I’m a Depression historian. The GOP tax bill is straight out of 1929.

The following article by Robert S. McElvaine, a historian who teachers at Millsaps College and author of “The Great Depression:  America, 1929-1941.”:

People gather on the subtreasury building steps across from the New York Stock Exchange in New York on “Black Thursday” on Oct. 24, 1929. The Great Depression followed thereafter. (AP)

“There are two ideas of government,” William Jennings Bryan declared in his 1896 “Cross of Gold” speech. “There are those who believe that if you will only legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea, however, has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up through every class which rests upon them.”

That was more than three decades before the collapse of the economy in 1929. The crash followed a decade of Republican control of the federal government during which trickle-down policies, including massive tax cuts for the rich, produced the greatest concentration of income in the accounts of the richest 0.01 percent at any time between World War I and 2007 (when trickle-down economics, tax cuts for the hyper-rich, and deregulation again resulted in another economic collapse). Continue reading “I’m a Depression historian. The GOP tax bill is straight out of 1929.”

Collins: Republican Leaders Expected to Back ‘Pay-Go’ Waiver

The following article by Niels Lesniewski was posted on the Roll Call website November 30, 2017:

Maine Sen. Susan Collins wrote to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over her concerns with the GOP tax plan. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Sen. Susan Collins said Republican leaders have assured her that automatic cuts to entitlement programs that would be triggered if the GOP tax overhaul becomes law would be stopped.

The reductions, which could amount to $25 billion in cuts to Medicare, would occur under the 2010 statutory pay-as-you-go law unless Congress approves a waiver.

“I would not even be considering voting for this bill,” the Maine Republican said of the tax plan, if there weren’t a path to stop the automatic cuts. Continue reading “Collins: Republican Leaders Expected to Back ‘Pay-Go’ Waiver”