My criticism of the system is not rhetorical.

Tal, by rhetorical I mean it is a self answering question, the answer being apparent without comment from me.

We all want to drain the swamp, get rid of the freeloaders and fellow travellers, lobbyists and influence peddlers, as well as those who feed from the trough of corruption but so long as your system allows the White House to be filled with sycophants who have no responsibility to your electorate you are royally screwed. Trump is such a mess he can't even fill the cabinet positions

Damn! I can't dispute those allegations. We have an election tomorrow to fill a vacant senate seat in the state of Alabama. The Trump sycophant is accused of all kinds of predatory sexual behavior as well as being a stone to the bone racist. He's favored to win. Our diet cokehead president and the republican party are backing him because they need his vote to pass that monstrosity of a tax bill next year.

You guys got Netflix and popcorn in Australia? I might have to visit for a FEW YEARS!

Yes, we have all sorts of wonders including the NBN, Netflix sort of restricts content a bit, but we have Stan too, and Telstra where they give you the world for $100 a month. I'm into chocolate ginger myself. You may be interested to know that one of our Senators, who was feeding from the Chinese trough, has been forced to resign, chalk up one for the good guys.

You know among the young they use coke to mask all sorts of concoctions so who knows what Dump is drinking but with that much caffeine in his system he must be a bit shaky.

I though your tax bill already passed but then this reconciliation process confuses me. I'm a simple soul, the bill either passes or it does not, you negotiate before the vote not after

You would think that's how it was done, especially a no brainer like tax cuts. EVERYBODY loves those, but this scam NOBODY but rich guys like it. They should, they wrote the darn thing. Truth be told, repubs are scrambling for enough votes even in the house to get this done. Many conservative constituents are protesting the inequality of this sham, and giving their lawmakers an earful, so it's game on.

The democratic party is hands off and repubs in big democratic states are shaking in their boots afraid of losing their jobs. Send me some of that popcorn will ya', extra cheese no butter. It's been a long year already, and 2018 promises to be full of fireworks here.

Don't you have any popcorn over there? This was a terrible year in many ways, let me count the ways, no, better not to. I think 2018 might not be as bad, at least the war in Iraq is over, and Syria is all but finished, even Vlad thinks so. The way things are going in the Ukraine, that problem might be solved soon too. This will bring us to China and NK, now if Dump could see his way clear to take the fleets home for Christmas

I don't think the world has found peace and it's more likely just off the attention of the mainstream news. No doubt more hotspots will erupt to help distract us and no telling what Dufus does about them, something loud and goofy as always. Not really worried about Kim getting a sucker punch in, that's been tried before, but the chances of him getting sneaky with his technology, and making the wrong type of friends, is a worrisome proposition.

Actually it's been a good year all things considered, thanks to popcorn and Netflix, and we have plenty of both here, but obviously I'm thinking of a vacation. An island paradise sounds good.

Kim is taking a nasty turn researching biological weapons. He knows he couldn't make enough nukes to make serious inroads into the US but his rockets could deliver biological weapons. I think this tells us what we should already know, his testing program has exhausted his supply for now. I think he might already have a back door to the Iranians but it must be difficult to go from one place to the other. Africa is looking like there are problems there, a lot of long festering rat holes that the remnant of IS can infiltrate

You want an island paradise, we have a number here the advantage being you are not too far from civilisation. I recommend a barrier reef cruise, sailing in pristine waters

Secretary of State Tillerson has come out and said he was willing talk with Kim with NO preconditions attached. Meaning he doesn't have to agree to giving up, or curbing his nukes just to talk. 'BOUT time, if Trump would keep his big mouth shut long enough. Bio weapons are a whole nother big headache, but the consequences of openly using, selling, such hardware is the same as with the nukes. The middle east is still the hotspot, but Africa has always been, just not widely publicized until recently. You know how it goes when colonial powers leave a big mess, it takes a long time to clean up.

Yes Talking is a plus, you are less likely to fight with someone you talk to, but Trump won't take not being the top of the pile for long and will do something to upset it

This comment by joypulv is 100% correct. By the time I wrote it, the elimination of the charity deduction had been withdrawn and, to date, it has not been resurrected.

What charity administrators do fear, however, is that with a doubling of the standard deduction which will eliminate the requirement for many filers to itemize deductions, the tax benefit of charitable giving will diminish since these filers will no longer itemize.

The basic flaws of the tax plan remain: that the middle class tax cuts will phase out leading to a tax INCREASE for that group, and the tax cuts for the wealthy are PERMANENT. And the lie that tax cuts generate revenues that will pay for the cuts. Also known as trickle down, voodoo economics and the Laffer curve, this false economic theory (developed on a napkin in a bar by Arthur Laffer) has been proven false with Reagan, Bush2, and soon Trump.

(Thank you to another member here for bringing this charitable deduction oversight to my attention.)

Voodoo economics or not, someone will benefit over the next few years and the structure will mean the democrats won't have to increase taxes immediately. People love to pick holes in plans; not enough, benefits the wrong people, cuts the corporate rate, increases the debt, but there must be some pluses here hidden behind the rhetoric. Cutting some of the red tape, encouraging investment, lowering the burden on someone on the 50% poverty rate. What I have found over the years is that people are perverse and they don't react as expected particularly where tax is concerned. These tax cuts might mean a higher rate of dividend and they certainly mean no one can be taxed for not having health insurance, the most draconian measure in living history

No, no, no, no, no, no, and no.

Those who benefit are the rich and the corporations. The middle class will get a small benefit (1-2K the first year, NOT the 4-9K promised by Trump). Then the middle will pay tax increases as their benefits phase out and expire while the rich will continue to receive their massive benefits PERMANENTLY.

Then Trump and his Republican allies claim the corporate windfalls will result in more jobs and higher wages. Bulls***. The corporations will declare dividends for their already wealthy shareholders and will buy back their stock. The rich will horde their windfalls as they always have done in the past. You want the economy pumped? Give it to the middle class and the poor. They'll SPEND it!

Corporations are wallowing in profits today and there is no need to pump them up in this economic climate. The plan's destruction of the health mandate is in this farce for one reason only - simply to assuage Trump's completely nutty obsession with Obama.

Then there's the deficit. Historically the Republicans screamed bloody murder when the deficit increased. What do they say this time as THEY purposely increase the deficit by a WHOPPiNG 1.5 TRILLION DOLLARS? They lie that the increased revenue coming from the non-existent corporate expansion will pay for the tax cuts. The entire world knows this is more Bull****. This plan is approved by a scant 30% of Americans. That's even less than Trump's core.

Finally, note that Trump et al want the plan approved by next week. A ONE THOUSAND page tax plan with NO time to analyze it, take it apart, discuss it, and arrive at a fair plan.

We don't know what Trump stands to gain by his plan. But we DO know that his loud public proclamation that he "and his friends" will be financially hurt by this plan is an incredible LIE! Based on what we DO know about Trump and his holdings, he and his family will gain something MORE than several hundred MILLION dollars!

Trump is raping America.

Well, relax and enjoy

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At least Trump can pay his Russian boyfriend back now! Vlad is happy and that's all he cares about.

Yes they will march in lockstep into the abyss

Unfortunately they will take us to the abyss with them. It should be official today, and becomes LAW 60 days after signing. Just in time for donors to pick sides and fund the 2018 elections.

Well Tal you will know in eleven months whether they like it or not, probably few will have had benefit by then. Think of this though, it is a positive that they could agree about something

The Republican Party can ALWAYS agrees on tax cuts, that's what they do best. It ALWAYS makes big deficits and Democrats get swept in and clean up the mess. This is the first time in my lifetime though they have so brazenly enriched themselves. Usually they TRY and hide it like good politicians. At least now they can dump Trump after he signs this monstrosity, for high crimes and misdemeanors, and conspiring with the Russians to subvert the 2016 election.

Then we can drain the swamp!