The Republicans are up to their usual tricks, trying to ram a tax bill through Congress that will benefit them, no matter how it busts the budget. I don’t blame them for this, everyone supports policies which benefit them, or at the very least, their constituencies. If I were in their shoes I’d be doing the same goddam thing. And I’d be laundering my cash in the Caymans just like they are. What I cannot understand is why no one, not even our so-called Liberal press, has called these guys on their alleged justification for this action.
Supposedly, corporate tax breaks will free profits which can then be plowed back into the economy; creating investment, jobs, and in turn, greater tax revenues. I’m not surprised, they tried this scam before, they’ve been using it on and off since the Reagan era, even though it has never had that effect in the past. Nobody believes this, and the fact they’d even try to use this excuse is more evidence of the total contempt the propertied class has for the American people’s intelligence. Not that it’s misplaced…
No business ever uses increased profits from a corporate tax cut (or any other source)as a means to invest in new production, or to upgrade production capacity. It will go straight to stock buybacks, corporate mergers or to the shareholders, or (most likely), into executive salaries and bonuses. When business decides to expand it always borrows money, especially during times of rock bottom interest rates like we’re experiencing today. They’d be fools to use increased revenue income for expansion or R&D when any loans they take out now will almost certainly be paid back in inflated dollars in the future.
And besides, why should business invest in new jobs and new production? Its already enjoying more profitability than ever (check the stock market!). The way to get rich these days is not by opening more factories, building more widgets or hiring more deplorables. Even the “service economy” is rapidly fading into the dustbin of history; when was the last time you saw decent service? The big bucks today are in marketing, distribution and finance. Let those slanty-eyed gooks and other swarthy third-world types actually invent, build and sell shit, innovation and competition is for chumps. OUR corporals of industry are beyond all that Springsteenian drudgery. We’re in a post-industrial globalized economy, right?
The only trickle-down I hear is the sound of someone pissing in my ear and telling me its raining.