It is perfectly clear: no person is better suited than Ron DeSantis to challenge and conquer the hidden changes facing our nation, and no person will be a better steward of America in the years to come. Evil forces across our planet demand a great leader—someone strong but thoughtful; principled but inquisitive; and resolute in their belief in America’s noble mission.
DeSantis has proved to be an intrepid conservative in Florida. Under his leadership, Florida is bigger and more prosperous now than it was when he took office. There are more jobs; more people; more businesses; more morality; and less abortion; less grooming; and less tolerance for woke and CRT.
His leadership during the pandemic allowed Florida to thrive by keeping businesses open and kids in school, his economic policies have lowered taxes and brought prosperity and new business to Florida, and his unwavering commitment to standing up to woke ideology infiltrating our corporations and schools have distinguished Governor DeSantis as the one true leader American wants and needs, a man who never backs down from the needed fights to make our country better.
Florida has become the fastest growing state in the nation. But it’s not just that. It ranks #1 in education, and it’s because there is zero tolerance for ideologies which challenge White Christian morality, the very foundation of the U.S. Constitution.
Ron DeSantis has shown over and over again that he will protect and stand up for our children and grandchildren, young folks who are being hyper-sexualized at extremely young ages and maliciously influenced by radical activists. Donald Trump might provide lip service, but at the end of the day, he runs away from these challenges—or even joins the other side, whether it’s Disney’ Pfizer or Budweiser.
DeSantis will continue to fight for our values; our country; our children; our families; and for a bright future where America regains its position of righteous supremacy over the insidious forces of evil.
Make no mistake: Trump put on a good facade. He looked like a strong man, but he was unfocused and weak. He set the table for America’s enemies across the world to become more entrenched, allowing them to take Americans prisoner with no consequence. They’ve floated spy balloons over our airspace. They’ve launched full-scale invasions of other countries and toppled the democratic governments we spent decades building. All the while, America become more and more weak and complacent.
Governor DeSantis has proven himself to be the fighter America needs—from serving our country to taking on dangerous woke agendas. Trump might back down from battles against Disney, Pfizer and Budweiser, but not Ron DeSantis, and that is the big message for Republican primary voters.
Federal Debt Ceiling Observations
May 11, 2023
Hanging their hats on false equivalence
The underlying logic Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his crew lean on in their arguments relative to the federal debt ceiling rely on false equivalencies.
The gist of their message seems to be, “Just as families and businesses balance their checkbooks every month, we believe the federal government needs to make balancing the nation’s checkbook a top priority. Raising the debt ceiling is a short-term solution to a long- term problem. Before we consider raising the debt ceiling, our federal government needs to focus on reducing spending and living within its means to ensure a healthy economy for future generations”.
Sounds pretty good, right?
Yet, that explanation illuminates one of the greatest obstacles we face as a nation: A void of economic and financial understanding among most American adults.
The ‘checkbook’ is the equivalent of an annual budget. Current revenues flow in, and current expenses flow out. If revenues exceed expenses, there is a surplus. When revenues exactly equal expenses, it is ‘break even’. When expenses exceed revenues, there is a current-year deficit.
Staying with the household theme, the federal debt is most equivalent to a home mortgage, and the balance due is an accumulation of debt over time. Remember that new roof? That new kitchen? That fabulous backyard pool? Those were capital expenses, incurred in one year, but with an expected useful life of 10, 15, even 30 years. You add these expenses to the mortgage so that they get paid off over time.
As a retired professional in the field of finance and economics, when I hear Speaker McCarthy or members of his crew attempting to equate current spending to our overall aggregate debt obligations, I cringe.
Some rather simple adjustments to our tax code, including elimination of the carried interest loophole and raising the top corporate rate from 21% to 28% would make huge revenue contributions to balancing the annual (current FY) federal budget.
And, why is it that low- and moderate-income wage earners are required to make contributions to Social Security on every dollar of their earnings up to the current wage cap [a.k.a. ‘the contribution and benefit base’] of $160,200, yet those who are blessed to earn in excess of that amount are exempt from contributions to Social Security on earnings above that amount?
The wage cap on Medicare contributions was eliminated in the 1990’s, so even higher-income wage earners are required to make the 1.45% contribution to the Medicare tax with no limit on earnings.
We clearly have a revenue gap. Why does the cap on social security earnings continue to this day? And, those who claim their income not as ‘wages’ but as ‘carried interest’ not only receive beneficial income tax treatment, they also are exempt from FICA contributions. What a racket!
Federally guaranteed obligations are debt securities issued by the U.S. government, currently considered risk-free because they are backed by the full faith and credit of the federal government. When the Treasury sells these securities, they help to finance the federal debt outstanding at that time.
Allowing the government to default as an outcome from a false debate linking current revenues and spending to our long-term debt obligations would be a preventable tragedy of immense proportions.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (if you are listening): I implore you to be bold and to tear apart Speaker McCarthy’s logic map, and to take this opportunity to focus in on one of the greatest obstacles we face as a nation: A void of economic and financial understanding among most American adults. Until the American people awake from their deprivation of economic and financial principles, they will continue to be vulnerable to Alternative Facts such as those presented by Speaker McCarthy and his crew.
The Big Lebowski must have learned of McCarthy’s foolish and destructive crusade to equate and combine the federal debt ceiling with the current (2024) federal budget when he so eloquently said, “This will not stand, you know. This aggression will not stand, man”.
A Potential Travesty of Justice
May 9, 2023
Come on, folks! Let’s show some compassion!
Here’s a guy who grew up in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, mostly schooled in rigorous and rigid ‘Military Schools’ where he developed a serious case of bone spurs.
Fast forward to the ‘90’s: He’s all stressed out from the pressures of expanding his business into Manhattan, when he’s walking through Bergdorf Goodman, an elite department store on Fifth Avenue. He mistakes an attractive woman who is lightly flirting with him as his wife and follows her into a dressing room for some ‘afternoon delight’. Maybe he didn’t have his glasses on? Maybe he just needed to get his rocks off?
When asked for his opinion on this travesty of justice, Rep. George Santos (R, NY) said, “Let’s be kind and compassionate: this guy has never before told a lie, right? And he’s never ever admitted to – or been accused of – any sort of sexual battery or impropriety. Even when he was in Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant in 2013, reports show he behaved properly and never did anything that was out of line according to Russian laws and regulations.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R, FL) said, “This extraordinary person has led a selfless and exemplary life. He is a great leader yet he has been subject to continued political attacks by nefarious forces. This will not stand, you know. This aggression will not stand, man”.
Responsible, rational and reliable character witnesses have spoken…
What does WOKE look like in Florida?
April 29, 2023
Here’s one example…
“Florida lawmakers seek to delay Clearwater’s Drew Street overhaul”: So reads the headline of a recent news story published in the Tampa Bay Times (Tracey McManus, April 28, 2023).
McManus tell us in her news story, “When the Clearwater City Council reaffirmed its support for a safety overhaul of Drew Street on April 4, it was the only approval the Florida Department of Transportation needed to advance design work on the east-west corridor notorious for crashes.
On Friday (4/28/23), state Sen. Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, intervened with language in the state budget to withhold funding until the department conducts another study on how the lane reconfigurations would impact traffic.”
Those of us who live in Clearwater and who also try to pay attention to shenanigans in and around City Hall have been kept very, very busy recently.
Following about 2 decades of leadership failures evidenced by clear signs of significant deterioration in management efficiency, the City of Clearwater reached a new lower limit of performance around mid-2020.
Following a mayoral election in March 2020 which returned a former political hack to the office of Mayor, the City has operated in a morass of “Chaos and Crisis” where malevolent leadership led to insider decisions and some bad outcomes which are evidenced by observable:
- Excessive and continual management and supervisory turnover;
- Rising levels of overall employee dissatisfaction;
- Measurable decreases in critical employee productivity measures;
- Poorly executed public projects, including unexpected delays (Marina, The Bluffs, and more…);
- Extreme cost overruns on public projects (Imagine Clearwater, and many more);
- Unusual and/or abrupt failures of existing programs (Trees, anyone?);
- Unexplained or poorly communicated public sector programs and/or projects;
- Decision making ‘in darkness’ where the entire case is not presented to the public in a fair and honest fashion.
A recent comment from Whit Blanton at Forward Pinellas summarizes the whimsical and erratic behavior of some Clearwater elected officials we — the taxpayers, voters and stakeholders of Clearwater — have sadly become accustomed to,
“The City of Clearwater has voted three times for this project, the Forward Pinellas Board has voted 10 times,” Blanton said. “The neighbors have been clamoring for this for years going back to 2004. We finally got momentum and there seems to be forces that are unhappy with the outcome.”
I recently heard a politician say, “Let’s not let perfect be the enemy of good.”
Another study? More delays, deaths and despair on Drew Street?
It’s well known that Tammany Hall disappeared from the NYC political scene sometime after WWII.
What was not known until very recently: Tammany Hall didn’t really disappear, it just moved to Tallahassee to help support people like Senator Hooper and his backroom cronies.
All this time we thought Florida was the Sunshine State, a place where important decisions are made in public….
Or, as the infamous Governor DeSantis tells us, “Florida is where WOKE goes to die.”
Well, I just got abruptly and rudely awakened by some really bad behavior by some Florida politicians, so call me WOKE!
And I’m certainly not here to die!
Here’s a call to action to all of my neighbors who are just fed up: Please join me!
Jim Jordan Reveals Plan to Investigate Crime in Florida
April 18, 2023
Following up on his success in Manhattan, Jordan announces Florida as the next target for Judiciary Committee
FL Gov. Ron DeSantis offered an immediate solution to allegations by Rep. Jim Jordan (R, OH), Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, that crime is up in Florida and enforcement is down.
Joined by FL Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson, a 5th generation Floridian, DeSantis announced today that the new Epcot-Reedy Creek Correctional Facility will help ‘dispel any false rumors. Our new facility will accommodate any and all scofflaws, illegals or gatecrashers who dare to attempt to flaunt the will of the people of Florida at Disney properties’.
DeSantis further explained that this new Correctional Facility will be created within a unique and innovative Public-Private Partnership which will be fully funded and managed by an anonymous Private Capital (hedge fund) entity.
In an unrelated report, the global news outlet Semafor reported today that Billionaire donor Ken Griffin is standing by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for president in 2024 despite some other major donors backing away from the rumored presidential candidate.
A person close to Griffin told Semafor that Griffin, the founder of the hedge fund Citadel, does not agree with DeSantis on all issues but still believes he would be a strong candidate for president.
Griffin was recently named the Most Profitable Hedge Fund Manager of all time.
Legislative Leaders in Tennessee Clean House
April 6, 2023
Tennessee GOP expels 2 Black Democratic lawmakers for anti-gun violence protests.
Early on Monday morning, March 27, 2023, an assassin armed with two AR-style weapons, a handgun and significant ammunition, used force to break into a private Christian school in Nashville, taking the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adult school staffers.
Within days, mass protests broke out across Nashville and the entire state of Tennessee calling for stricter gun safety measures.
At the state capital in Nashville, several elected officials joined with citizen protesters to help amplify the need for immediate action on stricter gun control by the Tennessee General Assembly.
Tennessee Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R—Crossville) said that the actions of some of his colleagues inside the State Capitol were like that of an insurrection.
Today, April 6, 2023, a Republican majority in the Tennessee General Assembly – led by Speaker Sexton — voted to remove two Democratic legislators for participating in “an unauthorized gun safety protest” last week on the House floor.
22 years ago, it took an act of war orchestrated by insidious foreign nationals using aircraft to attack the American people in iconic American locations, to rally our country to solidarity and action.
Today, those same insidious and dangerous forces seem to have infiltrated main-stream America, poisoning our political structures, our institutions, our entire raison d’être.
This is 2023, folks.
The phrase, “United we Stand, Divided we Fall” is often attributed to Abraham Lincoln, and he did make it into a mainstream rallying cry. Yet, it has been used by great leaders since the dawn of time.
We have a choice. We can fight over petty differences, or we can unite around our common interests.
The train has left the station, and it’s well past time for America to stand up and demand that elected officials – at the local, state and federal level – stop creating divisive rhetoric; begin to listen to each other and the people they represent; return to the purpose for which legislators are elected to serve.
I do hope we can find a peaceable way to Unite.
Behind Closed Doors
April 5, 2023
Gov. Ron & Smiling White Men Out of the Sunshine
In a private ceremony in Tallahassee on April 3, 2023, this small group of villainous reprobates gathered in private to celebrate the signing of a new law which allows permitless concealed carry of firearms in Florida.
Some have said this new law will enable more Florida residents to carry their hidden weapons into schools, grocery stores, office buildings, libraries, shopping malls, houses of worship, and on the streets and parking lots in your town, in your neighborhood, wherever people gather.
One Florida lawmaker said,
“In the State of Florida, government bureaucracy will no longer stand between law-abiding Floridians and their freedom to exercise their 2nd amendment rights.
This bill recognizes that while the government has a duty to protect its citizens, its citizens have a right to protect themselves.”
Although many gun rights advocates are ready, willing and able to interpret and quote the 2nd amendment, they seem to have lost their ability to recall the Gospel of John:
“Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. The Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.” [1 John 3: 7-10]
I am a strong believer of separation of Church and State, so I quote the Christian Bible just for reference.
My limited research led me to believe each of the major religions of our world generally takes a dim view of people bearing arms in a civilized society.
Based on survey data obtained from 60,000 respondents in 2018, researchers at Eastern Illinois University determined that 87% of American adults with an identified religious affiliation favor more restrictive gun control laws, led by Hindu (96%); Buddhist (96%); Atheist (94%); Jewish (94%); Agnostic (94%); Catholic (91%); Mainline Protestant (90%); Muslim (87%); and Mormon (86%)[i].
Of course, there are some outliers[ii].
[i] Data from the 2018 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), a national survey with 60,000 respondents. Analysis led by Dr. Ryan Burge, an assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University.
[ii] Dr. Jenny Wiley Legath, the Associate Director of the Center for Culture, Society and Religion at Princeton University, has developed some research pertaining to carrying concealed weapons as a “religious practice” for some Americans, particularly white evangelical and Pentecostal Christians.
I Like Clearwater Florida. It’s where I live!
April 3, 2023
No matter how special, there seems to be an aura of stupidity, ignorance or greed somewhere near City Hall…
Someone at Clearwater City Hall may have recently read the book “Who Moved My Cheese” and got inspired to move everyone’s cheese.
We recently had a dinner guest (Jim) from D.C. on a Saturday evening. He was staying at the Wyndham Grand on the Beach. He used Uber to get to his hotel on a Thursday evening, and his plan was to use Uber to get from the beach back to our Pride Neighborhood in Clearwater, a 5 mile, 11 minute ride on almost any Saturday evening in August.
Jim’s Uber got stuck on the Memorial Causeway enroute to the Wyndham, thus was 45 minutes late arriving at the hotel. Then, it took a bit more than 25 minutes from the hotel to our Pride Neighborhood.
We did have a nice dinner, although it seemed that the drama might have been significantly reduced if the architects of “Beach by Design” had bothered to incorporate some real and honest transportation planning into their original document; and/or various revisions along the way.
Let us not forget that Beach by Design was adopted in 2001 to help guide ‘thoughtful revitalization strategies governing Clearwater Beach, focused on six components’: land use; mobility; off-street parking; catalytic projects; economic feasibility and financing; and design guidelines.
The old Memorial Causeway bridge going over to the beach was built in the early 1960’s as a 4-lane drawbridge.
I remember those days! A sailboat (a.k.a. ‘rag bagger’) could easily cause a 10 to 15 minute delay for those many folks in cars who were driving to or from the beach!
The new Bridge – construction began in 2001, completed in 2005 – is still 4 lanes for vehicular traffic, but is elevated off the water so that there is no need for a drawbridge. The sailboats can come and go as they please, but the traffic delays on the bridge are now worse than ever before.
The knuckleheads who envisioned, designed, approved and constructed the new bridge somehow forgot to consider the probable impact from increased traffic due to the planned surge in capacity due to new hotels, restaurants, etc.
They just plumb forgot to incorporate a mass people mover – something like what we have at Tampa International:
- Elevated; Electric; Automated; Safe; Convenient; Cost effective.
Instead of working to mitigate the predictable negative externalities from an increase in the number and frequency of internal combustion vehicles coming to (and from) the Beach, these former elected officials from our past seem to have fretted over increasing both the cost of parking fees and the number of parking spaces to a point which is intolerable to most residents and visitors alike. There must be an explanation, although it is quite elusive.
But, Wait! One of the dinosaurs from 2001 has been recently awakened, and now appointed to serve as Interim Mayor of Clearwater!
As has been said in previous retrospectives, “Only in Clearwater could the Cabal get away with this sort of ‘apparently innocent’ fraud, malfeasance and corruption.”
An existential threat to America
September 5, 2022
September 2022 Fallout From Philadelphia
President Joe Biden addressed our nation on September 1 to express his deep concerns that American equality and democracy are under assault. He said, “There is no place for political violence in America. Period. None ever.”
“Too much of what is happening in our country today is not normal… There’s no question the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans, and that is a threat to democracy… Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic”.
Many of us have been concerned about this very issue for several years now.
We have witnessed firsthand some alarming dangerous attitudes and behaviors by far-right “MAGA” radical groups beginning around 2016.
One of the shibboleths of the current MAGA movement occurred on June 1, 2020
when then-President Trump orchestrated a near-riot in Washington, D.C. After walking from the White House, across Lafayette Square, to St. John’s Church, he staged a photo-op with a Bible in front of the Church, inspiring those who prefer fear, hate and anarchy to reject honest debate.
These most recent alarming attitudes and dangerous behaviors have much in common with:
- The second “Red Scare” which began in 1947, and reached its peak between 1950-54 under the leadership of U.S. Sen. Joe McCarthy;
- A period of extreme antisemitism which emerged in the 1930’s, inspired by Father Charles Coughlin (and others) who spread various conspiracy theories, creating a robust underground movement which spread fear that Jews were working for the destruction or replacement of white Americans and Christianity in the U.S., together with (false) allegations which accused “the Jews” of dominating Franklin Roosevelt’s administration, of causing the Great Depression, and of dragging the United States into World War II.
- The ‘race riots’ of the late 1960’s, which included Birmingham (1963); Harlem (1964); Watts (1965); Chicago (1966); Newark (1967); MLK, Jr. Riots, 125 cities (1968); and the list goes on and on….
- Post 9/11/01, we witnessed an irrational groundswell of anti-Muslim sentiment. The al-Qaida terrorists who attacked the Twin Towers and the Pentagon represent a very rare and extremist sect of Islam. Despite that reality, many Muslims, as well as other Arab Americans, became the targets of anger, racism and hate crimes, continuing to this day.
Biden’s recent remarks ring true. He loudly and clearly reminded us that not all Republicans are MAGA Republicans.
Look back to the early 1930’s when Father Charles Coughlin’s radio show was extraordinarily popular, with a weekly audience estimated to be around 30 Million. His theme centered on an isolationist, anti-Semitic and conspiratorial viewpoint that resonated with many listeners at that time.
Yet, we know that not all Catholics were Isolationist or anti-Semitic. Sound familiar?
The Big Question remains: Who or what is creating false narratives today? Who is spreading hate speech, nurturing and encouraging intolerance in the U.S., empowering the narcissistic blamers who feel marginalized to go off on a compound rage comprised and triggered by: anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, skin color, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and an unidentifiable myriad of other perceived irritations?
Think of the last time you attended an orchestra performance. The orchestra Conductor led and guided the various sections to complement each other resulting in a rich and complex sound which was pleasing to the audience.
Now, imagine if that orchestra performance was infiltrated by some musicians who refused to allow the conductor to lead.
Within the wind section, the brass instruments would play out of sync with the woodwinds.
Although the string musicians are mostly in harmony, the harpist occasionally takes his lead from the woodwinds, creating periods of discord.
The percussion instruments are off in a zone of their own, just doing what they want, totally out of touch with the conductor or any of the other musical sections, angry that they aren’t in charge.
- Although relatively small in number, the renegade percussion section has sufficient noise to create complete and destructive cacophony, driving off the audience as well as the other musicians.
A recent report from AdWeek (TVNewser) shows Fox News – in particular, Tucker Carlson at 8 PM – leading the networks in viewership in both total viewers, and in the coveted 25-54 Demographic.
Translation: Tucker is a money machine. Advertisers are begging to support his daily hour of glory.
The Wednesday, August 31, 2022 Tucker Carlson show on Fox News began with a review of negative allegations against Joe Biden, including: a sly attack on son Hunter; recall of Joe showering with his daughter Ashley when she was a child; and how his wife currently knows he has Dementia.
Then, a rather long diatribe on the eve of Biden’s 80th birthday and how this is a sign of incompetence; that Joe is fixated on trivial and meaningless issues such as climate change, diversity and trans rights; that he is devoid of any ‘vision’; purely a partisan seeking advantage in the upcoming elections, leading into further emphasis on the negative aspects of Biden’s age.
Carlson continued with more passion, focusing in on recent Biden public commentary related to those individuals in America who have crossed the line into realm of ‘semi-Fascism’. Mr. Carlson managed to inject a critique blasting Biden saying he is, “…the same politician who had the FBI raid the home of the man who is running against him in the next election”.
Carlson segued into a commentary on the White House Press Office. Says Carlson, “… would have been better (for the Press Office to say) that Biden had a stroke, apologize and then move on.” Carlson further denigrated the intelligence, experience and abilities of the White House communications team, stating, “Biden’s history-making publicist, the single dumbest person to ever hold that job, explained that her boss had spoken intentionally and with precision” then reinforcing the notion that Biden had made a blanket statement that Republicans are Fascists.
Those who may be interested in watching and listening to the entire broadcast are directed here: https://www.fox.com/watch/46d7f725b815fd5a7c10e1a1128558a3/
Meanwhile, enough Walrus commentary on the Tucker Carlson show of August 31.
Tucker is just one of many catalysts working on a base of angry white Christian men, keeping them stirred up by constantly reminding them that external forces have conspired to disenfranchise them.
Joined by his colleagues at Fox News, NewsMax, OAN, various podcasts and conspiracy driven social media groups, they continue to use Donald Trump as their demagogue by echoing and amplifying the ranting and raving of the Monarch of MAGA Americans toward an inevitable second Civil War.
Remember the 2020 Recession?
August 11, 2022
I don’t either.
Just because you and I don’t remember the 2020 Recession, that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
The official arbiter of recessions — the Bureau of Economic Research — says there was one.
When Donald Trump took office in January 2017, he inherited an economy in its 91st month of economic expansion following the end of the Great Recession in June 2009. That expansion continued into 2020, becoming the longest on record, peaking at 128 months in February 2020.
The National Bureau of Economic Research officially recognized the Recession of 2020 as the shortest on record at just 2 months, with the trough of that recession occurring in April 2020.
One milestone which helps to mark the 2020 recession is the price of oil. During the month of April 2020, the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate was absolutely erratic, actually closing Negative at (Minus $37/bbl) on April 20, 2020. [Was gasoline free that day? I don’t recall.]
Back to January 20, 2017, Trump’s Presidential Inauguration Day.
Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, was serving as Speaker of the House. Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, was the Senate Majority leader.
Ryan was first elected to the House in 1998 at age 28. He developed a reputation as a no-nonsense deficit-hawk fully focused on reducing entitlements and reducing taxes. Ryan had been serving as Speaker of the House since 2015.
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was Paul Ryan’s swan song, eagerly supported by Trump and most congressional Republicans.
Unfortunately, it was exactly the wrong time to enact this complex piece of legislation, primarily because it relied on untested assumptions at a point in time when the U.S. was riding the tail end of the longest economic expansion in history. It created massive increases in our national debt; it favored investment increases in oil and related industries (which to some appeared to be a means to curtail pending increases in oil prices); and exuberant expectations that repatriation of corporate profits parked offshore would be used to create domestic jobs turned into a massive stock buyback across the market.
In early February 2018, Paul Ryan began to reflect on the true consequences of the TCJA. He tweeted, “Julia Ketchum, a secretary at a public high school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, said she was pleasantly surprised her pay went up $1.50 a week. She didn’t think her pay would go up at all, let alone this soon. That adds up to $78 a year, which she said will more than cover her Costco membership for the year.”
In April 2018, Ryan announced his intention to retire from Congress on January 3, 2019 — the end of his current term — thus ending a 20-year career representing his constituents in Wisconsin — so that he could spend more time with his family.
Left to its own devices, the 2017 TCJA may have created an unchecked economic calamity.
Then came the Covid-19 Pandemic which turned into an unforeseen international societal and economic tragedy – and clearly was the trigger which caused the 2020 recession. Yet, the impacts of Covid didn’t begin to surface until 1st quarter 2020, so there is a 24 month period following the January 2018 introduction of the TCJA which economists are now examining to help create real context around current (mid-2022) economic uncertainties.
Even a neophyte like me can add the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine to: (a) the long-term economic damage created by the TCJA; (b) the Covid wild card; and (c) the economic devastation of Trump’s tariffs, particularly on our agriculture sector. When we spread the numbers, we can begin to see an almost perfect recipe created under Trump’s watch sufficient to decimate any economy.
Despite the open hostility and recalcitrance of elected Republicans currently serving in Congress, I must give Joe Biden and the Democrats a 5-Star rating for refusing to capitulate, and for keeping the ball moving forward.
walrus51 