Death and Taxes

First to the death part. Republicans have been saying for seven years that they were going to " Repeal and replace Obamacare. "What we suspected and now know was that they were only stating a part of their full plan. Their full plan was to "Repeal and replace Obamacare with something far worse." It was reported today that the White House has sent to the Republicans in the House of Representatives a new proposed plan. Obviously, there has been no time for any serious changes so we can expect pretty much the same plan. I can't wait to hear the head twit describe it. You may recall that the last time he was promoting the republican plan it was a" very very remarkable, fantastic plan." At the same time it was widely reported that he was asking his White House staff "Is this a good plan?" Assuming it is what is logical to expect and assuming that it passes, it will mean death for many of our citizens.

And now to taxes. It is widely expected that whatever else is in the plan, there will be a reduction in the tax rate for Business companies. You'll hear them say as they always say that the top nominal rate of 39% is the highest in the world. In fact the OECD average as reported by the economist is 25%. However what the Republicans do not report is that this nominal rate does not remotely reflect what the American companies end up paying in federal income tax. Between 2008 and 2012, according to the GAO large companies that were profitable paid a federal tax of 14% on their net income, a rate that rose to 22% once state and local taxes were included. This again as reported in the Economist.

The Republicans will also claim that all tax reductions, no matter what the circumstances and who receives them always result in economic growth for all. As the heritage foundation is among those advising Trump, he will probably claim as Ryan does when he uses the heritage foundation economists ,that there will be multipliers of as much as 5 to 7 times, as when Ryan made these claims circa 2009. Trumps other principal economic adviser, Peter Navarro remains obsessed with the trade deficit with China. He believes that eliminating that will solve all economic problems. He and Rasputin, a.k.a. Steve Bannon, also think that economic isolationism is ultimately the solution. Oddly enough, they never discuss the Washington consensus that allows capital to freely roam the world. And perhaps even more oddly, they never confront historical information that demonstrates they are wrong.

Trump was on TV today talking to his CEO roundtable. Shakespeare was right," Life is a tale told by an idiot", at least in this country.