Starvin’ The Beast

[EC]

Starvin’ The Beast
Joshua Holland (7:05PM) link

Oh, the cuts, they are a comin.' A rash of stories today are pretty good evidence that those alarmists on the left have been, as usual, correct.

First, from the Hartford Courant:


President Bush will propose a nearly 5 percent increase in defense spending for next year while calling for cuts in payments to farmers and work on a nuclear waste storage site in Nevada, according to documents and federal officials.

Bush also will propose increasing the size of Pell grants for low-income college students as he seeks to abolish a widely used college-loan program and to shrink federal subsidies for banks that lend money to students.
...

He would raise the maximum Pell Grant for students from $4,050 to $4,550 over five years; shrink subsidies the government pays banks to encourage them to make low-interest loans; and phase out Perkins loans, 673,000 of which were made to students last year.
...
Administration officials already said Bush would seek $60 billion in Medicaid savings over the coming decade. These will come largely from smaller reimbursements to pharmacies, reducing payments to other health providers and making it harder for parents to qualify for coverage if their assets have been shifted to their children.

more http://gadflyer.com/flytrap/index.php?Week=200505#1469

[Celeborn Skywalker]

1. Could this administration be any more evil?

:grr: I don't think I want to know the answer.:grr:

[aquart]

3. Never assume they've bottomed out.

There's always lower.

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. They haven't - (bottomed out)

.
.
.

Bush is more dangerous than ever now. 2 very simple reasons.

He is naturally emboldened by his reelection. He could care less that it was close.

He is not concerned about being reelected. Therein lies the biggest danger.

He will, and most likely can now do whatever he wants, as long as he stays, or APPEARS to stay within the boundaries of the Constitution -b'sides, even impeachment doesn't happen overnight.

The Bush Family is entrenched in billion dollar corporations, and have been big money players for Generations, and not on the side of "good" either (clik on my "Prescott Bush"(grampa) link below for a short history of his dealings with the Nazis - even AFTER WW2 ended).

Georgie boy will be lining his and his business cronies pockets with billions of dollars, from the citizens of his electorate, occupied countries, or wherever else he can use the peoples tax dollars to keep HIS War Machine feeding his "retirement" fund.

He will be using the US citizen's tax dollars to pursue his personal agenda, including ignoring the world's growing acceptance of gays and lesbians, and of "soft" drugs like weed. Actually "weed" is NOT a drug, it's a HERB. Drugs are man-made, which his pharmaceutical cronies can "push" all they want with impunity.

And so on . . .

I have already been reading articles about "pharmaceutical terrorism", which refers to the US's "OUR drugs are safe, not sure about Canada's", as well as others. While he endorses the US's "War on Drugs", he pats his drug pushing Pharmaceutical buddies on the back, and protects them from uninflated prices from abroad with sanctions.

Oh yeah, there is a long way to go yet for the Boy King, and he will take, IS taking the US down with him, and in a little over 3 years, he will fade away into a gleeful retirement, gleaning the profits from abusing his own voters, and the rest of the world in general.

Yup, y'all have to fear terrorism alright, but more so from within than from without.

That's just my Canuk observation/opinion.

:eyes:

[msgadget]

2. Is there any elected politician saying this out loud?

Hell, I can connect the dots, along with bloggers and op-ed writers but I haven't seen or heard a pol say it recently. Maybe they haven't had time to respond...or I missed. This isn't a rhetorical question or sarcasm, I'd really like to know if there's a pol pointing this out.

[progressiveright]

4. i saw that coming miles and years away

bush kept alienating true conservatives with his deficits and increasing government spending and refusal to cut social programs in substancial way because that costs votes as well, but when when he finally is forced to face a choice between cutting social programs and cutting programs that gives taxpayers money to corporations, guess what's gonna go...

[JDPriestly]

5. When these cut-backs start hurting

the middle class, people will start voting Democratic, and days of regimes like Bush's will be numbered. That's why we have to stay positive and patient and focus on the suffering Bush is causing ordinary, hard-working people and the solutions we have for that suffering. Democrats are doing the right thing by unifying party embers around specific concepts and concrete proposals on each issue. Kerry is doing that on healthcare for children. Applying his method to higher education, We should invite students who have had to quit school because they could not afford tuition, books or living expenses and graduates who are having difficulty paying back high interest loans to tell us about their problems. Then we need to tell them what we will do for them if elected, and get them to sign petitions and work with us on to elect Democrats.

Bush thinks he is destroying the government's ability to fund programs by cutting back the taxes on his wealthy friends. He's wrong. No tax cut can really be made "permanent." Even an amdendment to the Constitution can be repealed -- remember Prohibition? When the misery index really hits, when working/middle class people can no longer afford to educate themselves or their children, when they can't afford their mortgages, when their employers stop offering group health care plans, when hospitals have to close because they can't afford to provide care for the hoards of patients without healthcare, etc. -- working/middle class people will have second thoughts and start supporting higher taxes on the very wealthy.

We have to keep the faith in the meantime. Staying aware of the needs of the American people and positive about how great Democrats are for America are the keys to winning in the future. Democrats are good for America. Let's keep reminding people of that fact.

In the 20th Century, Democrats lead America in its greatest moments. We will lead America to greatness again.

[NJCher]

7. when the cutbacks start hurting?

Ya' think?

I don't. The cutbacks are already hurting and in a big way.

A couple days ago they interviewed the Harvard researcher who did the study on bankruptcy on NPR. Half of the personal bankruptcies that were filed were because of medical reasons and they were filed BY PEOPLE WITH INSURANCE. In other words, even if you spend $500 or more per person per month for insurance, there's still a good chance you'll be wiped out financially.

When asked about the forces causing such a situation (you and I both know it is because corporations have no regulation because "our" regulators are busy partying in the Bahamas with the lobbyists), she said, "The American middle class is being squeezed now like at no other time in history." At this point the host shut her up and ended the show. She wanted to expand on that point and I certainly wanted to hear what she had to say but even "liberal" NPR in liberal NY wasn't having any of it.

The r-w has poisoned the name liberal and all that it stands for. Many people, particularly people in the red states, see "no alternative" rather than voting Democratic.

Maybe Howard Dean can turn it around. It is my one hope.

The other possibility is that the world forces that are isolating the U.S. will cause an economic crash here. When gas for their SUVs is $4 or 5 a gallon, the lazy, stupid Americans might wake up.

In the meantime, the corporate media makes sure that Democrats get no coverage for the good things that they do so the American public barely even knows about John Kerry's position on children and health insurance.

We do need to do the things you say in your post, JDPriestly, but the effects significantly muted by the right's control of the media.


Cher

[hector459]

8. Those non-thinking college students who favor Bush's SS plan....

wonder what they think about his actions regarding Perkins loans? Wonder if they even know what his position is. And an increase in Pell grants of $500 over five years is $100 per year. What a slap in the face to poor families. It's like saying "you don't deserve any help with higher education."

And media still gives these bastards a pass.

[stray cat]

9. kick