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July 13,2011
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No Extortion for Debt Ceiling Vote
Ideology should not
trump working class
Krugman to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to
Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke warn se
vere disruptions will occur.
Beginning Aug. 2, Social Security checks may be
halted. Medicare, Medicaid and unemployment ben
efits may stop. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan may
not get paid. And Hundreds of thousands of govern
ment workers may be laid off. This is no way to run
the most trustworthy and powerful government in the
world. And it is no way to honor the hard work and
sacrifices of its people.
It should be noted, that prior to this current show-
M arc H. M orial
Rarely have the divisions in Ameri
can politics been more clear - or
more onerous. In three weeks, on
Aug. 2, if Congress refuses to raise
the nation's $ 14.3 trillion debt ceiling,
the United States economy could be
thrown into a fiscal tailspin that would
eviscerate America's credit rating, lead to
sky-high interest rates, rip a giant hole in the
social safety net, jeopardize the well-being
and savings ofmillionsofworking and middle C urrent
class citizens and result in the loss of hun- >
by
It should be noted, that prior to this
dreds of thousands of jobs.
sh o w d o w n , the d e b t Ceiling
/
z
,
,
, _
has routinely been raised almost 100
Majority leaders in the House and minor- tim e s
ity leaders in the Senate have taken the
unprecedented step of linking a raise in the
debt ceiling to the debate about deficit reduction and
spending cuts. In effect, they are attempting to extort
big cuts in programs benefiting working and middle
class citizens while protecting exorbitant tax breaks
for oil companies, corporate jet owners and hedge fund
managers.
They say this is the only way they will agree to
increase the debt limit. If they get their way, fiscal
experts from Nobel Prize winning economist, Paul
s in c e its e sta b lish m e n t in 1Q17
lli eSiaD llSnm eM in I V 1 /.
down, the debt ceiling has routinely been raised almost
100 times since its establishment in 1917. Former
President George W. Bush raised it seven times
without objection while racking up trillions of dollars of
new debt for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and big
tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.
The Obama administration is not oblivious to the
need for spending cuts. For months, Vice President
Joe Biden has led bipartisan negotiations aimed at
agreeing on a sensible deficit reduction plan. Progress
has been made. But recently several members of the
so-called "Gang of Six," walked out of the negotiations
because of ideological resistance to balancing spend
ing cuts for the middle class with ending some tax
breaks for the wealthy.
As they defend the rights of working-class Ameri
cans, I would urge them also to consider the recom
mendations included in the National Urban League's
12-Point Jobs Plan, "Putting Urban American Back To
Work." The creation of Urban Jobs Academies to
train the critically unemployed, or Green Empower
ment Zones to locate manufacturing jobs in urban
areas, could ease the transition to spending cuts.
So far, the President and sensible members of
Congress have stood firm in their refusal to give in to
ideological extortion.
As the President said in a recent press conference,
"Any agreement to reduce our deficit is going to
require tough decisions and balanced solutions. And
before we ask our seniors to pay more for health care,
before we cut our children's education, before we
sacrifice our commitment to the research and innova
tion that will help create more jobs in the economy, I
think it's only fair to ask an oil company or a corporate
jet owner that has done so well to give up a tax break
that no other business enjoys."
We agree. Raise the debt ceiling, but not on the
backs of working and middle class Americans.
Marc H. Morial is president and chief executive
officer o f the National Urban League.
MMMIWHHMMHMM
Tell the People about the People’s Budget
Progressive solutions
have public support
P eter H art
If you listen to the pundits and
TV commentators, the federal
budget problem has a simple so
lution: cuts, cuts, and more cuts.
They cheer politicians for mak
ing "tough choices," which usu
ally entails taking money away
from schools, stiffing public work
ers, and telling the poor and the
elderly they need to make do with even less.
Tough choices, indeed — but for whom?
The funny thing is regular people aren't buying
the idea that this is the only way to balance the
country's books. M aybe there's som ething about a
m illionaire TV host talking about "shared sacrifice"
that rubs Bob and Betty Sixpack the wrong way. Or
maybe the A m erican people ju st feel like there's got
to be another way — one that doesn't require
scrapping M edicare or slashing Social Security.
If you look at the polls, the public's message is clear:
protect Medicare and Social Security, spend less on
the military, and raise taxes on the wealthy. And while
by
we're at it, let's tax the Wall Street speculators who
wrecked our economy.
But if you look at the newspapers or your TV
screen, those ideas are rarely, if ever, part of the
budget debate. Is there no one in Washington who is
sticking up for what the majority of the public wants?
But wait. The Congressional Progressive C au
cus, which includes 74 House D em ocrats and Sen.
Bernie Sanders (I-V T), released an alternative
budget blueprint back in April. This "People's Bud
get" would achieve a better balance by taxing the
w ealthy, reining in runaw ay m ilitary spending, and
protecting the New Deal social safety net — just
what people tell pollsters that they want.
T here's a good chance you've never heard about
this part of the budget debate, though there's been
a m ountain o f media coverage of the budget mess
— thousands of articles and television program s.
If you've paid attention to any of it, you're prob
ably well acquainted with Rep. Paul Ryan. The
W isconsin Republican has "jet black hair and a
touch of Eagle Scout to him," according to one
m agazine profile. The New York Tim es told read
ers about his "piercing blue eyes." It's not ju st his
looks that im press the media. His budget plan,
w hich pairs yet more big tax breaks for the rich with
spending cuts for everyone else, is constantly touted
as being "bold" and "serious."
And the People's Budget? Well, it's not even men
tioned. There were no hard news stories about it in the
big papers. Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank
wrote about the press conference unveiling the People's
Budget only to mock it — right down to poking fun at
one lawmaker's tie.
Milbank spelled out some of the details of the
People's Budget, but only because he thought the ideas
were absurd on their face: "No cuts in Social Security
benefits, government-negotiated Medicare drug prices,
and increased income and Social Security taxes for the
wealthy. Corporations and investors would be hit with
a variety of new fees and taxes...The wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan would end."
Ending wars and m aking the w ealthy pay their
fair share? That probably doesn't sound so crazy to
most people. But that the Post considers M ilbank to
be one of its "left-leaning " colum nists is com pletely
nuts.
The budget debate is locked up in a partisan stale
mate. That makes it as good a time as any to tell the
people about the People's Budget. Most newspapers
and TV networks aren't doing that. And when you iQok
at who stands to gain — and who stands to lose — it's
no mystery why corporate-owned media are keeping
us in the dark.
Peter Hart is the activism director fo r the group
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.