LET’S SEND EACH MEMBER OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION A LUMP OF COAL

Opinion
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Hilbert Morales
EL OBSERVADOR

“Ebenezer Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas.” Charles Dickens describes him thus: “The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheeks, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. Scrooge’s catchphrase, “BAH! HUMBUG!” is often used to express disgust with many of the modern Christmas traditions.” SCROOGE has become a byword for miserliness and misanthropy (no altruism, no empathy, no sympathy, never!).

The tale of his redemption by the three Ghosts of Christmas (Ghost of Christmas Past; Ghost of Christmas Present; and Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come) has become a defining tale of the Christmas holiday (with its spirit of PEACE ON EARTH TO MEN OF GOOD WILL) in the English-speaking world.” (Source: Google-Ebenezer Scrooge).

Getting a lump of coal as your Christmas gift in your stocking traditionally means that Santa Claus thinks you’ve been misbehaving.

Why Does Santa Claus give coal for ‘bad behavior’? Because holiday gift givers sometimes run into individuals who do not deserve a present. So, to send the right message or encourage better behavior next year and into the future, something less desirable, than the usual gift or money, is left such as a lump of coal (or charcoal, bundles of twigs, bags of salt, garlic, and onions).

This Trump Administration, since the inaugural of Donald J. Trump as President, has finally got around to crafting legislation: Comprehensive IRS Tax Reform which has not been updated since the Reagan Administration (1975). In spite having ‘majority’ votes in both the Senate and House of Representatives, this tax reform legislation will be the only legislative effort which is being prepared for the President’s signature sometime before Christmas.

BAH, HUMBUG! Because 99% receive TEMPORARY tax reductions. The tax reductions for big business and the already wealthy are PERMANENT! ‘We, the People’ who do the work are not being treated with respect and appreciation. Rather, the exploitation, especially of 11.5 million undocumented will continue! BAH, HUMBUG!

The GOP has set the stage to DEFUNDING critical safety nets such as Obamacare (23 Million uninsured individuals); Medicare (cut by $25 BILLION during 2018); Medicaid; and Social Security. Their self-serving schemes are to give permanent massive tax cuts to their wealthy donors and corporations.

Our elected members of the U.S. Congress should not be prioritizing billionaires and corporations over our working-class citizens whose work creates the wealth of this nation using natural resources already present and our collective scientific knowledge which allows for creative and innovative insights…ALL made available and provided by Divine Providence.

What their ultra-conservative strategists have neglected is that ‘We, the People’ are the ‘grunts’ whose work and consumerism makes this American Consumer Economy function. Consumers make purchasing choices with the money earned on the job; if our labor has not been replaced by a robot which never will be a ‘consumer’. My point is that employed workers who are paid a living wage; who are worth their salt, are consumers with their discretionary money. The profits on those sales ‘trickles up’ to those fortunate investors who do not work productively, but do receive dividend incomes.

THE TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMIC THEORY BEING UNCONSCIOUSLY APPLLIED HERE SIMPLY DOES NOT WORK AT ALL. Its continued application is indicative of the hypocrisy & self-serving myopia of GOP’s strategists and leaders. Joseph Stiglitz and other economists have already published many experiences of its failure. It is time to apply a modern economic strategy which enables a functional, inclusive, and effective distribution of wealth.

What is often forgotten is that the working class being paid minimum wages end up having the propensity to spend 100% of their available funds because of having to live paycheck to paycheck. Any diverse society benefits when all residents have sufficient funds to purchase essentials and have a slight amount of discretionary money left over; used to pursue “life, liberty and happiness”. Some economists have already proposed having the government consider a guaranteed annual income for each resident. The impoverished who receive such funds will spend it all on essentials, so their living allowances will immediately enter the local micro-economy.

The outrageous handouts to the rich robs our most vulnerable populations of critical lifesaving services — from job training to improve skills, to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP…think of school lunch programs), helping low- income families, to Medicaid, and the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program — all these things and more are on the chopping block.

SALT (sales and local taxes) need to be deductible; Home mortgage’s interest payments must be fully deductible; Do not tax funds earned by students working their way through college; do not tax the endowment funds of institutions of higher learning…There are so many loopholes favoring those who are already very wealthy; it is their money which needs to be taxed at a higher rate to enable the avoidance of any increase to the national debt (didn’t the very wealthy pay 91% income taxes during World War II?…and they still remained wealthy). This nation’s wealth must be re-distributed in a manner that keeps the ‘American Dream’ within reach.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan and the entire GOP-led Congress are well advised to do the right things. A good beginning would be to TAKE CARE OF “WE, THE PEOPLE” whose credit and full faith support the U.S. Treasury which provided the emergency bail-out funding when recession occurred. SO, ‘WE, THE PEOPLE’ demand being provided our fair share of the wealth of this nation. If not, you will experience our displeasure when our votes are counted during the coming 2018 Midterm Elections.

Republicans’ tax overhaul bill is set for final passage with no Democratic votes in the Senate or House; possibly giving the Democrats the opportunity to review, revise and improve this legislation if and when they return to power.

The American people will hold Republicans accountable for their disastrous vote to raise taxes on middle class families.
This bill means seniors would not see their doctors for annual health checkups and lose access to critical health care. This is not the best way to reduce health care costs (which accounts for 19% of the GDP. There was no time to have public hearings; Special interest lobbyists wrote this tax legislation; the public was not consulted nor engaged.

Their tax plan is an immorality; A betrayal of the American people. It indebts future generations. It will further impair America as a world power which has been practicing ‘Good Samaritan Stewardship’. America’s elected leaders must first take care of ‘We, the People’ who are the workers and consumers who make this American consumer economy function.

So… LET’S SEND EACH MEMBER OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION A LUMP OF COAL. Feliz Navidad!

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