Dem Party Budget Ideas 2019 Mega Thread

[TGHusker]

Now that the Dems have the floor in the House, they will be putting forward budget ideas of their own to counter those of Trump.  I thought this could be a mega thread for such discussion.

 

First on the list:

 

The 70% top tax bracket  as proposed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez  AOC for short.  A wall flower she is not (nor should be) the new freshman, liberal, firebrand has proposed a top 70% tax bracket.

 

 

Here is a Vox article discussion on the merits of such an idea.  The article also discusses the merits of a "Green New Deal" - printing money for climate change initiatives. 

So there is a lot to chew on in this article.  I'll let you get a chewing and I'll chip in later.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/4/18168431/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-70-percent

[Danny Bateman]

4 hours ago, TGHusker said:

Now that the Dems have the floor in the House, they will be putting forward budget ideas of their own to counter those of Trump.  I thought this could be a mega thread for such discussion.

 

First on the list:

 

The 70% top tax bracket  as proposed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez  AOC for short.  A wall flower she is not (nor should be) the new freshman, liberal, firebrand has proposed a top 70% tax bracket.

 

 

Here is a Vox article discussion on the merits of such an idea.  The article also discusses the merits of a "Green New Deal" - printing money for climate change initiatives. 

So there is a lot to chew on in this article.  I'll let you get a chewing and I'll chip in later.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/4/18168431/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-70-percent

 

FDR taxed that top income bracket at something like 93%.

[TGHusker]

On ‎1‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 8:28 PM, Clifford Franklin said:

 

FDR taxed that top income bracket at something like 93%.

yes he did.  JFK then started the income tax reduction strategy which helped the economy as Reagan did in his time.  However, there becomes a time of diminished returns from such tax breaks - I think we see that wt Trumps tax cuts. 

[BigRedBuster]

1 minute ago, TGHusker said:

yes he did.  JFK then started the income tax reduction strategy which helped the economy as Reagan did in his time.  However, there becomes a time of diminished returns from such tax breaks - I think we see that wt Trumps tax cuts. 

 

I think that was the biggest problem with Trump's tax cuts.  Republicans acted like they were reducing the tax rate that started at 93%.  Reality is, the tax rate they started at (especially hen you throw in what the effective tax rate was) really wasn't an alarmingly high percentage.  So, the benefit was minimal at best.

[TGHusker]

1 minute ago, BigRedBuster said:

 

I think that was the biggest problem with Trump's tax cuts.  Republicans acted like they were reducing the tax rate that started at 93%.  Reality is, the tax rate they started at (especially hen you throw in what the effective tax rate was) really wasn't an alarmingly high percentage.  So, the benefit was minimal at best.

Yes, but that becomes the glazed eye mantra of GOP candidates - tax cuts, tax cuts.  It is their street 'cred'.  If they don't campaign on it they won't get elected.  We could have 2% taxes and the GOP would run on tax cuts.  No one thinks anymore - did the candidate on the right say "tax cuts"?  I'll vote for him.  Did the candidate on the left say "Cut defense spending and fund abortions?"  I'll vote for him.  Thus we got Trump with no core values but  a bunch of conservative sound bites strung together to make a policy and unthinking voters put him in office- via the primaries.  Unthinking voters also nominated Hillary.

[knapplc]

24 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

Unthinking voters also nominated Hillary

 

The Democrat party nominated Hillary. The voters were left with zero choices after Biden didn't run. It was Hillary, non-Democrat Bernie Sanders, and a bunch of unfit candidates.

 

There were plenty of fit candidates on the Republican side. It's just that the, as you say, glazed-eye voters chose the reality show star over John Kasich.

[TGHusker]

38 minutes ago, knapplc said:

 

The Democrat party nominated Hillary. The voters were left with zero choices after Biden didn't run. It was Hillary, non-Democrat Bernie Sanders, and a bunch of unfit candidates.

 

There were plenty of fit candidates on the Republican side. It's just that the, as you say, glazed-eye voters chose the reality show star over John Kasich.

Correct on all accounts  - If the Dem party had leveled the playing field - Sanders would have been the nominee and if Biden had run - it all would have been a mute point including today's crisis of leadership.    2020 can't get here quick enough to redo this error.

[Danny Bateman]

1 hour ago, TGHusker said:

Yes, but that becomes the glazed eye mantra of GOP candidates - tax cuts, tax cuts.  It is their street 'cred'.  If they don't campaign on it they won't get elected.  We could have 2% taxes and the GOP would run on tax cuts.  No one thinks anymore - did the candidate on the right say "tax cuts"?  I'll vote for him.  Did the candidate on the left say "Cut defense spending and fund abortions?"  I'll vote for him.  Thus we got Trump with no core values but  a bunch of conservative sound bites strung together to make a policy and unthinking voters put him in office- via the primaries.  Unthinking voters also nominated Hillary.

 

This right here is where I fault the GOP's tax policies.

 

Currently, they seem to believe in tax cuts just for the sake of tax cuts. That they are good in and of themselves. 

 

The economy was steadily growing and unemployment was very low when he took over. They were in a good position to improve or continue those trends if done correctly.

 

Instead, because they rely more on rhetoric than evidence at this point, they created a massively irresponsible tax cut that we didn't need because they've sold tax cuts as a silver bullet.

 

Now that we're very likely entering a slowdown if not a recession with the rest of the global economy, they look pretty stupid.

[Ulty]

I'm no economist, but it often feels like when Republicans promise tax cuts, it is about the same thing as trying to bribe folks for their votes.

[BigRedBuster]

7 minutes ago, Ulty said:

I'm no economist, but it often feels like when Republicans promise tax cuts, it is about the same thing as trying to bribe folks for their votes.

 

Kind of like claiming you're going to tax the crap out of the rich and give it to everyone else.

 

Back to the original intent of the thread (this is about the Democrats, not the Republicans).

 

I'm very interested in seeing what budgetary ideas they have.  Ocasio-Cortez was asked over the weekend in an interview how she was going to pay for everything she is proposing.....didn't have a good answer.

[TGHusker]

16 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

 

Kind of like claiming you're going to tax the crap out of the rich and give it to everyone else.

 

Back to the original intent of the thread (this is about the Democrats, not the Republicans).

 

I'm very interested in seeing what budgetary ideas they have.  Ocasio-Cortez was asked over the weekend in an interview how she was going to pay for everything she is proposing.....didn't have a good answer.

If you read the original article, the author states - they don't need to be able to pay for it.  We print our money to pay for everything - just do it is his take.  Of course the cost of continued debt increases is the pressure of inflation and cost of borrowing.  While inflation #s are low, it doesn't feel so low when you shop for groceries - groceries and fuel were taken out of the inflation #s some years ago. 

[jsneb83]

1 hour ago, TGHusker said:

If you read the original article, the author states - they don't need to be able to pay for it.  We print our money to pay for everything - just do it is his take.  Of course the cost of continued debt increases is the pressure of inflation and cost of borrowing.  While inflation #s are low, it doesn't feel so low when you shop for groceries - groceries and fuel were taken out of the inflation #s some years ago. 

Wasn't that Trump's solution to decreasing the debt?

[TGHusker]

On 1/7/2019 at 3:29 PM, jsneb83 said:

Wasn't that Trump's solution to decreasing the debt?

Just print money and pay for it.

[TGHusker]

  Funny how Trump gets into everyone's head.  The topic is Dem budget/economic plan not Trump or GOP which are discussed in other threads.  So - what do we think of AOC's 70% top tax bracket.  (Got to come up wt a cleaver name for her  for short- I got San Fran Nancy for Nancy P.).  Is 70% justifiable?  Will the rich take their money and park it in some offshore safe haven,  will investments dry up??  Is she a far left, loony tune nut job as people like Fox News Hannity claim she is?

[Waldo]

On 1/7/2019 at 2:45 PM, BigRedBuster said:

 

Kind of like claiming you're going to tax the crap out of the rich and give it to everyone else.

 

Back to the original intent of the thread (this is about the Democrats, not the Republicans).

 

I'm very interested in seeing what budgetary ideas they have.  Ocasio-Cortez was asked over the weekend in an interview how she was going to pay for everything she is proposing.....didn't have a good answer.

I have yet to hear many good answers come out of her mouth. Good for her being so young and motivated, but both the left and the right need to stop giving her such a spotlight. She, like just about every politician, spews anything and everything to fit their parties M.O.