When Trump tweets about the economy, and how it’s doing. Does he understand that when he’s bragging about it, he means largely the rich are the one’s benefiting? For those who talk about how great the economy is doing, and do so by referring to the stock market. Do they remember history at all? Trump cut taxes, and are companies hiring workers? No, of course not. Supply-side economic’s has always been bullshit, because you know what will happen each time. Companies are just buying stock buybacks, and are on pace to buy back $1 trillion dollars worth. Buying back stock in their company to increase the value of the company, buy low, and sell high. Stock buybacks go to the executives, and without the approval from owner-shareholders. Financial manipulation that use to be illegal is now legal, and not getting consent from you shareholders is considered Capitalism.
It’s quite amazing how easily Americans forget how shit went down. Forgotten that the Bush tax cuts didn’t do shit, but add to our debt, and Trump’s tax cuts are going to do the same. Not only is his budget going to add $3 trillion in 10 years because of his current tax policies, but he wants to cut the corporate tax even more. Furthermore, It took a large number of people only ten years to forget that the stock market crashed because banks were deregulated, but this new deregulation will be different.
The bank deregulation was promised to benefit small community banks and credit unions, and not the big banks, but we knew that was bullshit. Seven Senator Republicans have written a letter to the Fed’s suggesting to deregulate the largest banks in the country. It might have been Republican Senator’s who wrote the letter, but the Democrats who approved the deregulation of the Dodd-Frank Act, knew this was going to happen. Doing the same things that increased our national debt, and what caused the recession is what we’re doing now.
Republican’s won’t leave Trump for many reasons, among them is that he is doing things that the stock market likes, or doesn’t care about. Meaning, they love his "don't give a fuck about the consequences," and that they don’t care about the news of his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and his personal lawyer Michael Cohen. Wall street will pillage until they crash the whole thing, either getting out at the right time, or hoping they’ll be bailed out again. But how has the economy changed for the poor and working class of America? Has it really gotten any better?
According to David Cay Johnston, if a worker earning the median wage a week got, “got the average 2.8% raise on July 1” their “gross pay rose by a bit under $17.” That’s pretty insignificant compared to what those on the top received in tax cuts. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation was at 2.9 percent. In other words, that worker actual made “60-cents less each week.” Though that too is a small amount, “Less is less and most definitely is not more no matter how often Trump says otherwise,” writes Johnson. Not only have wages for the working class not gone up, but he has gone after unions, especially federal worker’s in unions.
A study published by the Urban Institute found that even though the economy is near full employment, “nearly 40 percent of adults reported that they or their families had trouble meeting at least one basic need for food, health care, housing, or utilities in 2017.” Of adults who had one material hardship, “60.2 percent had two or more hardships, and 34.7 percent had three or more hardships.” When “Federal and state policymakers are seeking fundamental changes to the publicly financed safety net,” who gives a shit if you’re income has gone up a little. If you’re health care costs go up, what you got in pay or tax cuts, will be vacuumed out of your pocket and into the hands of the healthcare industry. Policies that will decrease access to medicaid to those above the poverty line, will find healthcare costs even worse. Nevertheless, policies will impact the poor as they will likely include expanded work requirements for those who are in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and policies that will increase housing costs for the poor, as well.
Alongside wages not going up, continuing insecurity, increase in poor housing, and decrease in access to affordable healthcare. Something else that has been happening to American workers is wage theft.
A report by Good Jobs First found that since 2000, there have been 1,200 successful wage theft litigation cases brought against large corporations. As a result of the litigations, employers have had to pay out a total of $8.8 billion, since 2000. Walmart has paid $1.4 billion in total wage theft settlements and fines. FedEx with $502 million, came in second to Walmart. Wells Fargo paid $205 million, JP Morgan Chase $160 million, and State Farm Insurance with $140 million dollars in settlements and fines. As corporations get the vast majority of the benefits from Trump’s tax cuts. They are also making workers literally work for free. “More than 450 of the corporations” who have committed wage theft, “each paid out $1 million or more in settlements or judgments.”
In short, when Trump says the economy is doing great, he’s talking about the rich.
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