28 October 2012. Romney Wants to Return to the “Gilded Age”… Gilded for Whom? Good-Sense from Bernie Sanders…

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In the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, Wall Street and Corporate America (and virtually all Republicans) are working on a deficit reduction plan to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, whilst lowering tax rates for the wealthy and large corporations. Sadly, some Democrats are also engaged in this effort. This plan is likely to come up during the lame duck session of Congress after the elections. The idea of balancing the budget on the backs of some of the most vulnerable people in our country… the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor… isn’t only morally grotesque, it’s extremely bad economics. We must vigorously oppose this plan.

As you know, the primary cause of the large deficit that we’re now experiencing are Bush’s two unpaid-for wars, huge tax breaks for the rich, and a prescription drug programme written by the insurance and drug companies. Further, because of the greed, recklessness, and illegal behaviour on Wall Street, which drove us into this terrible recession, revenue at 15.2 percent of GDP is the lowest in 60 years. In order to cover the cost of the unpaid-for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they want to make significant cuts to Social Security that’ll affect not only seniors, but also disabled veterans. They want to do this despite the fact that the payroll tax funds Social Security, it hasn’t added a penny to the deficit, and it has a 2.7 trillion USD (85 trillion Roubles. 2.1 trillion Euros. 1.7 trillion UK Pounds) surplus. 

In order to cover the cost of tax breaks given to millionaires and billionaires, they want to increase the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 and throw millions of families with children off of Medicaid. At a time when the USA has the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country and the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider, their deficit-reduction plan calls for lowering the top tax rates for the rich and large corporations to 28 percent or even lower. There are fair and sensible ways to reduce deficits, but having the rich and the powerful beat up on working families and the elderly isn’t one of them.

Bernie Sanders

US Senator (I-VT)

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If you vote for Willard Romney, you vote to kick ordinary Americans in the teeth full-force so that the Affluent Effluent can party on, without any sacrifice or pain (after all, they’re the only “productive people”). That’s the consequence of your action.

I’m voting for Obama… so should you.

BMD

PS:

By the way… the cutoff level for the One Percent is 506,000 USD (15.92 million Roubles. 391,000 Euros. 314,000 UK Pounds). That is, if we were to seriously raise taxes on those making over 500,000 USD (15.73 million Roubles. 386,000 Euros. 310,000 UK Pounds) a year, very few people would be affected. However… these people think that they “own” the country. Let’s show ‘em otherwise…

BMD

7 October 2012. If the USA’s the “Richest Country in the World”, Why is Russia Upping Old Age Pensions, and Why is Wet Willy Proposing to Smash Them?

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Russia increased old age pensions and upped spending on state healthcare; its economy is some 30 percent the size of the USA‘s in percentage terms. Yet, Willard Romney and Lyin’ Paul Ryan scream that we need to cut social spending in the USA to finance more toys for the Pentagon, more torture at black sites abroad, more pointless wars in foreign parts, more tax breaks for the Affluent Effluent, and more boodle for corrupt war contractors. Let’s NOT call the last-named “defence contractors“… that’s a lying euphemism. They’re arms merchants; they’re soulless parasites. The blood shed by ordinary American kids from modest homes and families underpins and fans the increase in their bloated and obscene fortunes. That’s what an “all-volunteer armed force” means… that’s a euphemism, too. It’s a mercenary force recruited to protect and serve the interests of the One Percent (I hasten to add that the poor bloody sods in the forces aren’t to blame… the warmongering pols and voracious rich are the perps; all the onus is on them).

If America‘s richer than Russia, and it is, by a factor of three, then, reason should tell you that if Russia increases pensions and healthcare spending, so can the USA. However, Wet Willy wants to preserve a system where he pays less federal income tax in proportion than a NYC cop or fireman. Therefore, he rants that we need to kick our old people and poor people in the head to preserve tax breaks for the Affluent Effluent. He fulminates that we must smash our heel into grandma’s face, and be right smart about it, too, so that crooked war contractors can steal even more from the fed slop chute. That’s the problem with the deficit… it ain’t Grandma and Grandpa… it ain’t layabouts on the dole… it ain’t public spending on healthcare. It’s people like Willard Romney… they have much, much more than the vast majority of us, but in their bottomless greed they want MORE. There’s only one place that they get it… from you and from me.

Don’t try to argue with rightwingers. They don’t follow the real news media… they only follow the Righwing blogosphere, Fox News, and Rush Limboob. They really believe that Willy won the first debate (all objective observers abroad agree… it was a dead heat, a draw). Don’t waste your time and energy on them. Get out to vote on 6 November. Talk to your friends and spread the real news amongst real people…

Corporations AREN’T people, and they can’t vote… but all of us “real people” can. Vote for the Prez… he ain’t perfect, but he ain’t Willy…

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Sunday 7 October 2012

Albany NY

US Cutting Support for the Elderly Is a Dangerous and Nearsighted Decision

This is an old woman begging on the streets in Athens due to bankster-induced cuts in social spending. THIS is what the Republican Party wants in the USA… we have to protect Wafflin’ Willy‘s tax cuts, dontcha know. THIS is the meaning of rightwing “individual responsibility” and “rugged individualism”. Wonderful, isn’t it? You can vote to enact such an abomination, or you can vote for the President in November… that’s your real-world choice.

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For senior citizens, life in America can be very difficult. The combination of a high cost of living, exorbitant medical care costs, and limited social support, coupled with decreased mobility, isolation, and greater needs, makes it close to impossible for many seniors to live full and normal lives. Sadly, assistance and budgeting for seniors isn’t enshrined in American law, but it’s now become political tennis, as budget cuts affecting benefit levels for seniors have unfortunately become a subject for negotiation.

The main American law under which funding is provided for seniors, the Older Americans Act, expired at the end of the 2011 Fiscal Year, yet the US Congress continued to provide funding for programmes under the act. On 26 January 2012, the Older Americans Act Amendments of 2012 were introduced and were supposed to make changes and continue authorisation of the Older Americans Act, something that was done for five year periods in the past. The current bill would extend the authorization of appropriations for most Older Americans Act programmes through FY2017. Yet, the current bill is bogged down, with some predicting it passing sometime next year.

Due to the fact that the Older Americans Act is classified as discretionary spending, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees now include it as an area where necessary budget cuts can be made; unfortunately, these cuts have a direct impact on the quality of life of seniors. One aspect that affects seniors and one that many American seniors and caregivers depend on is Meals on Wheels. For many seniors, it provides them with the only hot meal they receive each day. For care-providers, it also provides for a means to check regularly on the health and welfare of shut-in and isolated seniors. Food insecurity is a large problem for American seniors, and the hardest hit are mostly Black and Latino seniors. Through no fault of their own, seniors often require special diets for medical reasons and their incomes are often not enough to pay for food. Seniors often use food banks or meals programmes at senior centres, which provide many with the means to survive. According to the website Feeding America.org, almost 4 million American seniors are food insecure. This is due to the high cost of living, fixed incomes with no COLAs, high medical costs, and other factors. These factors often cause seniors to have to choose between eating or paying for healthcare or paying for housing and other basic needs.

Another area to which 700 billion USD (22.6 trillion Roubles. 560 billion Euros. 450 billion UK Pounds) in funding cuts is being proposed is Medicaid, which provides a small level of medical support for the elderly, the poor, and those making smaller salaries. Some Americans deride social programmes, such as they did with Social Security, calling them a step toward socialism, but for many older Americans who worked all of their lives and count on these programmes, cutting their funding or the funding of programmes they support is like a slap in the face. Still another area that the Feds have proposed cuts to is Food Stamps, which allows many of the elderly, disabled, poor, and many veterans as well, to eat. It comes under a larger US farm bill and includes cuts in the amount of 45 billion USD (1.46 trillion Roubles. 36 billion Euros. 29 billion UK Pounds), which will leave almost a million people with almost 100 USD (3,250 Roubles. 80 Euros. 65 Uk Pounds) less every month to buy food.

In most modern countries, social assistance for the elderly and social programmes in general are seen as part of the overall system of assistance that the citizenry fund through taxes, and are seen as part of their responsibility to their nation and their fellow citizens. In the USA, on the other hand, most responsibility for social needs, including health care, costs associated with bringing up a child, costs associated with job loss, medical problems, disability, housing, and more are considered the responsibility of the individual. Of all of these, in the USA, none is considered a right and all are areas where commercial concerns mine profit. All societies agree… we should protect, honour, and support our seniors, as it was their work and struggles that made our lives possible. If a country forgets their seniors, what future can they expect for themselves?

4 July 2012

John Robles

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_07_04/US-Cutting-support-elderly/

12 November 2011. Is THIS What You Want? Do You Want to Cut Off People’s Health Care for the Sake of a Stockbroker’s McMansion?

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Read this and this. Note this:

At a time when nations that tax, spend, regulate, and invest more consistently outstrip the United States in many measures of progress, leading Republicans speak only of smashing government and ending vital programs. In this constantly escalating rhetorical game, it became inevitable that one of them would eventually expose the emptiness of this vainglorious display. It was unsurprising that the ultimate faker would turn to be Rick Perry. …

The facts are simple enough even for the average tea party voter to understand… the countries that tax more, spend more, and regulate more than the United States are mostly doing better than we are, whether measured by educational attainment, social and economic mobility, income equality, employment growth, or infrastructure quality. They use market incentives and private sector partnerships more intelligently than we do, too… because they know that a strong competent government fosters enterprise without allowing corporate domination. Despite their current crisis in the Euro-zone, they’ll emerge from the recession with those strengths intact. Then again, European conservative parties would never nominate the likes of Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, or Ron Paul for public office at any level. No doubt, they find the GOP debates bleakly amusing in these dark times. It’s the only attitude that makes watching tolerable. …

The Legislature’s Republican-controlled budget committee approved Medicaid cuts expected to result in about 65,000 poor people leaving the health insurance programme. All Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee voted Thursday to approve the plan by Governor Scott Walker’s administration. All four Democrats opposed it. The plan now heads to President Barack Obama’s administration for approval. Supporters of the proposal to cut more than half a billion dollars (15.2 billion Roubles. 360 million Euros. 310 million UK Pounds) from Medicaid say it’s necessary given rising costs in the rapidly expanding programs that currently provide services to about 20 percent of Wisconsin’s population. However, Democrats and other opponents argued the cuts are inhumane, and they’d force the state’s most vulnerable people to lose coverage.

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Let’ keep this focused on this rather busy day. American Republicans aren’t “conservatives”… they’re Laissez-faire Free Market Radicals. They have NOTHING in common with true conservatives like TR, Stolypin, Witte, Adenauer, Diefenbaker, or Nixon. They’re nothing but Corporate Buccaneers intent on raping the country and starving the government of the funds that it needs to carry out its legitimate functions. Remember… Universal single-payer mandatory healthcare came to us from… Prince Otto von Bismarck! That is, the present extremist Republicans are liars and only deserve the tip of your boot. Of course, when it DOES come up for a vote, as it did in Ohio, they receive a sound whipping. How much you wanna bet that’s an omen for next year? Do note how the Corporate Media’s silent on that defeat… it tells you how much you can trust Fox News and the on-air commentariat. I don’t give them any credence… do you?

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Saturday 12 November 2011

Albany NY