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| Lawrence Zeegen |
The other day we were informed that Barack Obama secretly
met with John Boehner and agreed to slash benefits for disabled Americans to
fund more war. From New York Times:
Excerpt:
Congress
and White House Reach Tentative Budget Deal
WASHINGTON — After five years of
bitter clashes, Republican congressional
leaders and President Obama on Monday night appeared to settle their last
budget fight by reaching a tentative
deal that would modestly increase spending over the next two years, cut some social programs, and
raise the federal borrowing limit.
The agreement would raise spending by $80 billion over two
years, NOT INCLUDING a $32 BILLION INCREASE INCLUDED IN AN EMERGENCY WAR FUND. Those increases would be offset by CUTS
in spending on Medicare and Social Security disability benefits, as
well as savings or revenue from an array of other programs, INCLUDING SELLING
OIL FROM THE NATION’S STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVES.
The Medicare savings would come from cuts in payments to doctors and
other health care providers….
Man, what kind of heartless bastards could do something like
that? Obama and Boehner agreed on a budget that freezes increases for Social
Security, Medicare and Medicaid to $40 billion per year and at the same time
increased the off-the-books war slush fund by $32 billion.
Aides said that the Social Security Disability Insurance
program would be amended, in part to tighten and STANDARDIZE ELIGIBILITY
REQUIREMENTS that now vary by state. That
change was projected to save the government $5 billion.
Hmmm, I wonder what it means to “standardize eligibility
requirements” and how does that save $5 billion dollars? From The Hill:
Excerpt:
GOP leaders and the White House are pushing structural reforms to
Social Security and Medicare that would avert the double-digit increases expected next
year for many beneficiaries in both programs while saving billions in other
areas.
A key piece of the budget deal —
and one of its costliest provisions — staves
off a 52 percent premium hike that would have hit 8 million Medicare Part B
enrollees next year. That fix, which is THE RESULT OF A GLITCH in federal
benefits law, is estimated to cost nearly $8 billion.
The deal would also prevent a 20 percent across-the-board cut in
Social Security disability benefits for 11 million people next year, which
was the result of a quickly drying-up trust fund.
In addition to averting those
increases, the deal would enact a series
of changes to both the disability and Medicare programs — some of which
could be tough for Democrats to stomach….
But one of the key pay-fors in the deal is the extension of the 2 percent cut in Medicare payments, which
was first passed under the sequester…
“This would be the first
significant reform to Social Security since 1983 and would result in $168 billion long-term savings,” the source said.
The GOP had particularly pushed for
reforms to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), which would see stronger penalties for those charged with fraud and
abuse, stronger oversight and reporting requirements.
Whoa, just a minute.
What the hell is that? This deal
between Obama and Boehner “staves off
a 52 percent premium hike that would have hit 8 million Medicare Part B
enrollees next year” and prevents
“a 20 percent across-the-board
cut in Social Security disability benefits for 11 million people next
year.”
Where did that 52 percent premium hike for 8 million seniors
on Medicare Part B and the 20 percent across-the-board cuts in Social Security
disability benefits for 11 million people come from? Oh yeah, that was the deal Paul Ryan made with
Patty Murray back in December 2013. From
Politichicks:
Excerpt:
VIRAL:
Military Veteran Shoots Down Ryan-Murray Budget Bomb
December 20, retired Chief Master
Sergeant Chuck Wooten posted a letter to Congressman Paul Ryan that has now
gone viral. His letter was written in response to a year-end fundraising
request from Ryan that, not surprisingly, struck a sour note.
Right after Wooten and other American
veterans had their benefits cut by the Murray-Ryan budget, Wooten was being
hit up to contribute his now reduced income to support Ryan, the very man who
spearheaded that reduction….
The Murray-Ryan budget boondoggle, passed by the Senate on December
18, partnered Democrats with establishment Republicans in shameful betrayal of the trust of our military veterans. The ‘deal’
cuts all veteran’s retirement benefits to 1%
below inflation until veterans reach age 62, providing an approximately $6 billion budget cut, meanwhile
increasing federal spending elsewhere….
Here’s how The Nation
described the Ryan-Murray “deal” that was made between Democratic Senator
Murray and Republican Representative Paul Ryan:
Excerpt:
A Cruel, Irresponsible and Dysfunctional Budget Deal
Budget negotiators are patting
themselves on the back. But what they've agreed to is a lousy deal for jobless
workers, federal employees, military personnel and the economy….
Murray and Ryan are excited that they had stopped fighting for long
enough to agree to $63 billion in “sequester relief” – as opposed to an actual
end to sequestration – and $23 billion in net deficit reduction.
They're also glad that they have set
the discretionary spending level for fiscal year 2014 at $1.012 trillion, while
setting the level at $1.014 trillion for fiscal year 2015. That apparently
qualifies – in the eyes of the budget negotiators – as a sufficient alternative to lurching from crisis to crisis.
But the agreement does not address
the crises that matter. “This plan won't
create jobs, get the economy back on track, or meaningfully cut the deficit,”
explains Congressman Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon.
And that's not the worst of it.
What of the 1.3 million jobless Americans who – with a fully Dickensian
twist – now stand to lose Federal
unemployment benefits three days after Christmas?...
The budget agreement does not look
like a “step in the right direction” for them. And unless Democrats succeed in renewing benefits in a distinct
piece of legislation that apparently must pass this week – as Congress is moving rapidly toward recess – many of the most economically vulnerable Americans
will be “lurching from crisis to crisis” very soon.
Their crisis is our crisis. According to the non-partisan
Congressional Budget Office, extending
benefits for the long-term unemployed would boost a still slow economy by
two-tenths of a percent in the coming year –
creating 200,000 needed jobs.
As the CBO explains: “Recipients of the additional benefits
would increase their spending on consumer goods and services. That increase in aggregate demand would
encourage businesses to boost production
and hire more workers than they otherwise would, particularly given the
expected slack in the capital and labor markets.”
Without providing for the extension, something that easily and
appropriately could have been done in the budget agreement, Ryan and Murray
failed in their most basic humanitarian and economic duties.
And what of the federal workers and members of the military who will be required to
take what is effectively a pay cut in order to pay more for their retirement
benefits?
“Federal workers have sacrificed over $113 billion for deficit
reduction since 2011, including a three-year pay freeze and increased pension contributions for
newly hired employees.
This figure does
not include the up to eight furlough
days caused by sequestration this summer and a 16-day shutdown in October which resulted in financial hardship
and profound anxiety for half the government’s workforce and their families,”
noted unions that represent federal employees. “Given these contributions, we
are dismayed to learn that increasing the pension contributions and/or changing
the retirement formula for current federal employees is on the table. This is
simply unacceptable.”
Members of House and Senate who are paid $174,000 annually, collect generous benefits and – thanks to redistricting and an
incumbent-rewarding campaign finance system – enjoy no small measure of job
security…
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Crews break up
homeless camp in Silicon Valley
|
That was the grand bargain cut by Paul Ryan and Patty Murray
that has led to the current “budget ceiling” crisis. Hey assholes, I have an idea why don’t you
take that $34 billion dollar increase to the “emergency war fund” and shore up
Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security.
The “debt ceiling” scam is just part of what Naomi Klein
calls the Shock Doctrine, Disaster Capitalism.
“The Shock Doctrine” is Klein’s
ambitious look at the economic history of the last 50 years and the rise of
free-market fundamentalism around the world. “Disaster capitalism,” as she calls it, is a violent system that
sometimes requires terror to do its job.
And what could be more terrorizing than having your Social
Security Disability cut by 20% and having your Medicare Part B insurance
premiums rise 52 percent? That’s the
Shock Doctrine American Style, baby.
Isn’t it amazing that our millionaire congress is lavishing another
$34 billion into their off-the-books “emergency war” fund when the Pentagon can’t
account for $8.5 trillion dollars. From Global Research:
Excerpt:
Report Reveals $8.5 Trillion Missing From Pentagon Budget
Yahoo Money’ The Daily Ticker quoting a Reuters investigation that reveals
that $8.5 trillion – that’s trillion with a “T” – in taxpayer money doled out
by Congress to the Pentagon since 1996 that has never been accounted for….
While Republican politicians rush to slash food stamps for
the 47 million Americans living in poverty – the highest amount in nearly two
decades – Republican U.S. Secretary
of Defense Chuck Hagel has the audacity to complain that $20 billion dollars in
automatic sequester cuts to the massive and secretive $565.8 billion Defense Department budget are “
too steep, too deep, and too abrupt,” all while the Pentagon and the Defense Department are overseeing massive fraud,
waste, and abuse…
In an interview, Linda Woodford, an
employee at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service – the Pentagon’s main
accounting agency – reveals to Reuters that
she spent the last 15 years of her career simply “plugging in” false numbers
every month to balance the books;
Where's the select committee on waste, fraud and abuse. When will Ms. Woodford testify under oath for
11 hours before a select committee?
“A lot of times there were issues
of numbers being inaccurate. We didn’t have the detail … for a lot of it.”
In the REAL WORLD, that would be called MASSIVE FRAUD.
Woodford’s involvement in the fraud
doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. The report also reveals that “a single DFAS office in Columbus, Ohio,
MADE AT LEAST $1.59 TRILLION – YES, TRILLION – IN ERRORS, including $538
billion in plugs, in financial reports for the Air Force in 2009.”
God, who are these elected “public servants” in
the House and Senate? From Open Secrets:
Excerpt:
For the first time in history, most members of Congress are
millionaires, according to a new analysis of personal financial disclosure
data by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Of 534 current members of Congress, at least 268 had an average net worth of $1 million or more in
2012, according to disclosures filed last year by all members of Congress and
candidates. The median net worth for the 530 current lawmakers who were in
Congress as of the May filing deadline was $1,008,767 — an increase from the
previous year when it was $966,000…
Members of Congress have long been
far wealthier than the typical American, but the fact that now a majority of members — albeit just a
hair over 50 percent — are millionaires
represents a watershed moment at a time when
lawmakers are debating issues like unemployment benefits, food stamps and the
minimum wage, which affect people with far fewer resources ….
Really? I mean,
really?
“Despite the fact that polls show
how dissatisfied Americans are with Congress overall…. in our electoral system,
candidates need access to wealth to run financially viable campaigns, and the most successful fundraisers are
politicians who swim in those circles to
begin with.”
I think George W. Bush summed up our politicians’ loyalty to
their “constituents” when he said at a fundraiser, “these are my people, the
haves and the have more’s.
Lo and Behold as I was writing this post, Roll Call just
came out with their latest tally of congressional wealth, and here’s a little
tid bit from the article that caught my attention.
Excerpt:
The median net worth among all 535 members is more than five times that for all U.S. households, $81,400 in
2013. Half the senators and 140 House members are paper millionaires, but just
5 percent of all adults are, in the estimate of Credit Suisse Research.
And the richest 50 lawmakers were
worth at least $7.3 million at the start of the year. The current threshold for being a member of “the one percent” is a net
worth of about $7.9 million, according to the most recent Federal Reserve study of census data….
There are several real estate
success stories, trial lawyers, oil and gas entrepreneurs and online innovators
among the 50 richest. But it’s the car
business that’s produced the most members on the list: five auto dealership magnates and the former CEO of a parts
manufacturer.
Gee, wasn’t the Obama/Biden 2014 campaign slogan “Bin laden is dead GM is
alive?”
The only Democrat among the auto millionaires, Rep. Don Beyer Jr.,
the onetime Volvo kingpin of Northern Virginia, is also the only Democrat among
the six Hill freshmen who joined the
50 richest based on their net worth as candidates in 2014.
The Republicans are Sen. David
Perdue of Georgia (a corporate
turnaround expert), Rep. Dave Trott of Michigan (home foreclosures), Rep. Tom MacArthur of New Jersey (insurance claims processing), Rep. Rod
Blum of Iowa (software development) and Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter of Georgia (a chain of pharmacies).
My, my my. New
members of the “people’s house” truly do represent the people. How did that Disaster Capitalism work out for
the American people? From The Guardian:
Excerpt:
Disaster capitalism is a permanent state of life for too many Americans
By Steven W Thrasher
In the United States, disaster has
become our most common mode of life. Proof that our daily existence was
something other than a simmering, smoldering disaster has been historically
held somewhat at bay by the myth that
hard work equals some kind of subsistence living. For the more deluded
amongst us, this ‘American dream’ even got us to believe we could be something
called ‘middle class’. We were deceived.
For those not yet woke, I don’t see
how y’all can stay asleep when story after story proves how screwed we are.
The New York Post, no bastion of
bleeding heart liberalism, reported on Monday that “Hundreds of full-time city workers are homeless”. These are people
who clean our trash and make our city, the heart of American capitalism, safe
and livable, including for those who plunder the globe from Wall Street.
These are men and women, living in shelters
and out of their cars, who have government jobs – the kind of workers CONSERVATIVES
LOVE TO PAINT AS GREEDY, GLUTTONOUS PIGS.
When a full time government worker
can’t “find four walls and a roof to call his own” in the city he serves, we are living in a perpetual state of
disaster capitalism….
This, too, is perpetual disaster
capitalism, creating havoc and
inflicting disaster upon individual souls for corporate greed without even
needing the pretense of a crisis for an excuse.
So what happened to Senator Patty Murray and Rep. Paul
Ryan? Where are they today? Well Paul’s going to be the next Speaker of
the House, just so long as it doesn’t interfere with his family time. Isn’t that touching? From Salon:
Except:
“I cannot and will not give up my
family time,” Ryan told reporters following the House GOP meeting.
That statement set off a firestorm
of criticism, from the left and right.
As the heir-apparent to Speaker
Boehner, Paul Ryan made his need for work-life balance clear. As the father of
three children, he’s right—Americans work too hard, for too long, and for too
little (and inequitable) pay.
Every weekend, Paul Ryan, who’s worth an estimated $7.7 million, flies home to
Wisconsin to care for his three children. That’s admirable, and a huge luxury that most Americans
could only ever dream of.
Unfortunately,
Ryan has also been at the forefront of a conservative policy movement to deny
Americans who lack that luxury the same privilege, particularly through vicious cuts to SNAP,
Medicare, and Social Security.
And, Senator Patty Murray? She’s up for reelection and surprise, surprise,
she’s likely to easily win her 5th term. President Obama is in Washington State to
make sure Patty is rewarded for the great “deal” she made, for the rich it’s
been a gift that keeps on giving.
Excerpt
SEATTLE (AP) — President Barack
Obama is looking toward the 2016 elections, stumping for Democratic Sen. Patty
Murray with a fundraiser in her home state.
The seat is considered a safe one
for Democrats. But Murray is leaving nothing to chance, particularly after her
narrow victory with just 52 percent of the vote in 2010, her closest Senate
contest yet.
Obama describes the four-term senator as a lawmaker who gets things done without a lot of drama and fuss…
Yep, Patty Murray is “the lawmaker who gets things done”, no
drama, no fuss, no heart, no soul. She’s
the whole package alright.
In the article from The Hill, entitled GOP Eying Social
Security Reforms, I was taken back by this quote:
“The White House, every Democrat
running for president, and every Democrat in Congress should make clear that any deal that cuts Social Security,
Medicare, or Medicaid benefits would be unacceptable policy — and
politically, would be wildly unpopular
with voters,” Adam Green, co-founder of the progressive group, wrote in a
statement late Monday.
Hey Adam, fat chance.
Everything congress has done since 2000 has been “wildly unpopular with
voters.” Why isn’t your progressive
group picketing the Patty Murray reelection campaign?
This is disaster capitalism, a millionaire congress cuts everything
necessary to sustain life in order to fund the violent destruction of life
across the world. Kind of like killing
two birds with one stone.
By Patricia Baeten
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