April 15, 2011 at 08:23:47

Stop the Bipartisan Assault on Medicare. Support the People's Budget.

By Claudia Chaufan (about the author)

So, folks, what is the greatest danger affecting the nation?

You might think that it is a completely out of control military machinery, which has maimed or murdered millions of innocents throughout the world and made a mockery of our so-called "American values". Or maybe it is the eight million families thrown out of their homes over the last three years while bankers sit on big piles of cash and Wall Street gangsters are paid corporate bonuses at taxpayers' expense. Yet another good candidate for "greatest danger to the nation" would be the 50 million uninsured, many of them lining up in health fairs throughout the country, such as that at the Oakland Coliseum this past week, to receive free medical care from organizations like Remote Medical Area, that conducts medical "expeditions" in the "Third World".

But then, you would be wrong.

As President Obama announced in his Wednesday evening address, our Greatest Danger is"the Federal Deficit. And he said this with a straight face, and to frantic applauses from many Very Important People, including many "progressives".

Now, you would imagine that, in order to fight this Greatest Danger, the president has proposed to end wars, raise taxes on millionaires or billionaires, or eliminate the cancer of a health-care system that spends at least a third of each health care dollar avoiding the sick. And that he's proposed instead to replace it with a truly universal, comprehensive and high quality Medicare for All, supported by over half of the population and close to 60% of US physicians, and with the power to reduce the deficit by half a trillion dollars in the first year alone.

But you would be wrong again. Instead, Obama is out to slash domestic spending, increase the military monster until it devours whatever good is left of this nation, and assign an unelected "commission" the power to "overhaul" (dismantle in Washington speak) an American symbol of solidarity: Medicare, or what it's left of it after years of encroaching privatization.

Granted, the Republican alternative is outright brutal: the latest star in Capitol Hill, Paul Ryan, has proposed to turn Medicare into an all but worthless voucher program that will send impoverished seniors to comparative-shop for the sort of policies that are leading an increasing number of Americans to bankruptcy when they need serious health care. And it launches a open war on the poor, turning Medicaid (health care for the poor) into confetti, and slashing the food stamps program, support for child care, the environment, and the rest of socially useful services other than the military.

So it is really not hard to score political points if you spend at least half an hour denouncing the Republicans' plan, as Obama self-righteously did, because whatever you do will look good by comparison.

Yet if you set aside the hype and look at the details of Obama's plan (or listen carefully to the candid comments offered to Fox News by White House political strategist David Plouffe), parts of the Republican plan for Medicare are already part of Obamacare. After all, Obamacare builds upon the Republican idea of a mandate to purchase commercial insurance, and the Medicare "improvements" it envisions will soon become a very real part of the New American Nightmare.

Should we be surprised? I don't think so. After all, the President's call to, yet again, "make sacrifices" and "learn to live within our means" is in line with last Saturday's weekly Internet/radio address, in which Obama suggested that the proposed $38 billion slash in the federal budget was an instance of "cooperation" between "the two parties" to "invest in our country's future while making the largest annual spending cut in our history" -- and all in one and the same breath.

If you are still desperately trying to find a silver lining in Obama's by now well-established Orwellian double-speak, get it over with: there is none.

So what to do?

First, we need to act quickly. Before John Boehner's House Republicans succeed in ramming through this Friday their rightwing budget for 2012, which would destroy Medicare and Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, we need to demand that legislators, if they have any decency left, vote for the "People's Budget", fought and won by the 80-member Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC).

In a nutshell, the CPC People's Budget reduces the deficit by 2021 without devastating Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and targets the true drivers of the deficit: the Bush Tax Cuts, the wars overseas, and the causes and effects of the recent recession. It restores the nation's economic health by building roads and bridges, training more and better teachers, and supporting community colleges. Last, it ensures that the banks that wrecked our economy pay a modest financial responsibility fee, that exotic trading by Wall Street traders is taxed, and that oil companies making record profits from price gouging at the pump no longer receive taxpayer charity. And it taxes US corporate income as it is earned, in much the same way working Americans are taxed.

There is no time to lose. Tell your Representatives to vote for the CPC People's Budget.

Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people:
Tell your Representatives to vote for the CPC People's Budget.

Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps and local newspapers

Claudia Chaufan, M.D., Ph.D., is assistant professor at the Institute for Health and Aging at the University of California, San Francisco. She teaches sociology of health and medicine, sociology of power, public health, comparative health care (more...)

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.

The People's Budget: What a "Centrist" Budget Should Look Like

Published on Friday, April 8, 2011 by Huffington Post

The People's Budget: What a "Centrist" Budget Should Look Like

by Jeffrey Sachs

WASHINGTON - Just when it seemed that all of Washington had lost its values and its connection with the American people, a bolt of hope has arrived. It is the People's Budget put forward by the co-chairs of the 80-member Congressional Progressive Caucus. Their plan is humane, responsible, and most of all sensible, reflecting the true values of the American people and the real needs of the floundering economy. Unlike Paul Ryan's almost absurdly vicious attack on the poor and working class, the People's Budget would close the deficit by raising taxes on the rich, taming health care costs (including a public option), and ending the military spending on wars and wasteful weapons systems.

There are now four budget positions on the table. Far to the right is Paul Ryan's plan, an artless war on the poor that would take a meat-cleaver to Medicaid (health care for the poor), food stamps, support for child care, the environment, and the rest of government other than the military, Social Security, and Medicare (that is, until 2022, when the slashing would begin on Medicare coverage as well). Ryan would keep taxes below 20 percent of GDP (specifically, 19.9 percent of GDP in 2021), at the cost of destroying entitlements programs and other civilian spending.

Then there is President Obama's budget, which is really a muddled proposal in the center-right of the political spectrum. It would keep most of the Reagan-era and Bush-era tax cuts in place. Like the Ryan proposal, Obama's tax proposals would keep total taxes at around 20 percent of GDP. The result is a major long-term squeeze on vital programs such as community development, infrastructure, and job training. Also, Obama's plan never closes the budget deficit, which remains as high as 3.1% of GDP in 2021.

In the progressive middle is the People's Budget. Like Ryan's plan, the People's Budget would cut the budget deficit to zero by 2021, but would do so in an efficient and fair way. It would close the budget deficit by raising tax rates on the rich and giant corporations, while also curbing military spending and wrestling health care costs under control, partly by introducing a public option. By raising tax revenues to 22.3 percent of GDP by 2021, the People's Budget closes the budget deficit while protecting the poor and promoting needed investments in education, health care, roads, power, energy, and the environment in order to raise America's long-term competitiveness. The People's Budget thereby achieves what Ryan and Obama do not: the combination of fairness, efficiency, and budget balance.

The fourth position is the public's position. The Republicans often say that they want Congress to respect the voice of the people. The voice of the people is crystal clear. In one opinion survey after the next, the public says that the rich and the corporations should pay more taxes. The public says that we should tamp down runaway health care costs through a public option, one that would introduce competition to drive down bloated private health insurance costs. The public says that we should get out of Iraq and Afghanistan and reduce Pentagon spending. (Just yesterday, Defense Secretary Gates let loose the predictable Pentagon canard that we should stay in Iraq if the Iraqi government asks for it. Better yet, we should respond to what the American people are asking for: to bring our troops home).

The fact is that the People's Budget is the public's position. That's why it is truly a centrist initiative, at the broad center of the U.S. political spectrum. Ryan reflects the wishes of the rich and the far right. Obama's position reflects the muddle of a White House that wavers between its true values and the demands of the wealthy campaign contributors and lobbyists that Obama courts for his re-election. Many Democrats in Congress have also gone along with the falsehood that deficit cutting means slashing spending on the poor and on civilian discretionary programs, rather than raising taxes on the rich, cutting military spending, and taking on the over-priced private health insurance industry. Only the People's Budget speaks to the broad needs and values of the American people.

The current budget negotiations have been a dialogue among the wealthy. The big debate has focused on which programs for the poor should be axed first. There has been no discussion of raising taxes on the rich, and quite the contrary, the White House and the Republican leadership agreed to further tax cuts last December. Obama has repeatedly expressed regret at slashing community development, energy support for the poor, and other programs, but he is not fighting the trend, only regretting it.

© 2011 Huffington Post

Progress towards Repowering America

Repower America

How to change our course on energy: We have enormous untapped power. Across America, we can harness the wind and sun to power our future and leave dirty, dangerous energy behind. America needs a bold, new energy plan that: Requires that America generate 100 percent of its electricity from clean sources such as wind and solar power; Cuts our dependence on oil in half; and Reduces heat-trapping global warming pollution 80 percent by 2050. Read more on the specifics of our plan below. Reduce Our Oil Dependence Exxon Mobil and other Big Oil companies are spending millions to take our country in the wrong direction- pushing many of the same old polluting policies. But, we have the technology to dramatically reduce our oil consumption. Plug-in hybrid electric that go 150 miles on a gallon of gas already exist. Congress and the new administration should tell the auto industry to make vehicles that get at least 60 miles to the gallon. More Building An Energy-Efficient America A new generation of high performance energy efficient homes that generate their own clean power are being built across the country. An investment in this and similar projects will help America get 100 percent of our electricity from clean, renewable energy. That is why we are calling on decision makers to enact the policy solutions that will put us on track to make all new buildings zero-energy by 2030. More Clean Energy For America We can supply power to millions of homes and businesses by harnessing homegrown energy from the sun, wind and crops. That’s why we are calling Congress to require that utilities generate 100 percent of America’s electricity from clean energy sources such as wind and solar. More

Repowering America in brief

There’s no question that America has the technological know-how to meet 100 percent of our energy needs with clean, renewable energy. Wind turbines and solar panels can supply limitless clean, renewable energy to power and heat millions of homes and businesses. We can make high performance energy efficient homes that generate their own clean power and dramatically reduce our energy consumption.

With the war raging in the Middle East, the economic downturn, and global warming threatening our future, we cannot wait. Repowering America with 100 percent clean, renewable energy is the most effective way to improve our energy security, jump-start our economy, and avoid the worst effects of global warming. We need to start now. That’s why we’re calling on congress and the incoming administration to make energy efficiency, expanding our public transportation, deploying renewable energy technology, and reducing the pollution that causes global warming central elements in America's economic policies.

Progress towards Repowering America

Americans want real change that creates jobs and preserves our environment. State officials have been leading the nation. Environment America helped persuade 28 states to require a growing amount of their electricity come from renewable resources. Congress is now beginning to act. Last year, Environment America helped move congress towards a new energy future by approving $78.6 billion in funding for clean energy, energy efficiency, and green transportation through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. That was just a first step- we need to do much, much more. Environment America's Repower America campaign is promoting a national Renewable Energy Standard (RES) that would require the nation’s utilities to get more of their electricity from clean, renewable energy like wind and solar. In addition we are working to increase the development of a green skilled workforce, increased building efficiency, and the rapid deployment of renewable energy like offshore wind, so that we can reduce pollution and jump-start our economy.