Once again, Republicans are holding government hostage, trying to force through unpopular cuts to the things We, the People -- "the 99%" -- do for each other and our economy, while giving handouts to the 1% who pay for their campaign ads and smears. Once again they are threatening to just shut down the whole government if they don't get their way. This time the hostage is unemployment benefits for 2 million people and the payroll tax cut that is the only stimulus left to keep the economy going. Here's the thing, they say they want "cuts" but what they are really doing is shifting costs from the 1% on to the rest of us.
The current 112th Congress is the first Congress elected under the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that opened the floodgates of corporate money in elections. Remember the flood of ads accusing Democrats of "half a trillion in cuts from Medicare" that got them elected -- paid for with corporate money? Those ads swung the electorate toward Republican candidates, and now we are seeing the results -- including cuts in Medicare and even plans to privatize it entirely.
How Many Times?
To get their way Republicans have already nearly shut down our government or just shut down parts of it several times. Shutdown. Hostage. Shutdown. Hostage. Shutdown. Shutdown and hostage. Shutdown. Shutdown. Shutdown. Hostage. Shutdown. Shutdown. Hostage. Hostage. And on and on...
This Time
Here are just some of the Republican demands this time if we want the hostage released:
Even Worse Than That
The National Women's Law Center writes, in, House Bill Cuts Unemployment and Health Benefits, Domestic Programs, Child Tax Credit and More that there are many other reasons to be concerned:
The European Lesson
Republicans claim that cutting back government is good for the economy and creates jobs. (Note -- they always claim that anything for the 1% is good for the economy and creates jobs, whether or not it really is good for the economy and creates jobs or not.)
But is it really good for the economy to cut back on the things government does for the people and the economy? Let's look to Europe, where they have been cutting back on government in a grand experiment to see if that helps the economy. (Hint: it has really, really, really hurt the economy.) Reuters: Analysis: Europe's austerity zeal risks killing the patient,
Europe's "no pain no gain" attitude to solving its sovereign crisis risks exacerbating the bloc's problems, choking off the very growth needed to raise the money to pay down the debt.... The austerity zeal risks tipping the continent back into recession and a downward spiral of austerity as pitiful growth prospects undermine budgetary targets and ramp up debt burdens, meaning further austerity is required.
"The expansionary fiscal contraction story says that you cut, you show you are serious about cutting and then the confidence fairy will come along and she will start pulling in private investment," said Stephen Kinsella, professor of economics at the University of Limerick.
"The expansionary fiscal contraction story is a lie. You don't cut your way to growth."
Shifting Not Cutting
Do cuts in government spending actually cut spending? Consider what happens when you cut health care spending. The need for the health care certainly doesn't go away, but the cost of it is shifted away from government and on to individuals. Since iIndividuals do not have the economy-of-scale bargaining power and ability to protect themselves from scams and schemes that government does, their own individual cost is often much higher. So when these costs are shifted from government the cost to the larger economy is actually increased dramatically.
The things government does are done because they need to be done. So if government doesn't pay for them, does the need go away? No, when you cut government the need is still there. The costs are still there. But the power to bargain and to protect is gone. By cutting the 99%'s ability to protect themselves from scams and schemes, the 1% are better able to prey on them.
So, no, cutting government does not cut the costs of the things government does, it just shifts those costs from government onto the larger economy -- the 99% -- and even increases them, to the benefit of the 1%.
Who They Are Protecting And Who They Are Hurting
Why else do the 1% push so hard for government budget cuts, even though they really just shift the same costs onto the larger economy? Because this cost-shifting takes the tax pressure off of the 1%. Government collects taxes to cover the things regular people need, the cost of maintaining and modernizing infrastructure, etc. Of course, these are all good for the economy, the country, and the people. But since the 1% make most of the money and hold almost all of the wealth these prime beneficiaries of the economy are the obvious people to collect taxes from. So by cutting back on government they cut back on government's need for taxes -- from them.
And they get the added benefit of cutting back on government interference in their schemes and control.
In the long game of cuts and consequences, a society cannot win. In the 1980s we cut taxes and started cutting government. As a result we now have crumbling infrastructure, bad schools, unaffordable universities, etc. This is because government cuts do not cut the need out of the larger economy, they shift the costs of needed things away from causing tax pressure on the wealthy.
They don't care if the larger economy suffers as a result, they're already the 1%.
What To Do
Tell Republican leaders to stop sabotaging the economy. Renew the payroll tax cut and long-term aid for the jobless.
Sign the petition.
This post originally appeared at Campaign for America's Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF.
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James Moore: Memo From a Political Insider
Chad Stone: House Republican Unemployment Insurance Proposal Acts As If Economic Slump Is Over
a petition, are you kidding me?
Let the reublican leadership have their way and your children will suffer a horrible fate.
Pizza as a vegetable is just the tip of the iceberg.
Moreover, as I'm typing this, I'm watching a live broadcast of the Casing of the American Flag Ceremony being performed by our brave service men & women in Baghdad, I can't help but recall with anger who got us into this nine-year war, which sadly cost nearly 4,500 American lives and sucked a Trillion Dollars out of our fragile economy. REMEMBER FOREVER! THE REPUBLICANS GOT US INTO IRAQ! REMEMBER FOREVER! THE REPUBLICANS GOT US INTO IRAQ! REMEMBER FOREVER! THE REPUBLICANS GOT US INTO IRAQ! REMEMBER FOREVER! THE REPUBLICANS GOT US INTO IRAQ! REMEMBER FOREVER! THE REPUBLICANS GOT US INTO IRAQ! REMEMBER FOREVER! THE REPUBLICANS GOT US INTO IRAQ! REMEMBER FOREVER! THE REPUBLICANS GOT US INTO IRAQ! REMEMBER FOREVER! THE REPUBLICANS GOT US INTO IRAQ!
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F&F
I made the very same statement after Watergate and as you can see .. the Republicans keep validating my choice ...
I listen to the Republicans talk about that we need to make less trips to golf course----are you kidding???? I cannot afford to play golf.......unemployed need to try to get their GED's ----we have our 4 years of college already---- The past 5 years we have owed taxes - NEVER DID Before!!!! Haven't bought new cars in 15 years - we can't afford it. Need major dental and surgery on knees- every time husband gets his 2.5% raise per year the insurance goes up above that and it is less than a wash.
Then it makes no sense to be so angry and hateful towards the poor in America. Most people don't want to be that way, whether they receive government benefits or not, and would rather work for a living than to be stuck on a low and fixed income for the rest of their lives. There is also such a thing as the working poor, if you didn't know. So if our economy is finally beginning to turn around, slowly but surely - and no matter what the naysayers think, then we will eventually return to prosperity in this country. We did this before, and can do so again.
Here is a quote from you: "Work is work and if you are too damn lazy to do it then it is not my fault." UGH. Your words contaminate.
This was your response to a fellow citizen. She had just spoken of being laid off two times, being unemployed hat you say to the person who posted...telling of two lay-offs, of running out of unemployment assistance at the end of this month, a college-educated fellow-citizen who keeps sending her resume, and puts a lot of miles on her car in search of a job. She has been unemployed for more than a year-and-a-half.
If her experience is similar to my brother's, places such as MacDonald's say that she is over-qualified. But there are no jobs open in his/her field. The wealthy "job-creators" are sitting on their money, not hiring and still firing workers.
Remember the story with a character who wanted a heart?? Heart is lacking in people such as you. Let this be impetus for you to seek a loving attitude toward suffering people.
And the Repugs won't go for it....that is a tax hike and too extreme for them.
All I can see is incompetency in Washington while America goes to h-ll in a hand basket.
The Repugs are crazy and the Dems are often spineless OR willing accomplices to Repug dirty tricks.
Maybe there is only ONE political party with TWO branches.
The Repugs do the dirty openly and worship the rich in our faces while the Dems SEEM to worry more about ordinary Americans and are a little more discreet about serving the rich.
This whole thing looks like a good cop, bad cop setup.
Does anybody else feel we the ordinary American people are being played and betrayed while both political parties kowtow to the rich and do their bidding?
*****Even the Dems are agreeing with the Repugs over indefinite detention (of SUSPECTED terrorists) by the military without trial for American citizens and could easily overcome a presidential veto.
*****Even the Dems talk about messing with social security.
If we have to get back to pre-Bush rates, we'll need to raise the top bracket to 39.6%, an increase of 3.6 percentage points.
The Republicans just held the country hostage for a 0.7% surtax on incomes above one million. And to counter this, the Democrats, well, they caved in.
You are proposing that we ask them agree to something that is 5 times what they rejected?
Tell Republican leaders to stop sabotaging the economy."
Quite lame! Are you seriously considering the fact that the Republicans do not know that they are taking hostages? And that a petition from the 99% is going to convince them to change their minds.
The problem is the Democrats. Once the hostage taker knows that you will cave in, they'll simply take more hostages.
Why not?
The reason the Dems cave in is because they are gutless AND they know that you'd not even consider blaming them.
Asking hostages to write to the hostage-takers to stop taking hostages is why the Dems feel so safe. No one holds them accountable.
Yes, the reason we are in this mess is because the Republicans are wrecking the country. The reason it continues and why we do not stop it though, is because we elect these Democrats