Column: The winners and losers of 2017

Jerry Kremer

As we enjoy the holiday season it is appropriate to take a step back and observe the events of the year and who should be happy and who should be sad.

I would love to think that 2017 was a wonderful year but regrettably, there were winners and losers.

America’s corporations are about to get their biggest tax break in over 30 years.

The very rich, which includes the Trump family, will benefit from a reduced estate tax and the hedge fund companies will continue to pay taxes at a rate of 15 per cent while all of us peons will be paying a much higher rate.

The Republican Congressional leadership in Washington was determined to ram through a bill which most of them never read and no doubt will regret next year.

The next big winners are the oil companies who will get a chance to drill in the precious Arctic region. Previous presidents, from both parties, have resisted allowing any drilling but the oil industry wants new product to ship overseas because the price of natural gas has taken away their domestic business.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski(R-Alaska), whose constituents will lose health care, traded her vote and her soul in favor of the drillers.

America’s poor will take a big hit as the mandate for the healthy to buy insurance will now be repealed.

If the healthy don’t have to buy insurance than it is only a question of when the Affordable Care Act collapses and the insurance companies get a windfall by charging obscene amounts of money for premiums to those who can afford it.

Candidate Trump pledged that he would not let “people die in the streets.”

So he will have kept his pledge, as they will die in overcrowded emergency rooms.

Homeowners in vast parts of New York State will be losing their ability to deduct their state and local taxes from their tax returns and that will constitute a big hit on a lot of people with modest income.

Despite the opposition of Congress members King and Zeldin, it is obvious that House Speaker Paul Ryan doesn’t care whether they get re-elected or not.

It seems that when it comes to the needs of big business a few seats here and there just don’t matter.

A few years ago, the residents of upstate New York were promised that the construction of new gambling casinos would help bring about a revival of the local economy.

Almost all of the casinos have been opened and regrettably, the results have been questionable.

The facility at Aqueduct racetrack and the one in Islandia are doing quite well but the upstate facilities are doing poorly.

The last of the big casinos will open in the Catskills in March but that will be of no help to the rest of those suffering regions.
There was good news for most of Nassau County’s residents with the election of two female leaders. County executive Laura Curran and Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen have big challenges awaiting them.

The county was ready for a house cleaning after some very troubling years. Once upon a time, the county had highly respected leaders such as Fran Purcell and A.Holly Patterson and maybe things will be better next year.

For now, fresh faces are what the voters badly need.

A last-minute holiday gift has arrived at Belmont Race Track where the Islanders hockey team will be getting a new arena.

The project promises to create hundreds and possibly thousands of jobs in an area that could use a major shot in the arm.

Racing is a dying industry in this state and rather than having a little used track, the region will have a major economic generator.

The new Islander home will be a challenge to the Nassau Coliseum to feature many more major events and be the first part of the expansion of the area known as the Hub.

Somehow, if you add up all the happenings there are more losers than winners. So the hope for next year is that the coming changes are great for all of us no matter where we live. In the meantime, I wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year.

 

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