[mpen-dayton] FW: "Double Duhhhh...." & "trickle-down-myths" & "AlterNet: Why we deserve your support" & "FW: Sign the petition: Block and resist the Trump budget" and more

FYI. Best, Munsup

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From: Eric Kramer
Subject: Double Duhhhh....

And this emanates from the desk of a U Penn Wharton School of Business alum (after all, the buck does stop there....).
With geniuses such as this in charge, be afraid,....be very afraid.  -

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/05/trump-budget-based-on-usd2-trillion-math-error.html

Trump Budget Based on $2 Trillion Math Error [Updated]

By Jonathan Chait

One of the ways Donald Trump's budget claims to balance the budget over a decade, without cutting defense or retirement spending, is to assume a $2 trillion increase in revenue through economic growth. This is the magic of the still-to-be-designed Trump tax cuts. But wait — if you recall, the magic of the Trump tax cuts is also supposed to pay for the Trump tax cuts. So the $2 trillion is a double-counting error.

Trump has promised to enact "the biggest tax cut in history." Trump's administration has insisted, however, that the largest tax cut in history will not reduce revenue, because it will unleash growth. That is itself a wildly fanciful assumption. But that assumption has already become a baseline of the administration's budget math. Trump's budget assumes the historically yuge tax cuts will not lose any revenue for this reason — the added growth it will supposedly generate will make up for all the lost revenue.

(Munsup's note: Please visit the original page to view the video!)
Here's how the White House attempted to explain all of this.

But then the budget assumes $2 trillion in higher revenue from growth in order to achieve balance after ten years. So the $2 trillion from higher growth is a double-count. It pays for the Trump cuts, and then it pays again for balancing the budget. Or, alternatively, Trump could be assuming that his tax cuts will not only pay for themselves but generate $2 trillion in higher revenue. But Trump has not claimed his tax cuts will recoup more than 100 percent of their lost revenue, so it's simply an embarrassing mistake.

It seems difficult to imagine how this administration could figure out how to design and pass a tax cut that could pay for itself when Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush failed to come anywhere close to doing so. If there is a group of economic minds with the special genius to accomplish this historically unprecedented feat, it is probably not the fiscal minds who just made a $2 trillion basic arithmetic error.

Update: Asked about this absurd mistake, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin's explanation does not inspire a great deal of confidence:

This is apparently the best defense they could come up with: Eh, we'll fix it later. It's only the budget for the federal government of the United States of America.

 

 

From: trickle-down-myths, team at Civic Action
Subject: lies, damn lies, and statistics

Sign if you agree: "America's Middle Class are the REAL job creators -- NOT wealthy plutocrats" I AGREE >>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's an age-old trickle-down myth: the rich are driving our economy's growth, so therefore they deserve to play by different rules than the rest of us.

Too bad that story's simply not true.

The real drivers of our economy are you, the middle class -- not the high-class plutocrats.
   

SIGN IF YOU AGREE >>

This is how the rich stay on top -- they convince everyone that it's in your interest to give them whatever they want: Tax cuts, deregulation, and wage suppression for their workers!

This is how we drive our economy to ruin -- not to growth.

The middle class is what truly drives this economy. NOT the 1%.
  

SIGN IF YOU AGREE >>

We're tired of seeing trickle-down lies drive the narrative of our economy. It's time for us to make sure the 1% knows that we see right through these trickle-down myths.

Are you with us?

http://go.civicaction.com/Save-Our-MiddleClass

Paid for by Civic Action

 

 

FW: Sign the petition: Block and resist the Trump budget

From: Don Hazen; Executive Editor, AlterNet
Subject: Robert Reich: AlterNet is 'one of the best'—Why we deserve your support
   

As the dark cloud of Trump descends on America, now more than ever, we need more strong, independent, and progressive media. AlterNet is one of the best. They provide high-quality articles, big reach, and rapid response. —Robert B. Reich

Trump is out to change or destroy so many thing we believe in—our environment, social security, immigration, freedom of choice, civil rights, and much more. We cannot let this happen. 

AlterNet is on the job 24/7. We will aggressively push back against lies and propaganda.

Please dig deep. There is no time like the present to make your commitment.

P.S. Your contribution today is 100% tax-deductible.

 

 

From: Murshed Zaheed, Murshed Zaheed;  Political Director, CREDO Action from Working Assets
Subject: Sign the petition: Block and resist the Trump budget
    

Tell Congress: Stop Trump's cruel and heartless budget Petition to members of Congress: Block and resist Trump's cruel and heartless budget proposal, which would make devastating cuts to Medicaid, Social Security, the social safety net and countless programs that make America stronger and more prosperous, while giving tax cuts to the super-rich and handouts to international corporations and war profiteers. Add your name: The first Trump budget has arrived, and it is as cruel and heartless as we expected. Donald Trump's proposed budget would take an axe to the social safety net at a time when rampant economic inequality leaves too many struggling to get by. Trump wants to slash food stamps – and even cut Social Security, despite his repeated promises he would not do so. Perhaps worst of all are massive funding cuts for Medicaid, which would steal health care from about 10 million low-income Americans.1 This is the budgetary equivalent of Trumpcare: cruel, heartless and deeply unpopular. We need to insist that Democrats stay united in their resistance and show wavering Republicans that these proposals are toxic. Tell Congress: Block and resist Trump's cruel and heartless budget. Click here to sign the petition. The Trump-Republican budget hammers poor and middle-class Americans while delivering massive tax cuts to the wealthy and obscene handouts to war profiteers. In addition to cutting Medicaid, it would give conservative governors and legislatures permission to impose harsh new requirements on people who are counting on a little bit of support to survive. It would repeal rules and regulations that keep Americans safe and healthy. Trump's plan would even cut Social Security – slashing Social Security Disability Insurance that millions of Americans rely on – in a betrayal of all his promises to protect Social Security.2 Other targets of Trump's crusade against everyday Americans include the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Violence Against Women grants, legal aid for poor Americans, energy efficiency, fossil fuel emissions reduction, civil rights enforcement, community policing, housing and food assistance.3 Instead, Trump's budget proposes to increase wasteful military spending by 10 percent, or $54 billion, even though Congress is already funding weapons projects the military does not want.4 It also includes massive tax cuts for the wealthiest few and international corporations that hide money overseas.5 This budget is not just cruel and heartless – it is a betrayal of all the people who believed Trump's promises. We need a sharp and fierce outcry to stiffen Democrats' spines and make sure Republicans feel pressure. Tell Congress: Block and resist Trump's cruel and heartless budget. Click here to sign the petition. We do not have a spending problem. We have a defense spending problem. We spend more on defense than we do on all other areas combined. More than half the discretionary budget goes to the military-industrial complex, and the "non-discretionary" budget – things like Social Security – is funded for decades, or longer with small fixes.6 Trump and his Republican backers are not serious about spending, they are simply declaring war on the poor as an excuse to pass massive tax breaks for their wealthy campaign donors and corporate pals. Some Democrats will face the temptation to compromise in order to show their friends at Washington cocktail parties that they are "serious" about spending. If they do so, they will be complicit in making America sicker, poorer, less prosperous and less well-educated. We need to declare in no uncertain terms that Congress must resist the Trump cuts. Tell Congress: Block and resist Trump's cruel and heartless budget. Click below to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/stop_trump_budget?t=8&akid=23198.10312106.raL2XD Add your name: References: Damien Paletta, "Trump to propose big cuts to safety net in new budget, slashing Medicaid and opening door to other limits," The Washington Post, May 21, 2017. Ibid. Bryce Covert, "Trump preparing budget with most extreme cut in government spending yet," ThinkProgress, Jan. 19, 2017. Alex Morash and Craig Harrington, "Economists And Experts Hammer Trump's Plan To Increase Military Spending At Expense Of Nearly Everything Else," Media Matters for America, Feb. 27, 2017. Paletta, "Trump to propose big cuts to safety net in new budget, slashing Medicaid and opening door to other limits." Charles Osterndorf, "Bernie Sanders is right—America spends too much money on its military," The Daily Dot, Aug. 26, 2015.

 

 

From: Judy Burnette
Subject: The Nation l "A Lynching on the University of Maryland Campus" + more

A Lynching on the University of Maryland Campus   Richard Collins III was killed Saturday night because of the color of his skin.   Dave Zirin

Our Embarrassment-in-Chief's International Trip Is No Laughing Matter Let's not grade a guy holding the nuclear codes on a curve. Joshua Holland

What Explains Trump's Sharp About-Face on Saudi Arabia? It has more than a little to do with the power of the Saudi lobby—as well as the administration's deep hostility toward Iran. James Carden

 

 

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