Despite running on a “drain the swamp” platform, Donald Trump and his greedy Republican enablers passed a tax cut that has done little or nothing for the average American. A tax cut that was nothing more than a massive giveaway to the Wall Street swamp Donald Trump conned his believers into thinking he would take on for the little guy.
At a time when more than 54,000 U.S. bridges have been deemed “structurally inefficient” and remain in dire need of repair, a time when students from Oklahoma to West Virginia and across the country are using dated, crumbling 25-year-old textbooks, a time when teachers are forced to work two or even three jobs just to get by, executives at JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America are popping champagne and ordering another round of Russian caviar. Because for them, life is good. Real good. From the Associated Press:
The nation’s six big Wall Street banks posted record, or near record, profits in the first quarter, and they can thank one person in particular: President Donald Trump.
While higher interest rates allowed banks to earn more from lending in the first quarter, the main boost to bank came from the billions of dollars they saved in taxes under the tax law Trump signed in December. Combined, the six banks saved at least $3.59 billion last quarter, according to an Associated Press estimate, using the bank’s tax rates going back to 2015.
How many new textbooks would $3.6 billion buy? How many low-income families could get health care for $3.6 billion? That nearly $4 billion payoff was only for the last quarter. The annual savings will be much larger.
The AP’s calculations are roughly in line with what Wall Street analysts predicted earlier this year. A report by bank industry analyst Mike Mayo of Wells Fargo Securities estimated that that the big U.S. banks combined would save roughly $19 billion in taxes for the full year.
“If there was one significant factor this quarter for the big banks that I follow, it was taxes,” said James Shanahan, an analyst with Edward Jones.
Bank executives have said the majority of the savings from the lower tax rates will be returned to shareholders in the form of higher dividends and stock buybacks. Some of the money has gone toward higher wages for employees, and new business investments.
Emphasis added. And that is how the rich keep getting richer. What could a $19 billion annual boost do for the average citizen? How many student loans could be payed off? There are a million ways that money would’ve been better spent. Instead it is flowing directly into the swamp.