A Look at the Senate Democrats' JOBS & INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN FOR AMERICA’S WORKERS

[Cellblock2429]

A few days ago, Senator Chuck Schumer and other leading Senate Democrats held a press conference to present their infrastructure and tax reform plan. The full title of the bill is SENATE DEMOCRATS' JOBS & INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN FOR AMERICA’S WORKERS: RETURNING THE REPUBLICAN TAX GIVEAWAYS FOR THE WEALTHY TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

The Dem plan is actually pretty good. It is only a tax-hike measure compared to the new tax rates under the Trump tax cuts. Compared to the tax rates that existed until last year, it calls for huge tax cuts, even for corporations, in spite of the bill's unfortunately partisan subtitle. If Hillary had proposed this plan during the election, Bernie supporters and other Dems would have skewered her for wanting to "give away hundreds of billions of dollars to the rich." Consider:

* The Dem plan would set the corporate income tax rate at 25%. This is 4 percentage points higher than the Trump rate of 21%, but it's 10 percentage points lower than what the rate was last year and for decades before that. When Mitt Romney proposed cutting the corporate tax rate to 25% in 2012, Dems attacked the idea as a "tax cut for the rich."

* The Dem plan would leave intact all of the Trump tax cuts for personal income taxes, with the sole exception of the top marginal rate, which would go back to the previous rate of 39.6%, which would still be lower than it was for most of Reagan's presidency. Moreover, the Dem plan would maintain the Trump threshold of $600K for the top bracket.

* As mentioned, the Dem plan would keep *all* of the massive Trump tax cuts for the middle-income brackets. It would also maintain the Trump tax-cut provisions of capping SALT deductions at $10K and of capping mortgage-interest deductions.

* The Dem plan would return the death tax (the estate tax) to 2017 levels, which were an improvement over the rates for most of the previous four decades, and it would also return to the previous GOP-backed threshold of $5.49 million for exemption from the tax (vs. $11 million under the Trump tax cuts).

* The Dem plan would bring back the AMT, a very bad, baffling move. But, the AMT only affected people who made over 120K (single)/160K (married), and it did not really bite anyone until they started making over $300K, and even then the bite was not draconian.

* The Dem plan would leave intact Trump's special repatriation rate of 13.5% for American corporate money parked overseas that is brought back to the U.S.

* The Dem plan would close the carried-interest loophole, something that should have been done with the Trump tax cuts.

* The Dem plan would use the assumed savings vs. the Trump tax cuts to fund $1 trillion in infrastructure spending, and even most conservative think tanks agree that infrastructure spending usually largely pays for itself and sometimes gives us a large net gain. Trump has called for at least $1.6 trillion in infrastructure spending.

The Dem plan is not bad at all, but it is not as good as the Trump tax-cut bill and the Trump infrastructure-spending proposal. The Dem plan is a non-starter as long as the GOP controls the Senate, but it is really a pretty good plan.

Full text of the bill:
https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Senate Democrats' Jobs and Infrastructure Plan.pdf

Executive summary of the bill:
https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Senate Democrats' Jobs and Infrastructure Plan One Pager.pdf

/——/ as we all know, Dems campaign like Republicans and legislate like Communists.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

So left wing cities have solved the homeless problem? Really, Daniel? You get more absurd with each passing post!

Have Right wing cities solved the homeless problem?! Please send a few examples so we can take a look at the model that works!

Let's look at States...

"States with high and low homeless rates are all over the country. The highest rates of homelessness among states are in Hawaii (465 per 100,000), followed by New York (399) and California (367).

The lowest homeless counts per capita come in Mississippi (81 per 100,000), Indiana (94) and Kansas (94)."

Which states have the highest levels of homelessness?

Gee, guess which States are dominated by liberals, Slade?

Well I don’t think it’s a shock that California and Hawaii have the highest homeless populations. If you were homeless where would you go? I know I’d go to either California or Hawaii and live on a beach. Plus homeless populations are always centered in dense populations and cities. Philly has a extremely high homeless population and so does Austin and Miami, it’s not really a mystery why and it’s not because of liberals or conservatives. Most homeless people are suffering from mental illness or have substance abuse problems

Some other interesting facts, Hawaii has the lowest unemployment rate in the USA. Alaska has the highest. California has the largest GDP by far in the USA. New York is number 3. What exactly are people doing in Kansas, Nebraska, and Indiana?

What are people doing in Kansas, Nebraska and Indiana? Ah...getting up in the morning and going to work? What do YOU think they're doing?

That would be Hawaii... remember lowest unemployment rate in the US

That would be Hawaii... remember lowest unemployment rate in the US

Kansas, Nebraska and Indiana all have higher labor force participation rates than Hawaii.

 

[Slade3200]

Have you gone back and looked? What did you pay in 2000? What did you pay in 2008?

Looking at historical charts of premium growth rates Obamacare didn’t have this crazy acceleration that conservatives say it did. There was a spike in 2011 but then a big drop in the growth rate that fell below what the growth rate was in the early 2000s.

I do agree that the plan was marketed by obama to save much more then it actually does. I think they were projecting to get many more people on the exchanges.

Bullshit pal. I checked with our HR department when my payments went up by 60%. According to HR it was all because of the ACA.

The ONLY people who made out under that POS were the people the rest of us were paying for.

What were your payments in 2000? What were they in 2008?

Way lower than they are now and I sure ain't looking it up. It is what it is.

My payments went up by 60% because of that POS the ACA.

You won’t look it up? Sounds like an extremely lazy arguement you are making. How about historical charts of premium increases... Are you interested in spending your precious time looking at those and seeing the actual effects of the ACA in context to the historical trends?

It did raise premiums, I’m not arguing that point. But it should be understood in context to how they had been rising in the past or else we aren’t presenting all the facts.

Well I'm sure no ones went up 60% before the ACA came into being.

If you think that benefit costs went up that much then I think you're crazy.

Do your own research, you’re not gonna believe anything I tell you. How much did premiums go up from 2000-2008 and how much did they go up from 2008-2016? Tell me what you find

 

[Slade3200]

Have Right wing cities solved the homeless problem?! Please send a few examples so we can take a look at the model that works!

Let's look at States...

"States with high and low homeless rates are all over the country. The highest rates of homelessness among states are in Hawaii (465 per 100,000), followed by New York (399) and California (367).

The lowest homeless counts per capita come in Mississippi (81 per 100,000), Indiana (94) and Kansas (94)."

Which states have the highest levels of homelessness?

Gee, guess which States are dominated by liberals, Slade?

Well I don’t think it’s a shock that California and Hawaii have the highest homeless populations. If you were homeless where would you go? I know I’d go to either California or Hawaii and live on a beach. Plus homeless populations are always centered in dense populations and cities. Philly has a extremely high homeless population and so does Austin and Miami, it’s not really a mystery why and it’s not because of liberals or conservatives. Most homeless people are suffering from mental illness or have substance abuse problems

Some other interesting facts, Hawaii has the lowest unemployment rate in the USA. Alaska has the highest. California has the largest GDP by far in the USA. New York is number 3. What exactly are people doing in Kansas, Nebraska, and Indiana?

Gee, Slade...what do most of the "dense populations and cities" in America share in common?

2016 US Presidential Election Map By County & Vote Share

I'll give you a hint...they don't vote Republican!

This is true... cities tend to be much more progressive and diverse than the country and suburbs

Was that another way of admitting that cities tend to be Democratic and have WAY more homelessness than rural areas? So which came first...the chicken or the egg?

Cities are always going to have more homeless, it doesn’t matter what the ideology is. Cities are also going to be more progressive and they usually vote domocrat because democrats have done a better job appealing to minorities and the poor. The Republicans have a branding and messaging problem which I hope they find a way to fix. Of course they are now in power so there isn’t much motivation to fix anything, but that won’t last forever. Mid terms are around the corner, we will see how they pan out.

 

[Slade3200]

Have Right wing cities solved the homeless problem?! Please send a few examples so we can take a look at the model that works!

Let's look at States...

"States with high and low homeless rates are all over the country. The highest rates of homelessness among states are in Hawaii (465 per 100,000), followed by New York (399) and California (367).

The lowest homeless counts per capita come in Mississippi (81 per 100,000), Indiana (94) and Kansas (94)."

Which states have the highest levels of homelessness?

Gee, guess which States are dominated by liberals, Slade?

Well I don’t think it’s a shock that California and Hawaii have the highest homeless populations. If you were homeless where would you go? I know I’d go to either California or Hawaii and live on a beach. Plus homeless populations are always centered in dense populations and cities. Philly has a extremely high homeless population and so does Austin and Miami, it’s not really a mystery why and it’s not because of liberals or conservatives. Most homeless people are suffering from mental illness or have substance abuse problems

Some other interesting facts, Hawaii has the lowest unemployment rate in the USA. Alaska has the highest. California has the largest GDP by far in the USA. New York is number 3. What exactly are people doing in Kansas, Nebraska, and Indiana?

What are people doing in Kansas, Nebraska and Indiana? Ah...getting up in the morning and going to work? What do YOU think they're doing?

That would be Hawaii... remember lowest unemployment rate in the US

That would be Hawaii... remember lowest unemployment rate in the US

Kansas, Nebraska and Indiana all have higher labor force participation rates than Hawaii.

And Hawaii has better surfers

 

[danielpalos]

California could bailout deteriorating coastal communities, with new cities that may include, new harbors and seawalls.

 

[Oldstyle]

Let's look at States...

"States with high and low homeless rates are all over the country. The highest rates of homelessness among states are in Hawaii (465 per 100,000), followed by New York (399) and California (367).

The lowest homeless counts per capita come in Mississippi (81 per 100,000), Indiana (94) and Kansas (94)."

Which states have the highest levels of homelessness?

Gee, guess which States are dominated by liberals, Slade?

Well I don’t think it’s a shock that California and Hawaii have the highest homeless populations. If you were homeless where would you go? I know I’d go to either California or Hawaii and live on a beach. Plus homeless populations are always centered in dense populations and cities. Philly has a extremely high homeless population and so does Austin and Miami, it’s not really a mystery why and it’s not because of liberals or conservatives. Most homeless people are suffering from mental illness or have substance abuse problems

Some other interesting facts, Hawaii has the lowest unemployment rate in the USA. Alaska has the highest. California has the largest GDP by far in the USA. New York is number 3. What exactly are people doing in Kansas, Nebraska, and Indiana?

Gee, Slade...what do most of the "dense populations and cities" in America share in common?

2016 US Presidential Election Map By County & Vote Share

I'll give you a hint...they don't vote Republican!

This is true... cities tend to be much more progressive and diverse than the country and suburbs

Was that another way of admitting that cities tend to be Democratic and have WAY more homelessness than rural areas? So which came first...the chicken or the egg?

Cities are always going to have more homeless, it doesn’t matter what the ideology is. Cities are also going to be more progressive and they usually vote domocrat because democrats have done a better job appealing to minorities and the poor. The Republicans have a branding and messaging problem which I hope they find a way to fix. Of course they are now in power so there isn’t much motivation to fix anything, but that won’t last forever. Mid terms are around the corner, we will see how they pan out.

Gee, now what would make Democrats more "appealing" to minorities and the poor? Oh...that's right...FREEBIES!

So tell me, Slade...after decades of living on the Democratic "plantation" have minorities and the poor REALLY been helped by you liberals? Quite frankly...I don't see it. You promise them you'll help to get their votes...but once you've got them...you don't really do much for them...do you?

 

[Slade3200]

Well I don’t think it’s a shock that California and Hawaii have the highest homeless populations. If you were homeless where would you go? I know I’d go to either California or Hawaii and live on a beach. Plus homeless populations are always centered in dense populations and cities. Philly has a extremely high homeless population and so does Austin and Miami, it’s not really a mystery why and it’s not because of liberals or conservatives. Most homeless people are suffering from mental illness or have substance abuse problems

Some other interesting facts, Hawaii has the lowest unemployment rate in the USA. Alaska has the highest. California has the largest GDP by far in the USA. New York is number 3. What exactly are people doing in Kansas, Nebraska, and Indiana?

Gee, Slade...what do most of the "dense populations and cities" in America share in common?

2016 US Presidential Election Map By County & Vote Share

I'll give you a hint...they don't vote Republican!

This is true... cities tend to be much more progressive and diverse than the country and suburbs

Was that another way of admitting that cities tend to be Democratic and have WAY more homelessness than rural areas? So which came first...the chicken or the egg?

Cities are always going to have more homeless, it doesn’t matter what the ideology is. Cities are also going to be more progressive and they usually vote domocrat because democrats have done a better job appealing to minorities and the poor. The Republicans have a branding and messaging problem which I hope they find a way to fix. Of course they are now in power so there isn’t much motivation to fix anything, but that won’t last forever. Mid terms are around the corner, we will see how they pan out.

Gee, now what would make Democrats more "appealing" to minorities and the poor? Oh...that's right...FREEBIES!

So tell me, Slade...after decades of living on the Democratic "plantation" have minorities and the poor REALLY been helped by you liberals? Quite frankly...I don't see it. You promise them you'll help to get their votes...but once you've got them...you don't really do much for them...do you?

I’m not running for office so I don’t really give a shit about votes. I do believe that strong communities thrive when the people in those communities work together. That doesn’t happen when it’s every man for himself. I have no problem taking care of our poor, our elderly, our children and our handicapped... I have no problem collecting money to have reliable roads, transportation, clean water, utilities, healthcare and law enforcement. I have no problem creating laws that fight discrimination and promote equality. Those who make the most should pay the most, it’s not a mystery why.

You might not see the tremendous progress that our country has made with each decade, but I sure have. I think our country is at its greatest right now. I don’t know when y’all think America stopped being great, but that’s a pretty sad thought. If you see what Trump represents as great then that is also a sad thought. I like to think that we are better than that.

 

[danielpalos]

better aqueducts should also generate energy.