Hurricane Harvey had just devastated Texas, the worst natural disaster up until two weeks later when the entire state of Florida was about to be destroyed by Hurricane Irma, as whole Caribbean island nations as well as the US territory of Puerto Rico had their infrastructure utterly destroyed.
And Hurricane Jose was on Irma’s tail.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles and Oregon were being consumed by record wildfires.
Congress had authorized $15 billion toward Hurricane Harvey relief and to replenish the nearly depleted funds of FEMA.
Indeed, in North Dakota on Sept. 6, as Hurricane Irma was barreling toward Florida, Trump, the Tax-Cheat-in-Chief, gave an incoherent speech touting his tax plan that began with his incredulity in discovering that North Dakota was undergoing a massive drought.
He just said to the governor, I didn’t know you had droughts this far north. Guess what? You have them. But we’re working hard on it and it’ll disappear. It will all go away.
Accuweather is projecting the cost of Harvey and Irma alone at $290 billion, or 1.5 percent of total GDP, which would erase the growth of the economy through year-end, according to Dr. Joel N. Myers, president and chairman.
That’s also more than one-fourth of the $1 trillion that Trump proposed for a 10-year infrastructure plan.
Not to mention the $1 billion Trump is demanding as downpayment on a $70 billion border wall.
Where will the money come from? And if all infrastructure spending has to be directed to Texas and Florida, where does that leave the rest of the country?
Certainly not with money to fund the Gateway Tunnel, so vital to the New York region’s economy.
Does this get you thinking that Trump and his administration, especially EPA head Scott Pruitt, might rethink their self-serving notion of climate change denial? Not likely.
But it should also cause them to rethink their totally corrupt tax plan which is intended to starve the federal government of funds, balloon the budget deficit and national debt, all to shift more of wealth to the already fabulously wealthy.
Let’s just consider for a moment what taxes are supposed to be for. And yes, a considerable amount goes to pay for interest on bonds, but bonds are what are used to pay for infrastructure, an investment in the future.
And as we are considering how to replace the destroyed and decimated infrastructure, why not build back with sustainability and responsible growth in mind.
Just as in his speech declaring his decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Agreement (forged with U.S. leadership and signed by 195 countries), Trump, who took a $900 million tax deduction on his failed Atlantic City casino and probably has never paid 40 percent tax in his life, lies to rationalize his tax plan, beginning with the lie that the U.S, is the highest taxed nation in the world (not true) and that workers wages will increase if only shareholders and CEOs and the wealthiest 1 percent could keep an even greater percentage of their money (history shows the opposite).
As Hillary Clinton said of Trump’s tax proposals in the debate, “trickle down on steroids.”
Let’s be reminded: the wealthiest people used to be taxed at 90 percent — that was after World War II when the nation had to rebuild its treasury. We were able to afford the G.I. Bill which did more to create a middle class than anything since the New Deal. Now the wealthiest pay something between 35 to 40 percent — except that they don’t.
If taxes on those who have the means to pay without disturbing their lifestyle don’t cover the cost of rebuilding climate-ravaged communities, who does? Ryan and the Republicans love to talk about “sacrifice” but the only ones they demand sacrifices from are not the wealthiest or the corporations, but Social Security and Medicare recipients, struggling middle class kids who need to take out loans to pay for college.
The Trump/Ryan tax “plan” necessitates a federal budget that slashes spending for infrastructure, for research and development, for education, for environmental protection, even slashing spending for diplomacy and foreign aid (Mexico offered to help Texas, until the country suffered an 8.0 earthquake).
It depends on slashing Medicaid and the subsidies that keep health insurance affordable (that’s why they are so desperate to repeal Obamacare even if they would leave 32 million without health insurance). Their concept is to take money out of the consumer economy, which starts a downward unvirtuous cycle of economic contraction.
It slashes the tax rate for corporations which already do not pay the nominal 35 percent rate.
Many highly profitable corporations – including General Electric, Pepco Holdings, PG&E Corp., Priceline and Duke Energy – paid nothing into federal coffers from 2008-2015 yet benefit from all the services the government provides including roads, public safety, an educated workforce, mass transit, a military to defend their shipping.
To get to a tax cut without obscenely increasing the national debt, the Republicans say they will get rid of “loopholes” like the mortgage credit and property taxes — that would only complete the decimation of the Middle Class and destroy any semblance of an American Dream (why not just get rid of deductions for vacation homes?) – but not the loopholes that let fund managers shield all but a fraction of their income from tax.
People remark that the devastation in their neighborhoods from these massive climate disasters is like a bomb went off. Well, in wartime, taxes are raised. This is wartime. This nation has to rebuild, sustainably and responsibly. We need to invest in 21st and 22nd century technologies, to keep the United States a global leader.
