One problem of being a poster at the end of a long stream of a blogathon is the fear that anything one can offer will probably have already been said. Despite that, I asked for this slot for a reason - because there are some things still left to be said.
Much of our discussion has focused on the impact of applying Chained CPI to social safety net programs. As someone who is already on Social Security, that of course affects me personally. As I consider the impact of this idea and of raising the age of Medicare eligibility on those who do physical labor, I am tempted to borrow words from Rep. Alan Grayson, who on his first stint in Congress said of Republicans that their plan for for health care was that you should not get sick, but if you do, die quickly. The impact of the soc-called Grand Bargain after which the President continues to lust could be described as wanting a large number of people to do one of two things
1. if you can get/keep a job, keep working until you drop dead.
2. Whether you drop dead before you retire or not, many of you will die before you come close to receiving in benefits what you paid in the system over a lifetime of work.
But there is a much more basic problem with seeking after the so-called Grand Bargain. To achieve it requires the President to negotiate with terrorists.
Perhaps you are shocked that seemingly mild-mannered teacherken is calling a number of significant people on the American political scene by the disparaging term of "terrorist."
But consider - the real purpose of a terrorist attack is not determined by how many people are killed or maimed, but how many are scared witless so that they then can be manipulated to some end previously determined by those perpetrating the acts of terror.
Perhaps that goal was to drive the British out of Ireland, or out of Palestine. Maybe it is to force the Israelis to abandon their occupation of the West Bank. Perhaps it is retribution for perceived insults to their beliefs by a fringe sector of a major religion - and that last set of words can as easily be applied to some who call themselves Christians as it to those we identify as "Islamic Terrorists." It can be applied to some of Jewish faith, of Hindu, even of Buddhist self-identification, although in the latter case the most effective form of protest they used was in Vietnam where monks allowed themselves to be set on fire and sat quietly while burning to death in protest of the Diem regime.
So why do I call some on the other side terrorists?
Because they are trying to sow terror and fear about the future
because they are trying to undermine support for the social safety net
because they are trying to divide Americans so that they can conquer them economically as well as politically
They feel justified in lying, cheating, changing the terms of negotiation, blaming the Democrats and the Liberals for what they did when they controlled government as Conservatives and Republicans.
They want strict accountability for anyone who opposes them and complete freedom to act with impunity with respect to laws and decency to achieve their political and economic aims.
If we deign to try to meet them halfway, they will move further away than they were at the start, then blame us for the damage that is the result of our offering to compromise with the original positions.
And here is what is also relevant - what they want, what they wanted to begin with much less what they seem to demand now?
-- it makes no economic sense
-- it is not what the American people want
-- properly framed the Democrats can and should overwhelming win the political battle in the long term, including keeping the White House in the 2016 election.
Let me point you, dear readers, at a couple of written pieces you should consider. There is 7 Chilling Facts About Retirement in America That Should Make Obama Tremble Before Cutting Social Security and Medicare by Lynn Stuart Parramore at Alternet, who notes that Obama's plan would be economically irresponsible, socially disruptive and morally repugnant. I find that an apt description because of the damage it would do to so many, without even coming close to solving whatever deficit problems might exist.
Then there is my friend R. J. Eskow's Alternet piece 10 Facts Obama Doesn't Want You to Know About His Social Security Slashing Budget Plan which starts by acknowledging that it IS a benefits cut, but also a tax increase on everyone except the wealthy. Eskow notes that the inclusion of chained CPI is a political disaster for the Democrats and urges them
to walk away from it fast, before they pay a high price for it at the polls.
The real issue is not the deficit, which has been under the current administration shrinking both in absolute terms and as a percentage of GDP. By now most readers here know that our actual tax rates is one of the lowest in the industrialized world, and that the nominal corporate tax rate of 35% rarely is felt by larger corporations who have all kinds of ways of gaming the system. The issue is jobs, and jobs are created by spending.
More spending means better economies for local and state governments, as their revenues from income and sales taxes rise.
As more people have more money, the value of real estate stabilizes, which also stabilizes that major source of revenue for public schools.
Interest rates are so low that they could double and the cost of borrowing to stimulate the economy would be more than offset by the additional tax revenue that would be generated.
I'm not going to bore you with numbers. There have been lots of numbers in the other posts in this blogathon.
The goal of this administration should not be to seek a Grand Bargain for the sake of appearing to work in a bipartisan fashion.
This administration was reelected to help create jobs.
The task of this administration, of every administration, should be to make the lives of the American people better.
That could be done far better by holding the financial sector to account rather than dumping the costs of reducing a deficit upon those who had nothing to do with creating it - children, the elderly, the needy, the ordinary folks of the US.
Children, Elderly, Needy.
Gee, how often have I found myself coming back to them in the now almost 3,000 posts I have made here since December of 2003?
I often remind people to go read Matthew Chapter 25 and its message about what you do to these the least of my brethren. . .
More often I quote the words of "the Happy Warrior" Hubert Humphrey.
Those words are appropriate now, so I offer them in BOLD lettering:
It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.
The so-called Grand Bargain is an attempt to negotiate with those who would ignore those words by Humphrey.
As a Democrat I embrace them.
As a Liberal, I assert them.
As a Human Being, I cannot support any government that does not hold them as an essential part of its responsibility to the American people.
This will be posted at 7 PM Eastern TIme. I began writing it at 12:40 PM Eastern TIme, and I will post it to the queue about 45 minutes after that.
Perhaps it is not as focused as some might like.
Perhaps some will take offense at my use of the term "terrorist."
Feel free to react in your own way.
If I provoked you, GOOD!
There are occasions when we must speak bluntly.
I have chosen that path in this post.
I will oppose the "Grand Bargain" with every fiber of my being.
I can only hope, for the sake of the American people, that a sufficient number of Democrats on the Hill will also do so that we do not destroy the future for so many.
Thanks for reading.
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DailyKos Blogathon -- Week of April 8th
(All times are Eastern, diaries published by the Pushing back at the Grand Bargain group)
Monday, April 8
10:00 a.m. Roger Fox
12:00 noon eXtina
2:00 p.m. Guest crosspost by Yves Smith
4:00 p.m. Horace Boothroyd III
6:00 p.m. slinkerwink
8:00 p.m. joedemocrat
Tuesday, April 9
10:00 a.m. Guest crosspost by Bill Black
12:00 noon Livestream Event diary/Team
2:00 p.m. joe shikspack
4:00 p.m. Roger Fox
6:00 p.m. Priceman
8:00 p.m. TomP
Wednesday, April 10
11:00 a.m. Liveblog budget announcement press conference
12:00 noon Words in Action
1:00 p.m. bobswern
2:00 p.m. One Pissed Off Liberal (OPOL)
4:00 p.m. Puddytat
6:00 p.m. Tool
8:00 p.m. SouthernLiberalinMD
Thursday, April 11
10:00 a.m. Letsgetitdone
12:00 noon CitizenofEarth
1:00 p.m. Words in Action
2:00 p.m. Liveblog event diary
3:00 p.m. LeftHandedMan
4:00 p.m. Unitary Moonbat
6:00 p.m. cosmic debris
8:00 p.m. angelajean
Friday April 12
9:00 a.m. 2LaneIA
10:00 a.m. joanneleon
11:00 a.m. Roger Fox
12:00 noon jamess
1:00 p.m. joejoejoe
2:00 p.m. ek hornbeck
3:00 p.m. Seneca Doane
4:00 p.m. Vetwife
6:00 p.m. Jim P
7:00 p.m. teacherken
7:30 p.m. Horace Boothroyd III
8:00 p.m. Roger Fox
* If you would like to join the blogathon, contact joanneleon or Lady Libertine by kosmail.
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1. Call your senators and representatives and tell them "Hell No!" with a priority on contacting senators. U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. You can find email contact information here
2. Contact the White House and tell them "Hell No!". Switchboard: 202-456-1414. Email contact page is here.
3. Petitions. There are a number of petitions available. Choose from the following or preferably sign them all.
a. White House petition calling for no cuts to Social Security.
b. AFL-CIO petition calling for no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and calling for more jobs, repealing the sequester and ending tax loopholes for the wealthiest individuals and corporations.
c. Sen. Harkin's petition telling Pres. Obama not to cut Social Security.
4. Social Media. Share this diary and promote this blogathon on Facebook and Google+ using the buttons at the top of the diary. Send this out on Twitter and add the hashtags #HellNo and #NoGrandBargain.
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Blogathon diaries you might have missed
Monday:
Hell No! #NoGrandBargain: "Pushing back at the Grand Bargain" by Roger Fox
Hell No! Chained CPI will reduce eligability for EITC #noChainedCPI by Roger Fox
Hell No! Dan Pfeiffer: "The President's Budget Shows That He is Serious About Solving Deficits" by eXtina
Guest Crosspost, Yves Smith: Obama Wants to Be the President Who Rolled Back the New Deal by Yves Smith via joanneleon
Hell No! Stop crushing the poor by Horace Boothroyd III
Hell, No! Social Security Contributes Nothing To Deficit by slinkerwink
Hell No! No Grand Bargain: Chained CPI: Social Security Means So Much To So Many by joedemocrat
Tuesday:
Bill Black: “Wall Street Uses the Third Way to Lead its Assault on Social Security” by Bill Black via joanneleon
Hell No! Livestream. Petition delivered to White House. Millions of signatures. 12:30pm by Lady Libertine
Hell No! No Grand Bargain. Are "Progressives" Destroying the New Deal? by joe shikspack
#HellNo ! #ChainedCPI : $65 billion income tax increase on working families #noChainedCPI by Roger Fox
Hell No! Chained CPI is a Cut. You Either Care About People or You Don't. by priceman
Hell No! No Votes or Money To Dems Who Vote To Cut Social Security. by TomP
Wednesday:
Hell No! No Grand Bargain Liveblog 2014 Budget press conference by joanneleon
Hell No! No Grand Bargain: Are We At War With Our Own Neoliberals? by Words In Action
Hell No! “Progressives Rage...Over Plan to Cut Social Security” (Pt. 1 of 2) by bobswern
Hell No! Pam Martens: “Progressives Rage...Over Plan to Cut Social Security…” (Pt. 2 of 2) by bobswern
Hell No! There's No Way to Vote Against Goldman Sachs by One Pissed Off Liberal
Hell No! Hands Off Social Security - This Has Gotten Personal by Puddytat
Hell No! Expand Social Security - Don't Cut It by Tool
Hell No! "Do You Think That Democracy Is Part of the Problem?” Attacks on Soc Security& Democracy by SouthernLiberalinMD
Thursday:
Hell No! The Ultimate Pushback against the Grand Bargain by Letsgetitdone
Hell No! Obama & The War on Seniors by CitizenOfEarth
Hell No! No Grand Bargain. Death of the Third Way: Son of Plutocracy by Words In Action
Hell No! Liveblog: Joint press conference AFL-CIO, House Progressive Caucus, Sens. Sanders & Harkins by joanneleon
"Hell no!" Why Toss 'Enrage the AARP' into an Already Tough 2014 Haul As Is? by LeftHandedMan
Hell No! I Am A Loco-Foco by Unitary Moonbat
Hell No! to Chained CPI: Defending the People’s Pension by cosmic debris
A Military Wife's Honest To God Opinion on the Grand Bargain. by angelajean
Friday:
Hell No! Joe Biden in Iowa 2015 by 2laneIA
Hell No! Lieberman told us why Social Security must be cut by joanneleon
Hell No ! Chained CPI cuts Head Start, CHIPS, WIC, SNAP by Roger Fox
Hell No! to 'Fix the Debt' Corporate Re-Patriots by jamess
Hell No! Growing up Grand Bargainy: The 1980s by joejoejoe
Hell No! A Fail On Every Level by ek hornbeck
Hell No! I Can't Sell This $hit to Voters! by Seneca Doane
Hell No ! Seniors and Vets Will not be hung out to dry by Vetwife
Hell No! Pres. Obama: Compromise with the Voters, not the Republicans, eh? by Jim P
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