TAX CUTS FOR BILLIONAIRES AND THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS FOR YOU
This weekend, central Texas was ravaged by flash floods that left over 70 people dead, including nearly 30 children. Entire families were swept away, summer camps were destroyed, and communities were left grappling with the unimaginable. The Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in just 45 minutes—faster than a billionaire's tax cut under the Trump administration. And yet, while the waters surged, the forecasting offices in Austin, Texas, sat eerily empty. Why? Because funding cuts to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) left them as vacant as a politician’s promise.
Let’s be clear: these floods were not just an act of nature; they were a man-made disaster. Not because someone went out and personally poured buckets of water into the Guadalupe River, but because decades of climate denial and recent budgetary gutting have left us woefully unprepared for increasingly frequent weather calamities. And who do we have to thank for this? None other than President Donald J. Trump and his "Big Beautiful Bill" that prioritized tax relief for billionaires over funding for life-saving weather services.
Thoughts and Prayers: The Cheapest Currency in Politics
Ah, thoughts and prayers—the political equivalent of a shrug emoji.
But no, instead of actionable solutions, we got a disaster declaration signed by Trump—basically the bureaucratic equivalent of saying “Oops.” Texas Governor Greg Abbott visited the affected areas, likely to ensure his cowboy boots didn’t get wet while he surveyed the carnage. Together, they pledged support for recovery efforts. Funny how they always find money for cleaning up the mess but never for preventing it in the first place.
The NOAA Cuts: Penny-Wise, Pound-Foolish
Let’s talk about NOAA—the agency responsible for forecasting severe weather and issuing warnings that save lives. Under Trump’s administration, NOAA faced deep budget cuts because apparently predicting hurricanes doesn’t generate profits like building golf courses or launching NFTs. These cuts forced local National Weather Service offices to scale back operations, including in Austin, Texas—one of the offices that might have helped predict this weekend’s catastrophe more effectively.
Trump’s reasoning? “Modernization.” In MAGA-speak, that means slashing budgets until agencies can’t function and then calling it innovation. NOAA staff were reassigned from research roles to fill staffing gaps, and critical tools like weather balloons were phased out because they were deemed "too expensive." Who needs accurate data when you can just wing it with vibes?
Ironically, the same politicians who celebrated these cuts are now calling for more thoughts and prayers. It’s almost as if they can’t connect the dots between defunding disaster preparedness and disasters actually happening. But hey, at least billionaires got their tax breaks—maybe they can use all that extra cash to buy yachts big enough to float out of Kerr County.
Climate Change: The Elephant in the Flooded Room
Of course, we can’t discuss this tragedy without addressing the climate crisis—though many Texas politicians seem determined to avoid it like it’s a vegan barbecue. Climate change is intensifying weather events across the globe, making floods deadlier and more frequent. But acknowledging this would mean admitting that decades of fossil fuel lobbying and deregulation might have been a bad idea. And we can’t have that now, can we?
Texas is no stranger to billion-dollar natural disasters. Hurricanes, droughts, floods—you name it. Yet its leaders continue to resist acknowledging climate change because doing so might upset their oil industry donors. Instead of advocating for federal disaster aid or scientific resources, they stick their heads in the sand (or perhaps the rising floodwaters) and hope for the best.
Meanwhile, coastal protection projects like the Ike Dike—which could shield Texas from hurricane storm surges—remain underfunded because apparently protecting lives isn’t as important as protecting corporate profits.
Social Democracy: A Radical Idea (Apparently)
Here’s a wild thought: what if we funded public services like NOAA properly? What if we invested in infrastructure that could withstand extreme weather? What if we embraced social democracy—a system where public resources are prioritized over private profits?
Social democracy isn’t some radical pipe dream; it’s the cool cousin of capitalism that actually cares about people. It blends capitalist dynamism with socialist fairness to reduce inequality and improve public services. Countries with strong social democratic policies—think universal healthcare and robust disaster preparedness—are better equipped to handle crises like floods. But in America, suggesting such ideas gets you labeled a communist faster than you can say “Karl Marx.”
Instead, we cling to trickle-down economics—a failed experiment that has widened the wealth gap while starving public services of funding. Billionaires get richer while ordinary Americans are left to fend for themselves during disasters. It’s like playing Monopoly where one player owns Boardwalk and Park Place while everyone else is stuck trying to survive on Baltic Avenue.
The Generational Shift
Thankfully, younger voters are starting to push back against this nonsense. They’re demanding bold progressive policies that prioritize people over profits. Grassroots organizing is gaining momentum, as seen in victories like Zohran Mamdani’s NYC mayoral primary campaign focused on rent freezes, universal healthcare, and taxing the wealthy to fund public services.
This generational shift is challenging centrist Democrats and Republicans alike, forcing them to reckon with the failures of neoliberalism. If we want to prevent tragedies like the Texas floods from becoming routine occurrences, we need systemic change—not just thoughts and prayers.
Final Thoughts (and No Prayers)
The devastating flash floods in Texas were a tragedy—but they were also a wake-up call. Climate change is here, and its effects are only going to get worse unless we act decisively. Cutting funding for disaster preparedness while pretending everything is fine is not leadership; it’s negligence.
If we want to prevent future disasters, we need more than empty rhetoric. We need investments in scientific research, infrastructure, and climate resilience. We need leaders who prioritize public welfare over private profits. And most importantly, we need to stop pretending that thoughts and prayers are a substitute for action.
So let’s ditch the empty platitudes and start demanding real change—because the next flood won’t wait for us to figure it out.
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Across the country, authoritarian forces are getting bolder and more dangerous. Trump and his allies are not hiding their agenda: mass deportations, rollbacks of civil rights, weaponized courts, and full-scale attacks on our democracy. We don’t have to wait until it’s too late. We can stop this. But it’ll take all of us—not just on single days of mass action, but through sustained organizing in our communities.
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At least 70 dead in devastating central Texas flash floods, over 2 dozen remain missing - CBS News https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-hill-country-severe-floods/
Trump’s DOGE Cuts Are a Texas-Sized Disaster https://www.texasobserver.org/trump-texas-doge-cuts-disaster-aid/
Critics link Texas flood devastation to Trump-era cuts and climate policies | Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-spending-cuts-his-approach-climate-change-attacked-catalyst-catastrophic-texas-flooding
Was the Hill Country sufficiently warned about Texas flooding? | The Texas Tribune https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/05/texas-hill-country-floods-warning-forecast-nws/
Severe weather hits the US hard as key forecast offices reel from Trump cuts This year marks the first time that local NWS offices have stopped round-the-clock operations in the agency’s history https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/01/severe-weather-nws-trump-cuts
ICE Barbie Dodges Blame for Disastrous Texas Flooding on Trump’s Watch DODGE AND WEAVE Kristi Noem was grilled over the delayed warning residents received during the flash floods in Texas. https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-barbie-kristi-noem-dodges-blame-for-disastrous-texas-flooding-on-trumps-watch/
Big Education Ape: DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM (SERVICE-ISM): THE COOL COUSIN OF CAPITALISM https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2025/06/democratic-socialism-service-ism-cool.html
UPDATE #1: How good was the Texas weather forecast before the flood? : NPR https://www.npr.org/2025/07/06/nx-s1-5458512/texas-flash-flood-weather-forecast
UPDATE #2: Abbott: Special session may address warnings after deadly Texas floods https://www.kxan.com/investigations/abbott-special-session-may-address-warnings-after-deadly-texas-floods/
Leaders’ emergency decisions
Accompanying the governor during the Sunday news conference, Texas Department of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said, “Just sending the message is not the same as receiving the message.”
“We need to educate the public about what to do when they get the notifications,” Kidd added, referencing weather warnings and how remote areas – like rural Kerr County – might not have had access to cell phone notifications or NOAA radio broadcasts.
Regarding National Weather Service forecast timing, communication and the possible impact of federal funding cuts to the agency, Abbott said he knew “nothing about the staffing.” KXAN has reported the local NWS office, which covers Kerr County, currently has six vacancies among its 26 positions, some of which are meteorologists. The NWS and TDEM have not responded directly to KXAN about those numbers yet.
UPDATE #3:Texas Floods: Staff Cuts at Weather Service, Plus Local Refusal to Pay Taxes for Early Warning=Disaster https://dianeravitch.net/2025/07/06/texas-floods-staff-cuts-at-weather-service-plus-local-refusal-to-pay-taxes-for-early-warningdisaster/ via @dianeravitch
