Congressional Black Caucus Should Support The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

Congressional Black Caucus

Right is right and wrong is wrong, and it isn’t very difficult to tell one from the other. Moreover, it shouldn’t be difficult for the average US taxpayer to see the benefits from the "The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act." released by the Congressional Republicans, Thursday, November 2, 2017. 

While this legislation is still being marked up and will have to be voted on in the Senate, it contains many provisions that simplify the tax code, give tax cuts to families and businesses, and grow the economy leading to higher wages and new or better jobs. As I will mention again later, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), in particular, should support "The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act." 

Here is a succinct summary of the legislation published by the Americans for Tax Reform:  

Individual Provisions:

- Consolidates the seven tax brackets into four (12%, 25%, 35%, and 39.6%) - Under this   reform, the existing 10 percent bracket goes to zero. The 15 percent bracket goes to 12 percent.

-The 12 percent bracket applies to income up to $45,000 ($90,000 for married couples). This does not include the standard deduction of $12,000 or $24,000.

-The 25 percent bracket applies to income between $45,001 and $200,000 ($90,001 and  $260,000 for married couples).

 -The 35 percent bracket applies to income between $200,001 and 500,000 ($260,001 and $1  million for married couples).

 -The 39.6 percent bracket applies to income above $500,000 ($1 million for married couples).

-Doubles the standard deduction (The first $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for families will not be taxed).

-Increases the child tax credit from $1,000 to $1,600 per dependent under 17 with an additional $300 credit per parent. The child tax credit is currently used by 22 million Americans.

-Simplifies the tax code - The bill repeals personal exemptions, repeals the state and local  tax deduction for income and sales taxes and caps the SALT deduction for property taxes at $10,000. The home mortgage interest is grandfathered in and preserved for new homes up to $500,000. All other itemized deductions with the exception of charitable giving are repealed.

- Repeals the alternative minimum tax - This tax is currently paid by 4.5 million individuals and families.

- Repeals the death tax effective 2024 - In years 2018 to 2023, the exemption is doubled to $10 million ($20 million for a couple) and indexed to inflation. The generation skipping transfer tax is also repealed while the gift tax is lowered from 40 percent to 35 percent. Step-up in basis is preserved.

- Preserves retirement tax savings accounts such as 401 (k)s and Individual Retirement Accounts

- Permanently reduces the corporate income tax rate to 20 percent effective immediately - The current 35 percent federal rate is the highest in the developed world. Reducing this rate to 20 percent will allow American businesses to compete against foreign competitors and will allow the U.S. economy to grow. According to an analysis by the Council of Economic Advisers, a 20 percent corporate rate would increase average household income by between $4,000 and $9,000.

- Enacts 100 percent, full business expensing for five years - Section 179 small business expensing is increased from $500,000 to $5 million, and the phaseout is increased from $2 million to $10 million.

- Reduces the business tax rate on pass-through entities from 44.6 percent to 25 percent - This new rate would be applied based on one of two formulas designed to prevent wage income from being mischaracterized as business income.

What is disappointing, but not unexpected, is that the Congressional Black Caucus didn’t support it. Even as it now stands The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would be beneficial to a majority of their  constituents. The members of the CBC gets paid $175,000 per year from our tax money. That’s about five times the average yearly income of a Black US taxpayer, but they won’t support tax cuts for the rest of us. 

If they were honest and sincere, they would put aside petty politics and vote to support the legislation. What they assume is that we are so stupid that we won’t hold them accountable. And, we just might be. When I hear politicians be referred to as leaders, maybe we are just that stupid to think of a politician as our leader. The CBC's  leader is apparently the incompetent Nancy Pelosi which just about says it all.  

As it was once told to a politician, "Become a candidate. No matter how much of an idiot you are, there will always be a sufficient number of greater idiots who think you are not. "

Useless Congressional Black Caucus Revisited, Part 1

Black Caucus Members

Now that it's been nearly a year since the presidential election, it’s time for Black Americans to reflect upon the presidency of Mr. Trump and to look for ways in which we can benefit from his presidency.

Prior to his election, he met with such notable Black celebrities as Jim Brown, Ray Lewis, and Kanye West who apparently talked with Mr. Trump about a wide variety of issues. Mr. Trump even met with a representative group of Black pastors and business owners.

However, the group that’s still missing are members of the Congressional Black Caucus or it's key representatives. During his campaign, Mr. Trump presented a New Deal for Black America which will greatly benefit Black Americans. Black Americans populate in great numbers nearly all of our major cities which, incidentally, have been run by Democratic mayors for decades.

The policies of these mayors have left our inner cities with bad schools and incompetent teachers, crime-ridden neighborhoods, lack of economic development, and a lack of businesses to hire our young people and to provide needed goods and services.

 Many of the Democratic politicians, both mayors and other office holders, are fundamentally corrupt and a significant number of them have gone to prison.

 Unfortunately, nearly all of these members of the Congressional Black Caucus are members of the Democratic Party – – the party whose policies have resulted in the previously mentioned conditions.

Among the planks in Mr. Trump’s New Deal for Black America are:

• Great education through school choice
• Tax reforms to create jobs and lift up people and communities
• Protection from illegal immigrants
• New infrastructure investment
• Trade that works for American workers

In the light of new information, it might be necessary for the  New Deal for Black America to be rewritten.

Nevertheless, most of these projects would be implemented in the Congressional districts represented to a large extent by members of the Black Caucus. We pay these Representatives $175,000 a year, provide them with healthcare, a pension when they retire, and over $1 million a year for their staff and facilities. And what do we get for this?

 Our Representatives should be talking with the President right now and be prepared to work closely with him in implementing his New Deal for Black America and his new Tax Cuts. The time for acting like sore losers is over. In fact, it’s childish behavior and adults should be embarrassed to do so.

 Black neighborhoods across this country need help and Mr. Trump’s New Deal and the Tax Cuts need to be passed and implemented quickly. Now go to Useless Congressional Black Caucus, Part 2 . Leave your comments at either site.

Here’s What the Ferguson Effect Really Mean

The words Ferguson effect are continuing to be used by biased and narrow-minded commentators on TV and radio.

Let’s be clear about something, the police, FBI, and anyone else in law-enforcement are paid by us the taxpayers and that includes Black Americans. 

Expected to Serve and Protect
We as Black Americans expect them to serve and protect us as well as the other citizens in this country. They must function within the law as they do their job or be subject to prosecution, jail, or execution depending upon the seriousness of the crime committed and the penalties pertaining to that crime.

The fraternal order of police (FOP), or a police union by any other name, must not be allowed to protect police who are breaking the laws that they are paid to uphold.

Excessive Force is Disallowed
In the process of serving and protecting us, they are not allowed to use excessive force, shoot unarmed Black men multiple times, disrespect Black women and men, or engage in any other unlawful, socially deviant act. 

The deranged cops who commit these acts expect to be protected by the FOP and these same cops are excused from doing their job in lawful and respectable ways because of the so-called Ferguson effect.

If cops are doing their job in lawful and respectful ways, then they shouldn't be concerned about any citizen criticizing or reporting them. Rather Black Americans especially would be supportive of them. 

We pay them to serve and protect us. If they don't want to do what they are paid to do, then either they should resign or be fired. 


Your thoughts? Leave your comments below.

Truth About Black Academic Underachievement

A noted Black columnist, Walter Williams, has observed that the criticisms of Department of Education Secretary, Betsy DéVos, could be dismissed as simply political posturing if we did not have an educational system that is mostly mediocre and is in advanced decay for most Black students.

Achievement Levels a Disgrace
According to The Nation's Report Card, only 37 percent of 12th-graders were proficient in reading in 2015, and just 25 percent were proficient in math. For Black students, achievement levels were a disgrace.

Nationally, 17 percent of Black students scored proficient in reading, and 7 percent scored proficient in math. In some cities, such as Detroit, Black academic proficiency is worse; among eighth-graders, only 4 percent were proficient in math, and only 7 percent were proficient in reading.

The nation's high-school graduation rate rose again in the 2014-15 school year, reaching a record high as more than 83 percent of students earned a diploma on time.

Educators see this as some kind of achievement and congratulate themselves. The tragedy is that high-school graduation has little relevance to achievement.

Graduation Rates are Irrevelant

In 2014-15, graduation rates at District of Columbia Public Schools, just as they did nationally, climbed to an all-time high. At H.D. Woodson High School, 76 percent of students graduated on time; however, just 1 percent met math standards on national standardized tests linked to the Common Core academic standards. Just 4 percent met the reading standards.

The low Black academic achievement is not restricted to high-school graduates of D.C. schools. The average Black high-school graduate has the academic achievement level of a white 7^th or 8^th grader.

As such, it stands as unambiguous evidence that high schools confer diplomas attesting that students can read, write and compute at a 12th-grade level when in fact they cannot.

That means they have received fraudulent high-school diplomas. There are many factors that affect education that educators cannot control. But they have total control over the issuance of a diploma.

Wasteful Education Spending
Educators often complain that there's not enough money. Census Bureau data show that as early as 2009-10, Washington, D.C. spent $29,409 per pupil. Starker proof that there's little relationship between spending and academic proficiency is in the case of Detroit's public schools.

In 2009-10, the nation's elementary and secondary public school systems spent an average of $10,615 per pupil. According to the Census Bureau, Detroit schools spent $12,801 per pupil. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy claims that Detroit actually spent $15,570 per pupil that year.

There's not much payoff for education dollars. The National Institute for Literacy found that 47 percent of the city's adults are "functionally illiterate." 

The Nation's Report Card reports that Detroit students score the lowest among the nation's big-city schools, and Washington is not far behind.

If the grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan was the Secretary of Education and wanted to sabotage Black academic achievement, he couldn't find a better method for doing so than keeping our public school system as it is.

The Need for School Choice
Many Black politicians and educators would never have their own children attend the rotten, dangerous schools that are so much a part of our big cities.

Many Black parents, captured by these schools, would like to get their children out. But that's not in the interest of the education establishment, which wants a monopoly on education. Black politicians and academics are the establishment's facilitators. That explains their hostility to Betsy DeVos. She would like to give more parents a choice.

Job Outlook for 2016 and Beyond
Now, here is the job outlook for 2016 and beyond. Black students must be properly educated to compete for these jobs  There are 6 tech jobs that will grow like crazy in 2017 and beyond according to CareerCast. They also looked at how fast each type of job is growing, and projected how likely that job is to keep growing.

No. 6, Network and computer systems administrator: The IT professionals who manage computers and computer networks earned an average of $77,810 in 2016. It's true the trend toward cloud computing – renting the computers you need and accessing them over the internet – means companies are buying less computers than they used to. 

But demand for this skill will not vanish. Job openings are expected to grow by 8% through 2024.

No. 5, Data Scientist: Data Scientists earned on average $128,240 in 2016. And thanks to the boom in all things data and big data, demand for this skill isn't going away anytime soon. Jobs for data scientists are expected to rise 16% through 2024.

No. 4, Software Engineer: Software engineers earned $100,690 on average in 2016. This is a skill in demand everywhere, from high-tech companies to everyday organizations needing custom software to serve their own customers and employees. Growth for software engineers is expected to rise 17% through 2024.

No. 3, Information Security Analyst: Information Security Analysts earned $90,120 on average in 2016. As our computers, devices and data store more and more of our  important, sensitive information, there's rising demand for people who know how to keep all that stuff secure. Jobs for this skill are expected to rise 18% through 2024.

No. 2, Computer Systems Analyst: Computer systems analysts earned $85,800 on average in 2016. As long as people use computers and write software for them, someone will need to troubleshoot problems when things go wrong, aka the systems analyst. Growth for this job is expected to climb 21% through 2024.

No. 1, Web developer: Web developers earned on average $64,970 in 2016. While that's not the highest paying IT job in the industry, this job has one major thing going for it: demand. Jobs for web developers are expected to grow by 27% through 2024.

Critical STEM Education
In a 2015 Pew Research Center report, only 29% of Americans rated their country’s K-12 education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (known as STEM) as above average or the best in the world.

Scientists were even more critical: A companion survey of members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science found that just 16% called U.S. K-12 STEM education the best or above average; 46%, in contrast, said K-12 STEM in the U.S. was below average.

These are the type of careers Black children should be preparing for. Black parents, in particular, need to be concerned about how this racist educational system have been shortchanging and ill-preparing their children for the future. Malcolm X once said that, “Education is the passport to the future.” This passport for Black children has been stamped, “Denied.”   

Hurricane Harvey Man Made Climate Change Foolishness

While the residents of Houston, Texas and the surrounding towns are still reeling from the onslaught of Hurricane Harvey, the left wing pundits and false prophets are spieling about man-made climate change foolishness as being the cause.

They are even saying that our future is dire and that these dangerous hurricanes are on the increase. Just complete nonsense.

As noted in a recent edition of Investors Business Daily, ever since Hurricane Katrina in 2004, climate-change advocates have warned that hurricanes and storms would be far worse as a result of global warming. It was inevitable, we were told.

Number of Severe Hurricanes Have Declined Sharply

But the fact is, since 2010, the number of severe, category 4 hurricanes has declined sharply. Moreover, those who follow hurricanes and tropical storms for a living suggest global warming isn't the cause.

CNN Newsroom host John Berman asked former National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read point-blank whether climate change had affected the intensity of Hurricane Harvey.

Read said he "probably wouldn't attribute (global warming to) what we're looking at here. This is not an uncommon occurrence to see storms grow and intensify rapidly in the western Gulf of Mexico. That is, as long as we've been tracking them, that has occurred."

A Weather Pattern. Not Climate Change

In short, it's part of a long-term weather pattern — not climate change. And a look at the number of hurricanes by decade shows conclusively that the number and severity of hurricanes have mostly declined in recent decades, not risen.

"There is no reason to be debating Harvey and climate change in the context of an unfolding disaster, other than political opportunism and attention-seeking," said climate scientist and University of Colorado Professor Roger Pielke. "It's not a good look for scientists or journalists who are promoting this issue."

Pielke destroys the notion that global warming has made hurricanes or tropical storms worse by noting that from 1926 to 1969, a period of 44 years, there were 14 category 4 hurricanes that made landfall. From 1970 to 2017, or 47 years, there have been just four. 

If anything, if you were a global warming advocate and being honest, you'd have to say that higher temperatures have caused the number of severe hurricanes hitting the U.S. to decline by 70%.

All of the news shows, newspapers, news websites and magazines will be peddling the same shamanistic nonsense: Global warming is to blame for everything nasty in the natural world, but especially for the brutal hurricanes that occasionally rip into our coast. But the facts show it just ain't true.


Leave your thoughts and comments below.

Al Gore's "Science" is Bogus and Al Gore Sr. Voted Against Civil Rights

Al Gore's Bogus Science

In addition to the bogus science of man-made global warming promulgated by Al Gore, he has also managed to insult Black Americans by associating this nonsense to the Civil Rights struggle as well as equating this struggle with women’s suffrage, gay rights and the fight against apartheid.

Al Gore's father, Al Gore, Sr., Bill Clinton's mentor, a segregationist by the name of J. William Fulbright, a one-time Democratic Senate majority leader in alignment with former Klan member Robert "KKK" Byrd -- voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Al Gore Lied About his Father
In a speech to the NAACP, then Vice President Gore lied when he said his father lost his Senate seat because he supported civil rights legislation. In truth, Al Gore, Sr., together with the rest of the southern Democrats, including those mentioned above, voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Congressional Quarterly reported that, in the House of Representatives, 61% of Democrats (152 for, 96 against) voted for the Civil Rights Act as opposed to 80% of Republicans (138 for, 38 against). In the Senate, 69% of Democrats (46 for, 21 against) voted for the Act while 82% of Republicans did (27 for, 6 against). All southern Democrats voted against the Act.

Democrat Lyndon Johnson Praised Republicans
In his remarks upon signing the Civil Rights Act, President Lyndon Johnson praised Republicans for their "overwhelming majority." He did not offer similar praise to his own Democratic Party. Moreover, Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, an Illinois Republican, collaborated with the White House and the Senate leadership of both parties to draft acceptable compromise amendments to end the southern Democrats' filibuster of the Act.

It was Dirksen who often took to the Senate floor to declare, "This is an idea whose time has come. It will not be denied." Dirksen's greatest triumph earned him the Leadership Conference of Civil Rights Award, presented by then-NAACP Chairman Roy Wilkins, for his remarkable civil rights leadership.

Al Gore, Sr's Defiance Amendment

Al Gore, Sr. did not stop at simply voting against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In addition, Congressional Quarterly reported that Gore attempted to send the Act to the Senate Judiciary Committee with an amendment to say "in defiance of a court desegregation order, federal funds could not be held from any school districts." Gore sought to take the teeth out of the Act in the event it passed.

Senator Gore was said to be "elated" at the idea of young Al, Jr. going to school with Black children. In reality, however, the future vice president attended an elite private school.

In the end, the Gore Amendment was defeated by a vote of 74-25. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, one of President Bill Clinton's racist political mentors, was among the 23 southern Democratic senators and only one Republican voting with Al Gore, Sr. for this racist amendment.

All official records about the Civil Rights Act can be found in the June 1964 issues of  the Congressional Quarterly.

Best Civil Rights Judges were Republican - Andrew Young
At least civil rights activist Andrew Young was forthcoming about this oversight in his book, An Easy Burden. Young wrote, "The southern segregationists were all Democrats, and it was black Republicans... who could effectively influence the appointment of federal judges in the South." Young noted that the best civil rights judges were Republicans appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower. Young admitted, "These judges are among the many unsung heroes of the civil rights movement."

History tends to unilaterally and falsely depict Republicans as racists when southern Democrats truly deserved this title.

Take the time to research the facts about our past in publications like Congressional Quarterly and An Easy Burden. Also read Bogus Science of Man-Made Global Warming.

Leave your comments below.

Know these 22 Financial Terms Before It's Too Late

This Presidential election is over. Now take time to understand these financial terms as you listen to the politicians talk about spending your tax money.

As you will notice when you click on the link for Our Public Debt, this nation is in a dangerous economic position. If this doesn’t cause you to be both afraid and angry, I don’t know what could.  

Any politician, Democrat or Republican, who tell you that they are going to give you something for free and don’t tell you how they are going to cut Waste, Fraud, and Abuse; or, don't tell you how their policies are going to grow our economy, build businesses, and create jobs need to be shunned like the plague. 

Here are the 22 Financial Terms:

1. Fiscal Policy

The existing policy the government has for spending and taxing. Government financial practices that influence and direct the overall economy. The Congress is responsible for developing our government’s fiscal policy. When the economic plan is passed through the Congress and signed by the Presidential, it will become the fiscal policy for that particular fiscal year. 

2. Monetary Policy

The Federal Reserve actions are designed to influence the availability and cost of money. Specific policy includes changing the discount rate, altering bank reserve requirements, and open market operations.

3. Federal Reserve System

The independent central bank that influences to supply of money and credit in the United States through his control of bank reserves. Neither the Congress nor the President controls the central bank.

4. Rule of 72

The mathematical rule used in approximating the number of years it would take a given investment to double in value. The number of years to double an investment is calculated by dividing 72 by the annual rate of return.

5. Gross National Product (GNP)

The sum of the gross domestic product and the international income earned by US residents minus the US income of people living in other countries

6. Inflation

A general increase in the price level of goods and services which drives a decline in purchasing power. The current inflation rate is 2.2%. Go to U.S. Inflation Rate to keep up with the changes.

7. Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The entire market value of goods and services produced in a country for a specific time (usually one year).

8. Consumer Price Index

A benchmark number that tracks the change in a select collection of normal household expenditures, such as food, electricity, housing, and transportation. Measures changes in the cost of living. A measure of the relative cost of living compared with a base period.

 9. Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA)

A yearly modification of Social Security payments and wages based on changes in the consumer price index. Meant to help defray declines in consumer purchasing power. Although the ex-President Obama advocated for federal workers getting a COLA, he was as silent as a church mouse when it came to advocating for senior citizens.

10. Recession

A sustained period of relative decline, defined by a drop in national gross domestic (GDP) product that lasts for at least six months. The National Bureau of Economic Research formally defines a recession as three consecutive quarters of falling real gross domestic product.

11. Dow Jones Average

A trademark for an index of the relative prices of selected industrial, transportation, and utility stocks based on a formula developed and periodically revised by Dow Jones and Company Inc. The Average is calculated by adding the share prices of 30 large, seasoned industrial firms such as IBM, Exxon, AT&T, Westinghouse, and GM and dividing the sum by a figure that is adjusted for such things as stock splits and substitutions.

12. Federal Open Market Committee

A policy- making committee within the Federal Reserve that has the responsibility for establishing and carrying out open- market operations.

13. Open Market Operations

The purchase and sale of government securities from a primary dealer in the open market by the Federal Reserve in order to influence the money supply, credit conditions, and interest rates. For example, large purchases of securities will release funds into bank reserves which, in turn, would be used for lending. This action increases the supply of money, and, at least temporarily, pushes down interest rates. Open market operations have significant effects on security prices.

14. Weak Dollar

A dollar that is of smaller value relative to foreign currencies. A weak dollar hurts consumers of foreign goods because these goods cost more in terms of US dollars.

15. Strong Dollar

A dollar that is valuable relative to foreign currencies. A strong dollar tends to hurt US firms that rely heavily on foreign sales because of the firm’s products will cost more in terms of foreign currencies.

16. Capitalism

An economic system, characterized by open competition in a free market, in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to increasing accumulation and reinvestment of profits.

17. Socialism

An economic and political system where most property is publicly, not privately, owned. During this the last Presidential election cycle, Bernie Sanders declared himself to be a Socialist. Economists call Socialism a command, or planned economy because it is necessary for large government bureaucracies to command, or plan resource allocation. Under Socialism there is no market in the sense that prices are set by the government.

18. National Debt

The debt is the total amount the government owes. To know what the current debt is, go to the National Debt website.

19. National Deficit

The deficit is the amount by which expenditures exceed revenues during one fiscal year – – the year covered by the annual budget. The know what the currently projected national deficit is, go to the National Deficit Website.

20. Depression

A substantial, prolonged economic decline.

21. Microeconomics

A little-picture view of small pieces of the economy, such as individual people or companies, to see how and why they participate in the economy. Looks at factors such as who makes purchase decisions and price-setting of specific products.

22. Macroeconomics

The study of the economy as a whole, a big picture view. Focuses on national factors, such as federal interest rates and gross domestic product.


There it is the 22 Financial Terms you should know. Bookmark this site and regularly refer back to it. 


Leave you comments below. I'd like to hear from you.