Robert Reich vs Reality...

Robert Reich on the right...with some sex offender

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According to Robert Reich, "Two years ago, Donald Trump and congressional Republicans slashed taxes, creating a massive give-away to the wealthy and corporations. Since then, Trump and the GOP have attempted to pay for their nearly $2 trillion tax handout for the rich by slashing critical services for working families. Just look at this New York Times headline:

"Trump Administration Unveils More Cuts to Food Stamps Program"

"The Trump administration is literally taking food off the table of hungry families, through $5.5 billion in SNAP cuts over the next five years. These devastating cuts will force nearly 10,000 families to lose all food stamp benefits.

"Trump’s ruse was that under his tax bill working families would see a $4,000 - $9,000 benefit both in individual tax cuts and through investments made by corporate America. Nothing remotely close to this has occurred..."
(Robert Reich)
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Funny story, Robert Reich had promised "Armageddon" if the GOP tax bill passed back in 2017.

What really happened?

Well, wages rose 4.5% for the bottom 25% over the past year – compared to 2.9% for the for the top 25%. (https://www.wsj.com/…/rank-and-file-workers-get-bigger-rais…)

I believe Robert Reich also lauded Hugo Chavez' Command (government-run) economy and even now blames U.S. sanctions and Maduro's "incompetence" for Venezuela's failures.

THAT'S utter NONSENSE! Venezuela failed because neither Marxist policies nor Collectivist initiatives have ever worked anywhere.

By comparison, Milton Friedman advised Augusto Pinochet and, in the process, transformed Chile FROM Allende's "democratic Socialist" basketcase TO an economy praised as, "The Jewel of South America!"

Robert Reich seems like a very nice, but extremely naive gentleman.
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Robert Reich Caught in a Lie...er...Mis-Statement of Fact???

On his blog Robert Reich writes, “repeal [of the estate tax] would cost the U.S. Treasury $1 trillion in its first ten years. That's about equivalent to what's needed to save Social Security over the next 75 years.”
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But Harvard Economics Professor Gregory Mankiw (pictured above) takes issue with those numbers. Professor Mankiw states, “How much does repeal of the estate tax cost over its first 10 years? According to the Tax Policy Center, immediate repeal would cost about $300 billion from 2006 to 2015. That, however, appears to be an undiscounted number. The present value is probably around $250 billion.
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“What does it cost to fill the Social Security shortfall over 75 years? This report from the Social Security Administration shows the present value of the 75-year shortfall for OASDI of about $5 trillion.”“Hmmm....Those two numbers don't seem "about equivalent" to me. In fact, the second one seems 20 times as big as the first.”
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WoW! That sure seems like a huge gap!
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While Robert Reich claims a $1 TRILLION loss, the Tax Policy Center’s numbers show $250 BILLION.
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With Social Security looking at a $5 TRILLION shortfall over the next 75 years!
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So, while Robert Reich himself seemed off by a factor of 5X in claiming a $1 Trillion Social Security shortfall over the next 75 years, when you consider the Tax Policy Center’s numbers (a $250 Billion ten year revenue loss with the Estate Tax repeal) it becomes a factor of 20X that Reich’s claim is off.
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Sadly, Liberals ALWAYS tend to make their arguments this way – with blatant, often deliberate distortions! Remember homeless activist Mitch Snyder’s claim that 45 homeless people die every second (which would amount to 1.4 billion deaths every year)?! The media LOVED that! Or the unfounded claim that Snyder made that there were 3 million homeless Americans, but when questioned about the source of this figure, he admitted that he had made it up to please journalists!
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More of the same?
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As Professor Mankiw states, “Why compare a 75-year shortfall to a 10-year revenue loss? There is no reason to, other than for dramatic effect. But policy wonks are supposed to have less license in making up their drama than playwrights.”

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Indeed they are.