Lies, Lies and More Lies
Nobody can be this willfully ignorant
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Note: Everything in this post is my personal opinion. If you don’t agree, set up your own Substack. Or, leave me a comment.
This is a long one, bear with me!
Note: It was never my intention to turn this into a political column. If the election last November had gone the other way, I would probably be writing about home improvement projects, family vacations, or the annoyances of bad drivers. However, it seems like I’ll be writing about economics, politics, critical thinking, and ethical behavior for a while.
Late last week I received the email below from my Congresswoman, Young Kim. She is considered to be a “Moderate Republican” and she brags that she is one of the most bipartisan Congressional Representatives in this Congress.
Call your Congresscritters! Keep Calling!
Given the number of lies in this email it’s hard to find the bipartisanship. Here’s my breakdown of this downright insulting email:
Dear Mr. Fisher,
Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns on H.R. 1. I appreciate the opportunity to respond.
H.R. 1 passed the Senate on July 1, 2025, after being amended in both chambers of Congress. This bill uplifts working families and small businesses struggling from persistent inflation,…
Working Families: According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office1 the OBBBA will cost families in the lowest income deciles as much as $3,000 per year, around 4% of their take home pay, while familes in the highest decile will receive a windfall of up to $12,000, around 2% of their take home pay:
Far from uplifting working families the loss of $3,000 per year would be disastrous for the working poor living paycheck-to-paycheck, while those families in the highest decile would hardly miss losing two percent of their income.
Small Businesses: The OBBBA does offer strong tax and cash-flow support for small businesses. However, the bill’s contribution to a larger deficit could lead to higher interest rates, potentially increasing borrowing costs.
And while most benefits are clear-cut for small businesses, indirect socioeconomic shifts—like reduced consumer welfare—could affect the broader environment in which they operate.2
Inflation: By the end of the Biden administration inflation was down to slightly over the Fed’s target of 2% per year. Almost every GOP candidate running for office in 2024 lied and said inflation was very high.3
Meanwhile, The Economist4 and others called the US economy “The envy of the world” at the end of the Biden administration.Less than three months into the current administration Fortune Magazine5 published a quote from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D) Oregon, “The U.S. economy has gone from the envy of the world to a laughingstock, in less time than it took to finish March Madness.”
Here’s a chart showing the inflation rate measured a couple of ways from 2017 to the beginning of 2025:
As you can see, due to COVID, supply chain issues and stimulus spending caused inflation to spike starting in 2020, peaking in 2022 and dropping down to just above the Fed target of two percent by the end of 2024.
It was considered nearly impossible to bring the economy into a “soft landing”, many pundits expected the economy to fall into a recession near the end of 2024.
I don’t know if the soft landing was due to Biden’s expertise or sheer luck, but the economy did come into a soft landing on Biden’s watch.
It’s too early to tell how the new administration’s policies are affecting inflation.
Anecdotally our family has noticed grocery prices starting to go up.
Watch this space.
…restores fiscal responsibility,…
This is such a blatant lie I can’t believe Congresswoman Kim thinks she can get away with it.
Here’s a chart from the Committee for a Responsible Budget showing how the OBBBA will affect the deficit over the next 10 years:
The CRFB estimates that the OBBBA will add at $4.1 trillion to $5.5 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years. This is an impossible number to visualize.
If you spent a million dollars every day it would take over 2,700 years to spend a trillion dollars.
This takes into account that the OBBBA will cut nearly a trillion dollars from Medicaid. Which brings us to this part of the first sentence in Representative Kim’s email.6
…strengthens vital programs like Medicaid for our most vulnerable citizens,’…
Cutting about $1 trillion from Medicaid and CHIP is not what I would call strengthening those programs.
It’s a matter of faith in the Republican Party that there are millions upon millions of people who are lounging around collecting welfare and getting healthcare via Medicaid while not working.
They think they can remove a trillion dollars of Waste, Fraud and Abuse over the next 10 years without any of the “deserving poor” losing their healthcare.
Everyone wants to make sure our tax dollars are spent wisely, and as in any large program there will be some WFA in Medicaid. Inspectors General should investigate and resolve any WFA.
However, almost all Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents who qualify for Medicaid work at least 80 hours per month:
Stringent work requirements will require busy members of the working class to “prove” they’re working as often as once a month.
These folks may not have easy access to an internet connected computer, and they may not speak English as a first language, making it difficult to keep up with the paperwork.
The inevitable result will be millions of folks who are eligible for benefits losing them because of bureaucracy.
Beyond that, stricter eligibility and verification rules for people getting healthcare through the Affordable Care Act, plus allowing the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits at the end of this year will likely make healthcare too expensive for about 3.1 million citizens next year.
And, the extremely high deficit spending triggered by this act will likely trigger the PAYGO law, forcing ≈$490 billion in Medicare cuts from 2027–2034 unless Congress overrides it.
The upshot is around 16 million U.S. citizens losing their healthcare over the next few years.
All to partially pay for continued tax cuts for the richest people in the world, who don’t need them.
…and makes historic investments in border security and our national defense.
This, unfortunately, is one of the true things Representative Kim says in this letter. Here is a breakdown of how our tax dollars will be spent for Immigration and Border funding:
Imagine 18,000 new plain-clothed thugs grabbing anyone with brown skin off the street and throwing them into unmarked vehicles with no license plates! What could possibly go wrong?
I’ve heard folks say that immigrants need to enter this country “the right way.” Currently ICE, DHS and other federal agencies are grabbing folks on their way to or from Immigration court appointments. These people are trying to do things the “right way” and we’re kidnapping them on the street!
This is a fantastic use of our tax dollars.
But hey! We finally got through the first sentence of the email! Hooray!
As you may know, I voted Yes on H.R. 1 when it came before the House for consideration. Over the past several months, I have met with hundreds of community members and local advocacy groups and heard their message of protecting access to care for those who need it the most.
Young Kim has never had an in-person Town Hall meeting.
She keeps her schedule close to the vest when she’s in town. Occasionally she’ll meet with a chamber of commerce or appear at some other MAGA friendly venue, but it’s nearly impossible to meet with her unless you’re in a group that’s been carefully vetted to keep the riff-raff (like you and me) out.
I have made clear in talks with House leadership and my fellow members of Congress that we must strengthen and protect vital Medicaid services for the most vulnerable Americans. This bill ensures Medicaid is protected for future generations for whom the program was intended to serve, including pregnant women, seniors, children, low-income individuals, and people with disabilities.
“…whom the program was intended to serve…” is carrying a lot of weight here. It’s an indication that Young Kim thinks there is enough WFA in Medicaid to make up for the drastic cuts and draconian work requirements and paperwork required to stay on the program.
Furthermore, I stood up to the White House and House leadership to secure vital tax relief for small businesses and families in my district, increasing the cap on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction fourfold from $10,000 to $40,000.
This is a red herring. Even in high tax California only the richest people pay more than $10,000 in SALT.
This may help some small businesses, and I applaud that, but it’s just another way to limit Federal revenues at a time when we have record deficits.
Additionally, the bill permanently increases the child tax credit to $2,200,…
Yea! Finally something that’s both true and good in this email.
Between now and 2028 parents can get an extra $200 credit above the existing $2,000. For three whole years.
Thanks. A lot.
…gives seniors an additional deduction of $6,000 per individual,…
Adds $6,000 to the standard deduction, for seniors who don’t itemize. I don’t know about most seniors, but we itemize our deductions.
This is the part of the bill that Trump falsely said removes Federal Income Tax from Social Security benefits. It doesn’t.7
…and eliminates taxes on tips and overtime pay,…
For the next three years, i.e. until after the next Presidential election. Do they really think we’re that stupid?
This also reduces Federal revenue during a time of massive deficits. From the Party of Fiscal Responsibility!
…among other provisions. As a result, families in my district will be able to keep more of their hard-earned money to invest in their communities and provide for their loved ones.
I hope she’s right, but I fear she’s wrong. From what I can tell the Orange Idiot is driving this economy into Stagflation, with high unemployment and high inflation.
The rest of the email is insincere political blah, blah, blah as you can see from the screen shot above, and this column is already pretty long, so I’ll end my commentary here.
What really bothers me is that Young Kim, and everyone else in Congress, has access to the same information I have, and probably has access to information I’m not authorized to see.
So how is it that I, along with basically every Democrat in Congress8 can see that this horrendous bill is heading this country towards disaster, but nobody with an R next to their name seems to be able to see it?
Is Donald Trump and his lunatic followers that scary?
In any case. the next five years or so look to be a really bumpy ride!
Fasten your seat belt and tug on that yellow tab. Keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle at all times and remain seated until the economy comes to a complete stop!
Call your Congresscritters! Keep Calling!
Trump lie of the week:
Lies our President has told recently. Not necessarily this week. I’m only posting one of the 207 statements (so far) rated “Pants On Fire!” by Politifact.
And to be fair, here's a:
Biden Lie of the week:
Lies our previous President told during his term. Just like the Trump Lies, I’m only posting statements rated “Pants On Fire!” by Politifact.. There are a total of seven of them I’ll post them all & stop when I run out.
And a:
Kamala Harris Lie of the Week:
Oops. There are no Kamala Harris “Pants on Fire’ lies listed by Politifact. Guess I’ll skip her in future columns.
Musical Coda:
Here’s a cool arrangement of “Liar” by Three Dog Night, backed up by the London Symphony Orchestra (I think):
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I have heard GOP politicians state that the CBO is dominated by Democrats and that their scoring is biased by liberal/progressive/socialist/communist beliefs. This is untrue.
The current Director of the CBO is Phillip Swagel, a former economist in the Bush administration.
There are many safeguards in place to assure that the CBO provides unbiased reporting.
So I tend to trust reporting by the CBO and will continue to do so unless the current administration illegally fires everyone in the office and restocks it with right-wing minions.
Mia culpa, I copied this sentence right out of ChatGPT.
My hypothesis is that there had not been a surge in inflation in decades, so many thought that if inflation reduced prices would also go down to pre-inflation levels. Those of us who lived through the 70s and 80s know that this is not how inflation works. The GOP saw an opportunity to falsely claim that they could bring prices down (so far they haven’t). The technical term for this is lying.
A publication not noted for their progressive views.
Also not a particularly progressive publication.
We’re not even through the first sentence!
Imagine! Trump lied!
Now that Joe Mansion and Kyrsten Sinema are history