Friday Information

I'm an economic progressive. I'm not a deficit hawk. Trump has revealed much of his tax plan. He is promoting his tax plan. We can look at history at what works. The economic boom from 1945 to 1973 included tax cuts for the poor and middle class including spending investments to build up infrastructure. Even Clinton's tax plan increase tax increases on the wealthiest Americans that caused financial expansion. Trump and his allies like Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin claimed that the Trump plan will not cut taxes for the wealthy, but it will cut corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 20 percent. Also, many corporations don't pay the 35 percent tax rate. Some corporations pay no federal tax. Conservatives and Trump believe that cutting taxes on corporations will automatically cause job growth. That isn't necessarily the case. The Institute for Policy Studies studied the changes in payroll at 92 publicly held U.S. corporations that were already paying federal income tax of less than 20 percent. (These companies, like many, were able to pay lower than the official 35 percent rate by claiming various exemptions and deductions). What the study found was that more than half of these companies had actually scrapped jobs during the period when the economy as a whole increased payroll by 6 percent. Many corporations used their resources to promote their capital investments. We live in an era of tech start ups and automation. I don't find a deduction in state and local taxes either in Trump's tax plan. He wants to remove state and local income and property taxes as deductions on federal returns. He wants to reduce tax brackets into 3 levels. Also, the Trump plan wants to end the estate tax and the alternative minimum tax, which will cause more economic benefit for the super wealthy. The estate tax has been very beneficial in American society. Trump has promoted spending cuts too social programs for a while.




One of the unsung heroes of our history was Sister Charlotte L. Brown. She lived in San Francisco and in 1863, she refused to go into a segregated area of a streetcar. This was long before the actions of another hero, whose name was Rosa Parks. Charlotte L. Brown was removed from the streetcar after she refused to leave. Yet, she and her father brought up a lawsuit against racial discrimination and won. Charlotte Brown Brown was awarded $500 from the jury in this second civil rights case in 1864. She is an inspiration to lovers of freedom and justice. Trump since for years and decades have shown the world who he is. He is a vulgar, sexist, racist, and heinous male who uses overtly disrespectful language in getting views across. Many people are opposing his hate speech and his disgraceful extremism. I certainly stand with Colin Kaepernick and others who kneel for justice and who advocate an end to police brutality. Trump certainly is attacking free speech. The right to dissent is a great principle and NFL Owners are very silent in a disgraceful fashion.

One of the most unsung events during the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was his speech on February 23, 1968 where he celebrated the centennial birth of the late W.E.B. DuBois. He gave his speech in Carnegie Hall in New York City. By this time, Dr. King was very melancholy, because he experienced massive criticism over his heroic opposition to the Vietnam War. He gave his Drum Major speech on February 4, 1968, which described humbleness, and non-arrogance as a prerequisite for true greatness and powerful human character. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was opposed by the right for going in the direction of promoting the Poor People's Campaign, opposing the war in Vietnam, and supporting economic justice. He was criticized by many who rejected his message of nonviolence when those critics ignored his anti-imperialism message and his advocacy for social justice. One thing that Dr. King did was that he never disrespected his critics in public. He took the high road. Therefore, Dr. King was sad, but still passionate to support human freedom. Ironically, W.E.B. DuBois was heavily criticized by the political establishment in America because of his advocacy for peace and an end to colonial oppression (by the Western powers, who opposed the movements of Lumumba and other freedom fighters). Dr. King was illegally monitored constantly by the FBI.


Like Dr. King, DuBois was criticized by many in the government for his views on foreign policy. Dr. King gave an eloquent, ahead of its time speech on February 23, 1968. Dr. King acknowledged the black radical tradition in that W.E.B. DuBois was a socialist in his life and later became a Communist just before he passed away in 1963. Dr. King believed in the right of anyone to have ideological diversity. Claudia Jones and Paul Robeson are some of the greatest black social activists in history and they were Communists. Even Karl Marx exchanged letters with Abraham Lincoln in a cogent fashion. Dr. King condemned a kind of vicious, virulent anti-Communist thinking (like McCarthyism) that contributed to foreign policy quagmires in our nation's history. He ended his speech with a call to action in promoting economic justice and racial justice.

His final words include the following: "...In conclusion let me say that Dr. Du Bois’ greatest virtue was his committed empathy with all the oppressed and his divine dissatisfaction with all forms of injustice. Today we are still challenged to be dissatisfied. Let us be dissatisfied until every man can have food and material necessities for his body, culture and education for his mind, freedom and until rat-infested, vermin-filled slums will be a thing of a dark past and every family will have a decent, sanitary house in which to live. Let us be dissatisfied until the empty stomachs of Mississippi are filled and the idle industries of Appalachia are revitalized. Let us be dissatisfied until brotherhood is no longer a meaningless word at the end of a prayer but the first order of business on every legislative agenda. Let us be dissatisfied until our brother of the Third World- Asia, Africa, and Latin America-will no longer be the victim of imperialist exploitation, but will be lifted from the long night of poverty, illiteracy, and disease. Let us be dissatisfied until this pending cosmic elegy will be transformed into a creative psalm of peace and “justice will roll down like waters from a mighty stream..." I agree with Dr. King's statement 100%. We are always inspired to recognize and love the intellectual, transcendent contributions of people of black African descent. The revolutionary ethos of the black collective is always cherished by me and others who love genuine human liberation.


By Timothy