The "cat food" commission has issued its report. The wisdom of the likes of Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles has spoken: you are fucked.
Here's the gist of the commission, appointed by a DEMOCRATIC president's, recommendations for reducing the deficit:
1. Cut your Social Security
2. Cut Medicare
3. Cut corporate taxes
4. Cut the taxes of the richest 2%
5. Cut the mortgage interest deduction, and...
6. Cut cost of living raises for our troops.
Or, to put it in my terms, the rich want to strap on hobnailed boots, kick the shit out of the middle and working classes, spit on us, piss on us, and then make us clean up the mess.
Pete Peterson, with his millions, has bought his way into influence in our government, and he has purchased our future. He and his millionaire posse have seen to it that working American families will live lives of hardship and misery in our old age, so that he can add a few more millions to his swollen off-shore bank accounts. The rich are gutting the middle and working classes so they can swell their vaults with our national treasure. In short, those bastards are mugging us.
How does this amount to an all-out assault on working families? If you really have to ask...
We have a quasi-volunteer army (ask troops who've been stop-lossed if it is totally volunteer), who are involved in two wars. And you, Alan Simpson, you wanna' freeze their pay. It is hard to express what a vile summuma' bitch that makes you. In case you are wondering, are the rich serving in the armed forces? Nope, mostly the poor, rural and working classes. So the proposal is that those who sacrifice many hardships, and even die, in the service of their country should bear a significant burden of the deficit. This alone should make this proposal a non-starter.
There are arguments against the home mortgage deduction. When working people who live in apartments make them from a tax-fairness standpoint, I hear them. But when super-rich assholes argue to take away this gateway to home ownership, I lose my shit. This deduction helps sooooo many working class people become home-owners. And for folks like me, equity in my home will soften my retirement, or be the main asset that my children inherit. It is the main source of wealth for most families. This proposal is an enormous tax increase on working families.
While this proposal raises my taxes, guess whose get cut. You'll be shocked, I'm sure, to find out that it is the richest Americans. Yup, extend the Bush tax cuts. Sigh...
And if that's not bad enough, the "cat food" committee proposes cutting the corporate tax rate. Now, understand that in 2009, Exxon did not pay a dime in corporate taxes. Their profits were approximately 3.5 gazillion dollars, but they paid no taxes to support the country that treats them so well. In fact, they received a tax refund. But we better cut the corporate tax rate, because, what...Exxon's rebate wasn't big enough? Jesus, we better CUT soldier pay to make sure Exxon execs can afford to bathe twice a day in French champagne.
Health care in America is STILL a disaster. My rates just went up, along with everyone else. But don't worry, if you don't buy insurance from rapacious death-panel corporations, the mandate kicks in in a couple of years. You'll be enjoying that soon enough. But to cut Medicare? To yank the health care rug out from under our nation's seniors and neediest citizens? It's like we've been transported back to Medieval times. If we are going to let citizens die, and they will if you cut Medicare, so that the rich can have more...then we are becoming a feudal society. There's no way that a functioning democracy can let this happen.
Okay...(deep breaths, deep breaths)...cuts to Social Security. Social Security in NOT part of the deficit. It is a self-funded program, funded with yours' and my goddam money, for all of our working lives. This is a government annuity program, funded by the initial recipients, with the covenant that it will be there when we hit a certain age, or are disabled. There are trillions in surplus, and the trouble doesn't start until the 2030s. And all we have to do to fix the trouble is raise the cap.
No, no...fuck no! SS is not a problem with the deficit UNLESS you consider the fact that the cash was taken by politicians from both parties, and spent - largely on tax cuts and unfunded wars. Government bonds were put in place of the actual money. What this commission is really proposing is DEFAULTING ON BONDS HELD IN OUR NAME!! They have taken our money, now they want to burn the IOUs. Alan Simpson has already called these trillions of government bonds "worthless IOUs." They are proposing the crime of the century - robbing you of your money.
Politicians say that we must have an "adult conversation" about the deficit. This is code for "bitch, where's my money!" Then, they say "this won't affect anyone over 60." Well I'm glad they'll dodge the bullet. But I'm pushing 50, and I've paid into SS and Medicare for over 30 years. I get the statements. I have played by the rules, and paid my hard-earned money for over 30 working years, and they are going to take a chunk and give it to the richest Americans, and corporations, and let me work until I'm 70. Mother fuckers!
You must realize this one thing - Social Security is NOT IN TROUBLE, it is a MADE UP ISSUE! The elite in this country have spent millions to make it an issue so they can rob us in order to continue their lavish lifestyle. It is piracy. Supply side economics has blown holes in our sails. Now they want to board the ship and finish the job - to rape and pillage the working class and middle class Americans.
And why shouldn't they? We live in an America with no accountability for the powerful. Did Bushies go to jail for torture, murder, kidnapping, unlawful wiretapping or treason? Nope. Did Wall Street bankers go to jail for fraud? Hell no, they were rewarded with over a trillion dollars of our money, and given the keys to the Fed's printing presses. Our current, Democratic president absolves all these crimes, and claims the right to assassinate Americans citizens without so much as a habeus corpus. Nobody is being held politically, or legally accountable for heinous acts against the American people. [side note: score one for the Tea Party folks. They did hold some Republicans accountable for their bail-out votes in primaries.]
You cannot, must not vote for or support ANY candidate in 2012 who supports the recommendations of the "cat food" commission. This means Obama too. It is soooo disappointing that he appointed this commission. His choice of membership made the panel's hideous recommendations a foregone conclusion. If he wants to now parrot the talking point of an "adult conversation" about spending, then we know for sure it's game over - that he is not on our side.
"Adult conversation." That's what we've been asked to have. So here it is: if you rob me, you're done. No votes, no support, no nuthin'. Converse with that. If you proceed with the adult conversation about cat food in my dotage then you are my enemy, and my family's enemy, and I will work to make sure you have no future power over me. Republicans don't care about this warning, so it goes out to Dems. Don't rob us, take back from the robbers, and then raise the cap. Don't take away health care from the most vulnerable to make billionaires richer (that I have to say that in the 21st century, in America, is so depressing), don't take away the tax deduction that lets so many Americans accrue wealth into their old age, and for Christ's sake, don't put the deficit on the backs of the troops who have enough to worry about.
[Another side note - "adult conversation" is apparently not catching on in a land where we watch Squidbillies, so the new talking point to defame SS is "ponzi scheme."]
20 years ago, even ten, politicians would have mentioned any change to SS at their great peril. It has been the "third rail" of American politics for over half a century. We'll see now how much the political landscape has changed. And, we'll see how sedentary Americans have become. Will we take being robbed by merely raging at our TVs and computer screens (like me)? Or, will we emulate the Tea Baggers, and show up in public with "Don't Rob Me, Bro!" T-shirts? Or, will we go France on them and shut things down. The French people recently shut down the country over proposed changes to their national pension program. Streets blocked, businesses closed - general strike!
Will we realize that the politicians who supposedly represent us, don't. Not anymore. They've taken the money, and want to burn the IOUs and piss on the ashes. They disdain us, as evidenced by Alan Simpson's calling us "tit-suckers" with barely a rebuke by the president who appointed him. The same president who called his base the "professional left" and tells us to grow up for this "adult conversation."
No, no no NO! Any representative of any kind who does not fight this with all of their being is your enemy. They are against you, and actively work to do you and your family harm. They are sticking it in with no vaseline, and calling you "bitch" while they do it.
Obama, every Republican, most of the Democratic reps, are not on our side. We need to burn it down - figuratively - burn it down now.
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