I am thinking that this piece was discussed already but it is striking to me that the obvious needs to be stated again and again and again"
Many Americans DO NOT UNDERSTAND the issues
This was originally published in Bloomberg.com on December 9. Some excerpts:
"Americans want Congress to bring down a federal budget deficit that many believe is "dangerously out of control," only under two conditions: minimize the pain and make the rich pay.
The public wants Congress to keep its hands off entitlements such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, a Bloomberg National Poll shows. They oppose cuts in most other major domestic programs and defense. They want to maintain subsidies for farmers and tax breaks like the mortgage-interest deduction. And they’re against an increase in the gasoline tax."
More below the fold...
The piece continues:
Sacrificing the Rich
The one place Americans are willing to see sacrifice is in the wallets of the wealthy and Wall Street.
While they say they strongly support balancing the budget over the next 20 years, when offered a list of more than a dozen possible spending cuts or tax increases, majorities opposed every one of them except imposing a bigger burden on the rich.
A majority backs raising the cap on earnings covered by the tax on the Social Security retirement program above the current limit of $107,000. Two-thirds would means test Social Security and Medicare benefits. Six of 10 would end tax cuts for the highest-earning Americans. And 7 of 10 favor a tax on Wall Street profits.
"We give billions of dollars to these corporations, and in my eyes they pretty much just put it in their pocket," said Donald Froemming, a 57-year-old independent voter and unemployed diesel gas mechanic from Moose Lake, Minnesota."
The rest of it is here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/...
Some comments:
I do have a problem with some of the language used by the writers. The so called "entitlement programs" are simply programs that have clear social goals and, in most cases, are well funded or should be considered as viable since the folks working have paid for them and will continue to do so if the wealthy politicians stop coming up with back door deals to kill them.
Why are they funded? Because if you have money to give TAX CUTS TO THE RICH and this nation SPENDS TRILLIONS IN WARS no honest individual can argue rationally that "we do not have money for those programs..."
At the end is a matter of Leadership at the political level. If a President, Both Parties and the Corporate Media create facts and false dichotomies, people will "like" anything.
It's all about "catapulting de Propaganda" like some fellow said not so long ago.