Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20171023

Governmement moves to impose direct rule over catalonia following the regions independence r referendum. The speaker of the Catalan Parliament has called spains move to seize political control of the region a de facto coup detat. Mr. President , this is not a bad budget deal, it is an horrific budget bill an extremely cruel bill and the most unfair budget ever presented i in the modern histoy of our country. Amy that was senator sanders. As the Senate Narrowly Passes a budget bill that clears the path for an h historic tax reform, well looook at how President Trumps proposed tax overhauaul would shower billions of dollars in tax cuts upon the wealthiest americans, including President Trumps family and members of his administration. We will speak with james henenry of the t Tax Justice Network and pulitzer prizewinning journalist David Cay Johnston, whose latestst piece is headlind nine reasons trump tax plan will hurt you. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In afghanistan, a suicide bomber ambushed afghan army cadets as they left their base in kabul on saturday, killing 15 of them. The taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing, as well as a rocket attack earlier in the day on a military base used by the u. S. Led coalition. On friday, a suicide bomber attacked a shia mosque in kabul, killing 56 people and wounding 55 others during prayers. Isis claimed responsibility for that attack. Separately, an attack on a sunni mosque in central afghanistans Ghor Province killed 20 people. The attacks capped a week of violence that saw more than 250 People Killed across afafghanistan. The violence came as the New York Times reports the cia is sending teams of paramilitary officers to afghanistan to help Afghan Forces hunt and kill taliban fighters. The move signals an expansion of the cias role in afghanistan, where agents previously focused on defeating al qaeda and aiding the Afghan Intelligence service. Speaking last thursday at a washington, d. C. , conference, cia director mike pompeo said under President Trump, his agency will become mucuch more vicious. We have laid out a strategy on how were going to execute our mission with incredible vigor. Were going t to become much moe vicious agency in ensuring we are delivering this work. Were going to go to some of the hardest places with some o of or hardest peopople in our organization to crush it. When we do it, the president has promised he wilill have our bacs and he will resource us. Amy President Trump signed an executive order friday authorizing the air force to call up as many as 1000 retired aviators to active duty. Trumps order came as the pentagon said it is facing a large shortage o of pilots as Te Administration prepares to ramp up the u. S. War in afghanistan. Meanwhile, the air force says it will place Nuclear Armed b52 bombers on 24hour ready alert for the First Time Since the cold war ended in 1991. In hollywood, florida, mourners gathered saturday as the body of u. S. Army Sergeant La David Johnson was laid to rest. Johnson was one of four u. S. Soldiers killed in an ambush during a patrol in niger on october 4. The funeral came as President Trump and his administration continued to attack florida Congressmember Frederica Wilson after she reported that trump told sergeant johnsons widow Myeshia Johnson in a phone call he knew what he signed up for but when it happens, it hurts anyway. Over the weekend, President Trump tweeted called wilson in ain a tweet whacky tweet without once mentioning la David Johnson or offering condolences to his family. Meanwhile, congresswoman wilson refuted a false claim made last week by white house chief of staff general john kelly that Congressmember Wilson claimed credit for securing millions of dollars in federal funding for an fbi in miami. Kelly made the claim as part of personal attack in which kelly called congresswoman wilson an empty barrel. This is congresswoman Frederica Wilson speaking on msnbc on sunday. I guess you could say he was a puppet of the president. And what he was trying to do was divert the attention away from the president on to me. And he basically jusust lied on me. And i dont appreciate people lying on me. Amy on capitol hillll, the congressionanal black k caucus called on general kelly to apologize over the remarks, calling them reckless and reprehensible. At the white house, press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders warned reporters against questiononing general kelly. If you wantt to go after general kelly, that is up to yoyou. But i think if you want to get into a debate with a fourstar isine general, i thinkk t that something g highly inappropriat. Amy the controversy over sergeant with David Johnson that in niger came as editors expressed surprise over the weekend that there are even 1000 stationed in niger. The controversy helped prompt the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to schedule hearings on the authorization for the use of military force a orumf, a bill passed in the wake of the september 11 attack that is been useded by president s too justify military actioions aroround the globe for thehe last 16 years. Cocommittee chair Tennessee Republican bob corker said in a statement nine it is perhaps more important than ever that we have a sober National Conversation about congresss constitutional role in authororizing the use of militay force. In spain, prime mininister mario rajoy said saturday he would impose direct rule over catalonia after leaders of the Northeastern Region held an independence referendum m on october 1 and moved to secede from spain. Rajoys order pending the likely approval of the Spanish Senate would see Catalan Leaders fired and new elections held within six months. The e announceme p prompted outrage in catalonias capital barcelona, where nearly a half Million People poured into the streets in protest. The speaker of the Catalan Parliament called rajoys order a coup detat. Today, Prime Minister rajoy in an enormous act of political irresponsibility has crossed all limits. He is announced the execution of a de facto coup is they are which he intends to intervene and take control of the cattle on institution. An attack against democracy and against the your of the 20th century with the goal of endndig a democratically elected government. Amy catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont called rajoys decision the worst attack on catalan institutions since general francos dictatorship. Puigdemont said catalonias parliament would meet in the coming days to discuss their next steps, amid speculation he might unilaterally declare catalan independence. Well have more on the crisis over c catalonia after headldli. Russia has accusused the u. S. Ld coalition in syria of bombing comparing it to the allied bombing of the german city of dresden in world war ii. The comments came after u. S. Backed militias claimed victory in a fight against isis that left raqq completely in ruins. The local journalistica Group Reports the u. S. Backed assault killed 1873 civilians and displaced some 450,0,000 people. In e egypt, militants ambushed a convoy of police and Security Forces in the desert west of cairo late f friday, killing 59 officers and seizing their weapons and ammunition. Its not clear who was behind the wellcoordinated attack, though the recentlyformed militant group hasm claimed responsibility. Egypts government has accused the banned Muslim Brotherhood party of supporting hasm, a charge the b brotherhood denies. Inin somalia, a roadadside bomb exploded sunday south of the capital mogadishu, tearing through a minibus and killing at least 11 peoeople. A witness said he saw a Somali Military vehicle pass near the time of the explosion, and that the civilians were probably killed in error. Theres been no claim of responsibility for the attack, which came a week after a bombing in mogadishu killed at least 358 people and wounded over 400 others. In japan, members of Prime Minister shinzo abes Ruling Coalition won a landslide parliamentary election on sunday, taking nearly 80 of the seats in the lower house of the diet. The election bolsters abes bid to do away with article 9, part of japans constitution that renounces war and bars japan from using or threatening to use military force. In chile, forensic scientists said friday that f famed poet td Nobel Laureate pablo neruda did not die of cancer in 1973, as stated, bolstering claims that neruda was poisoned under general Augusto Pinochets rule. Nerudas driver has claimed he was poisoned by a stomach injection administered by doctors. Neruda, who won the nobel prize for literature in 1971, was a close friend of the ousted president salvador allende. He died when the finish of forces rose to power in 1973. Forensic experts say theyll need up to a year to determine the true cause of nerudas death. Back in the United States, former fox news host Billl Oreilly secreretly settled a Sexual Harassment claim for 32 million in january, the sixth and by far the largest such settlement during oreillys tenure at fox. Despite the settlement, fox news renewed oreillys contract in february, agreeing to pay him 25 million a year before mounting scandals finally forced him from the network in april. The settlement came after longtime Fox News Contributor lis wiehl accused oreilly of repeated harassment, a nonconsensual sexual relationship, and of sending her unwanted pornographic c emails. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reports 3838 women are accusing hollywood screenwriter and director james toback of Sexual Assault and harassment. In separate interviews, the women describe how toback would lure them to a hotel room or movie trailer with the promise of making them a hollywood star, before masturbating in front of them or making unwanted sexual contact. Toback denied the charges, telling the la times he had never met any of the 38 women, or if f he had, he didnt reremr them. Inin jackson, mississippi, the local school board has voted overwhelmingly to rename the Davis International Elementary School after president barack obama. The Campaign Began after a former fourthgrader at the of al wrote a book review biography of the former confederate president Jefferson Davis after whom the school is named. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We begin todays show with the political crisis in spain. On saturday, spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he is moving to impose direct rule over catalonia, stripping the Northeastern Region of its autonomy in efforts to crush catalonias independence movement. Follllowing an emergency Cabinet Meeting on saturday, rajoy said he will invoke article 155 of the constitution, which has never been used in spains modern democratic history. Pending its likely approval by the Spanish Senate, article 155 will allllow spain to fire catalonias elected leaders and seize control of its Police Forces and public broadcast channel. The move comes in response to catalonias independence referendum earlier this month. The catalan regional governmnmet said 90 of cacatalan voters che independence in the referendum. More than 800 people were injured during the vote went Spanish Police attacked them. The Spanish Police stormed polling stations, firing t tear gas, and physically attacking voters. This is Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy speaking on saturday. Tothe deville the ability dissolve the government, the powers the catalonian will be transferred to the president. The president of the government of the senates size will have to call for elections in a maximum of six months. However, i want to do this as soon as possible to recover institutional normality which, without doubt, is one of our goals for the future. Or that, it is important all wowork for recovering constitutional normalcy. Amy Prime Minister Mariano Rajoys announcement prompted outrage in catalonias capital barcelona, where nearly a half Million People poured into the streets in protest. The speaker of the Catalan Parliament called rajoys order a coup detat. Today, Prime Minister rajoy and an enormous act of political irresponsibility come has crossed all limits. He has announced the execution of a de facto coup estate through which he intends to intervene and take control of the catalog institutions. An attack against democracy and against the europe of the 20 century with the goal of ending a democratically elected government. Amy Catalan Leader carles pushed upon called roys decision the worst attack on catalonia since the francos dictatorship. Puigdemont said catalonias parliament will meet in the coming days, amid speculation he might unilaterally declare catalan independence. Well, for more were joined in los angeles by dominic thomas, professor at university of california los angeles who specializes in european politics. He is chair of the department of french and francophone studies. ,elcome to democracy now professor thomas. Can you start off by talking about what happened over the weekend in catalonia and overall in spain . That you so much for having me on your show. This all started off with the Prime Minister holding a Cabinet Meeting in order to discuss how to proceed with the actual nondeclaration of a referendum that nevertheless to bring him in his mind, the region of catalonia back into line. The cabinetet supported him. He also spent time buildingg cross Party Support going to opposition parties to make sure that when he goes to the senate later this week, he has the mandate that he needs to essentially put the region of receivership. The other extraordinary thing and development was the king of spain and this is a constitutional monarchy, very somewhat to that of the United Kingdom where the e king is reay the figurehead of this country spoke out announcing there was absolutely no way that catalonia would at any time separate from spain. Rajoy i just return from the summit of eu leaders were he came back with strong support from several important players in the European Union. At that particular point then, the catalonians responded and spoke out. I think one of the most symbolic moments was when the leader of catalonia, Carlos Puigdemont spoke in front of the European Union and in front of the catalonian flag and shifted during his intervention into english, appealing to the International Community and to bring attention to the fact that as far as they are concerned, the dedemocraticic basic demomocraticic rights are being suspended in the region. Amy lets go right now to the cattle on leader Catalan Leader Carles Puigdemont speaking this weekend against spains plan for direct rule. At one point in his speech, he switchched to english. If your informational views are at risk in c catalonia am aa they will also be at risk k in europe. Democratatically deciding ththe future of a natioion is not a crime. This goes against foundatations that european citizens ththrough diversity. Cacatalonia is a european natio. Its cocore to the european view. We do what we do becacause we believe inin a democratic andd peaceful l europe. Rightsuropope fundamentntal that should protect each and every one of us. Amy and i want to turn back to the spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy speaking saturday. The autonomy and selfgovernment of catatalonia will not be suspended. It will remove the people that put that autonomous government outside of the law and the constitution and statute. Self governments will not end. It will be for coexistence of all caps ons and not t just the who are proindependence. And because of that is the Prime Minister of spain, professor dominic thomas. Right. Theirar them both sharing different perspectives on this. This is really what has brought this political crisis to the for is that the independence leaders are absolutely committed to moving forward with what they see as s mandate delivered to them in the referendum of octotober 1. Thisis referendum was highly probobmatic because of it being declared illegal and unconstitutional, when many people stayed home. Carles puigdemont feels the people of catalonia have spoken and they want to proceed with this, that the spanish governrnment insists that constitutionally, this is just something not possible. That these 17 states that make up the union of spain cannot separate, cannot secede from the unitary model that they embraced and signed off on in n the 1978 consnstitution. And for the time being, neither side has been willing to compromise although, both sides have claimed they are willing to sit down and t to negotiate and have discussions about this and reached some kind of comprpromise. Amy y so what is stopping them . Simply that the independence are absolutely committed to going down that half. As far as the Spanish Government is concerned, that is a redline. There is no mechanism in place to allow them to move towards independence. And so this is really the struggle. The leaders want and feel like they have a mandate in parliament. They have been talking about this for a long time. That they want to have a vote on the referendum. Yet it is illegal. This sort of technical bureaucratic constitutional process that is preventing them from getting to this. The irony, of course, is a few weeks ago, no statistics pointed to the fact that in independence vote would win. It seems there were people who were disillusioned, the general and grievances with the relationship of catalonia to spain and water supporting the movement and were supporting the movement, had some of those grievances been addressed, their wouldt for the referendum have waned. And yet the longer that this has gone on, the more it has galvanized people in the catalonia region. Not so much because they believe inthe independence referendum, that the violations of these basic democratic principles have been very troubling and have mobilized people to come out in and expressed support for leaders against the Central Government. Anand go professor thomas, can u give his background yet go for people who are sort of parachuting into this right now, trying to understand what t this is all aboutut, give us a lesson in spanish andnd catalonian history. It is a long history. The roots s of the region go ba, one could argue, to the medieval period, and the history of the formation of spain as a constitutional entity, as a monarchy, catalonia has a list been part of that. It is a region that has its specific language, its cultural roots, that it has been operating economically and politically as part of one of the 17 states, but as an independent state that has developed its own cultural background, forms of expression, and so on. And germany franco dictatorship in the late 1930s all the way through to the 1970s, they were persecuted. Their language was banned in schools and so on. And this has left a sudden resentment. Visavis, the centralized government image read. And for many years now, the folks haveve been galvanized toward moving toward those measures t toward achieving independence. In 2006, they wanted to implement certain changes to the relationship to madrid in madadd refused to ratify them. Since then, the leadership in the region has been gradually moving in the dirirection of holding a referendum on their future belonging to spain. Amy and talk more about article 155 and why people of catalonia are so deeply concerned it not being invoked since the fascist general franco was in power. It has nevever been used. It is vague. The one thing that is not vague as far as primus to relate goes, he the right constitutionally to bring g regions into compliancef they attempt to break away from the centralized state. What is interesting about that dynamic is the optics. If one looks at the ways in which the government has behavad leading up to the declaration of article 155, preventing people from going to the ballot boxes at the referendum, incarcerating some of the political leaders from the region, threatening the head of police, then brininging the European Union into support themem, is that in terms of the optics of this, i think that peoples grievances against madrid and this feeling that isrids Central Government overreachihing have been enforcd by this. This is one of the main arguments that is been used by the separatists, is that madrid is to interfering in the region. So even as people who might have not automatically been in favor of the referendum find this treatment and this way in which the European Union and Prime Minister rajoy have dealt hypocritically with someme of te fundamentatal questions of demomocratic rights in the regin have disturbed people. Amy i mean, 900 people were injured when the Spanish Police attacked voters on this referendum day. Rightht. And it was c completely unnecessary. They declared the referendum unconstitutional. From that point forward, they werent going to recognize it. What was the harm in letting people go to the ballot boxes . One can talk about the various pros and cons of the movement in spain, but it made absolutely no sense, especially in the state of social media, to go in there with that kind of force and to stop people from exercising what they fundamentally believe or their democratic principles. This is why the situation has jamaated and why when spoken english, he is well aware of the fact International Community is going to be interested in the ways in which spain is conducting a self right now, especially with all of the attention on elections in europe these days. Amy what is going to happen next . Later on this week, the Prime Minister is going to go to the senate. He is most likely going to get support and theyre going to go in and essentially put the region into receivership. In the meantime, the only way out for the separatists in the catalonian sister. This by going to parliament either declaring unilateral independence, which will escalate things even further, or to call Regional Elections themselves rather than the Central Government doing it and, hopefully, from their point of view, return a parliament that is being redemocratically elected by the people that will give them the mandate to hold a referendum. The outcome of that is highly unpredictable. This is also what is so problematic about the Central Government in madrid assisting the have r regional l elections. They already had Regional Elections. They already did return Democratic Leaders to the area. What it looks like is madrid is trying to shape the outcome of the election, to hold an election and to hope insufficient number of people return a government that is not proreferendum. In in so doing, will humiliate the independence leaders in the region. This will only further divide People Living in this part of the country in which families are being torn apart, businesses are flocking out of the region, and never facing a deep economic and political crisis. Amy professor dominic thomas, you specialize in european affairs. I want to shift gears and ask about austria were conservative Sebastian Kurz has been tasked with forming a government after he won a slim majority in last weeks snap elections. Kurz campaigned on a platform. His conservative pararty weighig the Freedom Party azis sixby the former n decadedes ago. Speaking last year, he reassud leaders he would support the european uninion. Im not just glad we had this European Union, but i also see it as the responsibility of my Younger Generation team gauge in shape the eu in a positive way engage and shape the eu in a popositive way. It will be a proeuropean one, government that wants to actively shape europe and change it for the better. Amy we just play this clip of the leader in austria. Professor thomas, can you talk about the rise of rightwing nationalism in europe . Start with austria. And also, how President Trump has affected this move went . Movement . Professor thomas, were going to go to a break and then we are going to come back to this discussion. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As we continue with professor dominic thomas, who heads up he chairs the department of french and francophone studies at uniniversity of california ls angeles at ucla. Her answer thomas, i asked you about the rise of conservative and rightwing parties and politics in europe, starting with austria, where the conservative leader Sebastian Kurz has been tasked with forming a government after he won a slim majority in last weeks snap elections. And i also want to ask how trumps presidency here is affecting european politics. As i was saying, what is remarkable about t the austrian context, where other leaders had said in a campaigns that if the far right performed well, they would not consider enterering io coalitions with them c come the sitttting foreign ministster Sebastian Kurz, when he came o t on top and throughout his election, said he would absolutely consider working with this far right party. What was interesting, it has essentially allow these far right views to be mainstreamed and excepted. In the end, about 60 of Austrian Society elected a chancellor and the far right group if he does indeed go into the coalition with them on a platform that is antiimmigration and so one, too. The Trump Presidency has shaped european elections in different ways over the past six months. First of all, trumps position on International Stage has led to a widespread consensus that essentially america has vacated the world ofof Foreign Policy leadership and ethics and are turning to new leaders. So in the german election, this work in Angela Merkels favor because she offered continuity in the face of this sort of dwindling american set of influence. The other aspect with the Trump Presidency that has given value and cretins to so many of these groups in europe, has been around the question of nativism. Sameer arguiuing austria first, o oury first, take place of domestic concerns, reduce immigration, lets target islam and so on. These are some of the ways in which trump has given some kindd of crededence and value to these political parties. It is really quite disturbing. Amy lets go back to the major speech that President Trump made in poland in july when he said the future of western civilization is at stake as he warned against the threats of terrorism and extremism. Trump spoke in krasinski square, near the site of the 1944 warsaw uprising against the nazis. Pres. Trump this continent no longer confronts the specter of commununism, but today were in the west and we have to say there are dire threats to our security and to our way of life. You see what is happening out there. They arere threats. We will confront them. We will win. But they are threatsts. Werere confronted by another ideology, one that seeks to export terrorism and extremism all around the globe. America and europe have suffered one terror attack after another. We are going to get it to stop. Amam president nt trumps speech was often interrupted by applause. According to news reports, supporters of the rightwing polish government were bused in to hear r trumps speech. Professor thomas . What was so disturbing i think about that speech and there are many aspects first of all, decided there is such a thing as ththe west veversus the rest and so on. In fact, the societies are not already incredibly diverse, mixed, and globalized. The aspect of that speech, particularly in poland and some of these areas around poland and hungary, if european is indeed founded on important questions of liberal Democratic Values and principles, what we find in poland, what we find in some of the actions of President Trump that interfering with the legal process, putting into o question the validity of the local courts, challenging journalists and so on, upper valley describing them develop that of nothing to do with fundamental democratic principles. It was not surprising he targeted that particular region of europe to go and deliver this particular speech. We are increasingly seeing the rise of micicro nationalist positions that go along with protectionistst modes around e europe, and it is of grereat concern to the europn today just your opinion and today. Hate crimes have surged to record high levels with more than 80,000 hate crimes reported in one year between march 2016 and march 2017. The researchers said the increase in hate crimes was fueled by the brexit vote to leave the European Union as well as the terrorist attacks in london and manchester also about 80 were racially motored motivated. Whatats the questionon of immimigration n has been used at various gogovernment leaders and political figures to designatate both aspects. On the one hand, the migratory flows into the European Union. On the other hand, the question of immigration. In other words, ethnic relations of multiculturalism and diversity. We saw this exploited by the brexitiers during that political campaign. And theirr message echoed and hs echoed that we see and otherer elections throughout europe. In the french elections with marine l le pen and the dutch elections and so on. Into that, the question of terrorism has fueled those kinds of questions andnd increasingly putting g limits on migration ad increased border control. The e very kinds of debates we e in the united statetes today. Amy finally, professor thomas, this whole issue of the use of Nuclear Weapons. The reports that President Trump asking his generals if we have Nuclear Weapons come away to we use them, and the reports of the secretary of state rex tillersrs after that meetingng called himn effing moron does something yes not deny, though asked repeatedly about it. The alreadady thing up of attacs against north korea. And finally, this latest news that the air force says it will place Nuclear Armed b52 bombers on 24 hour ready alert for the First Time Since the cold war and did in 19 91. How is this affecting europe right now. Family leaders x european leaders, at the end of the meeting, the section called external relations made specific points about an ongoing nuclearfor the iran deal. Secondly, expressed tremendous concern over not only the actions in north korea, but also talked about the ways in which President Trump has escalated tensions in that particular area of the world. European leaders and People Living in europe are concerned about the kind of dynamics that are being fed in place, particularly with the long history of cold war conflict that was very real the People Living in many parts of europe. And there is just t tremendous concern here that the United States has shifted so rapidly toward this kind of discussion of this bellicose discussion of conflict of war without sufficiently exploring Diplomatic Solutions or the destabilizizing impact that this is having on Global Politics and relations. Amy we want to thank you for being with us, dominic thomas, professor at university of california los angegeles whwho specializes in european politics. Chair of the department of french and francophone studies. When we come back from break, we will be speaking with the pulitzer prizewinning journalist David Cay Johnston who wrote about a fee of President Trump, has covered him for well over three decades. Were particularly going to be lookining at the tax plans that President Trump has put forward. Who will help . Who will they hurt . Stay with us. [music break] amy this i is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We turn to President Trumps plan to dramatically rewrite the u. S. Tax code. Critics are e slamming thehe pl, saying it would mamassively redistribute wealth to the richest 1 of americans, including President Trump and members of his administration. An analysis by the center for American Progress action fund shows President Trumps family and trumps cabinet members would c combined reaeap a 3. 5 billion windfall from the proposed repeal of thehe estate tax alone. The plan also calls for slashing the Corporate Tax rate from 35 down to 20 . Earlier this year, trump proposed cutting the Corporate Tax rate to as low as 15 . The plan also proposes lowering the tax rate on socalled passthrough income, in which the profits of a business are transferred directly to the business ownerers. Under the current code, the tax rate on pass through income varies based on the owners income, ranging from as low as 10 to as high as 39 . Trumps plan proposes capping the tax rate on pass through income at 25 , a move that would also shower millions in savings upon milillionaires and billionaires, including trump and his family members. According to the center for American Progress action fund, capping this tax rate would give trumps soninlaw and Senior Adviser Jared Kushner an annual tax cut of up to 17 million. Based on President Trumps 2016 financial disclosures, the center for American Progress esestimates trump himself f woud receive a 23 million tax cut. On thursday, the Senate Passed a budget blueprint that would protect a 1. 5 trillion tax cut from a democratic filibuster clearing the way for congress to take up trumps proposed tax overhaul. The measure passed 51 to 49. Republican senator rand paul was the only republican to vote against the budget plan, but on friday, he said he was all in for trumps proposed tax cuts. All democrats voted against t te plan. This is vermont independent senator bernie sanders. Sen. Sanders mr. President , this is not a bad budget bill. It is an horrific budget bill an extremely cruel bill in the most unfair budget ever presented in the modern history of our country. At a time a massive income and wealth inequality, this budget provides 1. 9 trillion in tax breaks the top 1 . At a time when millions of working families are struggling to keep their heads above water, this budget cuts medicaid by 1 trillion, 15 million americans could lose their health insurance. Amy President Trump is demanding Congress Pass the tax reform by the end of the year. For more, were joined by two guests. Joining us via democracy now video stream is james henry is an economist, lawyer, and Senior Advisor with the Tax Justice Network. Global justice fellow at yale university. Former chief economist at mckinsey company. And joining us in rochester, new york, is David Cay Johnston, pulitzer prizewinning Investigative Reporter previously with the New York Times, now founder and editor of dcreport. Org. His biography of donald trump is titled the making of donald trump. His forthcoming book on trump is titled its worse than you think. Lets start with david cay johnson. Your latest piece is headlined nine reasons Donald Trumps tax plans will hurt you. What are they . Essentially, to the extent we know what it is, his plan is one to give tiny little tax cuts to most americans, raise taxes on perhaps one in five families, and shower benefits on people who earn millions of dollars a year. If you make 40,000 to 50 thousand dollars, the institute on taxation and Economic Policy estimates you will get a tax savings of about eight dollars a week. If you make an income of 10 million, you will save about one mailing dollars a year. One point finally knows year. As much as two thirds of the tax 1 5. Ill go to republicans have been pursuing it for a long time. They dont use these words, but it boils down to the rich are not investing and creating jobs because they dont have nearly enough money. So we need to get the money. The way the republicans want to get to it is the tax cuts first, then when there is no money because of the tax cuts, takeaway health care for the disabled, elderly, and the poor. Amy explain how President Trump, his family, and h his cabinet will profit from what you u understanand theyre puttg forward so far. Right. Well, in the estate tax area, if donald trump had 10 million thane doesnt, it is less 2 billion. But at 2 billion, his family would save when he runs out of time, 800 million. Trump says, i wont benefit from this text land. Tax plan. In his businesses come he has more than 500 passthrough businesses alone. His tax rate on those with fall 1. 5onthly roughly million savings. This is clearly a plane designed for people at the top. If you are a Small Business owner who makes a very modest profit, trump would raise your tax rate 50 from 10 to 15 . Firsting individual, your dollar would be taxed not it 10 as it is now, but 12 . If you have more than two children, you will lose the ability to deduct them and it will be offset by the changes theyre proposing. This is also an antilarge family plan, raising the question of whether the republicans really want to emulate chinas one child policy. Amy james henry, you are an economist and lawyer with the Tax Justice Network. Can you talk about how talk about the republicans who are opposed toto trumps plan. We havent heard much from them. Ostensibly, there are opposed to the deficit this is going to create, Something Like 1. 5 trillion to two point 6 trillion in the deficit. Traditionally, the deficit hawks, some of whom are like senator corker, rand paul them have been concerned about that. But that appears to be going away. The reason is, this is a huge payday for the donor class. I would say the most important impact of this that we havent 2. 6ly discussed is the trillion dollars offshore that belongs to Companies Like apple and google and microsoft. Very large u. S. Companies. Going to be able to repatriate that and pay only a five resented timber six 5 to 6 tax rate on that. Amy explain exaxactly how that workrks. You have written a lot about this. Timeis is basically a one repatriation like bush tried in 2004 when he did the same thing, gave Major Companies that have parked money offshore a 5 tax rate. When they brought it back, they used it not to create jobs, but to do shareholder buybacks. So it had no beneficial impacts at all. This was that out. Now the stash offshore under u. S. Corporate tax law, if you put money offshore, you can keep it there. You can even borrow against it and not pay tax and to you bring it back. 2. 6 tree not sure, if they brought it back at the 35 rate as opposed to the 5 rate, they would pay an extra 800 dollars. The second thing that is critical about this is none of these Major Companies pay anything like 35 . Bear down and the 5 range, Companies Like ge and apple. Because of all of this offshore loot. Much of which is illicit. The European Union has determined that apple and google were running around europe cutting special deals and parking their patents and software offshore and paying themselves royalties taxfree. So this Corporate Tax reform for them amounts to a kind of repeal of the Corporate Tax because it is a territorial tax. U. S. Companies will no longer be taxed on their offshore earnings at all. So this was just encouraging the type of behavior that the eu and the oecd and the g20 have been going after. This is a tax haven relief act. Effectively, they will be able to get negative taxes because of all of this offshore income will be taxfree. And this is going to be an absolute disaster for the rest of the world, especially developing countries. Because right now, u. S. Companies can get tax credits against their income in, say, south africa. After this tax bill is passed, with no hearings and no debate, by the way, they will find themselves under extreme pressure to cut their own tax rates. So this amounts to a unilateral declaration of a tax war, tax competition, as they like to style it. Basically, as the australian finance minister said recently, you know, they will cut their taxes, we will cut our tax rates. This is going to be a race to the bottom. Onlytively, this is not 2. 6 trillionn the dollars onetime payout, but going forward, it is an effective repeal of taxation on multinationals will stop u. S. Businesses, Small Business, cant take advantage of this offshore gains. The giant Companies Really can. By the way, they are at alltime record levels in terms of profits. They dont need these kinds of tax benefits to compete. Amy james henry, you said trumps plan f for cororporate x reform s should be called the golden plan. Why . Well, it is written by the former amy gary cohn. The former president of gary goldman sachs. He has directors of goma sex in his amy treasure secretary mnuchin. And it will be a personal benefit to these people not only because of their Estate Planning and the way their tax person, the golden will benefit directly. Goldman and other firms have major stakes in many of these companies that are going to get this huge payday. This is going to be financed by a deficit. It is a transfer of wealth to the top. I was a. 1 of the population, not just the 1 . These are the folks private equity firms now own a majority of shares in the u. S. Stock market. Think, one of the most reactionary, if not the most reactionary, well transfers in u. S. History. Amy so David Cay Johnston, talk. Bout how trump is framing this repeatedly saying this is about helping the middle class. You have covered him for decades. Is a masterald salesman. He creates his own reality. So if he tells you this is a middleclass tax cut and i donald trump will benefit, he expects you to believe that. It doesnt matter that it is not true. It is he said it, youre supposed to believe it. That is how he has run his entire administration. If he says it am a that makes it true. Donald is not unique about this. Covered to ive covered others who believe the same. But ordinary americans should be saying, wait a minute, we went down this path in 2001. And what happened will we had a similar plan . And not, by the way, is heavily rigged to the top is this plan is. Well, job growth basically stopped. For eight years, the population grew five times faster than the number of jobs group. We saw wages slide. Incomes fell for everybody, including the superrich. The top 10th of 1 that jim was talking about. Their incomes fell as well. And we ran up these huge deficits. Donald trump ran for office complaining that at 19 trillion, the u. S. Debt was completely out of control and yet what he is planning to do is throw trillions of dollars more on to that debt. If this plan is enacted, 10 years from now americas debt will be over 30 chilean dollars 30 chilean dollars. He is contradicting his own stated positions and that is because to donald, none of this is about policy. It is not about sound economics. It is about greed and the glorification of the great leader. Amy what would a progressive tax plan look like . Well, the most important element of a progressive tax top rates be to have that dont start at 400,000 a year. Day,e who make 400,000 a i. E. Donald trump, should pay a much higher rate than a couple who both work all year and make 400,000. They make a lot of money, but people who make that much per day pay the same or lower tax rarates. So we neneed to recognize e we d to have a tax schedule that goes up at one leaned dollars, finally dollars, 10 million, 100 million. Remember, we people in america are reported billion dollar a multibillion dollarr annual incomes, not wealth, incomes. And those people would get incredible tax credits. Secondly, these accounting rules that allow companies to earn profits in the United States, send the money offshore, effectively taking money out of their right pocket and putting it into their left, and getting a tax deduction. And then keeping the money offshore. And obtaining enough fashion a zero interest loan from the federal government for the amount of taxes that they owe. Every dollar of tax they dont pay because they put the money offshore amounts to the government loaning money to these companies and zero interest. That needs to be stopped. There is nothing in this plan tot suggests they intend reform the tax system. This is simply the oligarchs of america reaching into the pockets of middleclass, especially the upper middle prosperous,ately those who make 100,000 the year up to about 1 million year. And taking money out of their pockets. 200le who make 100,000 to 50,000 would see their taxes rise under this plan based on what we know so far. This is simply a huge redistribution scheme by the rich for the rich and paid for by everybody who is not already rich. Amy dedicate johnston, i would ask about the latest news and weather you think it matters that President Trump, according magazinenual forbess rarankings, had d dropped from lost 600 million dollars, dropping him to 3. 1 billion, richest him from 156th to 248th in the ranking . The may point out the forbes deeply flawed. I know people who are billionaires who are not on that list because it is probably held wealth. It is a measure of liquid wealth. Donald trumps wealth is privately held. He doesnt own any significant stocks or bonds. I think the most important element is when donald trump announced in 2015 he was running, he said he was worth 8. 7 billion dollars, then he said 10 billion, one sees said 11 billion. The statement he filed inmate in file he asked if you could it without signing it, he listed his wealth as 1. 4 billion with the possibility of somewhat higher because of the way the form is done. Ive redone the form and it comes out to less than 2 billion. Not only is that below what forbes said, but it is nowhere what he claimed when running for office. This goes to the fact that donald trump is a con artist. He tells you what you think you want to hear. Im shocked that none of the american newspapers and networks ran stories sing President Trump did not have 10 by in dollars like he claimed. He is less than 2 billion. Im not surprised that as well fell during this period of time because he put a lot of money into the campaign, number one. What we should see happen is his income rising. He doubled the price to join maralago between election day and the day he took office. From 100,000 to 200 thousand dollars. His washington hotel, the old post office, is the highest price hotel and washington, even though there is nothing to distinguish it accept the name of the owner on the door. Stakes at that place start at 60. Rates start at 24. Theyre taking and 68,000 a day just in food and beverage which is extraordinary about for a hotel. They are charging rate that are three times the average the district probably and higher than any other luxury hotel, even though nothing distinguishes them. This is a kleptocracy in the making. The deals with china where trump used t to be very critical o of china, now he and his family have well more than 100 trademarks in china. Suddenly, they are not so critical of the chinese anymore. This is a presidency for profit. Amy james henry, 10 seconds. Your prediction about how this plan will go in congress . Iti think they will raise through Congress Without any debate, no hearings will stop were going of a gigantic tax war or what we should be doing is working with our allies and countries around the world to establish a fair taxation. This upsets 10 years of progress with the amy have to leave it there. I want to thank james henry and david [men singing in foreign language] there we are, there we are. [men grunting] [indistinct chatter] [gorilla groans] two blackbacks showing off. Just basically teeeenagers feelg their oats. All is fine. Gives you an adrenaline rush, though, doesnt t it . Wow