I think that I found the full text of the One Big Beautiful Bill recently passed by Congress, but I can’t figure out what is in it. Has anyone here dived into this Tolstoy-scale document? I assume that whatever we read about this in the media is a lie. For example, we’ve been told that the bill cuts taxes so I assume that tax rates will either be the same or maybe increased, at least via inflation (every year with inflation means more fictitious capital gains taxes are owed and also more taxpayers ensnared by the Obamacare NIIT). We’ve been told that the bill cuts Medicaid so I assume that Medicaid spending will increase and that the eligibility expansion during Coronpanic will be maintained at least for another year or two (at which time the expansion can be extended by another act of Congress; I refuse to believe that an expanded welfare state can ever be shrunk because Americans who get accustomed to free stuff are going to be forever dependent on that free stuff).
One area where I’m confused relates to the Medicaid fight. The states that want to put everyone on Medicaid, e.g., California, are richer than average. These same states have a majority of their population agreeing with the idea that inequality is bad. Why wouldn’t they therefore be delighted to use state funds to keep everyone and his/her/zir/their brother on Medicaid? Even more confusing, California says that it is “cruel” for Trump and the Republicans to “cut” Medicaid (meaning that spending actually increases but not as much as hoped/dreamed?) while also cutting Medicaid spending at the state level. Medicaid cuts bad when Republicans do it (X, June 27, 2025):
Medicaid cuts good when California Democrats do it (nytimes, same exact day):
Health care is a human right, but only if federal taxpayers are covering it? It is not a right if Californians have to fund it with their own money?
Another recent fun news item from California, in which Democrats eliminate environmental protections established by Ronald Reagan (nytimes):
As governor, Ronald Reagan, a Republican, signed the environmental act into law in 1970 at a time when his party was much more aligned with environmental protections than it is today. It reflected a consensus among the state’s leaders over the need to protect a vast array of wildlife and natural resources — forests, mountains and coastline — from being spoiled by rising smog, polluted waterways, congestion and suburban sprawl.
This seems like the type of analysis that ChatGPT could do.
I would expect ChatGPT to do a terrible job at this. It has been fed a steady diet of media stories, nearly all of which are likely highly selective and/or inaccurate.
As skilled unemployed person, I am mostly interested in the modifications to Section 174. I think I got all I could ask for!
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1/text
SEC. 70302.
1) Domestic R&D salaries will now be fully tax-deductible in the first year, returning to the status quo of 1985-2021 and ending the discriminatory practice of taxing engineers substantially unfavorably compared to all other occupations.
2) Foreign (offshore) R&D, like 2022-2024, must be amortized over 15 years.
Hey AI, in trump’s big beautiful bill, what are people happy about, or angry about?
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/in-trump-s-big-beautiful-bill-Mv38pkarS8Kuhl6VsHdeXQ
As a preview of coming attractions, the government’s response in Save Jobs USA v. Department of Homeland Security, et al. is due July 9 (although the deadline has been extended twice already). Interestingly, the government initially filed a motion declining to file any briefs to the Supreme Court, as one suspects that the current administration’s views are opposite of the previous administration, but the Court instructed the administration to file a response.
The case has attracted numerous _amicus curiae_ briefs:
Atlantic Legal Foundation
Landmark Legal Foundation
Phyllis Schlafly Eagles,
Former Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf
Sen. Ted Cruz, joined by Senators Marsha Blackburn, Mike Lee, Eric S. Schmitt, Ted Budd & Jim Banks and Representatives Brian Babin, Lance Gooden, & Troy Nehls.
Interestingly, all five briefs are on the same side, which is that DHS broke the law in creating H-4 EAD and the DC Circuit erred by allowing them to do so. In 2023 (before Loper Bright overturned the Chevron Deference), the Court refused to hear a similar challenge against the similarly illegal STEM OPT program.
(The effect of H-4EAD is to almost double the impact of each H-1B visa on the US workforce, as each visa worker’s spouse now has an unrestricted ability to work in the United States. In practice, this may account for the sudden takeover of the recruiting industry by Indians who exclusively recruit Indians.)
https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/DocketFiles/html/Public/24-923.html
> Health care is a human right, but only if federal taxpayers are covering it? It is not a right if Californians have to fund it with their own money?
So you would obviously support Californian taxpayers being able to pay California its federal taxes then right?
Is your argument that they should both have to fund your Daddy’s golf trips and healthcare?
Californians say that they hate inequality. Since California is much richer than the average state, no federal tax dollars should be spent in California. This will help move America closer to what Californians say is an improved situation of reduced inequality. (Californians should continue to pay into the U.S. Treasury, if that’s your question, even if the only thing that Californians get in return is a warm feeling about helping poorer than average states, such as the Islamic Republic of Michigan.)
Isn’t socialism always something that you do using other people’s money?
> Islamic Republic of Michigan
Can you please clarify on a map where this place is, or is it just general xenophobic hate?
Tell us that you haven’t been to Michigan lately without telling us that you haven’t been to Michigan lately. If you are planning a visit you might find https://www.axios.com/local/detroit/2023/05/23/metro-detroit-largest-arabic-speaking-population helpful.
(If we follow the logic of the next mayor of New York City, though, perhaps Hamtramck should be referred to as “Black-ruled” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/nyregion/mamdani-columbia-black-application.html )
You could also include this Michigan beauty spot with an all-male all-Muslim city council: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2023/11/08/hamtramck-city-council-to-remain-all-muslim-as-lgbtq-candidate-fails/71494617007/
@Philip, this is exactly what folks like @Anonymous fail to grasp. The self-proclaimed do-gooders loudly champion “inclusion” and “equality” yet they will not open their own gated communities. And these same folks turn a blind eye when our devout Muslim brothers openly exclude LGBTQ+ individuals and non-believers — even right here in the U.S.
“Islamic Republic of Michigan”
Where are the hateful words?
DP: I think these are hateful terms to progressives because they consider Islam to be inferior and also all foreign cultures to be inferior, which is why they say that asylum seekers, none of whom ever said that they liked the U.S. to “assimilate” to a purportedly superior “American” culture/religion.
Couldn’t believe that gas guzzling car loan tax deduction. Guess it’s more equal than only subsidizing electric cars for the rich. Wish student loans were tax deductable, 30 years ago, but student loans didn’t have 500hp.
lion: This is indeed madness. Americans already hugely overspend on cars. I wish this bill had been three lines: (1) existing tax rates will remain unchanged, (2) existing thresholds for various taxes, including NIIT, will be indexed to inflation, and (3) capital gains will be indexed to inflation.
@philg fascinating you completely trust media reports that back up your own racist viewpoint, but not when they impugn your Daddy and his concentration camp agenda.
It would be impossible for me to have a “racist viewpoint”. Everyone who disagrees with me is racist, misogynistic, and homophobic.
Anon1, my guess is that Philip found rare mentions of disturbing developments in left wing nuts’ media, which you could potentially read, understand and remember if you did not suffer from ADD.
Philip spent some of his personal time trying to better you, he cares about you.
More Govt spending and more deficit. But as this is done by republicans , you are all delighted and will be cheering till dems do the same then start bitching and moaning.
As expressed many times here on this blog, I personally am not delighted by a larger government or larger deficits. I believe in a balanced budget because American IQ is currently falling and thus I don’t see any reason to believe that future generations will be in a better position to pay taxes than we are right now. But I’m in a minority of 1. (I also don’t think that anyone should be able to vote until he/she/ze/they has worked for 8 years, just as the system set up at America’s founding worked (men began working at 13 and voting at 21).) Absent some kind of huge economic expansion caused by artificial intelligence, I do expect that the US hits a fiscal wall eventually. Since we aren’t willing to cut anyone off welfare and tax rate increases don’t reliably result in higher tax revenues I think the most likely way that we get out of it is via inflation that erases the value of the national debt.
In the future, would the government have an inverted marginal gains tax where the tax rate shoots up to 50-60% for $150-$500k bracket and then drops back down to 20% for $500k and higher? It keeps the rich from fleeing while the upper middle class can’t leave the US easily so they are stuck.
Anon: you’re describing Europe. The rich in most countries pay almost nothing due to the absence of estate/inheritance taxes and the ease of moving income into offshore corporations or trusts (a typical European country doesn’t tax worldwide income as the U.S. does). The physician or lawyer gets hit with high payroll and income taxes (though not as high as California’s!).
Happy 4th of July, everyone!
Here is hoping that today, we see more of the Red, White, and Blue (American flag, for those who may have forgotten) and less Rainbow or Red, Black, White, and Green (Palestinian flag) or White and Black/Red (Keffiyeh).
Your father ran a concentration camp? I had no idea! I’ll bet that makes for some interesting stories!
Everytime I get a glimpse of President Grewsom I think, Didn’t I see this guy in a Christian Bale movie? Or maybe it was a Michael Douglas outing…
At the rate deportations are going pretty soon we’re going to have to bend our own tacos.
As the late Dr. Gary North pointed out, the Fed is unlikely to inflate, given that their retirement plans are at stake, nevermind the clout of the US bondholding class. US bondholders can bring a lot more muscle to the party than holders of Argentine, or for that matter, Israeli sovereign debt.
I don’t understand why Democrats and liberals are so afraid of the “Big Beautiful Bill” In four years, when they are back in power, they can always introduce their own “Small Ugly Bill” to reverse it.
With their new bill, they could launch routine flights to bring in migrants, provide free housing for all, cancel student loan debt for anyone, eliminate mortgages for anyone earning under $100K (or whatever threshold they choose), impose a 75% tax on incomes over $1 million, abolish all tariffs, tax ICE vehicles at 90%, grant automatic citizenship to everyone in the U.S., allow walk-in voting with no questions asked (though that might be moot, since everyone would already be a citizen), offer free gender transitions at any age, declare the Star-Spangled Banner to be sung in Spanish, and replace the American flag with the Rainbow flag featuring a keffiyeh across it.
I am sure I missed many, but the possibilities are endless.
“I am sure I missed many, but the possibilities are endless.”
Maybe the democrats will even incarcerate all conservative White men. But, no worries, if they run Kamala Harris or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, democrats lose again.
As a Democrat and a liberal, the first thing I would do is pass a bill to fully fund NPR and then some. After all, we don’t want NPR interrupting its programming every hour to tell us who its sponsors are, or running pledge drives every quarter. PBS should be fully funded too. Public broadcasting deserves stable support, not constant fundraising.
NPR, with its liberal programming, will ensure that adults receive a steady stream of progressive news, while PBS, through shows like Sesame Street, will make sure children as young as 2 to 5 are educated about topics like having homosexual parents.