Cable news' favorite odd couple is at it once again over the GOP's disastrous tax bill -- and with the plan on track to go to the president's desk before the end of the year, the stakes have never been higher.
Stephen Moore, an informal economic adviser to President Donald Trump, was giving his typical spiel touting the benefits the Republicans' corporate tax cuts will have for middle class families when host Jim Sciutto cut him off.
"People at home, they're hearing numbers coming from both sides. One side says a few thousand, another side says a few hundred. Is it correct as Stephen Moore says that a family in that is going to get $2,500?" the host asked former Labor Secretary Robert Reich.
Reich agreed that estimates about what kind of tax breaks middle class Americans may receive under the GOP tax bill are "all over the place," but that it's wise to trust those from the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation, both of which forecast that wealthy businesses and taxpayers would benefit significantly while the rest of the country sees little-to-nothing from it.
The former labor secretary argued that rather than investing in the wealthy, Congress would be better served investing in infrastructure, a move that would go from "trickle-down economics" to "rising-up economics."
Moore tried to say "we want that," but was again cut off when the host brought up the massive tax break corporations will get from the bill -- from 21 to 35 percent.
"This was always the centerpiece of the plan -- trying to American businesses be more competitive," Moore said. He then launched into typical trickle-down economics talking points: that corporations will be encouraged to hire more people and thus stimulate the economy.
"We wanted to help businesses, and by the way, Robert Reich, what's wrong with helping American businesses?" the Republican economist taunted.
"If they were actually going to hire people, I'd go along with this!" Reich rebutted.
Instead, he said, "they are buying their own shares of stock, they are buying other companies, they are inflating executive pay."
"There is no trickle down!" he continued. "If you give them more tax cuts, they're just going to be more involved in buying back their shares of stock and most of that is going to go to executives, and it's going to go to mergers and acquisitions!"
Watch the two duke it out below, via CNN.
