Political Quotes

“Mr. President, for the elite, the powerful and the well connected, the Republican tax law has turned out to be manna from Washington. The benefits of the tax law are about as one-sided as it gets, and middle-class Americans come up on the losing end. It sure is one-sided when the price of admission for any middle-class tax relief is an investor handout big enough to pave Wall Street in gold. Democrats pushed for a tax cut that was centered on the middle class, but Republicans turned their one-sided wish list into law. It sure is one-sided to have a massive tax handout to multinational corporations, a lower top rate for the fortunate few, and a massive tax cut in the estate tax that touches only the wealthiest, while working families get handed only temporary relief. Those are the policies that are the essence of the Republican tax law. Yet the American people hear over and over again that the benefit of the proposals are going to work their way to the middle class and that those folks will get bulging wage increases. So I would like to start by getting a few facts straight. First, just a few hours ago, corporations crossed the $200 billion mark in stock buybacks this year. These stock-buyback bonanzas drive up the value of investment portfolios for CEOs and high fliers, and they are now coming in at a rate 30 times greater--30 times greater--than worker bonuses. They are on pace to double the amount from the first quarter of last year.…”