It’s very early in the game, but a few comments about the tax proposals by the House are in order. The opposition to reform is twisted and unproductive as usual. And the selfish perspectives of lobbyists for their constituencies is disappointing. My overall observation is that there is something for every American in this controversial bill. We all need to be patient and see how negotiations proceed in Washington .

It comes as no surprise that some lobbies are bitching about an unfair distribution of benefits. They always act this way and care little about the overall good of the country. As everyone expected, Democrats started bad-mouthing the bill even before they saw the actual proposal. They would do anything to stop the bill for political reasons regardless of its benefit to the country .

To be clear tax benefits are capped at $1.5 trillion to avoid a filibuster by Democrats. House Republicans did a masterful job navigating through all of the opposing voices. In fact just about every interested party is being required to give a little.

The tax benefits are divided 2/3 for businesses and 1/3 for middle class taxpayers, or $1 trillion and $500 billion respectively. The business tax cut will make the US more competitive globally and will help stem the tide of corporate relocations overseas. This will have a far reaching impact on all Americans that is difficult to quantify. Suffice it to say, US businesses will be more profitable, as their tax rate shrinks from 35% to 20%.

With higher profits at home, fewer companies will transfer manufacturing to cheaper places abroad, so job opportunities will increase at home. Corporations will be under pressure to share higher profits with employees if the tax plan is effective, so workers should see their paychecks increase over time.

Stockholders in major companies will see higher prices for their holdings. This will benefit wealthy investors, and small investors through their 401Ks and pension plans.

Several trillion dollars that is invested overseas will return to the US as the repatriation rate is reduced. This flow of cash will be invested in American enterprises and/or distributed to shareholders (see previous paragraph).

No longer will corporations be able to transfer earnings to their overseas subsidiaries to avoid taxes. The new law will impose a global tax on corporations so that their profits worldwide are subject to taxation in the US.

There is an array of tax benefits to the middle class including lower tax brackets and assorted tax credits. The simplification of the tax return will please taxpayers and have a supplemental benefit that few have discussed to this point. It will dramatically decrease the ability of taxpayers to cheat. It is estimated that the US lost $305 billion of revenue in 2010 from tax evaders.

As far as the affluent are concerned, there will be no reduction their tax rate. Yet the bill provides other benefits to them. One is something mentioned earlier, stocks will rise as corporations earn more because they pay less taxes. But also, a multi-year decrease in the estate tax will reduce and eliminate the unfair double tax jeopardy than Americans face when they die. These alone will more than compensate the affluent for other increases in their tax liabilities.

Lobbyists for continued deduction of state an local taxes and mortgage expenses are screaming bloody murder. They say housing prices are going to come crashing down. If the country’s fortunes increase as expected the loss of these benefits will be offset by lower personal taxes and improvements mentioned earlier.

There is a lot to like in the new bill, and it will change for the better over the next few weeks. Our country needs this reform and all American in one way or another will benefit. We should not allow greedy lobbyists political ideology to distort the impact of any specific proposal. The tax bill needs to be considered as one gigantic package.

New York City experienced another terrorist attack this past Tuesday on the walking/biking path along the West Side Highway.

A small rental truck driven by a man from Uzbekistan, who came to the US in 2010 with a green card, killed eight people and injured 11 others and screamed “Allahu akbar (Arabic for “God is great). The precise location of this terrorist attack is near the Stuyvesant High School. Fortunately none of the students were injured.

The nation will go into mourning for those killed and injured. We will empathize with the families affected by this horrible act of terror. And there will be a demand for action just like there were after all the other attacks in recent years. None of them resulted in any substantive changes other than proposals made by Donald Trump. In this case there were no deaths or injuries from guns so we will be spared another debate that goes nowhere.

Liberals are anathema to new laws that would make it more difficult for certain groups prone to violence to come to America. Ironically no one really doubts that foreign inspired terrorism directed at us usually originates with these groups.

Americans should be frustrated and angry that there has been so little progress in stopping these troublemakers from coming to America. We should be sick of the same trite speeches about the benefits of a melting pot society and demand more preventative action. Our immigration policies have resulted in something like 15 million illegal aliens in our country and an unknown number of immigrants and visitors from places that are notorious for planning attacks on our homeland.

In the early 20th Century immigrants from around the world flocked to America. They wanted to live the American dream. They were anxious to find work to support their families and put down roots in our country. They wanted to learn our language,  assimilate into our society and become productive members our our community.

How does that compare to the people who have come to America in recent years? They do not assimilate, they resist learning our language, they live separately and they demand more services than they provide to America.

I believe there is great value in a melting pot society. But I demand that our borders be managed more diligently. America is not required by law to take in a minimum number of aliens each year. We should only do so if we are sure that they will obey our laws, pay taxes, use our language and learn to care for themselves without governmental assistance.

If all this means that certain groups  are denied entry, so be it. If this dilemma results because an immigrant cannot be vetted properly to determine his or her character for lack of information from their home country, they should be denied admission.

My perspective may seem cruel to some, but so is the carnage, death, unhappiness and disruption that is caused by events like the one on Tuesday. We should not become inured to the deaths of “a couple of Americans.” We should be outraged and demand a better system. Most importantly we should not continue to prepare for another disaster and forget to try to stop this violence before it occurs and at its origin. We do not want to become like Israel and assume that deaths and injury by terrorists are a way of life.

There are options to fight terrorism that we are not employing. It all starts at the borders. Our government must be proactive and find troublemakers before they gain entry into the US. If these people are mostly from a certain part of the world it makes no difference. We should do this in honor of all those who have been murdered by terrorists and all the brave soldiers and first responders that are trying to make us safe.