Not one U.S. Senator representing the West Coast states of California, Oregon and Washington voted in favor of tax reform, which may leave them having to explain to voters – who are also taxpayers – why not, considering what a Bellevue small business announced, and this outfit is not alone.
Bellevue-based APPS Portamedic, according to KIRO News, the CBS affiliate in Seattle, is giving bonuses to its employees. The company will pay lower taxes.
According to CNN Money, Wells Fargo and Fifth Third Bancorp “plan to hike their company-wide minimum wages to $15 an hour.” AT&T and Comcast reportedly promised $1,000 bonuses, and they reportedly are not the only companies to do this.
CNBC reported that the gross domestic product expanded to a 3.2 percent annual rate during the last quarter. Under the former president, the GDP – again according to CNBC – never went above 2.6 percent.
Boeing, which employs a large workforce in western Washington, released a statement that promised “immediate commitments for an additional $300 million in investments that will move forward as a result of the new tax law,” according to Business Insider. That news organ also said Boeing is planning “$100 million for corporate giving, with funds used to support demand for employee gift-match programs and for investments in Boeing’s focus areas for charitable giving: in education, in our communities, and for veterans and military personnel.”
Another $100 million will go toward “workforce development in the form of training, education, and other capabilities development to meet the scale needed for rapidly evolving technologies and expanding markets.” In the far left political world, only government is capable of financing that sort of thing by raising taxes. Of course, government takes its “cut.”
It is no small wonder, then, that a new Rasmussen survey released Thursday says 43 percent of likely U.S. voters think America’s best days are ahead, while only 36 percent think those days are in the past. Breaking it down, 50 percent of Republicans and 43 percent of Independents think the country’s future is bright, while only 37 percent of Democrats believe the best days are ahead.
So, what’s the problem with California’s Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, Oregon’s Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, and Washington’s Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell?
They are all Democrats. When was the last time any of these politicians spoke up for the Second Amendment rights of their constituents? The West Coast isn’t called the “Left Coast” just for laughs, unless the laughter is pure sarcasm.
By no small coincidence, all six of these West Coast senators will probably vote against national concealed carry reciprocity, an issue that is very important to millions of their gun-owning constituents. While California is very stingy with its carry permits, according to gunstocarry.com, Oregon and Washington are less so. Incredibly, while California has the largest population, it has the fewest active concealed carry permits. Oregon comes in second and Washington has the most.
People with more money in their pockets learn pretty quickly that they can spend it to better meet their personal needs than some government agency. It gives them more economic freedom to make their own financial choices.
The down side of this is that fiscally moderate and pro-rights Democrats get painted with the same broad brush as the high profile naysayers.
Winter officially began Thursday. This may become the proverbial “winter of discontent” for far-left, big government anti-gun Democrats who – unlike their rural colleagues – may wish to reconsider threats to remind voters next November about who voted for what. Right now, it appears that the only way for the Left to win is to somehow scuttle the economy.