Saturday, November 20, 2021

What is in the BBB the House passed a couple of days ago

These images are from a New York Times article that breaks the spending and taxes down for the Build Back Better Bill (BBB) the House passed a few days ago. Only some of it is shown because the images cannot be put on single screens.


How BBB money will be spent


















Taxes to pay for BBB


Not shown in the revenue to pay for BBB is $127 billion the CBO estimated for increased IRS enforcement of tax law to recover some of the trillions in unpaid taxes that tax cheats do not pay. Congressional Republicans hate this. They are hell-bent on protecting tax cheats to starve the beast, i.e., the federal government, of revenue to do most domestic spending, including this bill. 

The White House disputes The CBO estimate and claims that the added $80 billion to the IRS for tax compliance and enforcement funding will raise ~$400 billion. Over a 10 year period, about $12 trillion will be lost to the tax cheats that congressional Republicans want left untouched.

Republicans have criticized this bill as evil socialist or communist tyranny. As usual from that crowd, that's a lie. Note that some of the provisions affect all people, not just Democrats as some conservatives like to falsely claim. 

BBB includes $24 billion to fund worker retraining when jobs are lost. For years, congressional Republicans have opposed and cut spending programs to protect workers who lose their jobs. That reflects of their blind ideological hate of most domestic spending. BBB also provides for health care protections for consumers, paid family leave and government power to negotiate Medicare drug prices, thereby reducing government spending by $76 billion. 

Kyrsten Sinema will probably required removal of the drug price negotiation provision to protect drug companies. Drug companies are major donors to Sinema, so she owes them payback for the hundreds of thousands they have given her. $76 billion seems a fair ROI (return on investment).


Questions: 
1. Is this evil Democratic Party socialist or communist tyranny, something worse, or something that looks reasonably good, despite Republican criticisms?
 
2. Based on the BBB bill and other policies, does the Democratic or Republican Party show more concern for average people, including workers?

3. Is  American two-party pay-to-play politics mostly corrupt and damaging to the public interest, mostly honest and beneficial to the public interest, or mostly something else? 

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