Trump Promises Affordability, Forgets Billionaire Tax Cuts
The Independent panned former President Trump's Detroit speech for airing grievances and lacking concrete proposals to address rising prices. This observation is accurate, yet incomplete. During his previous administration, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act significantly lowered corporate and top individual tax rates, a move projected to add trillions to the national debt while offering negligible
long-term benefits to working families. One might wonder how cutting taxes for millionaires and billionaires is supposed to make groceries cheaper for everyone else. (It doesn't, of course, but it sure sounds good on a campaign trail.) The media-savvy framing of 'affordability' distracts from the core issue: systemic wealth extraction. When politicians (of any stripe) talk about economic woes, but
their legislative history involves policies that demonstrably funnel wealth upwards, their 'solutions' are less about the public good and more about protecting their donor class. It appears that 'fixing' affordability, for some, means ensuring the rich pay even less, leaving the working class to foot the bill, or at least, endure the inflated prices.