The conservative lie about deficit reduction

[Edward theurj Berge]

Deficit reduction has been the conservative calling cry in the last US election, that when they take power it will be addressed and remedied. So what exactly are they doing about it since they've taken office? What are their proposals?

Rachel Maddow discussed this last night pertaining to military spending. Here's a video on that segment of her show. For example the conservatives are pushing legislation to fund a spare engine for the F-35 fighter jet that military leaders say they neither want nor need. Obama's budget proposal cut this funding but conservatives are fighting to keep it at a cost of $450 million.

Robert Gates, the Defense Secretary, said about funding the spare engine: "We consider it an unnecessary and extravagant expense." But conservative leaders are going to push ahead with it anyway. They also want to keep $3.6 billion in the budget for oil subsidies.

What funding do they want to cut from the budget? Food inspection, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (who predict and track hurricanes, for example) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (who track loose nukes).

Maddow rightly calls them on their hypocrisy in claiming they are the party of fiscal responsibility, yet here we see their true colors. Sure they want cuts, from social programs that help the poor and the environment, even our national security, while the truly big-budget items like military spending not only go unchecked but maintain wasteful spending programs that the military itself does not want. Thank you Rachel for your tireless and effective work at exposing their blatant lies.

[xibalba]

Why do the yanks vote fom these creeps?

I don´t get it

of course these are lies, what else could they tell?

Just to pay a look at their leaders is already enough to get a good idea of the sort of planet they are on their way to create: Greenland,the northern territories beyond the artic circle looking like a giant piece of shit.

So cool.

[Edward theurj Berge]

Mike Lux in today's Huff Post talks about what values are expressed in the recent conservative House budget proposal. Their values say "if you are poor or middle class, you are completely and totally on your own. It doesn't matter at all whether a program has been proven effective and cost-efficient. It doesn't matter that a program might have wide support from the American people. It quite literally makes no difference whether the program being cut saves people's lives."

They exemplfy this by cutting the following:

"Massive cuts in K-12 education, special ed, programs for kids with disabilities, programs for especially poor kids, Head Start, huge cuts to food and drug safety inspection, and cuts in funding for new medical research for cancer and diabetes. Their budget eliminates 5 million meals for the home-bound elderly, and removes 600,000 people from the main nutrition program for poor children and their mothers. The money to pay for cops on the beat to watch over the big banks, insurance companies and offshore oil drillers is gone. The Republican budget proposal end huge numbers of inspections at coal mines, and stops most investigations of employers screwing their workers on their wages and working conditions. Their budget has big cuts from teachers, firefighters, and police officers on the street, and will result in higher property taxes for most Americans. And the biggest cuts of all come from transportation spending -- roads, bridges, high-speed rail, airport modernization -- which means at least 130,000 jobs will be lost, and our decaying infrastructure will decay even faster.

"The message the Republicans are sending to the American people is that they are in a blind fury at everything in government except for the military and corporate subsidies."

[Edward theurj Berge]

Jim Wallace, Christian leader for social change, asks "What would Jesus cut?" He says:

"House Republicans announced a plan yesterday to cut $43 billion in domestic spending and international aid, while increasing spending for military and defense by another $8 billion. This proposal comes just months after billions of dollars were added to the deficit with an extension of tax cuts to the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans....it's good to finally know what their priorities are.

"Under the proposed budget cuts, deficit reduction will not come from the super-rich; it will come from the rest of us. And the poorer you are, the more vulnerable you become, and the more you will pay for the burdens of deficit reduction....the moral test of any society is how it treats its poorest and most vulnerable citizens. And that is exactly what the Bible says, over and over again.

"I believe that vaccines that save children's lives; bed nets that protect them from malaria; and food that keeps their families from starving are more important to Jesus than tax cuts for the rich; bigger subsidies for corporations; and more weapons in a world already filled with conflict. I also believe that tested and effective domestic programs that clearly help to lift people out of poverty are more reflective of the compassion of Christ than tax and spending policies that make the super-rich even richer. And I don't believe, as the Republicans keep saying, that the best way to help everybody is to keep helping the super-rich. That's not smart economics and, as we say in the evangelical community, it's not biblical. So many of us in the faith community are ready to make a moral argument against the proposed budget cuts to our members of Congress, especially to those who claim to be people of faith.

"Taking the cutting knife to programs that benefit low-income people, while refusing to scrutinize the much larger blank checks we keep giving to defense contractors and corporate executives, is hypocritical and cruel. I'll go even further and say that such a twisted moral calculus for the nation's fiscal policy is simply not fair, and not right. It is not only bad economics, but also bad religion. The priorities we are now seeing are not consistent with Christian, Jewish, or Muslim values. And if the super-rich and their representatives in Congress persist in this fight against the poor, they will be picking a fight with all of us."

Alleluia brother!

[Edward theurj Berge]

Why harp on the lie? To bring it to light and to remedy it. And to do so through rhetoric, to move people to pragmatic action through inspirational language. For without such action it will never change; the rich and corrupt will continue to exploit the rest of us while handing out meager baubles like ipods as reward. While I certainly appreciate dancing with hot women, to merely escape into hedonism and let injustice prevail is irresponsible and complacent, self-indulgent and "capitalistic" surrender.

[Edward theurj Berge]

Update on the F-35 legislation that began this thread. The US House voted yesterday against funding the program, with nearly half of the Republican freshman agreeing. They broke ranks with Republican leaders like House Speaker John Boehner, who supported the funding. Kudos to those Republicans who kept their campaign promises about cutting wasteful spending. Now let's see how they vote on cutting appropriate, humane, social spending. And if they go after much, much more in the military budget that should be cut.