03/07/2025
Imagine being an adolescent child living with impoverished parents in a culture of abundance. Your family is in crippling debt (over an entire year's worth of the household's income), with the stress and uncertainty that comes with it. Food is both scarce and unhealthy. Utilities and amenities in your home are unreliable and also unhealthy. The family is constantly on the verge of losing the home you live in.
Your father gets one last creditor to give him a big loan... Only for him to decide that what is really best for the family would be for him to take that loan and buy him and his drinking buddies a luxurious golfing trip and a bunch of new guns.
That's what it feels like to be an informed American right now with the passage of this abomination of a reconciliation bill.
Tell me, what is your favorite part of the package?
1) Is it the ~15 Million people who will get kicked off Medicaid? Nah that's probably not going to affect you and yours for a long time (if ever), right?... At least until the rural and/or inner-city hospital you go to (like the ones in southern WV where I grew up) that are only able to stay open bc of Medicaid funding end up closing and EMS services get replaced with expensive privatization... And don't forget what our reality was as little as 15 years ago- when more people don't have health insurance (like the ones who will lose Medicaid or get kicked off the ACA marketplace) the price of EVERYTHING else in the healthcare market goes up for the insured to make up for the collective debts racked up in emergency rooms by those who can't pay for it but are still legally required to receive necessary care.
2) Maybe you really love how we're finally going to slash funding for all the mooches on SNAP/food stamps by using hard-line 80 hour/month work requirements as a form of bureaucratic red tape disincentives? I mean, every time a red state has tried work requirements like this on their own it's been a non-cost saving s**t show but if MAGA has taught us anything it's that learning from past mistakes is a fool's errand. I'm sure we won't see a commensurate increase in larceny and violent crime as poor people in communities with no jobs struggle to feed themselves or their families and can't get jobs bc employers aren't hiring or expanding due to the constantly changing uncertain market and tarriff conditions created by an administration making up their policies with crayon based on whims of the moment. I'm a peaceful guy with no criminal record. But nothing would inspire me to consider going against that like the prospect of having to watch my kids or family go hungry.
3) I'll stop burying the lede though. Because I know a lot of you really love the concept of no tax on tips or social security. Nevermind that the social security part is a lie and has never been in any incarnation of the bill despite the President and White House Press Secretary continuously saying it is. Also nevermind that the no tax on tips gets sunset (removed) by 2028; it's so weird how the big tax breaks reserved for millionaires and corporations don't have that same sunset timeline. Also nevermind that there's a $25k annual limit on the no tax on tips and that if you're a worker relying on tips making anywhere near that amount (especially if you have a family or dependents) that you already weren't paying practically anything in federal taxes after deductions.
4) For me, personally, none of the aforementioned aspects of the bill spark joy over any other. As they say, "If you want to make an omelette, ya gotta break some eggs!" My favorite part of the bill that adds $3.3 TRILLION (or ~10%) to our already staggering debt is all the things we're getting in return for it! Like the peace of mind that comes from knowing that the super wealthy yacht owning families who have never had to worry about the price of things will be getting a big tax break. Or that billion dollar corporations will be further subsidized and incentivized to continue reducing their human workforce and devoting more assets and responsibilities to AI automation... But the one thing that we're getting, the true cherry on top that gets me most turned on by the bill, is that ICE is getting a 300% increase in their budget. ICE is now officially the largest federal law enforcement agency- bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, and DEA COMBINED. I just can't overstate how much I love that, in a country whose education, healthcare, and physical infrastructure are all lagging on a global scale, that these were the top priorities worth addressing and going into more debt for.
In the coming years, when things get so bad from the next unforeseen war or natural disaster or just the culmination of bad policies, and citizens take to the streets en masse to protest (real protest not the silly once a month hang out/cookout gatherings under the fun "no kings" banner) like they did during the summer of 2020 and are then met with overwhelming violent force the likes of which we haven't seen since the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam movements, remember the bill that will have paid for that lawless goon force and munitions.
Godspeed fellow Libtards and to the MAGAt morons and sociopathic narcissists we're forced to share a country with as well. If all the other times wannabe authoritarians have seized power in countries (who our President routinely affectionately name-drops) have taught us anything throughout history, it's that it only gets worse from here!
