The Moral Bottom of the Barrel

Here's what Congress Republicans did this past week in case somehow this slipped by you.

To reduce deficit spending they cut food stamp, medicaid and student loan benefits to the tune of I think it's $50 billion.

Basically it's like a tax increase for those affected.

While they're busy cutting taxes for the wealthy for more baubles like BMWs and vacations in Aspen they're sqeezing more out of the poor who can afford it least and for really important things like food, health and education.

Morally it's the bottom of the barrel. Case closed.

 

Add in there 1) help for those who need it to make it in the world, 2) monitoring that will insure that those getting the help are moving forward and not slacking, and 3) provide some means for integrating them into the workplace, and I'm right there with you, Gilligan. Add to all that the requirement that those who have received this aid and have made the transition into the workplace must now mentor someone who is in the position they were in to help them see that it can happen. (Yes, we ARE our brother's keeper.) Add to all that the hard fact that if you don't make it (extenuating circumstances, notwithstanding [and we better nail down what qualifies as an extenuating circumstance]), you get nothing (better hope you have willing familiy).

 

Even those cuts are only about 1/7th of what we've spent on the Iraq thing. We need a discussion on Iraq welfare reform. People are debating the 2 calories in the diet coke while ignoring the other 2000 calories in the extra value meal.

 

Speaking of jobs, don't look at GM:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10138507/

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I mentioned this a couple months back when they were planning it. It hasn't been discussed much in the media. People will find out when the cuts go into affect and they'll think differently. Basically, it's our money to begin with and it's being taken back to pay for these foreign policy blunders that aren't produces anything. And now were all supposed to work an extra job to pay for the bungled foreign policy of this administration.

Recall that mother that met with Bush last year and told him she was working three jobs just to get by. She expected some consolation from him and Bush's reply was, "I think that's great! It's uniquely American!" What an idiot.

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If people are naive enough to think it's great to have the govt squander their money blowing things up and that they should take up an extra job to pay for it, they deserve to get stiffed out of their money.

 

Those college cuts are going to hurt people who are already working their way through school and are trying to advance themselves so they don't get stuck in low-paying jobs.

It's also amazing that no one has made the decline of manufacturing in the U.S. a campaign or security issue. Did anyone stop to think where the U.S. will get all of its hardware in the event of another major war? I don't like the idea of being contingent on other countries for hardware. But instead of grappling with the deeper issues, people just shake this off and say people are stupid for even considering a job in the manufacturing sector. As if all we need are some Americans running some low level jobs in the warehouse, and everything will be safe and secure.

And a great job Bush did on that American manufacturing speech he gave last year. His people had to cover up the 'Made in China' labels on all those crates behind him.

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Why didn't Bush ask her that instead of spouting off another one of his dumb remarks?

So say we get the 5% who are unemployed jobs and reach 100% employment. Does anyone really think that's going to solve the financial problems the U.S. is facing running up the debt like there's no tomorrow? Or that we're going to save hundreds of billions of dollars by the other 5% working so that we can pay for this Iraq thing?

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Congress Republicans did this eh?

Yeah, i'm sure that not a single Democrat voted for this. Because we all know how much the Democratic Party really cares for the well being of the average person.

Yep, it's always those evil Repulicans.

Why do Republicans Hate America???

 

I would if he knew how to read.

I'm all for education. It's the one thing that most people have control over in their lives. We can't do much about a national recession or wars, but we can all improve ourselves with education, especially with all the programs today. I hate to see those things cut as a result of short-sighted policies in DC.

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I might as well post this too. Didn't want to start another thread. There used to be a time when people cared about this debt issue and had a more sensible plan for dealing with it instead of hitting people where it hurts.

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

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Look at the tally. No Democrats voted for it. It was all Republicans.

There were 14 Republicans that sided with all the Democrats and voted against it.

http://capwiz.com/results/issues/votes/?votenum=601&chamber=H&congress=1091&tally=1

http://capwiz.com/results/issues/votes/?votenum=601&chamber=H&congress=1091

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Didn't force her to have alot of kids? Maybe, but he didn't exactly give her reproductive choice.

 

Quite possibly, Slutter.

Having a large deficit makes you unattractive to lenders, who then raises the rates on the money they loan you. That increases the amount of debt service you're required to pay back, thus increasing your already large debt. Interest is paid back first, so most of the money goes to interest, not principle; your debt stay high unless you make extra payments specifically towards the principle. Haven't heard any news reports about us making additional payments to buy down the principle, but I have blinked my eyes a few times so I could have missed it.

Large debt makes the economy jittery; people don't buy as much, businesses, therefore, don't sell as much, therefore tax receipts go down, therefore, the government has even less money to apply to the debt. Meanwhile, foreign countries are buying up our debt - countries like our good and close allies, mainland China and North Korea.

Does this sound like something you might want to pay attention to?

 

No one in her right mind has more kids so that she can get welfare. You put yourself deeper in debt that way. There isn't any connection between wanting to have more children and welfare, although some people like to believe in that myth because it fits their political ideology.

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What we have now is a case of the government generating an artificial fear in people to get them to go along with wasteful programs that are supposedly doing something about terrorism. It's a psychological tactic that the government is using on people to get them to pay for programs that are benefiting a select few in DC and squandering the money of the general public.



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What if she didn't want to bring a child she concived into this world. does she have a right not to bring that mass of cells to term?

 

Thanks for the history lesson, slutter, but I was there (hint: check my age). And I also remember Reaganites asking us "Are you better off than you were four years ago?", and us answering back eighteen months later "Hell no!". The Soviet Union collapsed of its own bulk, totalitarianistic beauracracy, and failures in how it conducted business (or stymied it). It wasn't Reagan's fault; he just happened to be president at the time. And while Bush may not have (yet) rung up the largest spending (adjusting for inflation), I believe he has made the largest swing from the black to the red. But then that wsn't Clinton's fault either; he just happened to be president at the time.

 

And now the breakaway republic of Kookooistan has 500 nuclear warheads.

Thanks Reagan .

 

No one ever talks about those things. And the U.S. govt is still claiming Iraq was a major nuclear threat to the U.S. (the rising mushroom cloud over the U.S.) Like the Airplane movie where security lets all those guys with bazookas pass right onto the plane while they're having fun busting the little old lady.


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