Tom Over Thomas Steitz The short answer is that rank-in-file liberals and conservatives ought to find common ground. We are divided and ruled over. ——- As for job creation, I’d be interested in evidence to support the expectation that the regressive taxes will promote that. —-Bonuses to employees are good, in and of themselves. But they are tokens, in that the total dollar amounts are tiny compared with the billions of dollars big corporations stand to gain from the tax cuts. —— The news about the bonuses remind me of Trump’s fanfare about the factory in Indiana last year. It’s tokenism, given that, unfortunately, manufacturing jobs aren’t likely to return to the US, despite what Trump said during his campaign. That’s because the super rich and big corporations make a lot of money from setting up factories in countries where environmental and labor laws are lax, where workers can be murdered for trying to form a union, and where workers get paid a fraction of what a worker in the US would get paid, —–Banana Republicans argue we need to “be more business friendly” by cutting regulations and reducing taxes. But should the US ‘compete’ with poor countries’ labor markets by exploiting our workers and trashing our lakes, rivers, soil, and air? Or should we instead, hold big corporations accountable, and tax them enough so that our nation can invest in a world class, 21st Century education system and energy infrastructure? —– I will gladly be proven wrong about this, Tom, because it’s not a happy picture, but the tax cuts for the super rich, unfortunately, are a step further in the direction of making the US a banana republic. ——-Aside from enslavement of Black folk, and colonization, much of the wealth of the US stems from public investments into education and infrastructure. The captains of industry couldn’t create their fortunes without that, and future wealth is being forfeited currently to the short-sightedness of greed .—–This doesn’t help the US, though it probably helps China’s rise in economic and political power. ——- The super rich and their social circles can live in other countries, if the US further deteriorates. Not so, for the middle class, working class, and poor——Job creation more likely comes from investments in education and innovation where the long-term focus of government compliments the shorter term focus of the private sector.——-But. yeah, you’re right, Tom, in that this is not just about Trump and the Republicans. Corporate rule continued undisrupted during Obama’s tenure. ——If Dems and liberals focus too much on how bad Trump is, as a person and as a politician, we loose sight of how the Democratic Party helped to create a system so dysfunctional that someone as boorish as Trump could be elected. —-People accept, if not embrace authoritarianism, when they lose faith in democracy, not because they are evil and stupid.—-Hopefully, liberals and conservatives can find common ground with which to build a future United States that we want our kids to live in.
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