There are bills being prepared in the Oregon state legislature to adjust corporate taxation to make up for Medicare and Medicaid shortfalls. OHP, or Oregon Health Plan, has existed in its present form since 1994. Since then, no one living in Oregon can be denied medical insurance, regardless of age, present conditions, or preexisting conditions. Premiums are capped at 130% of overall average, and lifetime benefits are initially capped at $1,000,000 but can be extended.
So the Legislature anticipates that Medicare and Medicaid cuts will increase the burden on OHP, and rather than increase personal income taxes or other taxes to make up for it, will up the corporate tax rate significantly. There has already been some whining, but not much. Basically the state's only two large corporate residents, Intel and Nike, have already faced the question of whether to stay in Oregon and be relatively heavily taxed or to relocate. Both companies value their reputation as socially responsible organizations. Intel, for instance, donated a half square mile of undeveloped woodland to become a county park (it's beautiful).
This is just one of many adjustments and compensations that Oregon lawmakers are preparing to counter the Trump/Elon destruction of our economy. There's one thing we know: since we're a blue state, Trump doesn't give a fuck about us or our people's welfare. At least, though, the Turd doesn't have a raging hard-on for us, like he does for California. We pretty much fly under his ignorant radar.
Another series of adjustments being made at the local level in Oregon and Washington is to protect migrant laborers. We have a fruit industry that requires intensive labor to harvest in short (2-3 week) intervals. First the pears in Southern Oregon, then the grapes and berries in the Willamette Valley, then the apples in Washington. We welcome them and provide them with temporary housing. If Trump-hole manages to herd them all into concentration camps, we're going to lose billions of dollars and a regional industry will be destroyed. So NO ONE is going to cooperate with the ICE Gestapo, and we're all prepared to cope with raids should they take place. Any particularly singled-out individual will be very hard to find out in the apple tree grove. "Oh, he quit last week, and he said he was going home." That sort of thing.
We know that the best way to counter a fascist dictatorship is with subterfuge and passive resistance. We're in a corner of the country that Trump hasn't really shat on just yet, aside from fucking with our close relationships with Canada. But there are plans in the works to defy or evade Trumpiffs. One of them is for exporters (them or us) to artifically lower the prices of goods, in a reciprocal agreement.
We're going to resist the Turd. How about you? Is your state bent over, legs spread, for Trump, or prepared to fight him?
