Definition: sacrifice
- giving up of something valued: a giving up of something valuable or important for somebody or something else considered to be of more value or importance
- something valued and given up: something valuable or important given up as a sacrifice
Definition: share (past: shared) transitive and intransitive verb
- use something along with others: to have or use something in common with other people. Ex. We shared an apartment.
- take responsibility together: to take equal responsibility for something along with other people. Ex. We shared the blame.
SO to coin a phrase ...
Shared Sacrifice: to take equal responsibility along with other people, for giving up of something valuable or important, for somebody or something else, considered to be of more value or importance.
It sounds noble. It sound patriotic.
It sounds like something FDR would have asked for ...
"Shared Sacrifice" -- it sounds like something FDR, DID ask for, at the time of our great National Anguish:
After Japan's 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Franklin Roosevelt delivered a national address making eight references to the "sacrifice" that would be needed in the impending war and three mentions of the "self-denial" we would have to endure.
From Shared Sacrifice to Hedonism by David Sirota -- Dec 31, 2010
"Shared Sacrifice" it sounds like the sound-bite of the season;
It's a word-picture "meme", designed to evoke individual patriotism, and a sense of Teamwork -- while those who afford it least, will end up forking over the most, despite of (or because of) our never ending struggles to make ends meet.
It's enough to make one ask ...
Shared Sacrifice: Where's Wall Street's Share?
By Dean Baker, TPM - December 19, 2010
The theme in Washington these days is "shared sacrifice." Many of the country's most prominent political figures are insisting that the public must get used to sacrifice. This means giving up some of the benefits, like Social Security and Medicare, that they have come to rely upon.
The shared sacrifice might also mean that middle-income people have to pay higher taxes. Telling a country that is suffering from near double-digit unemployment that it must get used to sacrifice might seem a bit strange, but polite Washington circles have never had much connection to the lives of normal people.
Even more striking than this push to impose even more sacrifice on a middle class that has already paid an enormous cost for the economic policies of the last three decades is the fact that the Wall Street is not expecting to share in these future sacrifices. This is peculiar since reckless Wall Street greed played a central role in inflating the housing bubble whose collapse gave us the current economic crisis.
Politicians are saying " that the public must get used to sacrifice" -- well isn't that special?
Get used to the idea of paying for their Unfunded Wars?
Get used to the idea of paying for Wall Street's Bailout?
Get used to the idea of paying for even MORE Tax Cuts to the Rich?
Haven't we paid enough?
Well, it's not just "random politicians" that have been promoting this theme of "sacrifice" ...
Remarks by the President on the Federal Employee Pay Freeze
The White House -- November 29, 2010
Office of the Press Secretary
President Obama:
[...]
And today I’m proposing a two-year pay freeze for all civilian federal workers. This would save $2 billion over the rest of this fiscal year and $28 billion in cumulative savings over the next five years. And I want to be clear: This freeze does not apply to the men and women of our Armed Forces, who along with their families continue to bear enormous burdens with our nation at war.
I did not reach this decision easily. This is not just a line item on a federal ledger. These are people’s lives. They’re doctors and nurses who care for our veterans; scientists who search for better treatments and cures; men and women who care for our national parks and secure our borders and our skies; Americans who see that the Social Security checks get out on time, who make sure that scholarships comes through, who devote themselves to our safety. They’re patriots who love their country and often make many sacrifices to serve their country.
In these challenging times, we want the best and brightest to join and make a difference. But these are also times where all of us are called on to make some sacrifices. And I’m asking civil servants to do what they’ve always done -- play their part.
When will the Wealthy among us -- have to "play their part" too?
Why is it that those who can afford it least have to sacrifice the most?
Two years of Social Security COLA Freezes may seem inconsequential -- but if you are a senior living on a fixed income, these Cost of Living "freezes" can mean choosing between gasoline, and food, and medicine.
These Cost of Living "freezes" are Real Sacrifices have already BEEN happening. "Shared" doesn't have much to do with it, eh? ... Where's that same COLA freeze, taking a bite out of Wall Street Bonuses?
Social Security and the COLA
By Jennie L. Phipps -- Bankrate.com, Retirement Blog -- Dec 16, 2010
Social Security cost of living adjustments, or COLAs, are shaping up to be a major retirement planning issue in 2011.
[...] the overly generous COLA that Social Security recipients got in 2009, resulting inadvertently in no COLA in either 2010 or 2011 -- a freeze that will cut benefits for new retirees for the rest of their lives.
[...]
Today, the Senior Citizens League, which claims to be the nation's largest organization of seniors, calculated the loss of the compounding effect of missing two years' worth of COLAs on 25 years of benefits. [...] Seniors who turn 62 during the years of no COLA will be affected the most. If you were born in 1946 [...] you'll receive $30,163.60 less over 25 years than you would if you had been born in 1945, according to the Senior Citizens League calculations.
Simply Staggering! Those 2 years of Social Security COLA Freezes, when compounded over a retirement -- can add up to $30K "sacrifice" year over year. And These Sacrifices are already in motion.
We feel your pain SS Beneficiaries. How do you feel about giving up even MORE of your retirement benefits, workers -- WE ALL have to kick in our "fair share" -- if we are every to fix the economy, haven't you heard -- that's the latest yarn to be spun. We will ALL need to Pitch in.
And folks, watch out for that other back-up meme, waiting in the wings: "Intergenerational Theft".
Guess what, Seniors, that Deficit Commission is planning to blame YOU for robbing the Future Benefits from your Children and Grandchildren -- so just get used to the idea of "Shared Sacrifice" Okay, and just be glad you're getting anything, you Greedy Entitlees, you. Hisss!
Banks Get Bailouts, We Get Shared Sacrifice
by Marshall Auerback, newdeal20.org -- Nov 13, 2010
Even on today’s payouts, the vast majority of people will have almost nothing but Social Security with which to support themselves on retirement. The value of their homes has declined, their 401(k)s have been decimated, many have lost their jobs. Yet these are the very people being called upon to make sacrifices to preserve our "national solvency", even as the people largely responsible for this crisis sustain their jobs and lifestyle on the back of huge government bailouts.
[...]
If one really wants to talk about "intergenerational theft" (a theme well beloved by the leading actors of this Commission), then it’s fair to say that the government that adopts the recommendations of the commission will truly be guilty of crimes against our children and grandchildren.
-- Marshall Auerback is a Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, and a market analyst and commentator.
Hey, look out Boomers -- that Generational Theft charge will be hurled at you too.
American workers, and the unemployed too, have had to sacrifice our careers, our 401k's, and even our homes (or home equity), because the recent National Credit Party -- but even that hasn't enough to plug up the many leaks, that the Debt-benders have racked up. At least Not YET anyways.
They will call it "Shared Sacrifice" -- but when you check out the Commission's official recommendations -- the sacrifices are decidedly tilted towards, one end of that "shared pain" spectrum:
Deficit Commission Calls For Shared Sacrifice, To Be Shared By The Middle And Working Classes
By John Keefe, moneywatch -- Nov 13, 2010
"Unacceptable" is what outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the recommendations of the bipartisan deficit commission [...]
But then I got around to actually reading the proposal, and much of the PowerPoint deck really is stacked against the middle class, while giving tax relief to the upper income groups. Certainly not a shared sacrifice. [...]
The Economist wrote a great summary of the proposal, including this:
[The commission] proposed sweeping tax reforms and spending overhauls to cut the deficit to 2.2% and stabilise the debt at 69% of GDP by 2015. The deficit would be 4.3% in 2015 and the debt 90% in 2020 under Mr Obama’s most recent budget, the Congressional Budget Office reckons.
The draft plan would make the tax system more efficient while boosting revenue by lowering the top income tax rate to as low as 23%, from 35% now (and 39.6% if George Bush’s tax cuts expire) while shrinking many tax credits and exemptions, such as for mortgage interest. The corporate rate would drop and the petrol tax would almost double.
That's hardly "taking equal responsibility" -- as the definition of word "shared" would imply (from the Diary Intro).
And about our Coined Definition: Shared Sacrifice: to take equal responsibility along with other people, for giving up of something valuable or important, for somebody or something else, considered to be of more value or importance.
Just Who or What is that "something else" -- that we should consider "more important"? ... more important than our own well-being, more important than our future retirement security?
Listen well people, the Deficit Commission has spoken.
Be ready to be thrown off the Island, people. (Unless you're in the Top Tax bracket of course.)
And be very, very careful NOT to break that Tribal Idol -- otherwise known as "National Defense"
-- THAT after all, is why we need all this "National Sacrificing" in the first place.
Some things are just worth whatever it takes to pay for them ... to protect their Funding; and some things -- simply, are not.
It's called sharing. It's called sacrificing.
It's called shifting the Credit-Binger blame.
Why'd you let the last GOP Administration rack up all that Debt for, anyways?
No worries, 2011 is the time for YOU, you Average Americans, to make amends for that. Lucky us.
It's time to Pony up, one last more time.