Paul Ryan and the New Republican Deal

An editorial from The New York Times, dated Monday, April 18th, states that congressional budget chairman, Republican, Paul Ryan’s budget blueprint is part of a “project to dismantle the foundations of the new Deal and the Great Society, and to liberate business and the rich from the inconveniences of oversight and taxes.” The Republican Party and their Tea Party allies have approved the “most regressive social legislation in many decades.”


Is this the New Republican Deal? If so, what does it mean for America? Let’s take a look:
1) Paul Ryan’s bill would end the guarantee provided by Medicare and Medicaid to the elderly and the poor. Americans now under 55 would likely have to pay an additional $6,400 or more a year for their healthcare once they qualify for Medicare under the proposed voucher system according to the Congressional Budget Office. They would be responsible for any premium increases by the insurance industry over and above what the government would pay with its set voucher. This would be a nightmare for elderly Americans on fixed incomes, but save the government billions.
2) According to this New York Times editorial, two-thirds of Ryan’s $4.3 trillion in budget cuts would come from low-income programs.
a. Ryan’s plan would cut food stamps by $127 billion, or 20 percent over the next 10 years increasing hunger among the poor.
b. It would cut Pell grants for all 9.4 million students next year, removing as many as one million from the program.
c. 100,000 low-income children would be removed from the Head Start Program.
d. It would also slash job-training programs for the unemployed needing to learn new skills in a post recession America that sees jobs being sent overseas to exploit cheap labor.
3) Bush era tax cuts would be preserved and even expanded under Ryan’s legislation.
4) Finally, this bill would reduce regulation on business and the environment.

This new Republican Deal is expanding out to statehouses across America with new Republican governors and Republican controlled state legislatures. They have made it politically difficult to raise taxes and at the same time targeted funding cuts to things like education, mental health and juvenile justice. Several states have cut their unemployment benefits below the standard 26 weeks. Republican Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has proposed removing 138,000 people from Medicaid in her state. According to the Times editorial, several states, like Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Maine and Florida have used the “smokescreen of a poor economy to pursue a long-held conservative goal of destroying public and private unions.” Some states are even adopting Arizona –style anti-immigration laws making life difficult for legal citizens with profiling and detention.

It seems to me that none of this proposed state and federal legislation has anything to do with job creation or tax reform that would do the most to reduce this country’s deficit. Some economists worry that in fact, it could draw America back into a major recession or even a depression. President Obama stated a few weeks ago that their (Republican) vision “is less about reducing the deficit than it is about changing the basic social compact in America.”

There is no doubt that Republicans want change, major change, drastic change. America would be a different place under this New Republican Deal. There is no question that America must get its financial house in order. The old tax and spend mentality and trickledown economics that both parties practiced got us into this mess and now there must be another way out. It will require some tough decisions and sacrifice on the part of all Americans, not just the poor, the elderly and the middle class.

In David DeGraw's report, "The Economic Elite vs. People of the USA,” he states that between 2002 and 2006 an astounding three-quarters of all the economy's growth was captured by the top 1%.in America. That 1% of the population now owns over 70% of all financial assets, an all time record. So why the steadfast refusal by the Republicans to have that top % of America pay a fair share of the taxes in this time of great need? Why should the wealthy in this country feel the least amount of pain and yet weald the greatest influence over our government? The wealthiest Americans among us must be an important part of the solution. Our country cannot be saved on the backs of the poor, the elderly and the middle class when the wealthiest hold the majority of the nation’s assets and influence.

I refuse to believe that over 50% of Americans now embrace this New Republican Deal, this new Republican vision for America. And yet, how do I explain the 2010 mid-term elections that sent Republican and Tea Party candidates to federal and state offices across this land, bent on making such draconian changes to the average American’s life? When did America stop caring for its elderly, the poor, the disadvantaged and about educating its children? When did it decide that hard won rights of unions were obsolete and doomed so that the wealthiest among us could become even richer and more powerful? When did my America get high jacked by Rupert Murdock, FOX News, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh?

Progressives have another chance to vote in the 2012 elections. Don’t waste it. Don’t sit on your cans. Vote!

Food for THOUGHT…

The Fruit of the Tree

There is a tree and it’s producing fruit. How do we judge that tree? Is it good or is it bad? We judge it by its fruit perhaps. Does it nourish and sustain us or is it poisonous? I suggest we judge things by their fruit.


There is a party that claims the mantle of fighting our national debt and governmental reform. Wonderful! Yes, we need both things. We need change. Things have gone horribly wrong. We have much fear. We are in a mess, a pickle! So what are the fruits of this wonderful party, this “tree party?” Attacks on healthcare reform, worker’s rights, women’s rights, Social Security, environmental protection, consumer protection, education and alternative energy all seem to be their low hanging fruit. They believe that smaller government with fewer taxes and regulations will save this country. Empower the wealthy and they will in turn create the jobs that will save our country and the world. They believe they can budget and tax cut their way to prosperity, if only they can get rid of the “clinging vines” that impede them.

Missing from their tree are things like tax reform so that the wealthiest 5% of Americans and corporations pay their fair share of taxes instead of being rewarded with tax cuts, loopholes and tax breaks that lead to jobs going overseas rather than staying in this country. Missing are things like cutting defense spending so that we are not buying weapons that even the Pentagon says it does not want and finding a way to end three wars that are sucking billions of dollars we don’t have. Missing are true regulation and reform of the financial, insurance and energy industries with the will to reign in the massive power and influence their lobbyists have in Washington. Missing from this tree is a plan to care for the poor, the elderly and the disadvantaged in America and not just see them as parasites on society. Missing is compassion and real solutions for the real poor and middle class Americans going through hard times right now.

There is a snake in this tree, however. It’s bidding us to come…take a bite of this “tree party’s” fruit! THEN…you will have all knowledge. Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

Food for THOUGHT…

A Drought of Good News

Every morning I wake up here in South Texas and look to see if it rained overnight. March, 2011, was the driest on record. Rain keeps my garden growing and refreshes the Earth. I fear Texas is headed for another drought much like we had two years ago. I miss the rain. I miss the ability of the Earth to refresh itself.


So too, there is a drought of good news, not just here in Texas but around the world it seems. Every morning I’m greeted with the latest on Libya and the Japanese nuclear plants spewing radiation. I hear the pundits speculating on our government about to shut down. I mean what does that mean? Our government is about to shut down?! Then of course I hear that our schools facing devastating funding cuts because of the federal and state budget crisis. I hear that we are still recovering very slowly from our economy’s near meltdown in 2009 and that the government shutdown and layoffs from budget cuts could take us right back into the worst recession in our history. I hear talk of privatizing Medicare and having to wait until I’m 70 to collect Social Security, if it still exists when I’m 70.

Everywhere I turn there is bad news and worse news and I’ve stopped watching the nightly news and can barely stand to listen to my beloved NPR. Instead, I look for diversions to take my mind off of things, diversions like work. But even my job is filled with bad news and pending crisis. Will the state take over the Alamo? Will there be layoffs and cut backs? I want to run away from all this doom and gloom. I feel so helpless against Mother Nature with her tornadoes, droughts , earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes, but even more helpless against our own stupid humans, leaders, politicians, greedy corporate CEO’s and their manmade disasters. Is there no relief from this drought of good news?!

We have a pill for just about everything, why not…bad news? Perhaps we could seed the clouds and force it to rain good tidings over the Earth. Life without good news, without hope of better things to come is wearing me down.

Food for THOUGHT…