"An Unhealthy Tax Plan" Letter to trhe editor Tom Denton

An Unhealthy Tax Plan

According to one-time campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, candidate Trump’s go-to meal at McDonald’s was two Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fishes, and a chocolate shake.  With an in- White House chef and maybe a whisper from the Surgeon General, President Trump’s diet might have gotten an upgrade.  But there is no better symbol for a Republican party and its leader whose menu is all about the appetites of now—to hell with the future.

            The GOOP (Grand Old Oligarchy Party) tax bill delivers a sugar high to the superwealthy, whose “consumables”--a new yacht? a Russian dacha?--don’t appear on the shopping lists of the rest of us.  Corporations get a windfall, likely to be channeled into stock buybacks and shareholder dividends.  It’s all paid for by small tax cuts that turn into tax hikes for most Americans in 2027.  And don’t forget its trillion dollar debt financing (our debt) that reputable economists believe, contrary to Republican cheerleaders, will not be paid for with new growth.

            Americans who worry about crumbling roads and water pipes, who fret as they see no action on lowering the cost of higher education, who wonder if Medicare and Medicaid will still be there to support dignified retirement years, who are appalled that the children’s health program (CHIP) remains unfunded because . . . “there isn’t enough money” . . . well, they can park their worries at home, grab their tax cuts, head to McDonald’s, and order the President’s menu.  Add double fries.  And BYOB to spike the shake.  Yee-hah.

Publishing history

New Paltz Times                 12/28

Poughkeepsie Journal          online 12/30, 1/7/2018

"The GOP shell game" Letter to the editor Tom Denton

The GOP Chess Game

            Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency commentators have sometimes offered the checkers vs. chess analogy:    is he somehow playing a long, strategic game while most of us try to keep up, day-to-day, with his abrupt, shifting moves, seemingly timed to capture or divert the news cycle?  After almost eleven months it is clear that Trump is no chess master; he is a bit player.  Rather, with the passage of its tax bill, it is the Republican party that has boldly and unapologetically asserted its master plan.   Its so-called tax reform legislation certainly redistributes wealth from the poor and lower and middle class Americans to corporations and the rich, packaged in a promise of trickle down benefits from top to bottom.  But it is more than that.  Our Republican representatives have seized their long-sought opportunity to “starve the beast,” a goal proudly announced as far back as the 1980s by David Stockman, Reagan’s budget director.   They pledge jet-fueled growth from tax cuts, but their overarching goal is to spawn deficits and reduce the federal government’s ability to fund an array of programs—most specifically, what they label “entitlements.”  Whose entitlements?  Yours.  Your children’s

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            Watch the plan play out.   Very soon we’ll see cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and other health-related programs, as they will be required by “pay-as-you-go” Congressional rules.  House Speaker Paul Ryan has already announced his plans to attack the challenges of long term spending for Social Security and Medicare.  Responsible governing?  Check to see whose pockets have been picked, whose stuffed, before you answer that question.

Publishing history

Herald Record                       12/7

New Paltz Times                   12/14