All Things Political: Trump’s preposterous $4.1T budget

Adam Haber

President Trump recently released his 2018 budget proposal titled “A New Foundation For American Greatness.”

It’s certainly great if you are wealthy and your first name is Donald; however, if you or your family struggle to make ends meet, this is a draconian plan that will make income distribution less equitable, and your life more difficult.

The highlights of the $4.1 trillion budget include a massive tax cut primarily for the wealthy to be financed by savings over the next decade from: $800 billion cuts from Medicaid (health care for the poor); almost $200 billion from food stamps; and $272 billion from welfare.

If this budget passes as is, the military will see a 10 percent spending increase and a total of $4.2 billion will be added to border security and preliminary work for building “The Wall” (since Trump has been unable to fulfill his promise that Mexico would pay for it).

The President boasts these tax cuts will stimulate the economy and create good paying jobs for the poor and struggling middle class, so they won’t need government assistance.

Kind of like a rising tide floats all boats but first we need to get rid of the water.

All loss of tax revenue from tax cuts are supposed to be offset by massive economic growth in the Gross Domestic Product, which hasn’t hit 3 percent in the last 11 years but is unrealistically projected to be that from 2021-2027.

Once the economy magically starts humming, federal deficits will miraculously begin to disappear. Really?

With the stock market and housing prices at or near historic highs, and talks of these markets being close to a frothy bubble about to pop, this is all a massive hoax.

Trumps’ 2018 budget and ensuing tax cuts will create misery for the poor and struggling middle class in the short term, by gutting programs that help them in a time of need, and will cripple our country financially in the long term by adding to the already massive federal deficit.

A 2012 report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service states, “… top marginal tax rates and economic growth have not appeared correlated over the past 60 years.”

Put simply, tax cuts don’t stimulate the economy.

Data collected for the last 25 years by the Bureau of Labor Statistics also runs contrary to the idea that tax cuts stimulate the economy.

Instead, the report clarifies this point: the wealthy spend substantially less on every tax dollar saved through tax cuts, by spending only 14 cents, as compared to the poor who spend 52 cents.

The rich won’t stimulate the economy with tax cuts, but those who are struggling financially would, if given the chance.

Be prepared for little pushback from Trump’s 2018 budget proposal from the same Republicans who bashed him during the Presidential campaign.

I am sure there will be plenty of impressive charts and figures along with studies conducted supporting Trump’s 2018 budget proposal and tax plan.

I am also sure conservative members of the state Legislature will laud the proposal as visionary.

What puzzles me is why there aren’t any new visions for efficiencies of operation, or stopping fraud in government, to help with this budget.

Just cutting costs isn’t the same as providing services with honesty and efficiency.

Many Americans who felt left behind, and ignored by government voted for Trump; and they are the very people who are about to be pushed further to the back of the line. They just don’t know it yet.

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