Wednesday, May 24, 2017
The Federal Budget
Here is progressive rising star, Washington state Democrat Pramila Jayapal, on the budget ...
Trump's federal budget is back in the news. It is a monstrosity that will crush the poor, the elderly, the disabled, children, as well as our environment, in the name of bigger weapons and tax cuts for the rich. If the bill survives as it is, I will face cuts to my Medicaid and to my Social Security Disability benefits. The underlying Darwinian theme in such a budget is that only the lucky and the strong really deserve to survive. What is ironic is that those who defend the budget are mostly Christians .... apparently they never got that Mathew 25 memo.
Here's more detail on the budget from John Oliver ...
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It's a pretty typical Republican wish list. More guns, less butter. It must be killing the Rs that ISIS won't require some new aircraft carriers.
ReplyDeleteIt has been awhile since we saw one because Clinton had left W. Bush so much to work with (by raising taxes on the rich), and Congress kept W. somewhat under control. But this is a lot like Reagan I, II and III. The budget will balance in 10 years (always 10 years; every year balance is just 10 years away), and it will do it with a magic bullet. In Reagan's I it was a magic asterisk. In this one it is a 3 percent growth rate. As one clown said, when you eliminate needless regulations, the cost of health insurance will be so low that everyone will be able to afford it. I don't know why they didn't assume a 5 percent growth rate. That would have gotten them to a promised balance in about six years. Or how about 50 percent growth? No waiting!
Well, even Sen. Cornyn said it was dead on arrival. And he won't be FBI director either.
What worries me are the Republicans who are defending the budget and who would be happy to vote for it as it is. I had a post about this at the other blog too and got so angry about it I had to delete it. I don't think those people have any idea of what it is like to live at the mercy of others.
ReplyDeleteCrystal, I agree, this budget sucks. The only comfort is that it probably won't pass in its present form. Doctors and hospitals don't want Medicaid gutted, because that just makes it more difficult for them. I see a lot of ignorance about how federal budgets really work. There was a discussion at break today at work about how the deficit was out of control, and if we don't get a handle on things we'll be like Greece. News flash: Trump's budget won't help the deficit; it will just make it worse. You can gut social programs, but if you pour more money into the military and cut taxes at the same time the numbers don't add up.
ReplyDeleteYeah, if Trump didn't want such drastic increases for military spending and for the wall and for tax cuts, he wouldn't need to destroy the safety nets. But where would be the fun in that?
ReplyDeleteSen. McCain has deemed the "Trump Budget" deficient for -- are you ready? -- not enough money for the military. Apparently it simply adopts Obama's projection.
ReplyDeleteSo, OK, nobody likes it. The guy in charge rode in on a Tea Party mule (or jackass?), so what do you expect? But don't relax: The default zombie after declaring this porridge dead (as Coroner Ryan has done) is Paul Ryan's granny-starver budget.
McCain - just when I was starting to like him a bit.
ReplyDelete