It will take some wizardry or huge capitulation to thread this needle. 
At least 4 Republican Senators want more cuts. I propose a total of 6 (Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Rick Scott, Ted Cruz, and John Cornyn) plus two possible (Roger Marshall and John Kennedy).
At least 5 Republican Senators do not want Medicaid cuts (Shelley Moore Capito, Sue Collins, alleged fiscal hawk Josh Hawley, Jim Justice, and Lisa Murkowski). This action would increase the deficit without further offsetting cuts.
At least 6 republican Senators want to restore energy tax credits, partially siding with Elon Musk (Shelley Moore Capito, John Curtis, John Hoeven, Jerry Moran, Lisa Murkowski, and Thom Tillis). This action would increase the deficit without further offsetting cuts.
At least 3 Senators want to make temporary business tax cuts made permanent (Majority Whip John Barrasso, Finance Chair Mike Crappo, and Majority Leader John Thune). This action would increase the deficit without further offsetting cuts.
How Many Senators Want More Cuts?
CBS News comments What key GOP senators want to change in Trump’s House-passed “one big beautiful bill”
GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has already indicated he opposes the bill because it will “explode the debt.” Including interest, the House bill would increase the debt by $3.1 trillion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Similar to the House, in the Senate, there are Republicans who think there’s not enough cost cutting, while others argue some provisions are too draconian.
In a New York Times opinion piece published earlier in May, Hawley called “slashing health insurance for the working poor” both “morally wrong and politically suicidal.”
Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, said the package’s aim to cut $1.5 trillion “isn’t squat, quite honestly.” And Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, has also rebuffed the cuts, saying the amount is “not going to do it.”
Sen. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican, said “the job of the Senate is to try to increase the cuts in spending,” calling the House cuts a “great start” while urging the Senate to hit $2 trillion. [This is a wimpy, but stated preference]
And Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, told the network that he believes “the Senate is going to cut spending more than the House.” “We’re going to see the Senate be more fiscally conservative,” Cruz added. [I put Cruz in the demand cuts category, at least verbally]
Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, agreed that the Senate needs to consider steeper cuts. “I’ve said repeatedly I’m for cutting until we run out of votes,” Kennedy said on June 2. [This is also wimpy]
State and Local Tax Deduction
Among the provisions that spurred extensive debate in the House was one allowing residents to deduct more in state and local taxes on their federal returns, known as SALT. Divisions over an increase to the SALT cap threatened to sink the package in the days leading up to its passage in the lower chamber as a handful of blue-state Republicans fought for a higher cap, ultimately settling for $40,000, an increase from $10,000.
In the Senate, the deduction is not an issue, since none of the blue states have Republican senators. Accordingly, a number of Senate Republicans have indicated that they oppose its inclusion in the bill.
“Eliminate it,” Johnson, the Wisconsin senator, told reporters in May of the SALT cap increase.
Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota told The Hill that the cap could potentially be cut in half once the Senate makes its changes.
Where’s Cornyn?
From the Senator’s website, please consider Cornyn on Senate Priorities for Pres. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act
This bill — the big, beautiful bill from the House — we’re going to make it even more beautiful here in the Senate. Failure is not an option. If the President’s tax cuts are not extended, the American people will face the largest tax increase in American history.
The American people are depending on us to pass the President’s agenda through this One Big Beautiful Bill.
“One of the most important things that we need to do in this budget reconciliation process is to finally come to grips with our national debt.”
“We are now spending more money on interest on the national debt than we are to defend our nation, which is the number one job of the federal government.”
“If we want the United States to maintain its standing in the world, if we want to be able to have the resources to defend the nation and deter our adversaries, we have to at least begin to get our fiscal house in order, and this bill — the big, beautiful bill from the House — we’re going to make it even more beautiful here in the Senate.”
Cornyn’s Fine Line
Cornyn is walking a fine line to avoid a battle with Trump. But he is already being primaried by Attorney General Ken Paxton.
In recent polls, Paxton leads by as many as 22 points.
If Cornyn is going down in flames anyway, he may as well do something good for the country.
I have Cornyn in the demand more cuts camp.
Try for Cuts
Senators Kennedy and Marshall want to “try” for cuts.
Yoda: “Do or do not. There is no try.”
Neither Kennedy nor Marshall will get in the way, but six other senators might.
Salt, Trump, and the House
Any changes the Senate makes will have to survive a House gauntlet.
Bloomberg reports Trump Said to Be Open to Lowering SALT Cap in GOP Tax Bill
President Donald Trump told Senate Republicans he is open to a state and local tax deduction cap lower than the $40,000 in the House-passed version of his giant tax bill, a person familiar with the matter said.
Trump signaled his position in a meeting with Senate Finance Committee Republicans on Wednesday, and the comments added momentum to Senate GOP efforts to enact a lower SALT cap.
That push has lead to resistance from the House, with Speaker Mike Johnson telling Bloomberg TV Thursday he is fighting to keep the $40,000 cap as it is.
After the White House meeting Wednesday, Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo lamented about the cost of the House bill’s SALT cap.
“There’s not a single Republican senator from New York, New Jersey or California, so there’s not a strong sentiment in the Republican conference to do $350 billion for states that the other states subsidize,” Crapo told reporters.
Crapo’s top priority for the Senate tax bill is extending a bevy of temporary business tax breaks in the House bill that would expire after 2029, including enhanced interest expensing and deductions on research, development and equipment. Crapo is looking to trim other aspects of the House bill in order to offset the added cost of making those breaks permanent.
Add Crapo to those who want more cuts, at least to offset more tax cuts that he does want.
Question of the Day
Q: Can this Leaky Boat Sail?
A: One way or another it will.
In the Senate, Thune can lose at most 3 votes. I highly doubt 4 of 6 Republicans will hold firm on green energy tax credits to sink the bill.
However, there could be 4 Senators on Medicaid and there likely are 4 Senators who want demand more cuts.
The compromise would be do what you can with trading as little as possible Medicaid for totally whacking SALT.
Will House Republicans really refuse, allowing the largest tax hike in history?
My sense is the House is bluffing over SALT.
Republicans can (and should) kill Trump’s proposed no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and auto loan interest deductions.
Much Better but Not Great
The SALT plus as little as possible for Medicaid, while throwing Crapo a bone on “temporary cuts” that are never temporary in practice temporary would be a compromise that could pass the Senate.
Then it would be up to President Trump and Speaker Johnson to get the House in line.
If we can get to $2 trillion in cuts, we will have a better bill vs the current bill that passed the House.
My Proposal, Mish Top 12 Ideas
Proposal #1: Stick to Medicaid guns. Repeal the Obama handouts to states 100 percent. Cut Medicaid funding by 25 percent. Give states a block grant. Watch the states clean up Medicaid fraud fast.
Proposal #2: Cut military spending by 25 percent. Give the money to the Pentagon as a block grant with the note “Spend it wisely”. Stupid programs would be cancelled. Unneeded bases would be canceled. Pet projects like the Golden Dome would never get started. And might I suggest we do not need more tanks because neither Canada or Mexico will attack us, and I don’t want the US to attack them either. We can close bases in Europe too, or make Europe pay us to defend them.
Proposal #3: Dramatically reduce the tax code by slashing all deductions. SALT gone. Charitable deductions gone. Mortgage interest (phase out over 10 years). Note that Trump is adding deductions and making the code more complex while moaning about the number of pages in the tax code and wanting to get rid of the IRS. The way to reduce the need for the IRS is to simplify the tax code, not make it more complex.
Proposal #4: End child tax credits and earned income credits, Make able bodied people work. To encourage people to work instead of receiving tax credits, make the first $35,000 in income tax-free for everyone.
Proposal #5: End all tariffs and subsidies except where genuinely needed for national security. Steel, autos, movies do not qualify. Microchips and rare earth elements would.
Proposal #6: Re-enact the USMCA, apologize to Canada and Mexico, join the TPP now called the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Following Trump’s withdrawal of TPP, the remaining members struck a new deal. These countries now have easier access to each other’s markets than what the US enjoys. I will do a separate post on this.
Proposal #7: SNAP (food stamp) modifications – No snacks, candy, chips, soda, on food stamps. Instead, to promote cleanliness, allow soap and cleaning supplies.
Proposal #8: Lower the corporate tax rate to 10 percent but make it 20 percent on income earned overseas. Some manufacturing will return to the US and all of the games played by drug manufacturers including the entire trade deficit with Ireland related to drug production (a massive $86 billion) would immediately return to the US. I will also discuss this in a separate post.
Proposal #9: Allow immediate corporate writeoffs of expenses, but only for expansion in the United States.
Proposal #10: Lower the individual tax rate and set the automatic deduction at $35,000. To make up for revenue lost, have a modest VAT but no tax on food, medicine, or shelter, the latter up to a base rate indexed for inflation. I have previously proposed a national sale tax, exempting food and medicine, but John Mauldin and Erica York at the Tax Foundation convinced me a VAT was a better idea.
Proposal #11: Heavily tax all executive stock options and pay over $1,000,000 with more of a focus on options and free shares that constitute shareholder dilution.
Proposal #12: Balance all of the above proposals to the required levels to stabilize debt levels while ensuring the middle class gets the biggest benefit from tax policy changes. I am willing to phase all of this in over time, if necessary, to reduce the likelihood of economic shocks, as long as it gets done.
Getting Government Spending Under Control
I discussed the above on May 25 in What Should We Do to Get Government Spending Under Control?
I failed to discuss one key idea, getting Medicare under control.
We spend far too much money in the last few months of peoples’ lives typically on hopeless cases. This applies to Medicaid as well.
At some point it makes sense to only provide pain medication. Alternately different policies can charge more for better benefits.
Finally, once deductibles are met, no one has any incentive to cut expenses anywhere.
This is on top of Medicare and Medicaid fraud, both of which need to be addressed.
“I know you hate Medicaid, but how do people in this country who work, but do not work for employers who offer health insurance and earn fairly low wages supposed to pay for health care.”
I expect able bodied people to work.
And I do not tolerate disability fraud that lets people pretend they are unable.
My block grant proposal would make this a state’s issue so that they would have an incentive to reduce fraud and take care of the truly deserving.
You should be in favor of my suggestions, because your daughter, who is working, would have more benefits (assuming states cut out the obvious fraud and handled the money reasonably well).
Best wishes to your daughter.
Mish
<<I expect able bodied people to work.>>
Yeah, but the State responds by hiring able bodied people in fake positions in the government. Some of them don’t go to work, there’s no work to go to, no office, no worksite. They stay home, get a check, but appear in the employed lists.
The definition of “work” changes over time.
There is so much fraud and waste in the US health system, from top to bottom. Just look at hospitals charging $1.00 for generics that cost $0.05. And the disability fraud is extensive and well-documented. (I believe this was partly a result of Clinton’s unemployment “reforms”.) I have friends who worked in the system and they say there is so much Medicaid overbilling by docs and of course their patients are often unaware of what is going on.
Of course the elephant in the room (as RFK Jr and the MAHA crowd rightly point out) the entire US (and Western) “health care” system is a fraud, based on pedding pills and performing surgery for conditions that could better be treated (or *prevented*) by better diets, increasing exercise (just walking 30 mins/day is a start) and eliminating bad habits. But Big Pharma and Big Medicine don’t want healthy patients. They want life-long customers.
The whole system needs an overhaul. In the meantime, as Mish suggests, pass it down to the states and they can take responsibility for the mess.
“the job of the Senate is to try to increase the cuts in spending,” calling the House cuts a “great start”
No Audit Of Pentagon MIC – Trillions Missing
No Audit Of FED – Trillions In Bailouts For Too Big To Fail/Jail Corporations & Banksters.
No Audits Of Ft Knox Gold – Going For The ‘Black’ Gold In Middle East – Because There Is No Gold In Ft Knox.
The biggest fraud in Medicaid, which nobody wants to touch, are the bloated prices that service providers and pharma providers charge to the program. But it is better to let people go uncovered than touch corporate profits.
And if anyone thinks anyone really wants to cut spending, they must be delusional. The so called conservatives just hate welfare and want all the money to go to military spending and into private pockets.
Funny not one wants to address the non financial items that consolidate trumps power. If you are a republican loving this “sticking it to the libs”. Mark my words they are not doing it to benefit you. Its a consolidation of power for the very wealthy and that is probably not you.
“Republicans can (and should) kill Trump’s proposed no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and auto loan interest deductions.”
If they do that, I’ll lead the charge to primary every last one, every single day, for the next year and half.
As an alternative, I propose we blockade New York, Gaza-style, until they’re all dead. And then count the savings.
If you’re thick, I’m saying “take your head out of the wholly bullshit governmental statistics for 30 seconds and realize your country is on the precipice of a French Revolution.” There are lots of people on the left and right talking about joint action in the event future austerity hits anyone but Wall Street and the commercial class in brutal, head-spinning fashion.
Enough.
Since when is this bill supporting trumps promised agenda. His agenda and mandate was to decrease spending and balance the budget. A bill that explodes the budget has nothing to do with his campaign promises.
However, anyone with a brain knew that trump is a liar and shill. none of us should be surprised that he is doing tha opposite of what he campaigned on,
The real agenda is all the one line non financial project 25 items that are snuck in. The budget is a distraction.
Oh my, that is a seriously scary thought!
Make the first $35,000 in income tax-free for everyone.
Finally, a sensible approach.
Lastly, we get to witness the Federal government roll over $9.2 trullion in debt at a rate north of 4% this summer.
Re suggestion #8: Eliminate the corporate income tax and tax shareholders on their share of the corporation’s income, similar to an S corporation.
Reasonable – but want a higher rate overseas
Running any new spending bill through the legislature is always going to draw detractors and naysayers to the table. Objectively speaking, only a handful of Republicans have any real problem with the bill. The majority are on-side.
It’s almost surprising that any spending bill manages to get passed at all. With all the independent political positions out there, it would seem that any attempt at passing a bill would get torpedoed. But this is not the case.
Congress — both Senate and House — shows remarkable restraint in modifying set pieces of legislation. They sometimes try to add their own preferences in, but they are largely willing to accept what they’re given — and this is fortunate. For it means the business of government can go on.
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Dark . Sport. Blog is my website — come drop by to read more articles & stories by me
They don’t need to modify the “set pieces of legislation” because the giant bills are pre-larded up. Everybody’s pork is already in the bill. Don’t laud them for accepting such a monstrosity.
Run for office Mish! You’ve got my vote…
Love it, just a comment or two:
#2. Big thing is eliminate cost-plus contract too. A huge factor in projects getting more expensive because the more the vendor spends, the more profit they make.
#6, IIRC , TPP was really bad for US companies?
#8, Corp tax cuts flow into political contributions and shareholders now, not innovation. Maybe make political crap taxable, or find a way to preference capital investments as a tax write-off, and tax the hell out of political contributions, stock options, and the like? I could rephrase that now, but on a roll 🙂 I guess I mean to support #11
What about the influence that AIPAC — a foreign lobbyist organization that for some unknown reason is not required to register as a foreign agent — has over our legislative, executive, and judicial branches? Massie contends that he is the only Republican congressman who does not have an AIPAC babysitter assigned to him.
pro tip. amerikan empire is using israel as an offshore platform to defend our oil. and for intelligence etc. israelis are stupid. they will only last as long as we last. not too much longer. mossad was on 9.11 flights too. we use them as the dumbfucks to do the real dirty work.
The ol’ “Israel is our unsinkable carrier” argument. We mainly defend the flow of oil TO Israel. Same with intelligence: we prop up governments (Jordan) just because they cooperate with Israel. If Israel weren’t there, we could pay less attention to the region.
By Way of Deception – Thou Shalt Do War” – Victor Ostrovsky, Ex-Mossad Agent, Translated the Motto
Israel Is An Aircraft Carrier/Beach Head in the Middle East For NATO – Robert F. Kennedy Jr
Hamas Was Created by Israeli and US Intelligence Services to Counteract Yasser Arafat – Ron Paul
“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas.”
Benjamin Netanyahu (2019)
“In the visible dimension Hamas is an enemy, in the hidden dimension it is an ally.” – IDF Major General Gershon Hacohen (2019)
“Israel started Hamas. It was a project of Shin Bet.” – Charles Freeman, US diplomat and ambassador (2006)
“Zionism is a threat to all of Mankind… None of us are free until Palestine is free.” – Vanessa Redgrave, 1978
Mish,
What is the definition of disability fraud? Some people have mental illnesses that render them unable to hold down a job. They may be fine for a month, or 3 or even 10 but when the manic depression or bipolar kicks in, they no longer care about their job until they come out of their funk. Others likely wouldn’t want to be around them. These people are able bodied, are you saying they should be working? Because they shouldn’t.
great point.
I agree. Moreover, even bipolar isn’t the worst mental illness. People who experience psychosis have it rough. Sometimes they can work for a while – until they can’t. At least half of them suffer from anosognosia, where they don’t even believe they’re ill – when they’re clearly batshit crazy. That’s why many of them aren’t even willing to get SSDI. As much as 1% of the population is thought to have schizophrenia. That’s a lot of people. What we don’t want is for them to have no access to medication or psychiatric care.
Libertarian thinking is generally black and white and doesn’t provide real answers for the messy problems of reality. The US should follow the lead of countless Western democracies with greater life expectancies and universal health care. A nation that can’t care for the health of all its citizens is a sick one at its core.
Mish, ALL worthy great ideas. Military (and some braindead supporters wanting more F35s and all) need to be cut.
They do understand only Sean Connery language.
Thank God Cornyn is losing to Ken Paxton. I thought we in Texas would never get rid of Cornyn. He has been a disaster. One of the top 5 worst members of the US Senate.
TX gave us the worst cunts of all time. LBJ and vietnam, and the 2 bush crime family twats that gave us 9.11.01.
If I remember well there was a county in Kentucky where 25% were on disability benefits. Obviously fraud, but it’s cheaper than hiring them in some fake non-needed government “service”.
They would have to check at least 2 specific demographic boxes for that.
Government sponsored health care does not reduce labour Participation. The USA is at 62%, my home country The Netherlands at 76%. We have universal healthcare here (and much lower costs per capita than in the USA). Our national debt is below 50% of GDP. The defining feature i believe is corruption, or lack thereof. Providing poorpeople with healthcare is not a problem. Giving trillions in tax breaks to billionaires is.
That’s exactly what I have been saying.
Providing poor people with or without fraud promote consumption contributing GDP.
But not with tax breaks to billionaires.
Blood test in Greece $170. Same test panel in the US $750. Same Siemens machines.
You’re fine, but doctors keep coming in, asking you 2-3 questions in 60 seconds and leaving. Each of them charges your bill $200 for “examination” (in the US).
Doctors, hospitals, drug suppliers, blood testers can’t do that in Europe (due to Gvt-mandatory price lists/formulary).
Even on the private market, Europe’s private health insurance companies operate better than the US – because of price controls. In most cases, they end up paying only the portion of the bill that Gvt doesn’t pay.
Same scenario with college tuition. If the govt stops backing student loans, tuition will go down 70% overnight.
Trump won’t address these. Nobody will. The political cost is enormous. The damage to the healthy economy is also enormous.
Yes! Arguing about how to pay medical costs (private insurance vs government) is important, but less so than wringing the outrageous costs out of healthcare.
Of course, in the US, the private insurance system makes it next-to-impossible to even assess actual cost. A five day non-surgical stay in the hospital gets billed to the patient at $116,000. After being processed by an insurance company, the bill magically gets cut to $14,000. The patient pays their deductible ($6,000) and the insurance company pays the remaining $8,000 (less than they collected in premiums during that year). The $116,000 initial (fake) bill only serves to force people to have health insurance. The price of any medication or service should be the price – without regard to how it is paid.
Neil, Northern European countries have traditionally been high trust – because they were filled with Northern Europeans.
In 2000 there were 39.6 million recipients of medicaid with total expenditures of $358 billion (2024$). By 2024 there were 79 million recipients of medicaid with a total expenditure of $914 billion. Total expenditures increase 2.6X and the population on medicaid increased from 14% to 24% and yet the number of people as poverty level increased from 31.6 million to 36.8 million or 16%.
Anyone see the problem?
I continue to find it rather odd that the SALT cap discussion continues to be characterized as being primarily a Blue State issue. It is a Blue State issue but not for all Blue States and it is very much an issue in some Red States. Folks may be surprised that South Carolina has a higher personal income tax rate than say “high tax” Massachusetts for those earning below 1 million. Texas has big time property tax burdens as does Florida in some areas. It certainly gets more complicated when you combine state income tax and property tax. But when you look at both, this becomes much more of Blue and Red state issue. California, Illinois, NJ, NY and Oregon are outliers. The real story is to look at this issue beyond these 5 Blue states who distort the broader picture.
Blue states and Red states.
Ever been west of I-39 and or south of I-80 in Illinois?
Cornyn is a Uniparty DeepState guy. Why would you attribute to him wanting to cut wasteful spending? Paxton would be a huge improvement over Cornyn.
exactly correct. i wouldn’t trust those assholes to walk my dog. mish is very naive about politics and history but i respect he’s a libertarian.
I know you hate medicaid, but how do people in this country who work, but do not work for employers who offer health insurance and earn fairly low wages supposed to pay for health care. For two years my daughter had no health insurance, managed a small retail store. Owner did not give employees a health benefit, And she could not afford a private health premium. So she had no insurance. Finally decided to give up the job and find something that did offer insurance. So if the government won’t pay how do we get people covered?
I expect able bodied people to work.
And I do not tolerate disability fraud that lets people pretend they are unable.
My block grant proposal would make this a state’s issue so that they would have an incentive to reduce fraud and take care of the truly deserving.
You should be in favor of my suggestions, because your daughter, who is working, would have more benefits (assuming states cut out the obvious fraud and handled the money reasonably well).
Best wishes to your daughter.
Mish
Mike quit with this disability fraud nonsense, people are examined in every way possible, this term is just a way of turning people against the unfortunate so the rich can ruthlessly strip of what is a human right. How about cut the military budget, raise taxes on corporations & raise capital gains tax to equal income. How about taxing charitable organisation who hide their wealth & use it in nefarious ways, how about invest in people to gain skills instead of selling useless degrees for 120k in debt.
I completely agree we need a safety net for people. You can buy a TV for $300, but a colonoscopy costs $7000+. We can’t import medical care from China to make it cheaper.
medicare or VA for all. or copy any country from europe to oz…….the world provides better health outcomes for half the price here. in japan it is 1/3 the price. mish’s proposals are wishful thinking in this crumbling empire. the people of amerika are greedy and stupid. arrogant and ignorant. grifters from top to the top. busboys to oval office.
Politicians give voters sugar left and right.
So used to it, without sugar hypoglycaemia set in.
Go and live in third world country for a year and you’ll be healthier at least mentally.
exactly correct. 99% of amerikans have no clue how great they have it. i live in a hood of haitans and africans. for miles. happy and hard working. i’d say about 10x more content than the asshole boomers and their kids from coast to coast. an empire of rich fat and violent assholes. the folks that don’t vote are just self absorbed nihilists. the empire is crumbling. the folks from poor parts of world won’t panic here. life is fat here.
are there people who understand medicare is not cut? the current big beautiful big “increases” the amount of money. the ‘cut’ is in the increase rate. Final numbers will also depend on judicial resolutions to allow cuts ( staff and programs) which are vigorously opposed by DEMs.
a few of your recommendations are good but again it is the details. for example cutting food stamps for those who should not be eligible is not cutting the basic program nor is removing individuals who should qualify and have been getting benefits ( e.g. fraud)
the press is miopic, very biased and in many ways ignorant.
Nothing of any significance will be done to reduce the deficit. Republicans talk the talk, but never walk the walk. The can will continue to be kicked down the road. The amount of time wasted on this is huge.
This is one reason I can’t be bothered to vote. Both parties will spend your grandchildren’s money to get your vote.
Best to ignore the drama and focus on improving your life on your own.
The defining feature of democracy is that the party that offers the most benefits for the least pain gets the votes. Until bankruptcy resets the slate. Reserve currency based on past achievements, stretches the process a bit longer.
Only one problem, there is no road left & the cliff is very close indeed.
get involved with your local community popa. democracy is participation activity. you can still focus on your own improvement…………you are too smart to let dummies run things……..
Let’s hope there is some follow through when the final votes are taken to diminish the future deficits that investors are counting today.
IT IS ALL BUL11LSH11IT!!!
as long as political system =as is= in USA, nothing will change
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here is my modest (=initial) proposals for USA CONGRESS!
=1 age restriction. person must between 40*65 years to get elected.!
=2 birth restriction. only person born on USA soil, from USA legit parents(=citizens) can be elected.
no 1st generation immigrants in Congress!
====
=3 NO CORP. LOBBY MONEY. period! full stop!! FULL BAN!!
====
=4 money for elections are only donated from legit citizens!!
no more than 1000$ per person per year.
there are about 260 mil adults in USA (over 21+ old), so there is a plenty of money to get/spend!
to make IT MORE LEGIT: make it tax deductible!! good for accounting too.
and last one
=5 term restrictions. no more than 4 terms , overall .
and after 2 consecutive terms, you have to skip next term!
alx
Mish’s proposals 2 through 6 are preposterous.
2) There will be zero military spending cuts. The way the world is currently functioning, expect a dramatic ramp up once S really HTF.
3) Until they flat tax and abolish the IRS, wishful thinking.
4) Seriously? Punish parents? This would be a tax increase of hundreds of dollars per month by itself repealing these credits. Many would be in trouble.
5) There playing field needs to be leveled. Does this proposal include ending farm subsidies as well?
6) Canada and Mexico can suck it.
7 through 12 are reasonable but I refuse to vote for any sort of tax increases. If the government can swipe the US AMEX card to $36 trillion, you can bet your left nut I’m clamoring to get whatever I can.
There is no “high road” when it comes to these people. It’s either take or get taken, that’s clear as day.
When did I say I thought any of my suggestions will be done?
So, what’s preposterous about them?
If they could cut off funding to the CIA, the world would be less F’d up. JFK tried that & look where it got him.
the cia does not need funding. they own private and profitable companies all over the globe, so they can do anything they want without congress or potus. from smuggling heroin from asia to streets of amerika to more boring enterprises. the amerikan public are basically naive morons who keep voting for endless warfare. going with less as long as we bomb the living shit out of millions of people’s homes around the globe who dare trade with someone we don’t approve of. long live pax dumbfuckistan.
Simple question for you. What country has the ability to attack the mainland US and how will they do it?
Every country on earth has the ability to attack the mainland US but none want to, only the US thinks that way. The US is ultimately it’s own worse enemy, it attacks itself, when you destroy you life blood (Children) by debt, childbirth, healthcare & education ya already dying. Who in their right mind will defend their millions & billions in old age & starve their own children.
i think the answer is anyone with a great plan and balls and brains and a few razor blades.
Why doesn’t someone stand up and explain how much of Medicaid is actually welfare and has nothing to do with medical aid? The Medicaid payout (mostly fraudulent) in California alone is larger than the entire budget of Florida. Please point this out, so people will understand this is not harming those who are ill…..
It may all be fraudulent in CA, but it is important to people who are truly disabled. If you are in a wheelchair, you need help it maybe all that is keeping you alive.