Robert Greenstein wrote the alarming title above (I added the Ruh Roh!). He is the founder and President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. This is his report on what the nation is facing.
I recommend we read Mr. Greenstein's alarming article and start forming our counter points to what Greenstein anticipates will be a full court press by the GOP that will attack low income programs like Medicaid and SNAP. I haven't forgotten the last time the GOP attacked SNAP (food stamps). Their heartless following has been convinced SNAP is a bad thing.
Commentary: Next Round on the Deficit
Big Dangers Ahead for the Economy, the Budget, and Low-Income People
By Robert Greenstein
January 7, 2013
To be sure, Republican congressional leaders seem unwilling to propose specific cuts in the two main, popular middle-class entitlement programs — Medicare and Social Security — that would produce large savings over the next ten years. They want Democrats to propose such cuts, or at a minimum, they want to find a way to put some Democratic fingerprints on them.
But, Republican leaders appear more than willing to specify deep cuts in two other parts of the budget — core entitlements for low-income Americans, like Medicaid and SNAP (formerly known as food stamps), and the annual caps on funding for non-defense discretionary programs.
The IMF - International Monetary Fund, CRS - Congressional Research Service, and the
CPBB - Center on Budget and Policy Priorities have all issued reports that prove the GOP is lying about their economic policies.
You can find the details here:
PROOF: GOP Deficit Hawks Lie - IMF, CRS & CPBB FINALLY Agree. See Charts
In which I conclude:
CONCLUSION:
America's infrastructure is crumbling, we need to
move to green energy,
bring back jobs,
improve and expand education
honor and improve our social safety nets
undo the chains of special interest
regulate pollution
regulate banks
In short, we need to do the polar opposite of what the Tea Party GOP is pushing for.
FDR, Eisenhower, Nixon, Kennedy, and Johnson agreed on policies that produced the greatest results for most Americans for decades. The 1950s - 1980 were truly the Golden Years for most white Americans. We improved opportunities for African Americans. It wasn't perfect, but shared prosperity was a whole lot better than today.
What will it take to convince the Obama Administration that the majority of Americans believe we can share some sacrifice in order to get this country back into a semblence of balanced economic opportunity?
They are coming for our Social Security and other social safety nets. It's been a neo-liberal dream for years and they are using the deficit as an excuse to get this heartless desire manifest.
I call it Manifest Poverty.
Apparently,
Robert Greenstein agrees with me. I consider this to be worthy empirical evidence.
We need to craft our public outcry now.