Despite living in a world that’s covered in gold leaf and tiger fur, Donald Trump and Chief White House Economic Adviser Gary Cohn are still down with the common man. For example, there’s Cohn’s explanation of just how slipping a middle class family another thousand a year as part of Trump’s tax plan can really juice the economy.
“If you allow a family to keep another thousand dollars of their income, what does that mean? They can renovate their kitchen. They can buy a new car.“
And, because you’ve given that family such a big fat check, it won’t hurt them if you take away something minor.
“People don't buy homes because of the mortgage deduction."
Yeah. After all, how could any middle class family have more than a thousand dollars in interest in just one year? Why, you can probably buy one of those teeny middle class houses for no more than a couple of thousand. It’s the same kind of deep insight displayed when Donald Trump talked about the cost of health insurance.
“You start working and you’re paying $12 a year for insurance, and by the time you’re 70, you get a nice plan.”
For people who have three billion dollars, even a $10 million mansion is the equivalent of $165 to someone who has $50,000. So … you can see how these guys might get off a bit. For them, cars and houses are things they don’t even have to think about. And they never do.
If things for poor people cost what rich people think they cost, then … the tax plan proposed by Donald Trump and Gary Cohn would still be an utter disaster designed to toss a few peanuts to the middle class—so long as they live in the right red states—while sucking in millions for themselves.
As for the regular order and negotiation that will take place between now and when this plan hits the halls of Congress, Cohn had a little correction to make on that subject.