Congress has just passed the budget for the current year and now they are debating budget bills for 2012. At the same time the Debt Limit is fast approaching and conservatives are threatening to vote against extending the debt limit unless their budget ideas are adopted.
It is important that you understand that NONE of the budget plans being discussed even comes close to balancing the budget. The Ryan plan which will soon become the official Republican plan, will not balance the budget until 2040, and the Obama plan has a similar timeline, so the debt ceiling will have to be extended many times until it is balanced. Ronald Reagan signed the first debt ceiling extension in 1981 and it has been extended eleven times since then, mostly because military spending and tax cuts were passed without funding.
Most of the National Debt comes from Republicans increasing military spending, starting wars, giving away tax breaks, and now under Obama, spending to recover from the Republican caused economic calamity. None of the Republicans wanted to pay for their expenses so they borrowed. Now the Republicans are holding the country hostage because of a debt problem that is of their own making.
http://www.lafn.org/gvdc/Natl_Debt_Chart...It will be a disaster to default on our debt obligations most of which are already approved and created by Republicans. If they triggered this default they could once again threaten a major depression and the worldwide economic collapse.
The Republican Budget plan is very clearly a wish list from their corporate masters and a transfer of wealth from the already struggling middle class, to the already obscenely rich. Obama's plan is also fairly conservative because most of the pain would be felt by the middle class. Obama gave a good speech but he is already giving signs that he will cave in and allow the Conservative Simpson Boles commission to determine the budget plan.
The Republicans would kill Medicare and transfer the costs to the old and infirm and give all of those savings to the rich. Both the Republicans and the Democrats are obligated to take it easy on their corporate and affluent sponsors who have benefited the most from the excesses of the past, and both parties will try to make the middle class and the poor, those with the least political clout pay and those who did not cause the debt to pay for it.
So now we have a Republican Plan and we have Obama's Plan, both of which are influenced by big money. What about a plan for and from the regular people? Fortunately there is a proposal that is based upon numerous polls of what the actual citizens want.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal Poll 81% of the people would prefer a surtax on millionaires and cutting of subsidies to oil companies and nuclear power.
http://www.grist.org/energy-policy/2011-...In poll after poll, The American people say to preserve Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, to make higher education more affordable, to expand job training programs, to cut taxes burdening the middle class, to subsidize affordable housing, and to provide financial assistance for those struggling to prevent foreclosures.
The majority of America thinks cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, K-12 education, heating assistance to low-income families, student loans, unemployment insurance, and scientific and medical research are completely unacceptable. In contrast, Americans find a progressive tax policy very acceptable. The overwhelming majority of America supports additional taxes on millionaires and billionaires, eliminating unnecessary weapons systems, eliminating tax credits for the oil and gas industries, phasing out Bush tax cuts, and eliminating subsidies for new nuclear power plants.
So here what the people want, The Peoples Budget:
http://grijalva.house.gov/uploads/The%20...Here is a comparison of various corporate preferred budget plans:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/...The People's Budget would balance the budget in ten years. The other plans would take 30 years.
The People's Budget would preserve Medicare and would provide everyone in the country the same coverage. The Obama Plan would preserve Medicare and achieve cost savings through the Affordable Care Act. The Republicans would end Medicare and the Affordable Care Act, and would return all health care to private insurance companies.
The People's Budget would end all of our wars and realign conventional and strategic
forces, resulting in $2.3 trillion worth of savings. Obama would phase out the wars and save $400 billion in 12 years. The Republicans would continue the wars and increase military spending.
The People's Budget would end the Bush Tax Cuts and the estate tax and create fair tax brackets for millionaires and billionaires while maintaining credits for the middle class and students. It ensures that the banks that wrecked our economy pay a modest financial responsibility fee and that exotic trading by Wall Street traders who gambled away America's savings is levied a tax. It guarantees that hedge fund managers (and those who use them) do not get special treatment by taxing capital gains and dividends as ordinary income. It eliminates charity to oil companies making record profits from prices paid at the pump by the American people, given that it is unfair that the American people must also give these oil companies billions of dollars in handouts. Finally, this budget taxes US corporate income as it is earned, in much the same way Americans are taxed.
Obama's budget would eliminate the Bush, Tax cuts thereby cutting the deficit in half. The Republicans would make the Bush Tax Cuts permanent and would give the rich an additional trillion dollars in tax cuts and lower the top tax rate from the current 35% to 24%.
The People's budget would preserve investments in America and would raise the skill level of every American and meet the basic needs of every working family. The Obama plan would cut $2 in services for every dollar raised in revenue, but at least he is putting everything on the table. The Republican plan would try to balance the budget by eliminating social programs, even though domestic discretionary spending is only 12% of the budget. They have taken all tax increases and any military spending off the table.
The big money corporate interests, and the Republicans, will be pushing for the radical right wing Ryan plan, and Democrats will fight for the center right Obama plan. No one will be pushing for what the people want, however we the people can still cast a ballet.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04...