Rim Country Gazette: Happy Labor Day from your president: Trump cites economy in freezing federal worker pay, but corporations still get their giant tax break

Monday, September 3, 2018

Happy Labor Day from your president: Trump cites economy in freezing federal worker pay, but corporations still get their giant tax break

Donald Trump announced Thursday that he’s freezing federal worker pay increases for 2019, citing the power to do so “if, because of ‘national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare,’ I view the increases that would otherwise take effect as inappropriate.”

What national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare is Trump talking about, exactly, considering how much time he spends bragging about the economy? Well, the letter specifies that “We must maintain efforts to put our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course.” But, as Sahil Kapur tweets, “The president estimates that the 2019 federal employee pay raise he's scrapping would've cost $25 billion. For context, his tax law is projected by CBO to cost the Treasury an average of $190 billion each year for the next decade.”

So: Donald Trump says we have a great economy, thanks to Donald Trump. He also says that the nation’s fiscal situation is such that $25 billion in raises for federal workers is unsustainable—after he gave $190 billion in annual tax cuts overwhelmingly to corporations and the wealthiest people.