably felt politically necessary to take the money, but I really wish Pelosi and Schiff had showed more forbearance.
Makes me wary, and I will be watching how he and any politician handles the billionaire crypto class carefully in the future. So should you. This is an open door to corruption.
Finally, a crypto fan I can ask:
In what *legal* ways is cryptocurrency superior to the worldwide use of credit cards? I'm sure you have plenty, but I just haven't encountered them.
Enquiring minds want to know!
IME, such backhanded strategery often backfires.
“Plouffe just got a gig with crypto.”
What?
Google "Plouffe".
Don't, it's too depressing.
But those pols that want to fight back need those "No Kings!" and anti-ICE protests as a backstop and a backdrop.
What STILL gobsmacks me is that Trump’s approval ratings have barely moved in the past month, through all this craziness of tariffs, the BBB Act and the ICE raids. I get the Prof’s point about Republican legislators but to read that about 43pc of Americans still approve of him defies understanding. Talk about turkeys and Thanksgiving!
Well, Trump has locked down the 35% "basket of deplorables" who will lie down in traffic for him. They don't mind sleeping under a bridge, as long as immigrants have to sleep under cardboard. Trump knows his MAGA base well.
The other 8% just cannot admit they made a mistake. That will change. Within 6 months Trump's approval will be down to 35%. It's never going to go lower.
Why does so much of the public seem to have a visceral reaction to immigrants - other than the health aid helping grandma do they actually see them anywhere? In the Northeast, where there are large amounts of immigrants of all sorts, you rarely see them much unless you are a member of a diaspora. We are 97% descended from immigrants, (and maybe 100% depending on which anthropological theory you follow) so obviously over the years immigration created a few good things.
Like “Native Americans” coming across the Bering Land Bridge, cf. 13,000 BC. They should really be called “The First Americans”
Herbert Hoover got 38% of the vote in 1932. The floor is always higher than we think it should be.
G. Elliott Morris, at Strength in Numbers, has a nuanced, and more accurate view of the polling. I've restacked his post from today.
Depends on the poll. In some polls he gets negative marks even on immigration. And 1 poll had Kamala Harris winning a hypothetical do-over election. Most of even the polls showing little or no downward movement show him as highly UNpopular. If we work (hard) for it, we can expect a pair of blue waves (or at least red routes) in ‘26 and ‘28–and, like in ‘08, we may well elect someone for prez who’s a 1st of something. Trump should be grateful that he can’t run again, given how 2020 worked out.
Expect the 2028 Dem to be at least one—and probably two—of the following 3 things: female, non-white, and/or governor. Particularly governor.
"Washington has turned into Pyongyang on the Potomac" Excellent 👌
Everyone dances around the topic and doesn’t want to say it: WE NEED MORE REVENUE! Would it be possible, in a future column, for you to do the calculations and propose a crude estimate of an alternative progressive Federal income tax plan that would balance the budget. If we keep tax rates at current levels for individuals with incomes up to $200,000 and couples at $400,000, what kind of a change would be needed for those above that level to produce the revenue to maintain current Medicare, Medicaid, assistance programs etc. without cuts? Maybe even tweak tax rates up a percent for $100,000/$200,000 if truly needed. Add to these assumptions that the Social Security cap would be raised to say $250,000 without increasing the maximum benefit. Please provide a few alternative rate structures for the higher income levels, reaching perhaps a 40% maximum rate (which would still keep the combined state and Federal in almost all cases, except maybe Manhattan and a few other local hot spots, under the off-putting 50% figure). Am I dreaming, or could this work?
You will need to also find a way to reach the super-rich, where most of their wealth is wrapped up in capital gains that is taxed at a very low rate and which can effectively be delayed forever by borrowing against the appreciated basis or flipped into new assets (look up real estate 1031 exchange) without triggering a capital gains tax.
One option is a wealth tax--similar to a property tax but applicable to all wealth, not just real estate.
There are a number of issues with wealth taxes. One is that valuing a business is more of an art than a science. For publicly held businesses you use the stock price, but there are a lot of privately held businesses in the United States. This problem can be reduced by having a large exemption amount.
European countries that have implemented wealth taxes have tended to experience capital flight, but that may be specific to Europe, where the existence of the European Union makes it easy to move from one country to another. This is why France switched from a tax on total wealth to a tax on the total value of real estate holdings worldwide in 2017.
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren both proposed wealth taxes during the 2020 Presidential primary. Donald Trump proposed them when he ran for President in 2000, but I assume he was no more serious about that than he was when he proposed eliminating the carried interest loophole when he ran for President in 2016. (Trump had no interest in eliminating the carried interest loophole once he won the election.) I think that the increasing wealth inequality in the the United States means that wealth taxes should be seriously considered.
As noted in other replies on this exchange, taxing capital gains as equivalent to income for wealthy individuals might accomplish your goal without being subject to so much potential for evasion.
Great point. A new tax plan might make the capital gains tax rate currently only weakly linked to income a bit more progressive such that it makes rates on capital gains equal to income for higher earners.
I would also like to know if there is a progressive tax plan that is optimal for economic growth. We are often told that the American economy experienced high levels of growth with a top tax rate of 90%. On another topic Professor Krugman has been doing a series of podcast episodes with FT senior editor Martin Wolf that are very good. In the last one they discussed how the weakening of organized labour has contributed to inequality and democratic back sliding, among many other things. Yesterday an FT story about Starbucks plan to increase the number of baristas in its cafes to improve customer experience was getting push back from shareholders who were afraid it would reduce profits. Is there a tension between wage earners and shareholders that can be optimized? Wage earners that are also union members usually have pension plans. In Canada it is often said “Don’t f***k with the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, and we have other powerful pension plans like CPP. Anyway, it’s a podcast and Professor Krugman ends with a great poem. I hope you will all stay safe out there tomorrow. The majority of Canadians hope you will be successful. Strong democracies are rich democracies. One suggestion, in Canada the limit for political donations is $1750. Corporations and unions are not allowed to make political donations. It costs leadership candidates $30,000 to take part in a leadership race. This is a good system that could be very popular. You would have to pack your court, but as they have lost all credibility that shouldn’t be a hard sell.
Here’s the link to the podcast. Link to the poem is in the show notes. Good luck everybody!
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-economics-show/id1746352576?i=1000712385188
Great idea. I’d love to see this, too.
Yes, a very clear presentation, read by many who already were aware to some degree of the regressiveness of the legislation. But the challenge remains: how to inform and persuade other Americans who view Fox or Facebook or X as a mirror of reality?
Unfortunately, they won't be informed or persuaded until the catastrophe hits them personally, and even then they'll blame "the libs" for it, because TrumPox and Faux Newspeak tells them to.
“…we need to ask how any party in a democracy imagines that it could get away with taking money away from 80% of the American public.”
Another answer in just two words: Fox “News”
The American public has no clue. They are ignorant, and kept that way by skillful right wing messaging. Of course, the right wing propaganda machine doesn’t need to be that skillful, thanks to the feebleness of the Democratic Party. Those charts should be in the hands and/or faces of everyone - flood the nation with them knee deep.
You're right. The money is too good. Murdoch has a 340,000 acre ranch. I believe Hannity has several mansions. Internet influencers made millions pushing Russian propaganda.
We need a Constitutional amendment to prevent the likes of Faux Newspeak and Noisemax from taking cover behind the First Amendment while firing out their lies.
How long will it take for the masses to realise this? Will they ever realise they've been royally screwed?
not until it is too late to undue the damage, history will show just how rotten the Republican party is and unfortunatly the Democratic party has no leadership which alllow the party of greed to rob all of us blind.
what should those leaders be doing, please, that they are not doing? How do they get coverage for their pointed attacks on administration officials? They can't win votes, remember?
Let’s just remember that the populists and the left were in a similarly dark place this time in 1929–and then things changed very much for the better. We defeated the oligarchs before, we can do it again. (And it seemed just as impossible back then.) Things are always darkest before the new dawn—but the dawn only comes if we fight like hell for it!
not while they get their 'news' from Fox.
"How long will it take for the masses to realise this? "
Quite some time. The Medicaid cuts aren't scheduled to take place until 2029. The delay is intentional; by the time they take place, most of the public will have forgotten how and why they came to pass.
Back in 2017, the Reps never repealed or significantly cut back Obamacare (legislatively)—but they got pummeled in 2018 & 2020 simply for trying. And I doubt that had the repeal gone through, that it would have been “effective immediately”. People don’t necessarily have to *experience* loss first-hand to be politically animated by the prospect of it. Even when the threat of loss is small & outweighed by gains, this is often true—which is why Obamacare almost didn’t pass in the 1st place!
Professor Krugman: many of those who will be harmed are MAGA themselves. can they not read the writing on the wall?
just thought i'd mention there are more than 2,000 protests scheduled for tomorrow AND there are many hundreds (thousands?) more internationally across the globe. so we are not alone. our former allies are standing with us, and protesting.
"Professor Krugman: many of those who will be harmed are MAGA themselves. can they not read the writing on the wall?"
Again I say, people need to look at the South under Jim Crow for the precedent to this. For a solid seventy years after the Civil War, the place was a disaster area, and yet people kept voting for the same ex-Confederate elites preaching the same ex-Confederate bullshit over and over again. All they had to do was tell people that all their problems was the fault of the blacks and the [deleted]-loving Yankees, and they'd come to them like iron to a magnet.
As the famous quote from Lyndon Johnson said: "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
Most of them can't read at all.
Thank you very much, Paul Krugman, for continuing to give us clear, educated info around which to organize ourselves for both the present and the future. Every time I read you I think of Matthew Desmond. Both of his books should be reissued in paperback format and become Handbooks of the Resistance. I am grateful for every effort you make on our behalf.
I would like to mention here that I myself would have preferred that the illustration of Trump as a North Koreaesque dictator had refrained from attributing Asian facial traits to him and simply settled for attaching his real, revolting, odious head to the approximation of KJU's preferred attire/uniform. We would all have gotten the drift. And avoided the racist subtext.
It's immoral, of course, but there is a cold, hard calculation evident in that CBO graph. The only deciles suffering an income decline are the three lowest deciles. By the fourth decile people sort of break even. The fifth through 9th deciles get from less than 1 to 1.5% improvement to their incomes. The tenth gets 2.5% or so.
The three lowest deciles either don't vote or vote Democratic. They're not worth rewarding. After that Republicans expect to more than break even.
So there's the Republican formula, and it seems to work more often than not.
The Republican formula as gerrymandering and a system that dramatically overrepresents rural reactionaries. You could fix the House by simply lifting the artificial cap on the number of Reps in the House or keeping the cap on number but permit districting across state lines. Fix the Executive by abolishing the electoral college and moving to a straight up popular vote. Fix the Judicial by imposing term limits with a certain percentage of judges being replaced every x years to take away the political gamesmanship. The Senate is the toughest nut to crack. It was designed the way it was to ensure the representation and power of people who thought it was OK to own other people. Perhaps take away the need for the Senate to pass something if it passes by a 3/4 majority in the House to eliminate the Senate's ability to block overwhelmingly popular legislation?
In short, there are many options to fix our very broken system, and it is critical to understand that the ONLY reason we aren't trying to fix it is that the oligarchs don't want it fixed because it serves them.
The tiles are not equal in size— and most folk have below-average income. That’s why most economists who want to measure a “typical” person’s finances rely on the median, rather than mean (average), income. So the Reps may not actually break even politically.
PS. Every time Reps try to gut any significant part of the safety net, they get pummeled politically. Remember 1992, 2006, & 2018?
But if they keep playing with fire, sooner or later they’ll get burned. And every action has an equal and opposite reaction—even politically. Dems got the majorities to pass Obamacare because of Bush’s overreach on Iraq War, Terry Shiavow, and Social Security. And if Reps go too far now, they might wind up facing their ultimate nightmare—a new New Deal.
It's time for what passes for leadership in the Democratic party to stop the harshly worded press releases and woe is me handwringing and go out and advertise just what a pig this bill is. The GOP didn't even bother with lipstick. Simultaneously, they need to coordinate a general strike, and a more specific boycot against goods or services from any company that has been funneling money to the GOP. Start by boycotting all goods from any company that advertises on Fox. Then, propose an alternate budget that sticks it to the oligarchs and tax evaders. The class war has broken out, it's time for the proles to counter attack.
Chris, this part, is a good start. “ . . .go out and advertise just what a pig this bill is. The question is how to get people interested in the details. Especially people who think they get no government benefits. For instance,
Loved ones in a nursing home? Three out of five are supported by Medicaid.
Krugman: Only the top 10% are clearly better off from a bill that increases the budget deficit. . . increasing interest rates and crowding out investment.” INCREASING INTEREST RATES! CROWDING OUT INVESTMENT!
“The OBBBA is, in fact, so terrible that we need to ask how any party in a democracy imagines that it could get away with taking money away from 80% of the American public.”
“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
― Warren Buffett, 2006
From my experience wealth is an addiction as powerful as opiates. That the Midas Touch is a cautionary tale.
"This bill is truly unprecedented in the extent to which it takes away from the have-nots and gives to the ultra-haves."
it's evangelical: «For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.» (Mt 25,29)
Is that from the section where Jesus invites more money changers into the Temple, or the one where he auctions loaves and fishes off to the highest bidders?
An utter misunderstanding of the parable: The “talents” are actually a metaphor for one’s talents (gifts)— if you don’t use them, you lose them.
In regard to that average 6.5% loss inflicted on the bottom 10% of the income distribution:
Let’s not forget that the average does not tell the whole story. A very significant number of people are losing much, much more, because a major portion of their income was from Medicaid, and they now lose that entirely, because they can’t meet the new work reporting requirements. Of course, even with Medicaid it is a terrible situation to have someone in the family with the kind of health problems that result in Medicaid being a major part of the family’s income. Now imagine what it means when on top of that, they’re suddenly cut off from Medicaid because of the cruelty of the so-called Republican party.
I'm not sure the American poor will be able to pay the bills. What will happen to the deficit when this anticipated revenue from the poor dries up? There is a lot of truth to the addage that "you can't get blood from a stone".
Amen.