Some right wingers have taken to Twitter to ask me whether people should *turn down* the bonus money banks and other corporations are tossing on the table to pad their PR ahead of their permanent, lavish tax cuts. It's an absurd question.
In short, and I've told this to my team as well: of COURSE people should take the money. You work hard. The LEAST your employer can do is give you decent wages and a Christmas bonus. This isn't some largesse bestowed upon you by the benevolent Trump God. It's money you've EARNED.
You should absolutely take the money. People like me who are getting an unearned tax cut are GLAD you're getting a bonus. But don't let the right wing tell you that you need to bow and scrape at Trump's feet like Paul Ryan and Orrin Hatch in exchange for what you were always due.
These companies are so profitable, and have been sitting on so many billions for so long, since Obama and the Dems rescued this economy from the Bush Great Recession, they could have given you that bonus last year or the year before that or the year before that. Why didn't they?
You don't owe anyone any supplication. You work your ass off. You work hard every day, probably for not enough thanks or appreciation. You deserve that money. You need grovel for no one. Trump is not God. He is not even Ba'al. Don't let your employer make you bow and scrape.
Not to them, and not to him. Take your bonus if you get it, but understand the game. They are giving up a one-time bennie to reap the good PR. For every dollar you get, your CEO is probably getting $1,000. Your company is getting $1 million. Trump and Kushner are getting $12 mil.
And is Kushner some genius who invented an important product to earn that extra dough? Nah. Like Trump, he inherited millions from his daddy. These people aren't the Men Who Built America. They are spoiled fat cats who make money off money. YOU who do the work made them rich.
Game recognizes game. Corporations know the "bonus" is good P.R. I've already heard about supervisors telling folks they'd better thank Donald Trump and even making them chant his name. Don't play their game. That's YOUR hard earned money. Don't let them make you crawl for it.
Those are my thoughts. Feel free to throw yours into comments. One more thing: I'm not Suze Orman and I'm terrible with money, but when you get your $1,000 (likely $540 after taxes), try to pay down your debt. Don't get snookered into spending more and getting deeper in the red.
You actually might need the extra cash when your employer raises your healthcare costs or Paul Ryan and Lindsey Graham take away your healthcare or make your premiums skyrocket or your Republican legislature raises sales taxes to pay for your CEO's monster tax cut. Just sayin.
