Balance the Checkbook
Somebody is cheating on their taxes
Here are two items - that threw me into a RAGE. Only two, you say?
Here is an excerpt from a newsletter called “Punchbowl News”. This is a valuable letter if you are interested in the inner workings of the Federal government - especially the legislature. It’s for political “nerds”. Want to know where we are on pending bills, when the debt ceiling will be exceeded, the latest soap opera around Congressional leadership? Read Punchbowl.
I pulled this paragraph from the Punchbowl. It made me want to scream.
”While party [Democrat] activists want a re-run of the 2017 “Resistance” and anti-Trump movement, Democratic leadership knows this is a very different moment. Trump won solidly in November, even carrying the popular vote. He led Republicans into the Senate majority. Trump’s polls are better than ever. Average Americans aren’t going to get upset that federal workers are being laid off, not with a $1.9 trillion deficit and $36 trillion debt.”
“Average Americans are not going to be upset that federal workers are being laid off….” Really? Suggestion to Punchbowl - step out of your DC bubble and listen to the anger. Punchbowl also failed to mention that Trumps “disapproval” numbers are HUGE.
And, federal workers are apparently not “average Americans” who do important work. They are just collateral damage in a random purge of payrolls?
Yes, there is a spending problem. Agreed. What if Congress asked the Inspector Generals and oversight committees to complete a review of the spending that only they can authorize through legislation - weeding out any inefficiencies, waste or fraud? I think there is some low hanging fruit (or waste) in a $900 billion defense budget. Or should we ask 20 year old cyber punk employees of X to to do that? Because they are so experienced in national defense issues?
I am going to agree that a certain percentage of our debt and deficit problem could possibly be addressed by more efficiency. I’m all in for EXPERTS to find that waste. Let’s find the problems and fix them.
But. When I look at my check book, it has two columns. One is spending. Better keep that under control. The other is deposits. Or income. They need to balance out each month. So here is my question of the day: Why aren’t we looking to increase the deposits? Because “taxes are bad”? I don’t like paying taxes any more than the next guy. But I do it because that’s how you fund a civilized society. Schools, roads, drinking water, fire departments, health care and national defense…you get my drift. All good and necessary stuff. I hope you agree.
We should all pay a fair share, right? Not in Trump’s “Great America”!
Here is the GOP plan via the AP:
”House Republicans released a budget plan Wednesday that sets the stage for advancing many of President Donald Trump’s top domestic priorities, providing for up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and a $4 trillion increase in the debt limit so the U.S. can continue financing its bills.”
Repeat after me: “CONservative Republicans want us to give $4.5 TRILLION in tax cuts to the rich and increase the debt limit by $4 TRILLION. Sounds like a gift to the already morbidly wealthy to me. And…they want to cut social services like Medicaid. So…they can steal another few trillion…? Where is the rage? Where are the screams of “Stop Thieves!”
OK, don’t feel like screaming yet? Maybe this will do it. Rage inducing item #2:
Elon Musk’s company avoided almost all federal income tax on nearly $11 billion of U.S. income over three years
“Tesla, the most valuable automaker in the world valued at over $1 trillion, did not pay any federal income tax last year.
Tesla’s annual financial report, released this morning, shows the company enjoyed $2.3 billion of U.S. income in 2024 on which it reports precisely zero current federal income tax. Over the past three years, the Elon Musk-led company reports $10.8 billion of U.S. income on which its current federal tax was just $48 million. That comes to a three-year federal tax rate of just 0.4 percent – more than 50 times less than the statutory corporate tax rate of 21 percent.”
This is what oligarchy, kleptocracy and financial mismanagement look like. This is tyranny. Our National Check Book is out of control. We CAN be more efficient. But we need more BIG DEPOSITS from the rich to find some balance. THAT is actually a “fiscally conservative” idea.
https://punchbowl.news/
https://apnews.com/article/house-republicans-budget-blueprint-trump-tax-cuts-ff2bddf31f4e7cb0928139072392a091
https://itep.org/tesla-reported-zero-federal-income-tax-in-2024/
"Trump’s polls are better than ever." For context, Trump's polls are better than Trump's polls have ever been; that doesn't mean they're good, although that's how Punchdrunk would have you interpret it. The reality is that they're not very good and likely to get worse, not that I expect any change in Felon47's behavior as a result.
We need to keep in mind that the "value" of Tesla and the extrapolated value of Musk's holdings is based on the most recent stock price which is something like 177 times the most recent actual profits. That the profits are likely receding due to slumping (plummeting) sales somehow never comes up in stories about "the world's richest man". Like his puppet president, Musk can't afford to have anyone notice that there is a curtain behind which he's hiding. I've felt for a long time that a forensic audit of both presidents would reveal substantially less net wealth than they publicly give themselves credit for having.
I'm with you on waste, and if I thought that's what was being sought, I might consider being supportive, but I don't think so, therefore I'm not. If there were as many as 4 classic Republicans in the Senate and a half dozen in the House we'd see at minimum the lapsing of the 2017 tax rate reduction and a surtax directed specifically to the reduction of the debt. The economics of it aren't hard, but the politics have been made nearly impossible.
BTW, great piece Bill, and an outstanding graphic. I sense a Howard Beale comeback on the way.
Keep up the hard hitting, factual and excellent writing Bill. Nicely done today.
But, at least in my town, the few Trump religious followers I remain acquainted with are cheering every day like they are watching a football game where their team is winning.
For me it is fascinating. Many of my friends work in engineering type of jobs at companies that are lily white from technician to senior management. BUT, they are all suffering from a persecution complex as if a black person (although none work there) might take their job any moment due to "DEI".
Amazing. The white class, which has suppressed black folks in America for 400 years, convinced itself they are victims and Trump is their hero. who will set them free from DEI oppression.
How does that work Bill? The actual oppressor/exploiter/slave owner and jail guard convinces himself he is a victim EVEN though he owns all the wealth in the country?
A truly interesting psychological trick.