From age
10 on I have played the card game bridge. When I learned the game I learned its rules and etiquette.
For instance when a trick (cards from each of the four participants hands) are
played you must follow suit; if you would trump in with trump when you had a
card in that suit, that is a renege, or you just cheated. In the golf First Tee commercials a little girl tells you, you don’t do those things.
Last summer
the house and the senate made a deal on mandatory cuts to the budget which
included military and social programs. That was the “Super Committee” a work;
$1.2 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years split evenly between these two
groups.
It now
seems that the GOP extremists wants to renege on the deal. This is how it works.
$36 billion cut from the food stamp program. $23.5 billion cut from Medicaid
and children’s health care. $4.2 bill from hospitals that serve the poor and uninsured.
Finally, 2.8 billion cut from a program that helps homeowners facing foreclosures.
The GOP
package now wants to keep the military budget in place which the American folk
don’t want. 2/3rds of Republicans and 9/10ths of Democrats want these military cuts.
This is
the Tea Party at work and it is just plain immoral.
Jesus
said, “Bring the little children to me.” I don’t think he meant to have 300,000
kids stopped from having free school lunches so we could make more bombs.
No wonder
much of the world sees us as heartless bastards that allow a quarter of our
children to live in poverty. We can afford to take care of them, we just don’t.
With free federal school lunches going to rich kids, and way too many public "servants" in all of these programs getting rich from it, surely there is a lot of fat to cut.
ReplyDelete"That was the “Super Committee” a work; $1.2 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years split evenly between these two groups."
That's nothing, really. That 10 year total is LESS than the total of the debt increase in EACH of Obama's years in office so far.
By rich kids I assume you mean the 25% of children living in poverty. I suppose the rich are getting food stamps as well. And also you think kids in poverty don't deserve health care. Cold man! The point was the Tea Party wants to renege on half the deal and leave the military party. Further you must be in favor of increasing the debt now. Name the "fat" to cut.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a reading comprehension problem? I doubt it, but in this instance you read "rich kids" and in your own mind turned it into poor kids. No, by rich kids I mean the families of middle class or more who are more and more being provided free school lunches. What else would I mean? I said rich kids, not poor kids, so it was very obvious. Families of means don't need handouts.
Delete"I suppose the rich are getting food stamps as well."
It's true. We've had a bit of a scandal in Michigan wiht wealthy students at elite colleges getting food stamps, and even a well publicized case involving a millionaire receiving it. The governor has moved to cut this off (so food stamps only go to the needy). Predictably, the Democrats in a reactionary fashion have spoken out in favor of this needed reform.
"And also you think kids in poverty don't deserve health care. Cold man!"
Well, related to this, there is the federal SCHIP program. It was rather controversial a few years ago. The program was intended for free healthcare for needy children. Which I support. The Dems were pushing to turn this into a handout for adults of means. The Republicans opposed this.
Rich people don't need any of this. Why do you think I am "cold" for wanting to cut off these handouts to people of means while keeping them for the needy, disabled, poor, ill, and indigent?
"Name the "fat" to cut."
There's tons. Hundreds of billions in SS handouts to the wealthy and those with a comfortable retirement. The SCHIP program of free healthcare for adults of means which I just mentioned. Much of the budget of the Department of Commerce, which has governmenbt waste money drumming up business for private companies. Billions of dollars for "official US government media" ranging from NPR to providing programs in foreign countries: all easily zeroed out. A growing number of federal "workers" raking in millions of handouts.
Ah what would I do without you dmarks? Gee I thought rich meant rich in contrast to middle class and especially the poor. That is reading comprehension.
ReplyDeleteAs to the free school lunch program there are national guidelines but local governance. For example:
The public release must also include that:
Households receiving assistance under Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) for their children and, if
applicable, Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) (SNAP,
TANF, FDPIR are referred to as Assistance Programs) or, if their children are
considered Other Source Categorically Eligible (i.e., children categorized as
homeless, runaway, migrant, in Head Start Programs and, as applicable. foster
children), if known, will be notified of their eligibility for free benefits.
o The household must notify the school if it chooses to decline benefits
All children in households with any household member receiving benefits under
Assistance Programs are eligible for free meals.
o Children in Other Source Categorically Eligible Programs are also eligible for
free meals.
o Households should only submit an application if they are not notified of their
child(ren)’s eligibility for free meals by a specified date determined by the
school.
If any child is not identified and notified as above, the household should contact the
child’s school.
This is from the Eligibility Manual for School Lunches.
Again my comments were in the context of the article which was specific the cuts proposed in social programs.
As the the SCHIP program, seems to me. Again could you be specific in your charges of abuse. I imagine there are, but I would like documentation, so the issues can be dealt with and enforced as they should be. But it is still a good program.
I'm retired and I fail to see all the goodies I'm supposedly getting. All I know had we not have 35 years of supply side economics my retirement funds would be a lot bigger.
I remain amazed at those who get so excited about mismanagement issues and abuses, which should be fixed but ignore the larger issues of the Rich, and by rich I mean rich being given advantages over the middle class and poor. No other developed country in the world seems as callous as ours in meeting the needs of all their citizens.
The mismanagement and abuses do result in a real scandal: handouts by the government to the wealthy and other people of means. I consider this to be a scandal, since only the needy should get handouts like this.
DeleteI don't consider people working hard and earning money (which is how most of the rich get rich) to be a scandal.