Can we Not "Miggery Sow" Taxes. Please

In the children's book The Tale of Despereux by Kate DiCamillo there is a character named Miggery Sow.  Miggery Sow is a young servant who kidnaps the princess for a rat, and believes she is going to become a princess herself the plan was admittedly bad.  This is how DiCamillo describes the efficacy of the plan.

No one would ever, not for one blind minute, mistake Mig for the princess or the princess for Mig. But Miggery Sow, as I pointed out to you before, was not the sharpest knife in the drawer. And, reader, too, she wanted so desperately to become a princess. She wanted, oh, how she wanted. And it was because of this terrible wanting that she was able to believe in Roscuro's plan with every ounce of her heart. (36.24)

Mig really tried to go through with  this plan, she really wanted to believe and the Roscuro the rat was also very committed to her going through with it. Remember how Republicans passed a sweeping tax reform a few weeks ago?  Remember that? I have a vague recollection that there was this tax thing I think they were happy about. So if you recall that I don't need to go over all details.  I cant say what the outcome will be but I can say that the GOP cant really talk about anything other then how good this thing no one wanted is.  Paul Ryan continues to tweet how happy we should all be about this. Why is he doing this?  Possibly because he cannot let us for a second forget the feeling of being Mig.  He hopes that he can talk about taxes until he wins reelection.

As soon as the bill was passed, companies started giving out bonuses and the GOP slurped up that propaganda opportunity.  Crediting the passage of the tax bill as the cause of those bonuses and what's good bill it is.  You know how a Dr. gives a baby something to suck on while they get a shot as a distraction. Yeah that's what just happened.  Most of those companies gave bonuses and then laid people off the next day.  Also the bill passed and they gave out bonuses when they wont see the impacts until 2018 tax season.  Again, remember Miggery Sow?  How times do they have to tell us this is what we want before we believe it?


Multiple people have posited to me that we are seeing the success of the bill. "We have a great new tax plan with lots of cuts" they say as an argument to not complaining so much about POTUS. Um, come again?  So anyone who is a working adult understands that what the bill going to in effect on Jan, 1, 2018 means is this when we go to file taxes in 2019, it will be  for the 2018 tax year. So the tax bill is working like snake oil.  I need it to stop this is so painful to watch people argue this, and I know Paul Ryan is like a dog with a bone so he can get reelected before people realize what hes done, but stop drinking the snake oil.  If snake oil is not a relevant reference for you how about stop drinking the Koolaid.  I forgive you if you drank their poison, but the time has come to stop its starting to look desperate.


The reason that they companies were able to give those is....wait for it....they already had the money for bonuses and they were too greedy to pay it to the employees.  The bill could not do anything for them before Jan 1 and they gave out the bonuses in December.  Followed by lay offs.  Once again, everyone got a bonus and they totally shall we say "Miggery Sowed" the whole thing.  Just as they did voting for Trump. "We got bonuses, because of tax cuts, this must be good, this must mean the capitalistic exploitation of our labor has ended"  News flash we have already done this, and it ends in wages not rising, the cost of living increasing and the rich getting richer.  Trickle down economics assumes that the successful people at the top are altruistic, which simply isn't the case.

It would be one thing if there were really no impacts but the truth is where we see the impact is in smaller checks.  since the first of the year what would have been a $1000 check is now $900 for families who have no savings, and are living paycheck to paycheck.   Which makes us even more so Miggery Sow and the first person who pays attention to us seems like they are full of good ideas, when really they are ruining our lives.  They whisper "you want health care? I can refill your pockets" So people jumped on board, but we are experiencing unrest, and if you feel unrestful its not because the GOP is doing such a good job but rather because we are not seeing improvement.

Can we please stop?  It wont hurt to disagree with the GOP.  They got countless letters begging them to not pass the bill, it rewards exporting jobs, and Donald Trump loves it because he will get more money out of it.  The middle ground is disagreeing about the overall terribleness of Trump and current GOP and being able to be real about their success.  Stop touting the success of the tax bill as a means of not admitting we have a problem. Because by-Houston we do have one.

Dear Paul Ryan

Dear Paul Ryan

 I am writing to implore you to be more thoughtful in your pursuits.  I can see that you are under immense pressure and possibly everyone hates you.  However if you paused and listened to constituents as people as opposed to treating them like petulant children you may find more success.  I have tried to contact you through other forms but this seems like a better idea.

I am going to take this one step at a time. Feel free to share this with colleagues. I just have a few ideas on how you can both be less despised and feel like you are making decisions you can live with. While the rest of us live as well.

1. The Federal Poverty Line.

Reassess it. 

The Federal Poverty line is too low.  As a family of 4 making 50,000 we barely make it.  We can purchase groceries, and have all basic needs met.  However we have no savings.  If for some reason my husband were injured it would have dire consequences on our lives.  We have insurance we cant actually afford to use and I have a disabled child so I dont work.  However according to the federal government, I and every other person I know that is struggling should be fine.  We aren't, please raise the federal poverty limit and consider different criteria for determining needs. The current poverty line says a family of 4 is around 24,000.  That's too low.  Raise it provide more access and people will be able to stabilize economically and do all the bootstrap pulling you think they should. 

2.  Dont Even Think About Touching Food Stamps

Too late you already did.

1/8 families in the U.S are in food insecure households.  The discount market I go to is always packed with people pawing the items for expiration dates.  People will starve to death without that program.  We will quickly stop being the land of the free and the home of the brave and instead become the land of the hungry and the home of the sick. Aslo why WIC!? What do you have against babies? 

3. Heres How that Tax Break will Actually Help Me. 

It wont.

So I see all sorts of things being thrown about on how much people will actually get back as a result of the recent tax overhaul.  Anything from 7000, to 700, with a about a million addendums in between.  Heres the thing. I dont care about taxes.  It wasn't what the people wanted, we want healthcare and President that we could meet without calling us fat or stupid or grope us.  Tax overhaul is what you wanted.  Nice job civil servant way to serve.  Anyway I am going to break down some math.  

I have commercial insurance: its about 20$ out of every check.  My children are on CHIP .  So they currently aren't paid for by my premium.  Its another 40$ premium to put my kids on insurance.  

40X4=160

160x12=2400 

My son sees a therapist twice a week. That's 2 $40 copays every week.

40x2=80

80x4=320

320x12= 3,840 

So whatever your tax plan is supposed to net my family has already hurt it by not continuing CHIP.

This is assuming that my current plan covers behavioral health, oh and vision  because my son wears glasses. My husband is a Veteran who woks 50, 60, 70 hour weeks, while I take care of my kids.  Taking them to therapy and school.  On top of that I work part time. and we somehow are going supposed to feel like burdens on the system, and think that whatever menial amount of money we get from not paying taxes is going to make up for the immense burden of paying for something we already struggle to afford, 

In the end that's $6240 more than I currently spend so the tax bill is a numberical wash at best,  as well as an actual increased burden without CHIP and also the Social Securtiy and housing threats are problems. I have never met you and you are actively taking a wrecking ball to my life. 

4. About CHIP 

Fund it. 

Dear lord and Jesus just fund the damn program. The message cannot be that there are ever forceful ploys to force women to have babies and also to force women to watch those children die.  What kind of human being even debates this program there is no reason  (unless you are working for Medicaid for all) to let it toil.  These are working parents who otherwise cant afford healthcare for their children.  Not a single argument about welfare programs can be applied and while I have a full bodied belief in social safety nets, I also just cant see what the ploy is here.  I dont want to believe that your view is to let people die. JUST GET THIS DONE!

5. Childcare

Its Expensive. 

If you cut food stamps and Medicaid and medicare and gut public housing.  Please socialize chilcare as I for one will have to take in my father and father-in-law and have to attempt to work full time in hopes that they can care for my children.  Since you hit Social Security in the tax overhaul I am assuming they wont have much to contribute in terms of monetary assistance. Public childcare would be super helpful in that regard.  Though I dont want my kids to be socialized to be Nazis so I am not all in on my faith in the federal government. 

6.  About the Nazis  

We Dont like them.

NO! Not a thing that should be happening.  The vote in the U.N., Charlottesville. Donald Trump.  All bad.  Please stop focusing on the bullshit tax scam and save the country thanks. Maybe you would feel like you didnt have to retire if you didnt also feel gross every day you let this continue.  You are the speaker of the house.  You are the leader of the House Republicans, you are an actual republican.  You can do this.  

7. Trump Appointees

Stop Confirming.

Until it is clear that Donald Trump is competent enough to appoint federal judges and White House staff please stop approving them.  Ben Carson and Betsy DeVos should not have any hands in the cookie jar. Not to mention Jared and Ivanka.  What is going on? Stop willfully appointing people who are not equipped for their jobs. 

8.  I Will End it Here

Though I could go on.

With the repeal of net neutrality, and the tax bill passing, and all the other "exciting" things you have been up to you are overlooking this huge elephant.  You can choose not to fund CHIP and still the people that were on it wont have money for it.  You can take people off of food stamps and they wont have money for food. You can take away housing and people will simply be homeless.  I know people throw around their perceptions of people receiving public programs but mostly they are hostages to the state, and taking away the services doesn't make their lives better, it leaves them sick, hungry and homeless. Why the poor.  Why is everything being defunded?  How much money do we owe Russia? My god. 

There are a million other beneficial things you can do that wont result in the killing large swathes of the American people.  Show some empathy.  Who says those poor starving people take too much those children get too sick, why dont we take everything away while we make 200,000 a year and have stable un-impacted benefits.  You could comfortably live on 100,000 or 150,000 and subsidized travel home.  Congress is stirring rage I otherwise calm people.