End-of-the-year Employment Successes Prompt RNC to Ask Pelosi, Where's 'Armageddon'?

The RNC is wondering what happened to all of the Democrats' premonitions about Armaggedon. From where they're standing, the economy is looking better than ever.

President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act two years ago. Two of its main features were doubling the standard deduction from $6,300 to $12,000 for an individual and $12,600 to $24,000 for families, and slashing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other leading Democrats argued the bill would benefit big corporations and hurt the middle class. And, yes, she predicted it would mean "Armaggedon." But in the immediate aftermath of the signing ceremony, companies began rewarding employees with bonuses and higher wages. Pelosi refused to concede it was a win, dismissing some of the $1,000 bonuses as "crumbs."

RNC communications director Michael Ahrens shared a few new numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday that further blow up Pelosi's narrative.

Pelosi promised "Armageddon" if @GOP tax bill passed.

What happened instead?

Wages rose 4.5% for the bottom 25% over the past year – compared to 2.9% for the for the top 25%.

You don't need socialist policies to help low-income workers.
— Michael Ahrens (@michael_ahrens) December 27, 2019

For the first time since BLS began its "Job Opening and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)," there are more job openings than unemployed people, Ahrens adds. CBO also projected unemployment would level off at about 4.5%. Instead, it continued falling and now stands 3.5% – the lowest in half a century.

MSNBC even reported on the good news today, where one analyst noted these economic numbers should be "very concerning" for the 2020 Democrats.

We can see how the tax cut bill had real life impact by looking at a state like Michigan, where Trump recently held a campaign rally. Every income group in every congressional district in Michigan enjoyed a tax cut. The average tax cut in all but one of those districts was over $1,400, according to the Tax Foundation. Several businesses across the state like the Mitten Brewing Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan were happy to report that the president's tax cuts "literally put money back into our pockets that we were spending before."

Knowing what we know now, it's fun to look back at some other old predictions, including this one from Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA).

The TCJA, he claimed, is a "massive tax giveaway to millionaires, billionaires and big corporations at the expense of middle class families in Pennsylvania...It won't create jobs, increase middle class incomes or grow our economy."

“Oh, and about that economic growth: Foreign investors would be earning profits and taking them home. So much — probably most — of any growth we would get from cutting corporate taxes would accrue to the benefit of foreigners, not Americans,” said New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.

People like Job Creators Network President Alfredo Ortiz are pleased by just how wrong they were.

“More than anything else, the tax cuts of 2017 are responsible for our current economic boom," Ortiz said in a statement earlier this week. "And more than any other organization, JCN pushed hard to turn those tax cuts into reality. Throughout 2017, we worked with small business owners, economic leaders, Members of Congress, and the Trump Administration to push tax cuts over the finish line. The historic Tax Cuts and Jobs Act not only lowered tax rates for the vast majority of Americans, but reshaped our tax code to reward job creation and innovation. To ‘sell the win,’ JCN launched the 'Tax Cuts Work' campaign, which included a bus tour across 30 states. Today, we are experiencing the best economy in a half-a-century, with unemployment at its lowest level in 50 years, wages growing three percent annually, and the Dow Jones hitting all-time records. This isn’t an accident, it’s the product of President Trump’s historic tax law. This week, on the two-year anniversary, let’s remember and celebrate this incredible achievement and rededicate our ourselves to the pro-growth policies that work, empowering our small business community, and getting government out of the way.”