cashing out

I read where the rich have never before in history been this rich and that corporations have never before in history made as high profits as they make now and yet our Republican government found it necessary to lower their taxes.

Yale University conducted a survey of 110 Fortune 500 and Fortune 50 business leaders and only 14% were planning to make immediate capital investments in the US like building plants or upgrading equipment, which would lead to jobs, because they already have plenty of cash on hand to do that if they were so inclined and at the Wall Street Journal's CEO council last November only a few hands went up when asked if they planned to use this tax cut for capital investment in the US and yet the Republicans call this a tax cut and jobs bill. Wall Street expects these tax cuts to go directly to investors and buy backs of stock which is why the stock market is so high. Historically, this does not lead to higher wages but it does result in richer shareholders. The CEOs do seem to be concerned about the over a trillion dollars added to the deficit and only 55% of business leaders surveyed by Yale thought the tax cuts should be enacted. link 

I was listening to an interview with the CEO of Home Depot on NPR on my way home from yoga last night. One of the questions asked was what do you plan to do with the money you will receive from the new corporate tax cut. The answer was invest in the business, buy back their stock. What he did not say was hire more workers or give our employees a raise. So much for trickle down. And while AT&T announced they plan to give their employees a $1,000 bonus as a result of the tax cut, in truth it was an already agreed upon retroactive pay raise as part of a union negotiation. link 

Another corporation, Wells Fargo, has announced a PR minimum wage pay hike to $15.00 due to the tax cut although their minimum pay range is already $13.50 - $17.00. With 25,000 employees in that range only the ones making $13.50 - $14.99 will see an increase and if you average that range it amounts to a 25¢ raise. link 

So what is this tax reform bill that gives massive tax cuts to the rich and corporations which are permanent and paltry tax cuts to the rest of us which are temporary (and will in fact increase our taxes) and adds over a trillion dollars to the deficit and will cause tens of thousands of people to lose their health care by rescinding the ACA mandate (sneaky this as it essentially kills the ACA) that over 75% of Americans are opposed to? Why is it that our elected representatives can and do ignore the will of the people who elected them and who they are supposed to represent and who they continually throw under the bus? The reason is money because campaigns are no longer funded by the people but by the very rich and corporations who want to see return on their investments in these politicians. I can't find the bit that I read yesterday either on Twitter or FB but a behind the scenes republican when asked why the Republican party is so intent on this devastating tax reform responded that the Republicans were 'cashing out'. Those were the words he used, 'cashing out', because they know the Republican party is done, that Trump and a decade of obstruction by the Republicans has ruined this country, that they expect to lose the majority and their seats in 2018 and 2020 and that this is the pay back to their donors and themselves.

They care nothing for the citizens of this country. After the tax bill was passed, the protesters attendant were telling their stories of how this would negatively affect them while the jubilant Republican politicians laughed at them.

Let that sink in.