Apologies for the snark title, but that's the short way to assess one of Mittens' bold ideas that will balance the budget. And while this could easily go the route of attacking Mitt's plans to repeal 'Obamacare' and to shift Medicaid to block grants, ideas he claims will save about $200 billion...mixed in with these, though, Mitt has embraced the Congressional Republican charge to eliminate Title X family planning funding at a savings estimate of $300 million.
Getting rid of this would result in millions more unplanned pregnancies, along with the sole source of health care for millions of poverty-stricken Americans. Granted, they have plans for the hundreds of thousands that would likely go the route of abortion, since they'd like to eliminate that, too. But it seems almost funny of the pro-life Republican to want to cut a program that prevents 800,000+ abortions in a year.
So, I was that bored/curious as to check out Mitt Romney's campaign site. I went looking for what few statements he's willing to make on any subject at all, since the news lately is all about the topics he doesn't want to touch. That's fun, I admit, but variety is too.
Linking just to cite the source; snipping some of the other plans' details for the sake of brevity. There is some irony in Romney's claim to want to cut things that we 'can't afford,' as further sources and the wonders of math will show.
Most importantly, any turnaround must have a thoughtful, structured approach to achieving its goals. Mitt will attack the bloated budget from three angles:
The Federal Government Should Stop Doing Things The American People Can’t Afford, For Instance:
Repeal Obamacare — Savings: $95 Billion...
Privatize Amtrak — Savings: $1.6 Billion...
Reduce Subsidies For The National Endowments For The Arts And Humanities, The Corporation For Public Broadcasting, And The Legal Services Corporation — Savings: $600 Million...
Eliminate Title X Family Planning Funding — Savings: $300 Million. Title X subsidizes family planning programs that benefit abortion groups like Planned Parenthood.
Reduce Foreign Aid — Savings: $100 Million...
Typical Republican budgetary daydreams, I know. Compared to the savings goal they hope to achieve by repealing the Affordable Care Act, though, some of them seem a bit small. When do they
not want to cut foreign aid. So what exactly do they stand to eliminate with
Title X?
The Title X Family Planning Program, officially known as Public Law 91-572 or “Population Research and Voluntary Family Planning Programs” was enacted under President Richard Nixon in 1970 as part of the Public Health Service Act. Title X is the only existing federal grant program that is completely devoted to providing comprehensive family planning and other related preventive health services to individuals. Title X is legally designed to prioritize the needs of individuals from low-income families and/or uninsured people (including those who are not eligible for Medicaid) who might not otherwise have access to these health care services. These services are provided to low-income and uninsured individuals at reduced or no cost.[1] Its overall purpose is to promote positive birth outcomes and healthy families by allowing individuals to decide the number and spacing of their children. The other health services provided in Title X-funded clinics are integral in achieving this objective.[2]
I've heard of this before, as Planned Parenthood has come under relentless attack by Republicans in Congress in the past two years. I must have forgotten that it was a
Nixon era program, though. Look at how far they've come! The way things are going, they'll have to start renaming all the Ronald Reagan ships and schools and airports and such, once he also becomes not conservative enough. It's like asking them if they'd like to go back to Reagan-era tax rates. That must burn.
Okay, so $300 million, in the hands of the government, that doesn't add up to much eh? I mean how much could the government possibly do with that, it's so wasteful, they spend more in a day than what Jamie Dimon loses gambling, er, through imprudent investment on Wall Street...
In 2006, publicly funded family planning services (Medicaid, Title X, and state funds) helped women avoid 1.94 million unintended pregnancies, thus preventing about 860,000 unintended births and 810,000 abortions.[5] Without publicly funded family planning services, the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions in the United States would be nearly two-thirds higher among women overall and among teens; the number of unintended pregnancies among poor women would nearly double[5] The services provided at publicly funded clinics saved the federal and state governments an estimated $5.1 billion in 2008 in short term medical costs.[5] Nationally, every $1.00 invested in helping women avoid unintended pregnancy saved $3.74 in Medicaid expenditures that otherwise would have been needed.[5]
So, they spend about $300 million a year to consequently save...billions. But we can't have that, because Planned Parenthood is involved and that's bad and money is fungible (except if it's for a church) and therefore, cut the funding. Cut it now!
I wondered if this wasn't part of some long-term Republican plan, and Romney wasn't all in for it at first, but I see he had to cave and flip-flop on the minimum wage. This happened months ago and seems to have passed almost without notice, but not quite. This was the news back in March of this year.
It didn't get much notice amid the buildup to Super Tuesday. But after conservative outcry over his support for raising the minimum wage, Mitt Romney quietly reversed his position this week.
"There's probably not a need to raise the minimum wage," the Republican front-runner told CNBC's Larry Kudlow on Monday.
As recently as January, Romney said he was in favor of a hike in the minimum wage. "My view has been to allow the minimum wage to rise with the CPI [Consumer Price Index] or with another index so that it adjusts automatically over time," he told a staffer for a labor-backed group that supports a raise. And he confirmed that stance last month, telling reporters: "I haven't changed my thoughts on that."
So the Romney plan to balance the federal budget is to cut a little from the feds, causing the feds and the states to have to pay
17 times more (300 million vs. the 5.1 billion saved - yay math!) as a result, and also produce maybe 2 million additional births per year from unwanted pregnancies, mostly hitting poor families. And, the minimum wage doesn't need to go anywhere. And it's no wonder he can't offer a plan on immigration. Must feel like he doesn't need one. Republicans will build a new generation of poor Americans desperate enough to take those punishing low-wage jobs. Sounds like a recipe for balanced budgets and prosperity to me!
Feh. Actually, it reminds me more of the evil corporations from the old Werewolf game I still play. Their old 'Omega' plan, to destroy the world so that they can remake it, and the survivors will be gratefully dependent on them. It sounds so cliché. It ought not have any resemblance to reality. But that's how destructive Republicans like Mitt Romney are willing to be, I guess, just to show they how much they hate Planned Parenthood.
Anyway, sorry I keep joking about this, it's really not funny at all. It must be how I channel my anger.