Right, Left, Center - Private Prisons and Internment Camps

This weeks topic is inspired by the Detention or Internment Camps.
Comprehensive Health Services, owned by Caliburn International operates Immigrant camps charging the US Taxpayer $750 per day per person. John Kelly (former Trump WH) is on the board of Directors and has been seen onsite.
Heres another article

Right

The Right wing believes that as much as possible should be privatized, including prisons. The idea is that its better to have private companies do things than the government.Some say this is because smaller government is good and others that private companies are more efficient and have less bureaucracy.

Left

The Left believe that private companies have no morals and are vulnerable to corruption when there is no watchdog or competition.

Center

As usual the best option as regards privatization vs. government run organizations is somewhere in the middle. Were paying over $700 a day for each person detained with these internment camps. Other private prisons are more efficient but taxpayers pay more for private prisons than government controlled ones. Also private prisons have contracts that say they get paid even if empty, so there is incentive to lock more people up. At of course more cost to the taxpayer.

The reason private prisons dont work is no competition to lower prices once they are built and no customer incentive for quality. I mean its not like prisoners can shop around for the best prison!

So why do we have them?  Corruption, pure and simple. Companies know they can make a lot of money so spend a small cut on bribing politicians to get the contracts.

Some things are better in private hands but some aren't.

Tax Scam

1000+ pages?!  That is simplifying the tax system?
Included in the latest version...

• Excise tax added to certain people working for a non profit.  So not only are they taxed on income they get a penalty for going to a non profit.  Why?
• Individual cuts still temporary.  All expire in 2025.  Yes they may get renewed but that they have to put that in there to keep the deficit down means its going to be a problem.
• State and Local tax deduction capped at 10K
• Repeal the AHCA mandate means young healthy people drop out everyone else pays higher premiums
• .Corporate rate 21% but most loopholes left in, and Doctors and a lot of small businesses will get hit harder.  Another reason premiums and health care will go up.
• Special kickback to real estate people.
• Carried Interest (Wall Street loophole) still left in despite Trump and everyone in the GOP asked saying they would get rid of it.

Think about this.

• If the GOP thinks this bill will be great for wage growth, why are none of them able to offer specifics?
• If its really good for America why do most economists disagree?  Why rush this through in a nonpartisan manner and avoid any public hearings?  Only Lobbyists were invited to the party, the public was left out.
• Why does tax reform need to be over ONE THOUSAND pages long?  If they were really closing loopholes it should be short.

If they have to rush it through before people get a good luck that indicates they are afraid of what people will see.

GOP Tax scam, not about Conservative Values, just greed.

So the final version of the GOP Tax bill is out.
I haven't been able to find the full text online yet but have read the House and Senate versions going into this plan.

Senate Taxplan 515 pages!

https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/11.20.17%20Tax%20Cuts%20and%20Jobs%20Act.pdf

House Bill 429 pages

https://waysandmeansforms.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bill_text.pdf

House Summary and breakdowns

https://waysandmeans.house.gov/tax-cuts-jobs-act-resources/

You have probably heard the talking points already, it raises the deficit, does very little for wage and job growth while granting huge boost to the super rich and corporations, hurts teachers and firefighters, will prompt millions to lose their insurance and raises everyone else premiums, close many hospitals, increase the national debt, and even how the individual tax cuts are only short term while corporate tax cuts are permanent.

They put the lie to the test when they said this was about reform and closing loopholes.  You did not need a 500 page bill if you got rid of all (or even most) of the loopholes.

Further, this bill punishes individual tax payers in a lot of hidden in the dirt pile ways.

• Repeal of Casualty loss:  You wont notice this until your hurting but this repeals a deduction if you suffer a major loss such as your house burning down, flood damage, earth quake, tornado or even theft. That deduction enabled you to rebuild and get back on your feet faster, However they repealed it, except for Hurricanes.  Wonder why Republicans decided to repeal it for earthquakes but leave it for hurricanes? However, everyone is at risk for these things.
• Territorial Tax:Most countries use this system which means your not taxed on income made overseas. We tax our corporations on that money when they bring it back to the U.S. Personally I am ok with going to a territorial system to help our companies be more competitive and avoid offshore tax havens.  However lets not take on more national debt or lose jobs to do it.
• Chained CPI: This little gimmick will keep the standard deduction from keeping up with inflation. So as inflation goes up or taxes go up faster!
• Repealing the corporate Alternative Minimum Tax: Corporations already pay an average of 18% tax even though we have a top rate of 35%.  Removing the minimum tax means many larger corporations will be able to avoid paying any taxes at all!  Meanwhile smaller businesses will pay the bulk of corporate tax.  How fair is that?
• Repeal of Deduction for Income Attributable to Domestic Activities: Currently companies are allowed to deduct up to 9% (6% for oil and gas companies) for costs related to making and selling stuff in the US.  Getting rid of this will just incentivize them to move those operations overseas.  More job loss.

This bill does nothing to encourage companies to increase wages or hire more workers. Companies are already sitting on tons of cash and have access to low interest rates.  Instead of job growth we see mergers and stock buybacks. The only way to boost the economy is to increase consumer demand.

A letter to my Senators on their horrible tax bill.

Dear Senator Lankford and Senator Inhofe,
This is a horrible bill.
It increases the debt, takes away health care for people through backdoor legislation with the repeal of the mandate, and promotes big business over small business (especially service industry, one of the largest segments) all to give more money to the richest people and large corporations . There is nothing in this plan that will increase wages or new jobs, instead the money will be used for stock buybacks, dividends, exec bonuses, increased automation, and mergers so will actually cost jobs.
Companies will only hire more people if they need more work, not just because they have more money.  To grow the economy you have to work on the demand side, not the supply side.
Lowering taxes is fine but it needs to be fair, honest in its presentation, and budget neutral or better.
Final comment on the estate tax, why cut it? It was designed to prevent an aristocracy class and if Americans have to pay taxes on gifted money why not inherited money?

Vote no on this bill and rework it from the ground up, in bipartisan fashion and with public input.
Not rushed legislation so you can claim a victory for your donors over the American people.

Rory

We NEED to get rid of establishment politicians, America has been taken over by corporations and wealthy donors and now works against the principles it was founded on. Vote for new blood that promises to only take individual donations so they work for the majority of America.

Tax Scam

Most of the individual and Middle Class cuts are only temporary and will be phased out within 10 years.  The corporate tax cuts are set to be permanent.
Watch this, especially the first 12 minutes where they talk about the GOP tax plan.
Some middle class people will pay more, others less in taxes for the first few years but the majority of lower and middle class Americans will pay more as the individual tax cuts expire.
Also insurance and tuition will go up and major cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will impact many families.
Why cut taxes to corporations, millionaires and real estate moguls? Big donor money.
Will tax cuts to corporations increase jobs and wages as the GOP says? History says no. They will buy back stock, lower their debt, pay dividends and executive bonuses, and merge with other companies to reduce competition.  Corporations have been doing historically well and making more money than ever and have access to cheap capital.  Instead of job growth we will see lay offs due to mergers and consolidation and deregulation.  Wages will remain stagnant or continue to drop when compared to inflation as nothing in this tax plan requires or even encourages wage hikes.  Between increased automation and less competition in fact they have fewer reasons to increase wages and many of the larger companies will lay people off.  Smaller businesses will face stiffer competition from the big companies who can take better advantage of the tax cuts and cheaper loans.

This is something I havent heard a lot on the news...
The AMT or individual minimum tax is repealed for individuals (that gets talked about) but also for BUSINESS so it will be possible for companies through loopholes to pay NO INCOME tax at all!
And why does the corporate tax rate need to be lower than many individuals?

Note This!

• Expiring Provisions: All individual income tax changes, excluding the move to Chained CPI and the elimination of the individual mandate penalty, would expire effective December 31, 2025. This includes the individual income tax rate cuts, the expanded child tax credit, the repeal of personal exemptions, and the expanded standard deduction.

• The House Tax cut plan The summary is just a few paragraphs, please read it.  The full text is of course much longer but there is a table of contents.  Guess what? Lots of corporate loopholes in it. Estimates are corporations will pay much less than the average 18.1% they do now.
• Summary of Senate Tax plan by the Tax Foundation 
• Breakdown by sample families of tax changes  Most people get a cut (at least till the sunset expiration in 2025) though its not that much.
• Analysis of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act  Pay attention to the 2027 estimates! And browse that table of individual items below.
• Interview on AM Joy where a small business owner talks about how service (restaurants, bars, etc and smaller businesses will see higher taxes and how tax cuts on the larger corporations will shed jobs. 

Frankly if they really wanted to increase your effective income it would be much better to raise the minimum wage which would spread out to everyone getting a wage increase. We would have more income, pay more in taxes because we make more but still have more in our pocket!

That would even lower the national debt instead of increasing it!!

More money in the general economy also leads to job growth as people spend more and companies can then sell more.

2004 Bush Taxcut to  bring money back to the USA resulted in massive stock buybacks and layoffs.

The Tax scam is out

So the House and Senate Tax bills are out.  They dont match so details will be hammered out in committee if they pass.  Here are some of the highlights, its several hundred pages so there are a LOT of loopholes to read through.
Going Away or Down ...

• SALT (Local state tax deductions) for most individuals, Those who incorporate still get them.
• Personal property tax deduction, lowered or gone
• Import tax for corporations (making it cheaper to import things)
• Earned Income Tax Credit
• Medical Deductions
• School Loan Interest Deduction
• Teachers deduction when they buy school supplies for the kids.
• AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax)

Still In....

• Carried Interest
• Corporate property tax deduction
• Golf course owner deduction
• Real Estate LLC and Pass Through deductions
• 
  

The claim is 800 to 1200 break for middle class, higher wages because companies will take the money they save a raise wages. How many people think they would rather raise wages then buy back stock, invest in more automation or buy out the competition which means lays offs and more people out of work?  Or maybe they will just raise the executive bonuses.

This is just another con job and not even a good one, the Republicans in Congress think and are counting on Americans to be stupid to see it till its too late, and too lazy to vote.

We proved Trickle Down Economics does not work, lets not give it another chance.

GOP one step closer to putting America into another recession

So the Senate approved the budget which is built around cutting taxes.  Most of the taxes cut will be for the richest people with many middle income people actually paying more in taxes according to the CBO.  Further, cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and an increase in the deficit will cause problems down the road.
However the real lie here is that the corporations getting tax breaks will boost productivity and boost the economy.  We have seen this before and they will use the money to buy back stocks and consolidate by buying competitors which will cost jobs.  When companies put more money into automation and buy other companies they need fewer workers so lay people off.
Ask your representative how this helps America and do not let them give you spin or pie in the sky promises.  See if they can offer any provable history that this actually works.  They will have none to offer.  I have been challenging my reps for two months now and get nothing but crickets on the issue.

Watch my video on Trickle Down Economics ( what this tax plan is based on) and next weeks video on Demand Side Economics.

The problem with the GOP Tax plan

Made a video to explain the issues with the GOP Tax plan