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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOur Government: By the Wealthy, For the Wealthy
from the Transport Politic blog:
Our Government: By the Wealthy, For the Wealthy
The sequester, which went into effect at the beginning of last month, cut more than $85 billion from the federal budget for this year alone. Its cuts, whose impacts will continued to be felt through 2021, were disproportionately focused on domestic programs. Public transportation, for instance, was dramatically affected: Almost $600 million was cut from funding directed towards mitigating the effects of Hurricane Sandy; another $104 million was cut from capital investment grants that fund new train and bus lines; Amtrak lost $80 million.
Other cuts, such as those to the nations affordable housing, Head Start, schools, and meals for seniors, are even more devastating for the nations least well-off.
Congress, however, has been incapable of addressing the issue, allowing the cuts to these essential programs to reinforce Americas growing concentration of wealth, low tax rates for the wealthy, and limited social welfare aid. Austerity, which is the intellectual justification supporting these cuts to federal spending, has been shown to only encourage economic stagnation and often do so at the expense of the least well-off. Yet the national legislature has, as if in complete disinterest, sat idly by as the cuts set in.
That is, until it became obvious that the sequester was affecting the performance of the Congressional elites favorite program: Federal support for air travel. Congresspeople, apparently, just couldnt support having their flights delayed. .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2013/04/26/our-government-by-the-wealthy-for-the-wealthy/
BlueCaliDem
(15,438 posts)That's how it should read since we're the only ones paying taxes to keep this government afloat while personhoods get all the benefits AND our taxpayer dollars for whatever they please.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)forestpath
(3,102 posts)due to the 1% calling the shots. It's sickening. And I get the exact same feeling when I see Obama at those press dinners as I did with Bush.
socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)about the various budget proposals and it included a section on the sequester and some of it's effects on the working class and poor. The research was interesting and rage inducing.
This kind of shit is WHY I'm a commie.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
davidn3600
(6,342 posts)We've pretty much created an elitist class of politicians that the average, working man cannot ever possibly crack into.
CrispyQ
(36,527 posts)CrispyQ
(36,527 posts)There of course has been no similar rush to, for instance, shift funds away from the subsidies provided to the oil industry to support mass transit, or to shift funds away from the mortgage interest tax deduction to support affordable housing. Why? Because the Congress, in this quick response to a national problem, has shown itself to be completely concerned with government issues that affect the nations wealthy but unaffected by a loss of government aid to the poor. Democrats, who might have used this situation to argue for restoring essential funds for social programs, simply abdicated responsibility, mostly choosing to vote in line with the GOP here.
More & more I feel we are not going to vote our way out of this mess.
LovingA2andMI
(7,006 posts)And this:
"Democrats, who might have used this situation to argue for restoring essential funds for social programs, simply abdicated responsibility, mostly choosing to vote in line with the GOP here."
YEAP!!
Skittles
(153,199 posts)they STILL have their heads in the sand
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)caraher
(6,279 posts)The speed with which this problem was diagnosed and solved by a Congress that normally can't agree on anything of substance is an utterly unambiguous demonstration that they work for an elite and not the good of the country.