While the lunatic "dark side," as Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi put it so aptly earlier today, are looking for ways to destroy the United States of America as we know it, most Americans are working so hard to get by. And they are asking why the GOP is risking another catastrophic downturn in the economy to appease the richest among us.
Our Military
In Afghanistan yesterday, JCOS Admiral Michael Mullen addressed our troops, many of whom are on their 4th, 5th or 6th deployment, and all of whom face danger every day while serving in our nation’s uniform. What were they were concerned about during that meeting with the highest ranking military officer in the United States? Safety? Rations? Equipment?
No.
They were worried about whether they would be paid.
The United States' top military officer admitted Saturday he did not know whether troops serving in Afghanistan would get paid if lawmakers fail to agree a deal on avoiding a debt default.
Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who is on a visit to Afghanistan, was asked by troops what would happen to their wages if the current stalemate is not broken by a deadline Tuesday.
"I really don't know the answer to the question to how, if we default, how that will work out," he said, according to details posted on the Department of Defense website.
"That's something that the government leadership will have to figure out... I honestly hope we don't get there.
Agence France-Press
So you are a young man or woman who enlisted in the military, knowing that this enlistment could cost you limbs or your life . . . but you did so anyway, in service to your country. And now you are learning that your sacrifice might be sacrificed to enable those Americans making more than $1 million a year to keep their tax breaks. And that you might not get paid as a result. Even though your family might be living paycheck-to-paycheck back in the United States.
Our Seniors
Christoph Kiefer lives in Santa Cruz and gets $700 a month in social security checks. Without it, "Well, I'd be dead probably, or at least in a very hard place," he said.
Kiefer said without social security it would make the poor, poorer, and it could increase homelessness. "Many of us have worked all of our lives and we and everybody else in that place, we need social services," he said.
(snip)
(Executive Director of Senior Network Services Brenda) Moss said the worst part is workers there don't have any good answers for their clients, and explained why. "Short term would be that they can not pay their bills, mainly their rent coming up on the first of the month," she said. "Long term seniors are worried that they might lose their social security or part of their social security."
Source ~ KION
Any reduction would hurt our African-American and Hispanic Seniors particularly hard.
More than 25 percent of elderly African Americans and Hispanics depend on Social Security for more than 90 percent of their family income, according to AARP, and it keeps 30 percent of these senior minority groups out of poverty. These households also are least able to afford the various out-of-pocket expenses required in Medicare, or to set aside savings for healthcare expenses outside Medicare.
Source ~ Reuters
(h/t Magnifico, from the comments)
My 81-year-old Mom, who is fortunate to have other resources, nervously checked her bank today to see if her Social Security and military pension benefits had been deposited. She worked for more than 30 years as a teacher of second grade. My Dad, a Naval officer, worked many decades afterwards in business. They lived well (and were always so generous to me and my brother), but they never lived beyond their means. My Mom hasn’t slept well for weeks. She is so worried that the government will default and that she will lose what she has left in the stock market.
The Sick
Many of you have made such kind and supportive comments in my diaries about the challenges faced by my dear brother-in-law, who was diagnosed with throat cancer last fall. His initial radiation and laser surgery did not work, and about a week ago, he had a laryngectomy.
We received exceedingly good news today, in the form of a brave email from him, in which he wrote:
Believe me I'm not even remotely ashamed of an incision that is ear to ear with 20 staples. Getting used to the hole in my neck and the 'neck breathing' in the middle of the large incision that's a pretty substantial adjustment to be honest. I'm getting used to it, but it's a bizarre feeling because your airway is redirected. It's analogous to a 2 lane road that turns into a single lane with the addition of an exit where the second lane is cut off. The 2 lanes are the trachea and esophagus where the trachea is cut off the exit is the redirection through my neck. Does that make sense? I think it works.
Think of the different things you do from your nose and mouth that I now do from my neck; breathing, coughing, sneezing and loss of smell because the nasal passage is cut off. Anyway as I said, it's an adjustment and believe me I will thrive because I've not lost anything, I've gained so much that can never be taken away; now my family and I have the war wounds to prove it.
I will be able to speak, along with everything else I used to do......back to the gym soon too!!! Most importantly I get to see my kids and dog Lucy in a week and I'm proud to say that I've cried multiple times everyday with primal emotion due to how much I miss them.
I am so grateful for the care he received. So beyond grateful. But what about those Americans who depend upon Medicare and Medicaid for their health – and, in some cases, lives? Why on earth are these programs even subject to debate? Do their fellow Americans want them to suffer and die so that Steve Schwarzman doesn’t have to pay ordinary tax rates on his income from his hedge fund?
Seriously? This is what we have come to?
I will admit insomnia. Under the Ryan Plan, I would be among the great class of ’57 who would not see the benefits from great government plans I have paid into for 37 years. I would be among the first group of Americans to witness the "new reality" of basically: "You are on your own."
I am more fortunate than most. I had a great education and have good job. But this is what I wrote last night:
What I will never understand is how programs I have paid into for 37 years are viewed as expendable in the service of allowing billionaires, oil companies et al. to keep their tax breaks . . . how did those things become the real "entitlements" that all the rest of us are asked to sacrifice for?
I never will.