Cut This!

Here we go again. Our elected leaders are pushing yet more cuts: “unavoidable” cuts, cuts-that-no-one-wants, cuts-that-hurt-me-more-than-they-hurt-you, haircuts (as in “we all gotta take one”), and on and on. And, some of them say, if we don’t make the necessary cuts, our unborn children’s children will most certainly face a DEFICIT which will most certainly be a BURDEN SO HUGE that it will most certainly CRUSH THEM.

Here’s my translation:

These things are too expensive:

·         Clean air/water

·         Safe food/drugs/other

·         Literacy

·         Old people

·         Children

·         Sick people

·         Poor people

·         Etc.

Our nation has only so much money, and we can spend it on only our highest priorities:

·         War

·         The market’s mental health (The market doesn’t like “uncertainty.”)

·         Reduced tax rates for corporations and rich people

Really?


The United States now spends more money on war/defense than the rest of the world –combined.  But we are to believe that this nation is broke?
    

     We are supposed to believe that the federal budget proposal that passed the House  is “serious” when it: 

            1) would eliminate and/or reduce SNAP (food stamp) aid to millions,  

                and 

            2) is authored by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) of $350/bottle wine fame? 
       

        In a nation where 

• the 25 most successful hedge fund managers  earned an average annual salary of $883,000,000 in 2010 (about $440,000 per hour) ...
• members of the 1% buy 30,000 (or more) square foot homes, $800,000 watches, $18,000 purses, and $2500 pumps ...

... we are supposed to believe that there is no more money for shelters for the homeless or food for the hungry? 


Moreover, we are supposed to believe that we have to make cuts to programs like these - that we are spending too much money on the homeless and the hungry?

I have developed my own list of recommended cuts. I call it

“Cut:

• Tax breaks for billionaires, 
• Healthcare for hypocrites*, 
• Education aid for economic elites**, 

• Corporate welfare, 
• Retirement benefits for Congress***, 
• Aid to needy CEOs, and 
• Pentagon boondoggles” 

“Cut THE CRAP,” for short.

You might find the name of my proposal to be a bit crass. But there is no denying that “crap” is an apt description of the cuts proposed by Paul Ryan. If you agree, please make your perspective heard. Here are some ways to do it:

• Ask candidates for public office in your community if they will pledge to fight cuts to Social Security, Medicare,  Medicaid, and other assistance programs.     
• Send a letter to, visit, or call your elected representatives to ask if they will pledge to fight cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other assistance programs.     
• Send a letter to the editor. You know what to say. Or ask.
• Ask candidates who support cuts if they will pledge to renounce their pensions, perks, health care packages, etc. 
• Volunteer for candidates who pledge to oppose cuts, especially to support  Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
• Vote for these candidates.
• Know someone like minded who needs transportation in order to register to vote and/or getting to the polls? Offer to give her/him a ride.

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*Cut health insurance offered by the government to government officals opposed to health insurance offered by the government.

** Cut taxpayer-funded vouchers for children from wealthy families to attend private schools; those taxpayer dollars could fund public schools.

***Cut pensions for lawmakers who advocate cuts to pensions for public workers.

The Let-Them-Eat-Cake Budget

What is with all of the sturm and drang over Paul Ryan’s budget? It offers serious proposals that deserve serious consideration. For example: 

• Infrastructure: Yes, I know some people are worried about our “crumbling” infrastructure. These people will cite a list of specific roads and bridges, etc. that need immediate repair. But Ryan is right to suggest that the federal government need not spend money on repairs. It can simply maintain a website that lists roads and bridges to avoid, along with a statement that by using said roads and bridges, travelers waive all rights to hold government entities accountable for any bodily harm incurred during usage.

• EPA: So what if it’s gutted? So what if oil refineries pollute the air? I have two words for you: Face masks. You’re worried about water? While I have not verified this, I just bet those face masks would make fine water filters.

• Health Care: You want a health care program? Okay. I have a program many times cheaper than the current health care plan. I call mine the “An Apple A Day …” Plan. My plan calls for government bureaucrats whose jobs have been eliminated to be rehired (sans benefits and unions); they hand out apples to card-carrying, hard-working, tax-paying U.S. citizens. One per person per day. Unless you’re a job creator.

• Medicare: No, you won’t continue to have access to the level of care you would otherwise enjoy. Instead, you will get a voucher with which to purchase up to $8000 of insurance. No, there is no reason to expect that any private insurer would offer you a policy. And no, the $8000 probably would not cover even the premiums, let alone your corn pads. But maybe the powers-that-be could be persuaded to substitute an $8000 travel voucher for the insurance voucher - then you could buy a plane ticket to a country* where you can get health care.** Bon Voyage! 

*You weren’t thinking of driving or boarding a train, were you?

**It would also buy approximately 22 bottles of the $350-per-bottle of wine that Paul Ryan was recently caught sipping.