The End Of Western Civilization As We Know It
The environmental, climate, political, military and economic threats to the survival of Western Civilization are all well known here at c99p. The combination of existential threats (X-Risks) also threaten the complete extinction of all human life. The dystopian world of Mad Max Thunderdome may very well be a best case scenario.
Right now I'm focusing on the Republican/Trump tax cut plan, which every rational economist agrees is an economic abomination.
From In These Times:
Robert Reich: The GOP Tax Bill Is Everything That’s Wrong With Our Democracy
http://inthesetimes.com/article/20697/robert-reich-gop-tax-bill-republic...
Dean Baker at Smirking Chimp:
#RichPeopleNeedTaxCuts: The Republican Tax Plan
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/dean-baker/76342/richpeopleneedtaxcuts-t...
The aptly titled contribution from Counterpunch:
We All Know The Rich Don't Need Tax Cuts
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/11/21/we-all-know-the-rich-dont-need-t...
And the consequences for Medicare and Medicaid of passing their tax cuts plan:
The GOP's Tax Cut Bonanza Is a Major Attack on Medicare
https://www.alternet.org/activism/vote-gop-tax-bill-vote-cut-medicare
Even The Wall Street Journal and Forbes have been critical of the GOP tax plan. A whole lot of Tea Party Trump supporters will be shocked when this happens:
Trump White House goes after white people on welfare
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/trump-white-house-goes-after-white-peopl...
Add in the global WTO and TPP trade talks and this may be what we can look forward to:
Capitalism: Not With A Bang,
But A (Prolonged) Whimper
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/11/capitalism-not-bang-prolonged-wh...
The problem, as I see it, is that unless the Democratic Party and M$M manage to break through the smokescreen and economic smog coverup the GOP is hiding behind, this turkey could sneak through.
In my estimation the chances of that happening are somewhere between Fat Chance and Less Than Zero. I confess that I don't have a handle on how coverage of this "tax cut" is playing out in the media. Bernie is the only forceful voice in opposition I am aware of at the national political level.
It looks like whether or not this mammouth tax plan is defeated will be determined by a very few Republicans, just like the GOP healthcare plan was defeated. Is there a groundswell of opposition that I'm missing?
Comments
Forget about the demorat's helping
let alone the "mouthpiece shill media"
it just ain't gonna happen.
We actually have a better chance of winning the lottery
at 292 million to 1, than either of those two events
occurring let alone one
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
senior citizens
Yes.
Senior Citizens do. not. want Medicare/Medicaid fucked with at all.
And they vote. More reliably than any other group of voters.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Except that senior citizens don't get to vote on this
They, we, get to vote next year, after it's all said and done. Their, our, only option, now, is to call our senators. I have very little faith in people like "my" Ted Cruz even being bothered to listen to voice mails, or reading messages that his people might write down (or they might not even bother to take messages).
This whole situation sucks. And I'm nauseated thinking people like McCain might be our only hope.
Prince Ramses
No! Not
Ted CruzPrince Ramses! Go toJohn McCainPrince Moses!And you're right about that......
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
As depressing as this is
Thanks. It's a relief to read something sane and well presented that doesn't center on hysterics or recrimination.
Surely,
you don't expect Democrats to take precious time away from salving Her's deeply wounded ego to draw affected groups together and explain how they will be hurt, maybe even in a place the MSM would find difficult to ignore. They have a bone to pick with Russia on Her behalf.
And they need to continue to drive home the point that Her would have been a much better president than Trump. It didn't work in 2016, but now that voters have seen more of Trump it will really bring them out in 2018.
The lack of a serious response among Democrats is disgusting. There is plenty they could do. They could have one junior senator on the floor at all times to object to every request for unanimous consent. No, we don't consider reading the first paragraph of a 500 page bill acceptable. Read the whole damned thing. Otherwise, call everyone together and bring the question to a vote. The senate can be shut down by insisting that all rules be followed. Let's see them get this thing passed in December in that environment.
Time is on our side. Even Republican voters, as they find out what's in the tax bill hate it. The more time Democratic senators can buy, the more time for opposition to grow. As far as I can tell, the Democrats are basically going through the motions, checking a box, so they can tell voters they opposed it next time they're up for reelection.
"more Democrats" won't help, if it's more like these.