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Wednesday, December 20, 2017

The Next Lie From The Left

The tax bill has passed (or will this morning).  Pretty soon, most Americans will realize that they are getting a tax cut despite all the lies from the Democrats and the media that the bill would raise taxes on the middle class and poor to benefit the rich (it doesn't).  By next spring, that extra cash in consumers' pockets and the lower corporate rate should ignite a period of higher economic growth, more job creation and higher real wages.  For the Democrats and the media, that's a problem.  There are elections in November 2018, you see, and Americans might be happy with the prosperity that they haven't really seen since before Obama took office.  That could spell success for the Republicans, and they can't have that.  So, Democrats and media are shifting to two new lies.  First, they are saying that today's good economic numbers and any future higher growth are the result of Obama's policies.  Second, they are saying that the tax cuts will cause a recession.  These are total lies, but just think how the debate will work.  Republicans will talk about the prosperity the tax cuts achieved.  Democrats will say that the prosperity is due to Obama's policies and the GOP tax cut will end that prosperity.  The media will tell us that "experts" all agree with the Democrats.  Remember, the lies from the Democrats and the media convinced a majority of Americans that the tax cuts would mean a tax increase for them so that the rich can get a break.  Maybe the lies of the Democrats will succeed in fooling America again.

An article this morning is a good illustration of this phenomenon.  Writing in The American Prospect, Robert Kuttner talks about "The Tax Cut and the Fake Trump Boom".  It's an amazing amalgam of falsehoods.  Here's a good example:

 For starters, the boom was already roaring along in 2015 and 2016, before Trump took office, as the post-recession recovery finally kicked in. The year 2015 showed the strongest GDP growth in more than a decade, and 2016 was not far behind.

Let that sink in.  Here are the actual facts: 

1. During the eight years of Obama, the US economy never once grew by 3.0% or more.  That means that Obama was the first modern president who failed to meet that minimum growth rate which is below the average for the last 100 years.

2.  In 2015, when Kuttner says the economy was "roaring along", the first half of the year only had a growth rate of about 2.6% while the second half of the year grew at the paltry rate of about 0.7%.  That's a lot closer to dying than roaring along.  2016 also saw a growth rate of less than 2%.  These are puny numbers.  It is growth too small to create enough jobs so that the long term unemployed could get jobs.

After starting with lies, Kuttner goes on to say that the tax cuts for corporations will lead to a collapse of the stock market before November of 2018.  Think about that one.  Higher after tax profits for companies will lead to lower stock prices according to Kuttner.  No one knows exactly what drives the stock market each day even though thousands of people report about it as if they do know.  One thing that has always been true, however, is that in general if a company's profits go up, so does the price of its stock.  Kuttner's "analysis" is just wrong, and he probably knows it.

It's important to remember how many times the Democrats and the media have told us that the tax cut bill will raise the taxes of the middle class and poor.  The left ought not be allowed to lie and lie and then just move on to a different lie without consequences.  American should remember this.

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