Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scores Trump's Big Beautiful Bill

[PAL]

Well, it's one, two, three what are we fighten' for? Don't ask me, I don't give a darn, because "whoopee we're all going to die!
Great song.

[dorankj]

Run for your lives! We're ALL going to die.

[dorankj]

Run for your lives! We're ALL going to die.

[mister_coffee]

There is also a loony tunes conspiracy theory making the rounds that the "elites" know about some "geophysical event" and are building hundreds of underground shelters (some under the oceans as well) at a cost of trillions of dollars. All while keeping it secret. And most of the dollars are coming from stolen HUD funds.

Fortunately there aren't trillions of dollars worth of HUD funds to steal. So this is just loony toons.

[mister_coffee]

Yeah, but earthquakes or pandemics are much less predictable.

I also think that the practical concern is that even a minor disaster might snowball into a major uncontrollable mess largely because of poor leadership , disorganization, and chaos. Which is what we are likely to have.

[Rideback]

Oh, I think a prediction of acceleratingly bad hurricane seasons as well as tornadoes and of course wildfires isn't getting too far out on our skis. The climate is setting us up for stronger and more numerous events, of that there is no doubt.

[mister_coffee]

I don't think anyone can make meaningful predictions about large-scale natural disasters and when they will happen.

What you can predict is that this administration is unlikely to handle them competently and that will cost many people their lives.

My suspicion is that the next couple of years are going to be unlike anything we have ever experienced. And it won't be in a positive way. If (when!) the wheels come off the economy we'll probably be looking at large-scale civil unrest that will make the George Floyd/BLM protests look like a Sunday picnic. And again the administration is unlikely to handle that situation in any meaningfully effective way.

My other suspicion is that there is some obscure government office or service we've never heard of that DOGE has broken or shut down. Chances are the laid-off staff are screaming bloody murder but the whole thing is likely too obscure and too weird for anyone to even begin to try to explain or understand so we aren't hearing about it. Kind of like if some part of your plumbing is backed up but you don't notice until days later when your basement is suddenly full of sewage.

[Rideback]

We'll be lucky if we face only one catastrophe.
The way things are going it's more likely we'll see multiple climate change weather event catastrophes, a pandemic or two, a giant seismic event, global warfare and of course an economic collapse. But hey, I'm just being overly dramatic...

[mister_coffee]

The larger practical problem is that I am doubtful you can fund such large structural deficits year on year into the indefinite future. What happens when we have another crisis and need to spend some *real* money again?

[Rideback]

The new Bill crowns Trump king. Courts lose enforcement of contempt powers
https://www.alternet.org/amp/trump-bill-king-2672186662

[Rideback]

Pearl
Secretary refers to the Secretary of the Interior.
ALT PS is the facebook page of Alt (alternative) Park Service which is made up of Federal Park Service employees

[Rideback]

Robert Reich:
The old professor in me thinks the best way to convey to you how utterly awful the so-called “one big beautiful bill” passed by the House last night actually is would be to give you this short ten-question exam. (Answers are in parenthesis, but first try to answer without looking at them.)

1. Does the House’s “one big beautiful bill” cut Medicare? (Answer: Yes, by an estimated $500 billion.)

2. Because the bill cuts Medicaid, how many Americans are expected to lose Medicaid coverage? (At least 8.6 million.)

3. Will the tax cut in the bill benefit the rich or the poor or everyone?(Overwhelmingly, the rich.)

4. How much will the top 0.1 percent of earners stand to gain from it? (Nearly $390,000 per year).

5. If you figure in the benefit cuts and the tax cuts, will Americans making between about $17,000 and $51,000 gain or lose? (They’ll lose about $700 a year).

6. How about Americans with incomes less than $17,000? (They’ll lose more than $1,000 per year on average).

7. How much will the bill add to the federal debt? ($3.8 trillion over 10 years.)

8. Who will pay the interest on this extra debt? (All of us, in both our tax payments and higher interest rates for mortgages, car loans, and all other longer-term borrowing.)

9. Who collects this interest? (People who lend to the U.S. government, 70 percent of whom are American and most of whom are wealthy.)

10. Bonus question: Is the $400 million airplane from Qatar a gift to the United States for every future president to use, or a gift to Trump for his own personal use? (It’s a personal gift because he’ll get to use it after he leaves the presidency.)

Most Americans are strongly opposed to all of these things, according to polls. But if you knew the answers to these ten questions, you’re likely to be in a very tiny minority. That’s because of (1) distortions and cover-ups emanating from Trump and magnified by Fox News and other rightwing outlets. (2) A public that’s overwhelmed with the blitzkrieg of everything Trump is doing, and can’t focus on this. (3) Outright silencing of many in the media who fear retaliation from the Trump regime if they reveal things that Trump doesn’t want revealed.

[PAL]

What is Alt PS?
And who is the Secretary here?

[Rideback]

Alt PS
"Inside Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”: Judicial Silencing (Sec. 80121(h)). This might be the most authoritarian section in the entire 1,100+ page bill.
What it says:
“No court shall have jurisdiction to review any action taken by the Secretary, the EPA Administrator, a State or municipal agency, or any other Federal agency […] to issue a lease, permit, biological opinion, or other approval.”
What it means:
- If the government approves drilling, mining, or development, even illegally, you can’t sue.
- It applies retroactively, killing lawsuits already in progress.
- Tribes, environmental groups, citizens, even states, lose the right to challenge these approvals in court.
Why it matters:
This guts judicial review, a cornerstone of U.S. democracy. Courts are the only check on executive overreach. This section erases that check for some of the most destructive decisions the government can make."

[Rideback]

$500B cuts from MediCARE
https://aaronparnas.substack.com/p/brea ... dium=email

[Rideback]

And 700 rural hospitals are at risk of closing if the Bill cuts Medicaid
https://newrepublic.com/article/195532/ ... =tnr_daily

[Rideback]

https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2025-0 ... -PAYGO.pdf

The old meme that a budget is the ultimate insight into a political party's priorities seems pretty relevant here, in black and white.
Screw the American people so that the billionaires can get tax breaks and make even more wealth for themselves.