Bugs
Joined: 16 Dec 2009
Posts: 4992
  votes: 8
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 2:08 am Post subject: Trump's budget plan ... |
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Just so you know, the outlines of the Trump tax proposal goes like this ...
Three departments get increases -- Homeland Security, up 7%; VA -- Veterans' medical services, up 6%, and the Department of Defense up 5%,
The rest got cuts. Bear in mind, there is an automatic 'inflator' in the budget-making process, so that departmental budgets go up by a specific amount every year. That would be described to the public as 'holding the line' against rising costs. This might be 5% a year. It might be less.
I'll just list the department and the size of the cuts ...
Justice ... -4%
Energy ... -6%
Housing ... -13%
Transport ... -13%
Education ... -14%
Health ... -16%
Labor ... -20%
Agriculture ... -21%
State Dept ... -29%
E.P.A. ... -31%
This is probably not going to survive the legislative process intact, but cuts over 20% must get into job losses. Most of the costs of these huge governmental bureaucracies is made up of wages, after all.
This goes along with large corporate tax cuts, and individual income tax cuts. On right-wing radio, they are starting to compare Trump to the Great Ronald Reagan! Limbaugh is elated.
The cuts to the EPA are sure to raise the snark level around the Liberal Party's HQ, as they come to see the wisdom of Canada matching whatever the Americans do on climate change. Just pray Justin doesn't imagine himself to be the one to slay this dragon ... |
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