After pretending for a brief moment in 2016 that the Republican Party stood for working people, the Republican-controlled Congress reverted back to trickle-down form on Friday when they passed a tax reform bill that overwhelmingly favored the rich. Not to be outdone, though, Senator Chuck Grassley made clear his disdain for those not benefiting under the new tax law.
“I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies,” Grassley told the Register in a story posted yesterday.
It’s difficult to think of a more condescending, elitist worldview – that if you’re not ultra-wealthy, it’s clearly because you’re wasting all your money on alcohol, frivolous fun and prostitutes (I assume that’s what he meant when he said women). Certainly it couldn’t be because people are struggling to find decent-paying jobs, are straddled with debt from the college education they need to attain better jobs, or are paying outrageous sums for health insurance and medical bills. Nope, it must be because they’re all getting hand jobs from hookers in the back of a dark movie theater while downing a bottle of Jack Daniel’s.
That’s also an interesting assumption that perhaps only the men in a household make and spend money.
If Grassley wanted to make an ideological economic argument, he could have – that conservatives believe that money invested into businesses by the rich is what drives growth, not spending by consumers – without also needlessly maligning the working class. Because it takes a certain kind of arrogance to assume that every person who isn’t as rich as you are got that way because they’re lazy or dumb or wasteful in their spending habits.
In the same article, Jason Noble explained how the estate tax (which Republicans like to call the death tax) actually affects very few people in Iowa – only 120 people filed estate tax returns last year, just 44 of which owed any taxes. Data found that only 160 farm estates nationwide had to pay the tax in 2016. Still, Grassley for years has argued that the estate tax was destroying family farms even though the numbers simply do not back that assertion up.
The estate tax only applies to estates worth $5.45 million or more that is passed on to surviving family members. In reality, this mostly affects the wealthiest Americans and their fortunate heirs, many of which have plenty of tax advisers to figure out how to limit what gets taxed. But those are exactly the kinds of people who often end up as wealthy donors to Republicans, thus drawing the party’s focus to eliminate it for decades, despite the few well-off people it affects.
So, let this be yet another reminder to all those blue-collar workers in Iowa who voted for Republicans in droves last year: Republicans do not respect you, they only care about their rich friends and they turn their noses up at your small paycheck.
For a lot of working-class people, there is a sense that lazy people living down the street from them are mooching off the government (and hey, there are some bums out there), which draws them to Republicans’ policies. But here’s the thing: Republican elected officials see everyone in the working class as bums. They’re not making a distinction between you and some of the folks around you. They think all of you are worthless if you don’t have a multi-million dollar estate. That’s the Republican Party.
by Pat Rynard
Posted 12/3/17
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105 Comments on "Grassley Implies Working Class Spends Tax Cuts On “Booze Or Women Or Movies”"
Charles Grassley is the definition of “out of touch.” He should have been put out to pasture a long time ago.
It is prevalent in both houses of Congress…old,white out of touch ignorant assholes that should have been thrown out of office years ago but for some reason people keep reelecting these corrupt pieces of shit.
What is wrong with Iowa’ s senior US Senator? Is he politically sick or so arrogant and elitist that he can come his senses. He has been in office far to long to be representative of Iowans everyday lives and views.
I meant to say “Is he politically sick or so arrogant that has lost all his senses?” Certainly not “come his senses” Sorry for the error.
We need term limits, these people start to think they are above the law and the rules do not apply to them. Two or three or at the very most, four terms and then see ya! Of course when they leave they have the greatest health care, and pensions plus plus plus. They make the laws and take great care of themselves. We are just the dregs that pay their salaries.
The next time we are asked to tighten our belts, let’s see how willing they are to do the same.?
Grassley: It is because of people like Chuck that Iowa chose to send to Washington, that are the direct reason minimum wage does not create a decent living. I would like to know how he accumulated so much property-wealth. Before going to Washington, he did work on the assembly line at Deer’es and before that at the Rath Packing Company. Hmmm, did he accumulate all that wealth from our Government (We The People’s) salary for holding the office of trust that he has held and holds or did he obtain all that wealth because of the office that he has held and holds, there is a marked difference between salary and wealth.
If the Republicans like Chuck get their way, they will create more havoc upon the working people and all of lesser means than Newt (Nuke-It) Gingrich ever dreamed of doing with his “Contract on America.” Never in his wildest dreams did O’l “Nuke-It” ever dream of doing the havoc that like minded people like Grassley have plans for the Working people and those of lesser means. If Trump and the Grassley like minded people get their bill of hate finalized and down the line when Americans start dying as a direct result of their hateful actions, there is only one word for their accomplishments and that will be genocide.
It will be a blessing when enough people are sent to Washington that will work for all Americans for a better America not against the larger segment of America.
We know how Grassley got so rich farm subsidies while drawing big bucks as a senator & accepting just freaking bribery $$$.
What “tax cuts?” The working class aren’t multi-millionaires.
maybe old Chuck should be tested for dementia. does have that blank look about him. so why does the working classes keep voting against their best interests? my thoughts are that we are taught:
1. unions are BAD!!! last I heard, Democrats haven’t tried to kill the unions.
2. individualism is great. Republicans love this one! the workforce (ie: employers) encourages that individualism, and it is bought hook, line, and sinker. therefore the worker accepts he or she is getting the best deal, but in reality, gets the least amount that the employer is willing to pay. that is worked on each worker one at a time. ever ask the boss how much another is making? want to stimulate the economy? create demand by raising the minimum wage, increasing social security 5 percent, and cutting taxes for the working classes. Hello! any repubs listening?
I expecetd him to vote “FOR” the massive tax scam currently in Conference Committee, because he is tone-deaf, but this! How out-of-touch and insenstive can this idiot be? Does he even CARE a whit about the very people that elected him? He has WAY outlived his usefulness to the country and to our state. He MUST go! (does Iowa have a recall procedure? Since he, unfortunately won’t be up for re-election until 2022.
In my world of the working class, people receiving these tax cuts have used them to start a Christmas savings account for the next years Christmas, bought a pair of needed eye glasses for their child, or went out for a family night at Pizza Hut. For them, it isn’t a lot. It’s just a little bit, but it means the world. You are an arrogant SOB Senator Grassley.
This is revenge from having his keister handed to him during the town hall meetings pursuant to the ACA repeal effort. He is a vindictive moron. “Or women?” Who is spending money “on women” in Iowa? Is he alluding to prostitution? Or is he suggesting women are trinkets for men to buy with spare change? If only Iowans had a true idea of how much he despises his constituents.
Sorry sweetheart. I can’t buy you anything for Christmas. Chuck says I’m wasting money spending it on women.
Besides being completely out of touch with facts and economic realities, this is a terribly insensitive and disrespectful comment to the millions of people who work very hard and struggle to survive on wages that have barely budged in decades. Iowa vote him out!
Just imagine what he says about his constituents when behind closed doors with his peers at the Republican Club?*
* Actually, it’s the “National Republican Club of Capitol Hill”, but commonly known as the Capitol Hill Club!
He’s always been a fraud. He pretends he’s just an ordinary Iowa guy, but he’s so full of himself. And he loves being able to rub elbows with the elites.
Come on “WORKING CLASS IOWANS”!!! Don’t forget. Get out there and vote!
Do you really want this representing you?
No, he forgets the working class that works for those wealthy people making $6.75 an hour so that they can get mega wealthy.
He forgets that people work hard at minimum wage with no benefits living paycheck to paycheck. My son worked at Walmart for peanuts for 2 years before they upped their wages, and they only did that because the Employees walked out and demanded a living wage.
Chuck is out of touch and has to go.
Come on “WORKING CLASS IOWANS”!!!
Don’t forget.
Get out there and vote!
Do you really want this representing you?
He wasn’t speaking about working class. He could just as easily been speaking of Hollywood or Sports figures who die broke
Nonsense. He was indeed talking about the working class. His disdain for anyone not as rich as he (and his donors) came through loud and clear.
Pro-Life Republicans spend their money on abortions for their mistresses.
What profoundly ignorant and arrogant assertions from a clueless man. This senior, like many I’d guess spends every cent of his very small defined contribution pension and meager Social Security on the basics, rent, food, utilities, insurance and gas for my 18 year old car and now this jackass has voted for a bill which strips $25 billion from our Medicare! What a disgrace!
And what do you spend your money, dear Sen. Grassley. Based on the information coming out of Congress, it’s probably women or men or both and booze. Oh, but that isn’t out of your pocket is it, it’s taxpayers’ money!
What an ass, but then, the entire GOP contingent is just as clueless and mean-spirited. You couldn’t come up with more horrible optics if you tried.
Thank goodness Senator Grassley felt comfortable enough to share with us his true self. I personally might not think it prudent to share but perhaps the Senator knows something I cannot fathom.
According to Grassley, only men appear to spend money. Classic.
With Sen. Grassley mentioning of women in his statement, I think he means a man having two or more women.
…….On sexual harassment charges.
Just wanted to like your post. So, thumbs up.
And yet it’s the “farmer class” that keeps people like Grassley in office. You people deserve the results of you’re ignorance.
*your
It’s not only the farmers, or even all of the farmers. But regardless, they do not speak for everyone in Iowa, or in the US. There are plenty of voting Dems and Independents in Iowa, not to mention socialists, Green Party, libertarians. Do they deserve this man they opposed?
Some of the people most affected don’t have the option of voting. What did children or immigrants do to deserve this?
You might want to correct your ignorance. It was that attitude that paved the way to Hillary’s loss. Also I do a lot of research before I decide how I stand on an issue. Yet I constantly here that my attitudes come from Fox News, though I never watch it.
Oh yeah – but they are to be bought apparently. A commodity not a part of society. What a totally ASS. Let’s help Iowa fire him. When’s he up for election? 2018?
As a non_iowan, and a Democrat, I held Sen. Grassley in higher esteem than most other Republicans, Not any more. His comments are not only demeaning, sickening, but also speak volumes about the low esteem the Republicans seem to hold for most Americans.
Grassley is out of touch on all issues. Needs to go big time. Trump is rubbing off onto Grassley. He only cares about Grassley only. And this man can not figure out why he has such a good turn out at his town hall meetings lately. God this man is dense as hell.
It’s time the good people of Iowa find a better representative
We’ve been trying, Grassley’s too well financed and know how to play the game so well, people don’t know they’re being played! By the way he’s a Senator!
FYI: Both Senators and Congressmen are representatives of the people. Duh!
Hey Chas Hunt: Yes he is a Senator. However Barbara Pitts used the lower case r in representative vs.Representative. Capital R indicates the office in congress. The lower case r mean he represents the people as does a Senator. Pay attention to details and you’ll do fine maybe like Barbara Pitts who knos where of she speaks. DUH.
Larry
Sorry, but Senators also “represent the people”! The Congress is made up of both the Senate and House of Representatives.
Sorry, but Senators also “represent the people”!
Dear Mr. Grassley:
How arrogant and ignorant can you be altogether. I’ve known 1) more elitist who spend their money on booze. My parents never drank, nor my grandparents, nor my great grandparents. We lived on the cusp. My Dad, both my grandfathers, etc, weren’t womanizers and didn’t spend their money on women — unless that was his wife and myself as his daughter — and oh yes, his mother. But he had precious little to do even that. His father had given him a silver dollar for the year he was born, plus a few others. Dad spent those to buy food for his children. Neither did any of my family spend money on fast cars, elite vacations, clothes, going to swimming pools, and so on. For our family a fun day out was a drive, to hike in the woods, or playing table games together. I think my Dad’s dementia (from working in mills his whole life and using arc welding equipment, and from his heart condition) had as much to do with people like Mr. Grassley and Mr. Trump and all their cronies. I’m glad my parents aren’t here to see what you’re doing to the United States of America and further to attempt to make us a feudal society again.
I agree with your comment. When one of our children was diagnosed with cancer while my husband was in grad school and working part time and I was working full time, I would like to assure this man, there was no extra money for anything – not even a movie! We used every cent we had to keep our child alive.
Its time to send all these idiots into retirement. They forget who hired them to do that job. Get out an vote next time and get rid of ALL incumbents
Vote him out, he obviously isn’t representing his constituents!
There they go again! Another prominent Republican, Senator Charles Grassley, is confirming the stereotype that Republicans have of half the country.
At least they are consistent. Remember presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his “47% of Americans” who are, in his eyes, losers because they pay no federal income tax? It must be nice to have so much money that you can’t even comprehend the need for working people and the poor to get a tax break. Apparently, in Rich World it is the wealthy who truly suffer from not having enough money. Grrrr!
Like it was some of this low life trashes business.
Grassley is an excellent example of why we need term limits.
Grassley, like many of his colleagues in the Senate. Grew up feeling the effects of the New Deal. In the late 50’s, early 60’s college tuition was $50-$100/semester, minimum wage was $1/hr, per capita healthcare was $134 (but a young, healthy college kid wouldn’t pay 1/2 that). Working part time for one month/semester, Grassley could graduate debt-free, have great healthcare, a nice used car, and plenty of money left for gas, booze, and women.
Grassley, and people in his age group, were also prime beneficiaries of the move towards neo-liberalism. Advocating for policies which took away the benefits they enjoyed from a middle-class economy, but stuffed their own wallets in the process.
Author got it wrong… everyone knows people like this drink rotgut vodka not Jackie D. There was a time when Grassley almost looked like a statesman even if he was a Republican. Now he looks like a Stepford swamp monster.
You can surely tell that you have been awful lucky in life. We do not have slush funds to make payoffs out of (that are funded by all us poor taxpayers), we have grandchildren to raise, children to bury, husbands that receive early layoffs (because they finally have worked themselves into a decent salary) “Lockheed”, they replace you with 3/ cheaper salary younger guys. We are 72 and 73 still working at whatever we can do. We do not have the exposure to where and what to invest in, and long periodic vacations throughout the year, like you do. We need “TERMS LIMITS”, THEN MAYBE WE CAN RUN FOR OFFICE WITHOUT BEING RICH. Then, we most likely will get something done. Come down here to the bottom step on the ladder with the majority of the American people. Just how much money do you think we get willed to us?
Term limits will not enable people without fortunes or big cash corporate donors to run for office. You have to get on the ballot and that takes big money or the endorsement and support of one of the two corrupt political parties. Term limits would get rid of the remaining highly experienced and conscientious legislators. To be an effective legislator one has to be very knowledgeable in a large number of issues from public health, economics, agriculture, industry, high finance, foreign affairs, etc. This kind of knowledge is not something one can picked up in a couple months or even a year or two. There is a place for “statesmen” but we have to get the big donor cash and corporate control out of our elections.
I feel the same way. At one time he was honest, but not now. he belongs in the swamp
Stop lying to people! This tax cut favors BUSINESSES!!!
99% of Americans are employed by small and family businesses. STFU and go start a business cowards.
99%? YOU should STFU because you have no idea what you’re talking about!
Based on my 2016 returns making the same amount of money I will have to pay $312 more
Actually, the cut favors big corporations, not small businesses. Under the new plan individual business owners will be hit particularly hard. Before, all business expenses were tax deductible…that is, they were essentially removed from the overall income before the remaining amount was taxed. Not anymore. Under this tax cut, items such as business cards, advertising, continuing education, travel expenses like business-related gas mileage, business phone, subscription services, accounting software, legal software, home office tools, and office supplies will no longer be deductible. So, an independent contractor who makes $30,000 a year and has $5,000 in business expenses must pay taxes on the full $30,000 under this new tax situation. Before that contractor would only pay taxes on $25,000. So, yeah, when you say “businesses” it is important to realize they’re not talking about individuals. In fact, much larger corporations still get to deduct their business expenditures under the new tax law. So, they’re definitely getting to keep more of their earnings than small business owners and independent contractors.
Grassley must be learning from Trump and it is very sad that we rely on these geezers to govern our nation. I have lost all respect for the GOP.
Typical GOpig, saying what GoPigs say…
Classical case of projection: blame your adversaries (i.e., the people you represent in this case) for your own failings.
This old liar spends a lot more on prune juice than I spend on booze. It’s time to put this old wanna-be fascist out to pasture,……with the other malcontents.
It’s interesting Chuck Grassley places the importance of “women” somewhere between booze and movies. By objectifying females and denigrating them as either sinful or frivolous wastes of money, our (no longer esteemed) Senator has perpetuated a view of women which opens them to additional abuses. This is despicable and should be reason enough for Mr. Grassley to resign and quietly go away.
Grassley won’t resign and quietly go away. Right now, his constituents are going to have to hound him, embarrass him, follow him on the internet and comment on what a greedy old bastard he is, point out his immorality and lack of education and compassion, advertise his hypocrisy, protest at his offices, support candidates for his seat, and generally make his life miserable until his next campaign, and then kick his butt with steel-toed work boots. Grassley’s Republican constituents, if they have a conscience, should be involved in actively taking him down and replacing him with a real human.
Just shows what he knows, the people I know are just struggling to keep a roof over the heads and food on the table. Shows how out of touch the GOP is with the American people. They are all in their ivory towers.
They’re not in Ivory Towers, they’re in heavily fortified castles.
I don’t think he implied the working class spend their money on sex, booze, etc. He implied the wealthy who already paid taxes on their income and invested the money rather than those wealthy who spend their money on sex, booze, etc. I can name a couple and then they die destitute. Meanwhile, the wealthy who didn’t squander their already taxed money, invested it in assets which brought in more income or businesses which created jobs and generated more income, all of which is taxes annually. Why should the government take 40% of that. Why not let it go to the heirs who were probably raised with the same standards and will continue to use that money for investments which benefit our economy.
If we really believed in “equality of opportunity” – the Republican mantra for almost 40 years, the government would take enough so that heirs of wealthy people inherited something like a median pre-tax inheritance. Then they could succeed or fail on their own merits, just like the American Dream myth says they should be able to.
Because we did that in the 1900’s-1929 and it failed. And we’ve been doing it since 1981 and it’s still failing! There is NO TRICKLE DOWN! That’s been proven a lie for a century; the rich don’t invest in Main Street! They only invest in themselves and lobby to take what little we have left! Nothing is going to change that!
Just consider the source The Des Moines Register, nothing but a liberal rag who has on many occasions takes the opportunity to mischaracterize and take out of context any conservative Republicans remarks, register reporters are hearing what they want to hear, they do the same thing to Republican Congressman Steve King in fact he is their favorite target.
So I wouldn’t lend much credence to this article it stinks of fake news and more of Saul Alinsky tactics.
Mick, Mick, Mick.
I’m a native and live in Arizona, where for 127 years, The Arizona Republic news organization has been consistently conservative, serving a majority-Republican population. Their name used to be “The Arizona Republican” for decades. The editorial board are, for the most part, Republican. They endorse Republican candidates. Probably the very reason our government is Republican from inside out, is because of The Arizona Republic.
In addition to news and feature reporters, there are both conservative and liberal columnists on staff, who write news-based opinion pieces, giving the paper a credible balance.
Last year, The Arizona Republic editorial board gave their rationale for NOT endorsing the narcissistic maniac that eventually won the presidency. And what do you know, they were flooded with subscription cancellations, thousands of “liberal rag” and “fake news” insults, and even death threats to the board and the publisher. Yes, death threats.
It appears that as long as you agree with the paper, the news is real. If you do not agree with the paper on even one issue, you scream “liberal rag” and “fake news.”
BORING!! Make some new rhetoric, or be consistent. Or read a variety of media, from America and other countries, and find some depth to the reporting. Give up your infotainment Fox and Limbaugh and Jones, because they are inflaming and harming your health.
The only “fake news” is reporting or opinion foisted as news that can’t stand up in the light of critical analysis based on documented historical and established actual facts. While the intent of the minion of the right-wing is to attempt to cloud and muddle the reporting of facts so as to create doubt and confusion, they’ve actually done the Free Press and the majority of Americans a favor: More are paying attention now. And the result is lower ratings for Fox News, right-wing talk radio is has less than 20% of the listenership it once had with Rush himself relegated to just a few hundred 2nd and 3rd market stations and getting smaller. The New York Times subscriptions climbing with MSNBC and CNN IN 1st/2nd place and Fox shrinking 3rd.
Trump and the KKK/American Nazi Party influenced Republican Party is waking up the American people to the threat to our Democracy they intend to be. It’s up to us if we let them destroy the Democracy our parents and grandparents fought to preserve.
I still have faith in my fellow citizens to stand up to the Fascism of the right-wing. We just need to get out the vote.
I’m confused I waste my money but the government doesn’t
what atool you are!!!
hey grassley.sounds you have a problem with the real people who elected you into office.the ones you work for.your comments you made are idiotic.people who make stupid statements are usally trying to cover what they do.hmm makes you wonder.whats in your closet big boy;}
When are working men and women learn that the GOP has never done anything for working men women! You have Grassley Hatch, Rayan, Mitch, are all talk and you see what you get they do not give a dam about this country and what is good for it, don’t just lesson to what they say look at what they do! LIE. Like Hatch said he came for a poor back ground, but he has never did grape to make it better like getting the child insurance bill fix, so he must for got where he came! Grassley the same, just remember he is the same guy who invented the death panle!!! Send them All home
Those people must be Grassley’s “deplorables”.
Guess what? Women are people, not “things” to spend money on.
Men do spend money on women. Which is usually a big mistake. The return on investment is poor.
It is time to impeach Trump and get rid of every Republican in Congress. They have shown they all care about their own agendas over the citizens’ welfare who elected them to office! The scum of Washington has risen to the top, along with Trump at the top of the heap!
In my opinion, the reason why many politicians (democrats and especially Republicans) think this way is because they only communicate with their donors and not their base who got them elected. We need to get money out of politics and bring these politicians back to Earth. Make them communicate with more normal, average people rather than the uber wealthy. This corruption, ignorance, and flat out stupidity needs to stop.
Does he mean growing the economy?
And so began the open warfare between the working class and the oligarchs who control the republican congress.
I wonder how these soon to be unemployed Republican Congress and Senate members will take to be just regular folk with bills to pay and having to live in the same districts whose residents ousted them from their cushy jobs. Me thinks they are in for a tough time coming back to reality.
Women are things? God forbid a working class person should have the audacity to send their kid to a movie or have a glass of wine. When are the people who vote for people like Grassley, trump, Ryan and their ilk going to wake up and see these guys for what they are instead of being led around by their noses.
Where did Mr. Grassley refer to a “working class person”?
Chuck Grassley, I sincerely hope the good people of Iowa will vote you out of office. You are the
most insensitive ignorant human being in the senate, and considering your company, that’s saying a lot. Poor people spending their money on booze, women, and movies…have you ever heard of food, doctor bills, education and housing? I do not know your financial condition, but I assume it’s in pretty good shape. How is your heart condition? I’m guessing it’s in pretty bad shape, because you have shown no compassion, no feeling, no understanding for your fellow
Iowans. I’ve been to Iowa and loved it. My husband and I visited your state for our 25th Wedding Anniversary and had a lovely time. Why don’t you go back and take a look. You might regain your soul.
Where did Mr. Grassley refer to “poor people”? The two in his example each made $100,000.
F#%* you. Karma buddy, karma.
But those things grow the economy, socking money away in the bank does not.
Its unfortunate how misogynist assumption slip into our response to the outrageous comments of someone like Grassley. Women (sex workers or not) are not equivalent to objects of consumption. Yes, his comments are elitist and racist but also blatantly sexist.
It’s sad that some of you believe this tripe as gospel. This is exactly why the DNC is broke and in danger of imploding and why the media and even the NFL is now in such pathetic shape.
Grassley is another reason Iowa stands for Idiots Out Walking Around! To those individuals like CSG (chicken s**t Grassley) who don’t understand what that means, send me an email and I’ll explain it to you…
“You people” need to clean out your ears and consider what the Senator said: Two guys earn $100,000 – one applies it to the building of a business or otherwise saves and invests it for himself and his family. He pays incomes tax on that to help cover the cost of government. Later, If he is subject to an estate tax at his death – much of what he has accumulated will be taken by that tax.
Contrast that to another person who earns $100,000 and after paying the same income tax chooses to SPEND the balance – how he spends it makes no difference (travel, clothes, cars, booze, gambling – wine, women and song) He dies with nothing but fond memories and a smile on his face. No further tax.
The moral of the story: Saving and investing to build an estate or business cheats those who don’t do it because it denies them of benefits of estate tax revenue.
Why is it easier to believe —or why do GOP leaders insist—that 150,000,000 Americans are being lazy rather than 400 Americans being greedy?
How many of us remember this guy?
How much does he sound like this Grassley fellow?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ypSvsg-2Tg
Since I’m a woman does that mean I will spend my money on MEN, BOOZE and MOVIES. THINK ABOUT THAT CRACKERJACK GRASSLEY!
It should be obvious now that Grassley has exceeded his ‘sell by’ date. He is ‘exhibit one’ of the need for Term Limits for Congress (and Governors too).
Exactly! Throw him under the nearest bus.
Re Grassley,
You never saw the jugglers and the clowns as they did their tricks for you. For heavens Grass get off the Grass and realize there ara a few things the working class can afford, to bring some sort of happiness to their lives is often just a can of beer, their girl friends and wife’s and a TV show and a movie or two. And just that may content them. Friends and family. They are not reaching beyond their limitations. Remember Grass the working man is worth his wage.
Pat, best not to lump all Republicans in the same receptacle. It is basically an entirely different way of looking at things. Perhaps in the past the Pubs were as you said but now with the shift the elite now are the Dems who were once the party of the little guy. Why, just look at the rural folks who came out in droves to install the Trumpster at the helm. I really think you may have it all wrong. Take another look it is no longer the fifties and sixties here.
Sen. Grassley,
You should immediately submit your resignation. Your comment reveals how out of touch you are with the day-to-day realities of citizens in Iowa and across the United States. It is abundantly clear you are unfit to lead anything. Go home and count your millions.
You should vote him out of office.
If so few people qualify for the estate tax, why so much opposition to it?? Why do you think so many family farms and businesses disappear? The estate taxes eat up their estate and they have to sell to pay the taxes. Also, does n’t he know that consumers are the ones that pay the business taxes, not the businesses? Or how can consumers buy if the price is too high because of the business taxes? Or what happens to local or stat economies when businesses move out of state, or overseas, because of business taxesl
Chuck Grassley has been sucking up a govt paycheck since 1959, for 59 yrs! He was only 26, when he started in the Iowa House of Representatives, so his “experience” in the real world is both limited and so far out of date as to be inconsequential.
Gas was 20¢ a gallon, movie tickets 50¢, a loaf of bread 20¢. A new car cost $2,200 (pickups ran $1,600), a new house was $8,000. The average worker made $5,000 a year. Almost 60 yrs later, those goods cost 15 to 25 times as much, but the average income has risen only 11 times as much, and that’s deceptive, because it’s artificially high due to the 5% who make 5 to 500 times as much.
According to some sources, as many as 19% of the workforce makes less than the poverty level! Families struggle with the inflated costs of raising children; single parents work 2 and 3 jobs, to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.
Millionaire Grassley and his partners in crime in the republikan party don’t care. They shrug it off, to “lack of motivation” or “laziness”, but they’d be the loudest whiners, if everyone shared their unrestrained greed and disregard for the deleterious impact they’ve had on lives of ordinary people.
This is the essential rot at the core of “republikanism”, the idea that “charging all the market will bear” should be unrestricted, untaxed and unfettered by fair competition. The “party of Lincoln” is a myth, one whose last standardbearer was Teddy Roosevelt, who left office 110 yrs ago, last month.
Since then, the party has attracted those with lower standards, looser morals, shiftier characters, leading inevitably to Donald Trump. Donnie may have ridden the last gasp of racism into the White House, but Grassley is little better. He has voted with McConnell and the tea-billie lunatic fringe that is deconstructing a nation they had as much chance of creating as the fabled “1,000 monkeys in a room full of typewriters” had of writing the Great American Novel.
Like illiterate barbarians tearing down Rome, they’ve set out to undo all that made this nation a beacon of light in a world of darkness. What will come will likely be called the 2nd Dark Ages, lasting until people once again realize they have more to lose tolerating the status quo, than they do by rising up against it. Don’t look for that insight to happen in your grandchildren’s lifetime.