Taciturn Trump and The Big Beautiful Bill — Thou Shalt Not Pass!

Money is Money. Politics is Politics. Citizens are Citizens.

Photo: wikimedia.org by David Maiolo, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

US Senate

That may sound trite, even simplistic, but it gains nuance the older one becomes.

For instance, Yours Truly loathes Big Pharma and believes it hurts far more than it heals…yet I have financial holdings in pharmaceuticals. The same with Big Banks, Petroleum, Tabacco.

Hypocrisy?…Perhaps. Only I can not do what I do or help whom I help without earning those shekels.

So take that how you please, chill'uns. When you grow into adults you will find choices are to be made, ways of looking (as in, looking the other way), not to mention the delicate degrees of harm.

In any event, it is entirely possible for a wealthy individual to be socially considered — but not at all possible to be rich without also being filthy.

Thus is the conundrum and this article is a solution…

It's Hard Out Here for a Whip

As even Americans in attendance for today's lecture likely do not fully comprehend making of legislation, we will omit even a truncated primer as it would be considerably more expansive than an after-school special and only slightly less onerous than a dissertation.

Besides, what is legitimately vital for Citizens to comprehend is this alleged "Big Beautiful Tax Bill” is in reality funded by denial of service for our fellow Americans, which punishes those ALREADY WORKING by removing health care coverage, likely will CAP PAYMENTS to those who are ill, and REMOVES INSURANCE for tens of millions all in order to gift tax benefit advantages of up to $40,000 (possibly more) for high worth individuals with large capital assets or making exorbitant salaries.

So, yes, basically the most cruel, dysgenic, heartless and UN-AMERICAN "tax bill” in all of history.

Speaking of which, WHERE ARE WE anyway!?!

Not that long ago the House of Representatives narrowly passed the bill, despite calls for even more cuts.

Next it goes to the Senate where many Republicans have stated they want further service reductions to pay for tax relief; likely at the expense of even more disabled children and elderly adults.

Afterward, if the two versions differ, there will be a committee to reconcile the divergent portions.

Some hope for a full Congressional vote by July 4, 2025, this being an obviously symbolic date.

Stay With Me, This Is The Good Stuff

Alright, so now we come to the reason there is no way this horror should be passed…

In order to get everyone onboard with even CONSIDERING furtherance of the agreement — between MAGA Republicans (All Trump, All the Time Trump) and the Freedom Caucus Republicans (Fiscal Conservatives) there was concord to find — somewhere — around $1.5 TRILLION in current cuts.

That's a lot of cheddar, even in a town that runs on government cheese.

So every committee, during "Markup” sessions, got an assignment of how much to draw down.

The House Transportation MAGAs tried to pass their portion out with a "passenger vehicle” tax increase, but the FREEDOMs refused. To make the cuts, members instead included a $250 fee on electric vehicles, premised on the philosophy those do not pay taxes on gasoline and therefore have been insufficiently contributing to funds for road and bridge repair. (Not an illogical conclusion.)

That's merely an illustration of the horse trading going on, so multiply by dozens of committees.

The Inside of the Inside…

Even so, there is little disagreement the Energy and Commerce Committee got the hardest assignment of them all…to find nearly $900 BILLION over ten years to fund the Trump tax cuts.

Guess what is a primary focus of the Energy and Commerce Committee?

MEDICAID.

That's the program which deals with Federal and State funding of medical services for Citizens with diminished means…i.e. poor people…i.e. working class people…i.e. disabled people…etc. etc.

When you hear anyone talk about "Obamacare” that is a large component here, even if not identical.

Generally, Medicaid is health insurance of essential services for those of limited financial resources.

Yeah, But These are Useless Grifters, Right?

Glad you asked, friend. Let's take a look, shall we?

The types of "Grifters” most likely to use Medicaid are as follows: nurses, store clerks, hotel maids, waitresses, factory workers, and construction laborers.

Put another way: cashiers at your local grocery or pharmacy, truck drivers, school janitors, fry cooks.

Small businesses, those employing less than 50 people, usually do not offer health care coverage so their workers are on Medicaid as well. Incidentally, that is potentially 60 MILLION people, or about HALF the private workforce of "the richest country on earth”.

So…no, as a mater of fact…another name for these Medicaid "Grifters” would be CITIZENS because they are a huge proportion of people you meet every day…and every time you go out to eat, get a haircut, visit a movie theater, run by the grocery, attend a church, or…well, basically everything.

What About The Rampant Fraud I Keep Hearing About?

Whoa, you're even smarter than I thought, Sportsfan! Excellent question!

Although Trump and DOGE and MAGA and Lindsey Graham repeat ad nauseum about "fraud” or "deadbeats” in the Medicaid system that does not exist to a significant degree according to — FACTS.

Are there fraudsters in Medicaid? Assuredly. It covers 80 MILLION Americans.

Is fraud "rampant” or widely evident? No. Not in any appreciable degree. That is not Practical Reality.

How About That "Work Requirement” Trump Keeps Talking About?

Like many things Trump says this is…inaccurate.

Here are the FACTS (approximately, as it will vary by state):

1. Around 60% of Medicaid recipients are ALREADY working. Chairman of the Energy and Commerce House Committee Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) is LYING TO YOU when he claims "able-bodied” people are "gaming the system”, he only wants a way to expel them from it. In fact, in states where "work requirements” were imposed it resulted in MANY working people being kicked off Medicaid by error, FEWER enrollments for those eligible and MUCH HIGHER PRICES OVERALL for municipalities. It was intentionally done to create hardship…and save money. Onerous documentation and agency threats meant qualified workers lost care.
2. Around 30% of Medicaid recipients are IN-HOME CARERS…such as mothers taking care of children, or adults taking care of elderly relatives, or siblings caring for incapacitated kin.
3. Around 10% of Medicaid recipients are in other categories such as Homeless, Transients or Mentally Unwell…the sort of PEOPLE (which they ARE) who need HELP rather than scorn.

That's it. Those are your "Deadbeats”…Part-time busboys, Stay-at-Home mothers, and autistic teens.

Exactly the kind of folks who need Trump, MAGA, Graham, or whoever else to make life harder.

Oh, Before "You Hate Republicans”…

This author would come out exactly as ferociously against any Diversocrats pushing to punish these same groups…who may not be YOUR pick for Person of the Year but are fully part of the American fabric.

And Now, A Few More MAGA Distortions

In coming weeks you will hear A LOT of false premises from some Republicans about Medicaid.

• First and foremost that there is "Rampant Fraud” — but it is not happening. While the Congressional Budget Office alleges there is between $250 and $500 Billion in "waste” it is NOT any fraud most people would recognize; it is NOT fraudsters buying swimming pools but "fraudsters” who maybe earn $5 an hour above the limit to get support for disabled kids.
• In fact, most of what the CBO references as "fraud” is more aptly described as waste made by inept charging errors or State chargebacks with actual fraud being the least of the matter.
• Basically, the real fraud is miniscule while the other "fraud” are gig workers trying to keep nursing care for their incapacitated children while also earning to feed them. Unless you are truly heartless that is not "fraud” in the classical sense, despite MAGA propaganda claims.
• Second and loudest will be "Every able-bodied person should work.” — THEY ARE WOKING ALREADY! (Except stringent requirements will kick off many marginal and low wage earners.)
• Third and vital, will be "We aren't reducing Medicaid.” — except THEY ARE considering to "cap the total” which means once you ever hit your "limit” for any illness…you're dead. Deceased. In the ground. No more money to help, Citizen. Go die alone. In a ditch, preferably.
• At best, the MAGAs will shift the burden of Medicaid from Federal to State which means…can you guess?…even IF you get a "tax cut” from Trump, your State will raise taxes to cover it!
• Fourth and final will be "tax cuts” — and here we need to be VERY CLEAR about things…
• The "No Tax On Tips” is largely ridiculous because waiters and taxi drivers generally do not rise to a high enough tax level that they would even be permitted to take those deductions.
• The "No Tax On Social Security” is again more nonsense in that those most in need and entirely relying on Social Security for income will definitely not rise to meet such deductions.

So Why Kick The Ill and Poor While They're Down?

Here is where the real largesse comes in…if you happen to be a millionaire (or billionaire).

The SALT Deduction. for State and Local Taxes, is currently $10,000 for Couples or $5,000 Spouses filing separately. Apparently both Conservatives and Moderates want to increase that because in "Blue States” (Democratic) taxes are much higher in order to fund expansive social programs.

You know what MAGA wants to make that deduction? Double? To $20,000?…NO…They want it to be $60,000 MINIMUM with several advocating for $100,000 deductions…the House bill stands at $40,000 but several Senators want it to be far higher.

Do you REALIZE how much money you need to make to quality for $100,000 in tax relief?

And to pay for it MAGAs (and some Diversocrats) are going to punish farm workers, waitresses, stay-at-home moms and the mentally suffering?

(Currently there is exemption for mothers of infants…but not for sisters caring for sisters…or grandchildren caring for the elderly…or even for a friend caring for a friend…because that isn't real work according to the plutocrats cruelly wielding undeserved power over the meek and the weak…)

The Red Line? It's Right Here — Between You, Me and Every Citizen Elderly, Sick or Unwell

I understand coarseness is abrasive and gauche, but…

NO MR. PRESIDENT. (And Lindsey, and MAGA, and any Diversocrats.)

NO POSSIBLE WAY.

Confessions of a Man of Means and Ways

I make money a variety of methods. One is speculation, which I loathe. It is not productive labor.

Even so, I have never — EVER — considered my worth based on what I earned…and I have never considered the worth of anyone else based on that metric either.

Tax cuts would be nice. I would benefit handsomely from them.

But I'm not kicking any elderly widows into the street for them.

And I'm not forcing any mother, who ideally should be at home, into 12-hour work days to get them.

Likewise, I'm not laughing as I step over some poor drug-addled veteran on my way to cash them.

That is not happening.

Because money is money…but People are People.

Call your Congressman: 202-224-3121

Guy Somerset writes from somewhere in America