Friday, February 11, 2005
Krugman: Bush's Class-War Budget
Krugman, ever so prescient, pulls back the curtain on the Bush Administration's new budget. It is class war. The poor get screwed and the rich get richer. Now I am not criticizing the rich. I have many well to do friends who have the intelligence to realize that Bush Administration policies hurt us all. So, don't hop on all rich people for the money that they earn, just the corporate elites that want to amass as much money as possible on the backs of all people in this country. That means the poor, working class, middle class, and even those who make $200 thousand dollars a year. They are working to gut legal protections that all of us benefit from. They are working to gut environmental protections that benefit us all. We will be paying for these rollbacks with our health and our jobs for years to come if we do not stop this now.
As even George W. Bush admitted himself, at a dinner for his high level donors, they have to move quick before the midterm elections in 2006. They know that they will then lose their power. We must back with our time and money, much like many of us did in the 2004 election, worthy Democratic candidates that will stem the tide this administration's agregious policies. We must sacrifice, as this is war.
Our democracy is at stake here. This may seem extreme, but take some time to do the research and you will see that this administration is not in the interest of freedom in any sense of the word. This administration is, excuse the term, an infant facist regime. We must stop it. Thankfully, the Democratic Party are injecting some discipline into the ranks of the party. We do not need any more Joe Lieberman's, Zell Miller's, or John Breaux's, who are Democrats in name only. We need to be a visible and vocal opposition. We need to counter premptively or within seconds, the lying attacks of the far right and what seems to be less the fringe of the party, but the center. Our democracy needs you, NOW!!!
Bush's Class-War Budget
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: February 11, 2005
It may sound shrill to describe President Bush as someone who takes food from the mouths of babes and gives the proceeds to his millionaire friends. Yet his latest budget proposal is top-down class warfare in action. And it offers the Democrats an opportunity, if they're willing to take it.
First, the facts: the budget proposal really does take food from the mouths of babes. One of the proposed spending cuts would make it harder for working families with children to receive food stamps, terminating aid for about 300,000 people. Another would deny child care assistance to about 300,000 children, again in low-income working families.
And the budget really does shower largesse on millionaires even as it punishes the needy. For example, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities informs us that even as the administration demands spending cuts, it will proceed with the phaseout of two little-known tax provisions - originally put in place under the first President George Bush - that limit deductions and exemptions for high-income households.
More than half of the benefits from this backdoor tax cut would go to people with incomes of more than a million dollars; 97 percent would go to people with incomes exceeding $200,000. More Here
As even George W. Bush admitted himself, at a dinner for his high level donors, they have to move quick before the midterm elections in 2006. They know that they will then lose their power. We must back with our time and money, much like many of us did in the 2004 election, worthy Democratic candidates that will stem the tide this administration's agregious policies. We must sacrifice, as this is war.
Our democracy is at stake here. This may seem extreme, but take some time to do the research and you will see that this administration is not in the interest of freedom in any sense of the word. This administration is, excuse the term, an infant facist regime. We must stop it. Thankfully, the Democratic Party are injecting some discipline into the ranks of the party. We do not need any more Joe Lieberman's, Zell Miller's, or John Breaux's, who are Democrats in name only. We need to be a visible and vocal opposition. We need to counter premptively or within seconds, the lying attacks of the far right and what seems to be less the fringe of the party, but the center. Our democracy needs you, NOW!!!
Bush's Class-War Budget
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: February 11, 2005
It may sound shrill to describe President Bush as someone who takes food from the mouths of babes and gives the proceeds to his millionaire friends. Yet his latest budget proposal is top-down class warfare in action. And it offers the Democrats an opportunity, if they're willing to take it.
First, the facts: the budget proposal really does take food from the mouths of babes. One of the proposed spending cuts would make it harder for working families with children to receive food stamps, terminating aid for about 300,000 people. Another would deny child care assistance to about 300,000 children, again in low-income working families.
And the budget really does shower largesse on millionaires even as it punishes the needy. For example, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities informs us that even as the administration demands spending cuts, it will proceed with the phaseout of two little-known tax provisions - originally put in place under the first President George Bush - that limit deductions and exemptions for high-income households.
More than half of the benefits from this backdoor tax cut would go to people with incomes of more than a million dollars; 97 percent would go to people with incomes exceeding $200,000. More Here
