Former Treasury Secretary Lew Says Tax Cuts Will Leave the U.S. Broke
Source: Bloomberg News
By Marcus Bensasson
January 2, 2018, 7:53 AM EST
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said the Trump administrations decision to add a significant amount of debt through last years tax legislation is leaving the country broke.
Its a ticking time bomb in terms of the debt, Lew said in a Bloomberg Radio interview with Tom Keene and Jonathan Ferro. You cannot run a fiscal policy by spending trillions of dollars you dont have at a time that the economy is doing well.
Having chosen to make tax policy without including Democrats in any of the conversation, now the administration probably cant rally Republicans in Congress to do the basic business of government, such as making sure the country doesnt default on debt and children dont get thrown off health insurance, he said.
The next shoe to drop is going to be an attack on the most vulnerable in our society, Lew said. How are we going to pay for the deficit caused by the tax cut? We are going to see proposals to cut health insurance for poor people, to take basic food support away from poor people, to attack Medicare and Social Security. One could not have made up a more cynical strategy.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-02/former-treasury-secretary-lew-says-tax-cuts-leaving-u-s-broke
Irish_Dem
(47,131 posts)QED
(2,747 posts)Drown government in the bathtub, just like Grover Norquist said.
unblock
(52,253 posts)madashelltoo
(1,698 posts)Was his purpose. Paul Ryan shared a portion of this vision and has been gleeful in his ability to help. I just want to live long enough to see them get theirs.
CrispyQ
(36,478 posts)If you can walk, you will have to work until you drop. Our government has been co-opted by some of the most craven humans on the planet.
21st century feudalism is the goal. Leisure time, health care, education, nice things, will be for the rich only.
Merlot
(9,696 posts)iluvtennis
(19,863 posts)strangedaysindeed
(226 posts)The next shoe to drop is going to be an attack on the most vulnerable in our society, Lew said. How are we going to pay for the deficit caused by the tax cut? We are going to see proposals to cut health insurance for poor people, to take basic food support away from poor people, to attack Medicare and Social Security. One could not have made up a more cynical strategy.
ballooning the deficit is a feature, not a bug!
but, don't worry, the next depression will be great (again), we'll all have more leisure time to starve with our families.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)I posted a couple weeks ago that the German international news (in English on cable)
was reporting the Trump tax cuts (and adding a trillion dollars to our debt)
will bankrupt the United States.
Abouttime
(675 posts)Obama cleaned up 8 years of out of control spending by babybush and led the economy into prosperity which tRump is taking credit for.
Reagan and both Bushes added trillions to our national debt and ruined our economy for the middle class. Clinton and Obama both cut deficits while growing the economy and adding jobs.
Yavin4
(35,442 posts)It's not enough to re-take congress in 2018 nor will it be enough to re-take the White House in 2020 because that Democratic government will be struggling to pay off the debts. Dems need to mimic what California did. Take over the entire government with a veto proof majority and then correct the errors for the long haul.