President Donald Trump has been touting the progress of his economy since he inherited a rebounded recession from former President Barack Obama. While the issue is expected to be a key component to Trump's reelection campaign in 2020, the economic decisions by Trump haven't lead to Americans leading better lives.
Business Insider columnist Linette Lopez referenced the lack of a wage increase for Americans, that was supposed to come trickling down from corporate America after the GOP's tax bill.
"It's a cost thing, especially when it comes to healthcare, child care, education," she said about the high costs families are dealing with. "Americans are feeling the fact that they have not gotten a real wage increase in 30 years. And that costs have just been going up and up and up. And nothing that the government has done during the Trump administration has directly attacked that."
She went on to address the corruption around the Republican tax bill from 2017, which benefited not only major corporations but also lobbyists.
"The story is about how ugly the sausage is when it gets made," she explained. "And then it gets remade. So, we thought we had a tax bill, and then after the tax bill is written, lobbyists just descend on the treasury like a swarm of locusts to have the rules rewritten in their favor."
The GOP tax bill was supposed to stop companies from going offshore to tax havens to avoid paying taxes. The lobbyists complained on behalf of corporations that scored exceptions written into the rules. Republicans rushed the bill through as quickly as possible, so they essentially crafted a weak bill that corporations were able to benefit from.
"It's just K Street unloading, getting to change all the rules, subverting the will of Congress," she said. "Congress is like, 'Wait a second.' And it has lobbyists who lobbied for these easy rules for -- for big companies like banks, pharma, etc. The worst actors in terms of tax dodging. The lobbyists who worked for those rules then go work for the treasury. So, it's that revolving door stuff."
Watch the full discussion below:
