The current legislative assault directed at the poor and middle class in this country seems to be an attempt to reduce us to just two classes - the rich and the poor. Any possibility of aspiring to or sustaining a middle class lifestyle is being ground under the wheels of a very big political machine; a modern day version of the Trojan Horse, which voters themselves rolled up to the gates of Capitol Hill. Behind the masks of fiscal restraint are the axe- wielding bigots whose real motives are cutting every social program in sight and kicking their fellow citizens while they're down.
The majority of us know a friend, family member or co-worker (if you're lucky enough to currently be employed) who has been adversely affected as a result of last several years of recklessness in Washington. This issue reaches beyond party affiliation, beyond religious affiliation, and beyond age, race or gender. I'm sure a lot of you believe you'll never need the help of a social program; I'm sure many of these people used to think the same thing:
13.5 million unemployed Americans, 6.1 million of which have been unemployed 27 weeks or more. [1]
9 million Americans lost health insurance during the past two years, bringing the total number of uninsured to 52 million [2]
486,503 persons were added to the food-stamp rolls in December, bringing the total receiving help to more than 44 million. [3]
More than 4 million Americans have been unemployed for more than a year.
In 2010, more than a million U.S. families lost their homes to foreclosure, and that number is expected to go even higher in 2011.[4]
And yet, "The median personal wealth for members of Congress grew to $911,510 in 2009, up from $785,515 in 2008, according to the Center for Responsive Politics... Overall, members of Congress saw their personal wealth grow by more than 16 percent during the worst economic downturn in the United States since the Great Depression."[5] Is it really any wonder that they pander to "the haves and have mores" as George W. Bush affectionately referred to them?
Which brings me to Paul Ryan's "Roadmap for America's Future"; his offering to the Political Gods of Wealth to secure his place at the foot of the throne. While he was being lauded as "courageous" for his proposed spending cuts by the Republicans' pr campaign, there was one item in his budget "masterpiece" that was not being championed quite so loudly. That would be the minor little detail of the $4.2 trillion, yes trillion, in Tax Cuts.[6]
Are those tax cuts meant to help offset the hardships being endured by the majority of taxpayers who are suffering in this economy? Not quite. "The Tax Policy Center finds that the Ryan plan would cut taxes on the richest 1 percent of the population in half... Even as it slashed taxes at the top, the plan would raise taxes for 95 percent of the population."[7] Do the majority of Americans really need an additional burden right now?
This is the Tea Party / Right Wing / Nut Job scheme they call "fiscal responsibility". Mind you, Democrats should not escape this idiocy unscathed. To quote Mark Sumner from the Daily KOS, "Democrats were deathly afraid that passing a reasonable budget and standing up for working people would cost them at the polls, so they abandoned the budget process to the next Congress... how did that work out?" [8]
Politicians continually refer to programs that help those who are struggling as "entitlements". Merriam-Webster defines entitlement as "a government program providing benefits to a specified group". I think that would easily encompass those tax breaks as well, don't you? I have to believe even this Congress has more collective brain power than to try and put further tax cuts for the rich on the budget table. They're not complete idiots. Then again...
1. The Employment Situation - March, 2011, released April 1, 2011
USDL -11-0436 pdf
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Access via:
www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
2. Pat Wechsler: Americans Without Health Insurance Rise to 52 Million on Job Loss, Expense
Bloomberg, March 15, 2011
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-16/americans-without-health-insurance-rose-to-52-million-on-job-loss-expense.html
3. John Shipman: Food-Stamp Numbers May Part Your Hair
Market Talk, March 8, 2011
http://newswires-americas.com/markettalk/2011/03/08/food-stamp-numbers-may-part-your-hair/
4. Michael T. Snyder: Saving Money? Not In This Economy - 22 Facts That Prove Middle Class Families Are Being Savagely Crushed
March 17, 2011 http://inteldaily.com/2011/03/saving-money-not-in-this-economy-%E2%80%93-22-facts-that-prove-middle-class-families-are-being-savagely-crushed/
5. Tom Murse: The Ten Wealthiest Members of Congress
About.com, U.S. Government Info
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscongress/ss/Wealthiest-Members-of-Congress.htm
6. Fire Tom Friedman: Answer the Question!
Firetomfriedman, April 6, 2011
http://firetomfriedman.blogspot.com/2011/04/answer-question.html
7 Paul Krugman: The Flimflam Man - New York Times Op-Ed Published: August 5, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/opinion/06krugman.html?scp=1&sq=Paul%20Krugman%20the%20flimflam%20man%20august%202010&st=cse
8 Mark Sumner: Abbreviated Pundit Roundup
The Daily Kos, April 10, 2011
http://www.dailykos.com/
Filed under: Politics
