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apples and oranges

(1,451 posts)
Mon Nov 26, 2012, 04:24 PM Nov 2012

Maybe I've been under a rock but...

I've heard people like Lawrence O'Donnell downplaying the fiscal cliff and I thought the issue was all about whether taxes would return to Clinton rates. I didn't realize that going over the cliff would also slash some very important programs:

Unless Congress and the administration reach a new compromise, come Jan. 2, 2013, discretionary spending, or what most people really consider "government" -- education, transportation and health -- will be slashed by 8.2 percent.

This has dire consequences for the nation's economy. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the economy will shrink and unemployment will rise.

Going over the fiscal cliff will also have a serious impact on public health and access to quality health care for the entire nation now and years to come.

The consequences of going over the fiscal cliff would be devastating for federal health programs and its efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic health and health care disparities. Groups like Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AAs and NHPIs) are disproportionately uninsured and suffer from a number of chronic health conditions, including diabetes, cancer and obesity.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-lim-ko/the-fiscal-cliff-and-health_b_2189089.html


So should Dems go over the cliff anyway and try to re-fund the programs later? Or would the programs be permanently compromised? It sickens me that these questions have to be asked in the first place: The media should tell the truth about how many people republicans are willing to hurt in order to keep their taxes low!
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Egalitarian Thug

(12,448 posts)
4. Exactly. This is just another budget showdown like we've seen dozens of time in the past. They just
Mon Nov 26, 2012, 04:50 PM
Nov 2012

gave it a new name and false sense of urgency because they know they are gone forever in January. The new session will have to deal with all of these issues just as they always have.

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