Chuck Todd challenged Sen. Roger Wicker on Republican policy failures, including a tax cut that did not work, while GOP opposes the infrastructure bill.
Chuck Todd called out Republican policies
Chuck Todd did something he rarely does. He consistently challenged a Republican on his program. Moreover, he may have inadvertently made the Progressive point, the only humane policies that work for all Americans.
Senator Roger Wicker attempted to tie the President’s hand with bipartisanship, then claiming that the American Jobs Plan, the infrastructure bill, would cost jobs.
“How could the president expect to have bipartisanship when his proposal is a repeal of one of our signature issues in 2017, where we cut the tax rate and made the United States finally more competitive when it comes to the way we treat job creators?” Wicker said. “He reverses all that. And I’ll tell you what. He says no one will pay extra taxes if they make less than $400,000 a year. That may be true. We’ll have to see the details there. But under this tax increase bill, there are a lot of people making $100,000 and $50,000 that are going to lose their jobs because of the extra burden this plan would put on job creators.”
Chuck Todd gave a sufficiently appropriate response.
“Well, look, what they’re talking about, though, is lowering — is basically finding a middle ground between where the corporate tax rate was in 2017 and what the corporate tax rate is today,” Chuck Todd replied. They would like to move it to 28 percent.
But then he did something I did not expect. He actually, out of context, told the necessary truth about the Republican tax cut scam.
“I am curious,” Todd said. “This tax cut that you guys put through in 2017, there were various promises that were made. That they would pay for themselves hasn’t come close to that. That it was going to produce 4, 5, or 6 percent growth. We didn’t even get 3 percent growth. At one point, former President Trump said, ‘This thing’s going to pay off the debt like it’s water.’ Well, as you know, the debt is way up. So I guess, right, you look at this tax cut proposal when most of the benefits seem to go to stockholders. You know, corporations didn’t do what you thought they were going to do, which is take this savings and invest. They instead did stock buybacks. So, wasn’t this tax cut kind of an economic failure?”
Later, he got Wicker to admit that Republicans have no desire to pay for infrastructure bills. The fact that he only supports paying with bonds or public/private partnerships says it all.
Here is the reality, paying for infrastructure with bonds is a transfer of wealth to the rich and corporations. Why? They get to collect interest income on roads, bridges, etc., built for the benefit of those who must use the infrastructure to increase their profits.
Private/Public partnership is a tax on Americans as the private sector taxes the public to use infrastructure that should belong to us all, read tolls and fees. The Republicans promised that companies would reinvest tax cuts to create jobs and improve everyday Americans’ lives. Instead, it was a windfall for the rich like every Progressive understands. Take that money back and let us invest in all of America instead of continuing welfare for the rich.
