When told that Republican spending cuts could eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs at a time when 25 million people are already in need of full-time work, House Speaker John Boehner said, "So be it."
This weekend, Boehner stated that it was simply "immoral" to leave deep debts to our children. That certainly is true. But Republicans in the House and governors under pressure across the country are planning deep cuts in areas that are vital to children -- in pre-K programs like Head Start, in infant nutrition, in health care, in funding for schools and teachers and in support for college. They are making these cuts after extending tax cuts to the richest 1 percent of Americans, who already capture 23 percent of the nation's income. It is unwise to talk about immorality when children are the leading victims of "so-be-it economics."
The demonstrations in Wisconsin -- where the governor hopes to use the crisis as an excuse to destroy unions and effectively eliminate the right to bargain collectively -- have exposed the political aims of conservative Republican governors. But too little attention is being paid to who is being asked to sacrifice as we struggle to get out of the worst recession since the Great Depression.
According to the Center on Budget and Priorities, of the 41 states that have released their initial budget proposals for next year -- covering 83 percent of the nation's population -- nearly all propose to spend less money than they spent in 2008, after adjusting for inflation, even though the cost of providing services is much higher. There will be more children in public schools, more students seeking admission to colleges and universities, more Medicaid enrollees, more people dependent on public health programs.
The majority of states are planning major cuts in basic public services. We're not talking fat here; we are talking bone and muscle and tendons. Sixteen states propose deep cuts in pre-K, grade school and high school spending. The Texas budget, for example, will eliminate pre-K funding for nearly 100,000 at risk children, more than 40 percent of the state's pre-K students. Twenty-three states have proposed deep cuts in health care. Ensconced in the Wisconsin governor's budget is a plan to cancel health insurance coverage for about 70,000 people. Fifteen states will make big cuts in higher education. Arizona will cut state support by 20 percent next year; when combined with previous cuts, it would reduce per student state spending by 46 percent below pre-recession levels.
Yet many of the new Republican governors are also proposing large tax cuts, mostly for corporations. Florida's new governor wants to cut the corporate income tax by 45 percent and eliminate it by 2018. New Jersey's newly fashionable conservative governor proposes to cut the minimum tax paid by corporations by 25 percent and increase the amount that can be bequeathed tax-free to heirs.
The cuts will have brutal effects on the economy. Last year, state and local governments lost 400,000 jobs -- and that was when the states still had support from the Obama recovery plan. This year, the cuts will be worse. These are cops, teachers, firefighters, judges and clerks, basic social services. Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street bank, estimates that the cuts voted on by Republicans could slice growth in half, to levels that don't keep up with people going into the job market. Veterans returning from battlegrounds overseas are headed into an economic battleground here at home that offers them few jobs and little hope.
We've all seen times when managers mess up and workers pay the penalty. Now, global banks and corporations blew up the economy, and children, cops and teachers are being asked to pay the price. This is a time to mobilize. "So be it" doesn't get it.
Follow Rev. Jesse Jackson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/revjjackson
Until this actually is the truth, since last I heard corporations were paying ZERO in taxes due to offshore bank accounts and loopholes in the corporate tax law, I'll keep believing that they should be paying MORE than the rest of us, since they've not been creating jobs HERE in America.
So if we REALLY want to get America back on track…we need to make Big Business pay for Big Business's mistakes instead of the American people.
Any voters out there with buyers remorse yet???? And those whose coffers are overflowing with grain, will you even so much as feed a chicken with any of it?
Think about it. NOW IS THE TIME TO DEVASTATE THE WISCONSIN UNIONS, SCHOOLS, SOCIAL PROGRAMS, and most of the benefits to the Democratic programs the Republicans never liked. Why? Because they will have benefited twice! They kill the programs they never liked, and if the economy takes a dive, they just blame it on Obama! BRILLIANT. Albeit evil.
Just look what Gov. Walker is doing. He refuses to negotiate with the DEMs. Why? Same idea. Go ahead and ignore the protesters and surge ahead. Use any means necessary, even lie that there's a budget crisis. What is clear, is after all the dust has settled, the Unions in Wisconsin will BE NO MORE, and his budget will be Republican-lean, and the BEST for Big-Republican-Business.
And in the 2012 election year, Walker and the GOP can simple BLAME THE DEMOCRATS. Just repeat the slogans, put on the earplugs, and let Hannity, O'Reilly, Rush, Palin, and FOXNEWS frame the debate.
Get it? This Wisconsin Governor, barring a tragedy or some kind of violent action, will shove through whatever he needs to DESTROY the unions, teachers, and every program that is not Republican friendly.
This is the problem. How do you stop a loon that will not listen to anyone~?!?
I fully agree with you-all! And all that is comming. Rome wasn't built in a day!
I wish Congress presented a comprehensive budget; that showed all that everybody sacrifices.
Current budget-cut proposed by the House (overwhelmingly supported by BOTH Republicans and Democrats) is only 4 billion. This is less than 0.15% of the budget.
Goverment borrows 40% of the annual budget of 3.8 Trillion (2012 budget data). Even to come close to balancing the annual budget, this cut is miniscule. At this rate, it'll take more than a decade (closer to two) to have a balanced annual federal budget.
All these cuts wont even pay a dime to the 15.5 Trillion debt, which grows with annual borrowings.
And there is more to be paid off! This includes State and local govt. debt presently at 2.4 Trillion and unfunded pension obligations, including Social Security, of 3.5 Trillion.
So I suggest to all progressives, politicians, professors on economics, sociology, etc., and authors of other articles (who are now bent out of shape) to have patience and hold your fire.
We should compliment those doing the "heavy lifting" in the House and in the Senate for presenting the unhappy message. They along with the White House are acting very responsibly in not shutting down the govt. now and hopefully in the future.
Global banks and corporations definitely blew up the economy, and this has put a serious hurt on many state budegets.
In addition, many of these same greedy elites are responsible, directly or indirectly, for the shipment of millions of U.S. jobs overseas. We have lost 6.5 million manufacturing jobs over the last decade, about one-third of our manufacturing base. But you won't see too many Republicans in Congress talking about the hurt this corporate greed has put on state budgets. Unfortunately, the Democrats are almost as much to blame for U.S. jobs going overseas as the Republicans.
This, as you have suggested, is a time to mobilize. It is also a time for Democrats in Congress to start acting like the working person's friend rather than a friend of corporate elites.
I have seen no serious sign that the Democrats in Congress are seriously interested in becoming the working person's friend again, so I hope any "mobilization" includes a movement to replace the current group of Democrats in Congress with "real" Democrats.
It is better to replace the Democrats we have than to hold out hope that a lot of Republicans will help the cause. The "protest vote" we saw in the last election against Democrats by people who were mad because the party in power did not make the correct moves, while understandable, and necessary in the short-term, won't help in the long-term.
We need new Democrats in Congress.
Actually, Clinton's economic team's bald-faced lies to congress did that: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/view/?utm_campaign=viewpage&utm_medium=grid&utm_source=grid
But Jesus didn't mean THEM, did he?