I wouldn't normally post about politics, but We All need to do something NOW about the Tax Plan

Doesn't matter if you are a Democrat or a Republican, unless you are in the top 1% of earners in the US, the tax bills on the table will likely have a negative impact on your bottom line either directly through paying more in taxes or indirectly in paying more money for services for yourself or your family members.

In addition, the Senate bill was passed while it was still be written with handwritten notes in the margins and lack of time for anyone including the public, all of the Democratic senators, and most of the Republican senators to read the bill.  This is NOT what should be happening with a major piece of legislation.  At least, it should be seriously read and considered before being passed.

But, because the House and the Senate versions are different, there is something we can all do together to try to force the Republicans to rethink and replan and produce a BALANCED budget that is produced in enough time to actually read and analyze before it is voted upon.


As it stands (click on the images to enlarge):

Over 50% of the tax breaks go to the top 1% of earners by 2027

The budgets that the house and senate have passed benefit corporations (corporate tax rated changed from 35% to 20%) and the very wealthy (top 20% of earners pay ~$2,200 less, the top 1% pay ~$35,000 less, and the top 0.1% pay ~$200,000 less), ask the poorest earners to pay slightly more in taxes (~$10 a year more), and the benefits for the middle class in taxes ($50-200 a year less) do not compensate for the losses in services and tax breaks many middle class families need including removing the tax deductible status for student loan repayments and unexpected large medical bills.

Over 13 million people additional people will be uninsured raising premiums for everyone

Changes to the ACA requirements are predicted by the CBO to result in 13 million more people uninsured. This will mean more more deaths that are preventable, but also will mean an increase in insurance costs for everyone because less people are in the insurance pools.

The bill has the potential to demolish higher educational institutions

It also seeks to education when changing tax laws for graduate students making it impossible to go to grad school unless you are independently wealthy.  Many graduate students have stipends from $12,000-$30,000.  Estimates would mean tax would increase by $7,000 while the actual take home pay does not increase.  Because big universities rely on graduate students to provide small classes for undergraduate students, this will decrease the quality of education for undergraduate students as well and decrease the ability of America to produce high quality academic research - essential for technology and medical research among other fields.  In addition, the majority of people who benefit from the student loan tax breaks are middle income earners and they will be less likely to be able to save to help their children go to college which will ultimately cost even MORE money without the tax breaks.  At the lower levels of education eliminating the deduction for state and local taxes will likely negatively effect local education.

The economy will not see a massive change by 10 years out under the new bill

But this all might be worth it, if the economy would grow and then wages would go up.  Trickle down economics - even it hasn't been proven to work in the past - might take care of these issue.  But that isn't true, because the bill will not grow the economy over the next 10 years significantly more than the status quo. Even from Conservative leaning predictions (Tax Foundation) the growth rate increase in 2017 for the status quo is 1.88% vs. 2.08% for the senate tax plan.

And it isn't even a balanced budget

Republicans pride themselves on fiscal responsibility.  But this bill doesn't even have that going for it.  It does all of the above while INCREASING the debt by at least $1.4 over the next 10 years according to Joint Committee on Taxation.  The real number could be up to $2.2 trillion when you include the subtext.

So what can I do:

1. Call your senators and representatives:
1. Republican who is on the fence - make sure you include that you want it to be a balanced budget which does not increase the debt, because many of them are inclined to agree with this statement.
2. Republican who is firmly in support of the plan - make sure you say that you will donate to their opponents both in the primary (and vote for their opponent if you are registered Republican) and general election in 2018 if they are up (all representatives are and some key senators).
3. Democrat - say you support their opposition and encourage them to produce an alternative plan even if it cannot pass, it will show that the Democrats are not just a party of "no".
2. Call your governor:
1. Republican governor with Republican reps and senators - make sure to include that you want a balanced budget that will not cost the states money or take away states rights.
2. Democrat governor with Republican reps and senators - make sure you say you are grateful for their support and ask if they can put pressure on the reps and senators.
3. Democrat governor with Democrat reps and senators - thank them.
3. Tell your story: Go on social media or local (TV, radio, post if you have the option) and tell how much your education, your health care, your tax credits mean to you.  Say how much you will loose if this passes both houses.  Encourage other people to call their senators and representatives.  Remember to not make this about divisive issues, but on issues that will effect both Democrats and Republicans.
4. Register to Vote!  If you are not registered, register to vote.  It matters to the members of congress if you are AND then you will be ready if this does pass to support challengers in Republican primaries and vote in the midterm elections.

Posting on BioTweeps

Hello all.  I haven't been around in a while on the blog.  I am going to try to be more regular on here.  I am curating @Biotweeps this week talking about the following topics.  Stop by and see me there and hopefully, I will be posting more on here regularly.

Rule One: Don't be a D*ck

The past month has been quite difficult for me and quite a few people I know.  A number of my work colleagues have been faced with uncertainty, paperwork, and fees as European citizens preparing to live in the UK post-Brexit.  Many of my US friends are highly concerned about their health care situation (particularly in regards to pre-existing conditions when taking new jobs) if the Affordable Health Care Act is removed.  Before the ACA came about some of these friends had to shell out large amounts of money for treatment for chronic conditions such as juvenile arthritis because most insurance plans wouldn’t cover parts or all of the conditions.  At least one person I know had to borrow from others and ration her insulin (risking her life) because even though she was working she didn’t make enough money to cover her care for her Type I Diabetes.  Many others are worried about the possibility of laws that will openly allow discrimination against anyone who isn’t a white, straight, Protestant man.  Which is especially concerning in light of the hate monster that the election of President Trump has created in the US.  A number of my friends living in places where you wouldn’t think that hate crimes would happen have experienced harassment personally in ways they had not experienced in their lives until the election of President Trump.  On the flip side, I know people who voted for Trump because they are justifiably worried about their future: jobs, savings accounts, violence*, and terrorism.

How do we see ourselves?

Last weekend was the Residents Festival in York, where many tourist attractions open their doors for free to the people who live here.  One of the things I went to see was England's oldest living convent. The Bar Convent and Living Heritage Centre is a working convent of the Congregation of Jesus and a living history museum.  When it was built in 1686 practicing Catholicism was illegal in England. People were fined for not attending Anglican Church services.  Catholic priests were being brutally murdered for nothing more than practicing their faith.  Lay Catholics faced social ostracism, heavy fines, prison, torture, and death depending on the time period and location.  One woman came to Yorkshire and said not only was she going to open a convent to illegally practice the Catholic faith, but also to make it a school to educate young girls because they deserved a good quality education. These female Jesuits continued that practice of educating Catholic girls to the same standard as boys while also proving them the social opportunities of going to dances and the theatre that they would need to be successful in society.  Multiple times they opened their doors to refugees who needed care. All while quietly keeping their faith which could have resulted in all of the nuns being jailed, tortured, or killed.

Bar Convent from Blossom Street.  This building actually conceals a
domed chapel inside.  Picture from www.bar-convent.org.uk.

Compliment a Friend

As we are all just starting, I chose something small for the first act of kindness.

 

 

 

Sometimes we can take our friends for granted or decrease our spontaneous caring acts toward them.  Today let’s all remember that our friends are important and compliment at least one of them.  Maybe make it someone who you don’t normally compliment or make it something that you have been meaning to say to someone but keep forgetting.

 

Charities for today are Cancer related.  My mom is a 20+ year survivor of breast and cervical cancer.  My housemate’s mom is just finishing breast cancer treatment.  So today I suggest you give to a charity that supports cancer patients.  I will suggest Macmillan and Give Kids the World, but also provide this link which provides details for high quality cancer charities if you want to give for a specific type of cancer or a specific group of people.