Levin Report Trump Has Told Friends That Gutting Medicare Could Be a Fun “Second-Term Project” Republicans want Trump to deal with the exploding deficit by gutting the social safety net, and the president is reportedly receptive to the idea.
By Bess Levi n
August 22, 2019 Facebook
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US President Donald Trump (C) walks with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R), R-Kentucky, and US Senator John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, as he arrives to speak with the Republican Senate Caucus on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on November 28, 2017./ AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) By JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images.Facebook
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When Donald Trump was running for president, he boldly proclaimed that he would not only balance the budget, he would eliminate the entire national debt, which at the time was approximately $19 trillion.That, of course, was about as likely to happen as Don Jr.going vegan or Ivanka publicly admitting that her father is a sick individual who needs help.Instead, President Trump has pushed the federal deficit to new heights thanks to a tax cut that did not, in fact, “ pay for itself ,” and a trade war that has turned out to be neither “good” nor “easy to win.”
On Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office said that the federal deficit will reach $960 billion for the 2019 fiscal year, which ends September 30, and breach the $1 trillion mark in 2020.Previously those figures were expected to come in at $896 billion and $892 billion, respectively, but the damage from the president’s tariffs, along with a sharp falloff in revenue thanks to the 2017 tax cuts, have caused deficit projections to rise faster than expected.Incredibly, this is all happening against the backdrop of the longest economic expansion on record and the lowest jobless rate in 50 years, conditions that typically cause the budget deficit to shrink.
And under the continued tutelage of Donald Trump, the New York Times reports, things are only expected to get worse :
Mr.Trump has shown little inclination to prioritize deficit reduction, and has instead considered policies that would add to the debt.The president has mused in recent days about reducing the taxes that investors pay on capital gains, a move that is estimated to add $100 billion to deficits over the next decade.He has also talked about cutting payroll taxes, which could reduce revenues by $75 billion a year for every percentage point cut in payroll tax rates.
The president also wants to make permanent many of the temporary individual tax cuts contained in the 2017 law, which are scheduled to expire in 2025.The budget office forecast assumes those cuts expire and tax revenues rise; if they do not, future deficit projections would be even larger.
Advertisement The need to borrow more money has been aggravated by several bipartisan budget agreements to raise military and nondefense domestic discretionary spending.And it could increase if the trade war further chills business investment and consumer spending, resulting in slower economic growth and fewer tax dollars flowing to the Treasury Department.
But while the nonpartisan CBO has placed the blame squarely on things like the trade war and tax cuts, Republicans—the ones who spent eight years under Obama screaming about fiscal responsibility and bankrupting our grandchildren—have an idea for how to deal with the situation that doesn’t involve taking tax cuts away from the wealthy or reeling in Tariff Man:
Conservative groups—which largely supported Mr.Trump’s tax cuts—have pushed Congress to cut future deficits by reducing benefits for federal health care and retirement programs, like Medicare and Social Security.“Something must be done soon,” the conservative advocacy group FreedomWorks said in a news release on Wednesday, “and that means taking a hard look at mandatory spending, the root cause of the United States’ fiscal woes.”
While Republicans do not expect Trump to push for cuts while campaigning for reelection, they’ve apparently encouraged him to do so should he win a second term—a proposition to which President “ I’m not going to cut Social Security, I’m not going to cut Medicare ” has reportedly been receptive.
“We’ve got to fix that,” Senator John Thune, the number two Republican in the Senate, told the Times.“It’s going to take presidential leadership to do that, and it’s going to take courage by the Congress to make some hard votes.
We can’t keep kicking the can down the road.I hope in a second term, he is interested,” Thune said of Trump.“With his leadership, I think we could start dealing with that crisis.And it is a crisis.” Republicans, said Senator John Barrasso, who seems to regularly chat with the president, have “brought it up with President Trump, who has talked about it being a second-term project.”
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Hey, you know what would be a great way to boost economic growth?
Advertisement Hint: It’s the opposite of the policies Trump and his racist sidekick are trying to implement :
As unemployment rates nationwide have sunk to record lows, filching workers—from kitchens and construction sites, warehouses and Walmarts, truck cabs, and nursing homes—has become routine.In cities like Miami that are magnets for immigrants, newcomers have filled some job openings, but employers across several industries and states insist that many more are needed for their businesses to function, let alone grow.
The economic impact is just one facet of an immigration debate that vibrates with political and moral import, challenging ideas about America’s identity and culture.But it is also one that can be examined more dispassionately by looking at the numbers.
And the numbers, most economists say, indicate that there is plenty of room.Immigrants make the country richer, they argue.
“Without immigration, we shrink as a nation,” Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office who now serves as the president of the American Action Forum policy institute, a conservative think tank, told the New York Times.As for the “they’re taking our jobs!” argument, John Kunkel, the founder and chief executive of 50 Eggs, a restaurant group based in Miami, told reporter Patricia Cohen, “The idea that legal immigrants are taking jobs away from residents of the U.S.is just not reality.That’s the armchair view of somebody who doesn’t run a business.” You know who would probably agree with that, were he not busy stirring up violence and racism among his base? The guy who continues to employ undocumented immigrants at his businesses as ICE rounds them up.
Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne is parting ways with the company he founded
Which, all things considered, is probably for the best :
In a controversial career that included knockdown battles with short sellers and a foray into cryptocurrency, it was Byrne’s personal claims about a romance with a Russian agent and his involvement in federal election investigations that ended his tenure at Overstock.Before rallying today, shares were down 22% since the company published his statement on August 12.
Passages in that release confused Wall Street and left some wondering about Byrne’s stability.“Starting in 2015 I (operating under the belief that I was helping legitimate law enforcement efforts) assisted in what are now known as the ‘Clinton Investigation’ and the ‘Russian Investigation,”’ it read.“It was the third time in my life I helped the Men in Black.”
Advertisement That statement Quote: : d Byrne as saying the probes were “less about law enforcement and more about political espionage.” He elaborated in a subsequent New York Times interview, saying he came public this month because of concern about the U.S.government’s prosecution of Maria Butina, with whom he claimed a romantic relationship.Butina is serving an 18-month prison sentence for failing to register as a Russian agent.
“This is a tremendous catalyst for the stock,” said D.A.Davidson’s Tom Forte, of Byrne’s decision to leave the company.
“I think the latest controversy”—y’know, the one wherein Byrne claimed he’d been engaging in covert activities at the behest of the U.S.government—“was one too many.”
Elsewhere!
Banks Plan to Boost Campaign Spending in 2020 ( WSJ )
Investors Jostle for Pre-IPO Stake in Impossible Foods ( WSJ )
The economist who first linked the yield curve to recessions sees “pretty high” chance of downturn ( CNBC )
Sarah Sanders Passes Through the Revolving Door, Joins Fox News ( Intelligencer )
The Bernie Sanders Economic Adviser Who Thinks the Government Should Just Print More Money ( New Yorker )
The Justice Department Sent Immigration Judges a White Nationalist Blog Post With Anti-Semitic Attacks ( BuzzFeed )
Emails show Veterans Affairs officials’ scorn for “Mar-a-Lago 3” ( Politico )
The Finance Minister Who Is a Star—In the Kitchen ( WSJ )
Service dogs attend live musical as part of training ( UPI )
“Butt-Con was the tuchus trade show no one asked for—and it let nothing rump-related fall through the cracks.” ( NYP )
More Great Stories from Vanity Fair — The Trump-baiting Anthony Scaramucci interview that roiled the president
— Who is Ghislaine Maxwell? Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged enabler, explained
— Trump’s bizarre handwritten notes to Justin Trudeau
— The private-jet controversy plaguing the British royal family
— The real-life events that may have inspired Succession
— From the Archive: Another whodunit in the Hamptons
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