Our Government: By the Wealthy, For the Wealthy

[marmar]

from the Transport Politic blog:


Our Government: By the Wealthy, For the Wealthy


The sequester, which went into effect at the beginning of last month, cut more than $85 billion from the federal budget for this year alone. Its cuts, whose impacts will continued to be felt through 2021, were disproportionately focused on domestic programs. Public transportation, for instance, was dramatically affected: Almost $600 million was cut from funding directed towards mitigating the effects of Hurricane Sandy; another $104 million was cut from capital investment grants that fund new train and bus lines; Amtrak lost $80 million.

Other cuts, such as those to the nation’s affordable housing, Head Start, schools, and meals for seniors, are even more devastating for the nation’s least well-off.

Congress, however, has been incapable of addressing the issue, allowing the cuts to these essential programs to reinforce America’s growing concentration of wealth, low tax rates for the wealthy, and limited social welfare aid. Austerity, which is the intellectual justification supporting these cuts to federal spending, has been shown to only encourage economic stagnation – and often do so at the expense of the least well-off. Yet the national legislature has, as if in complete disinterest, sat idly by as the cuts set in.

That is, until it became obvious that the sequester was affecting the performance of the Congressional elite’s favorite program: Federal support for air travel. Congresspeople, apparently, just couldn’t support having their flights delayed. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2013/04/26/our-government-by-the-wealthy-for-the-wealthy/

[BlueCaliDem]

1. Our Government: Of the People, by the People, exclusively for the Personhoods.

That's how it should read since we're the only ones paying taxes to keep this government afloat while personhoods get all the benefits AND our taxpayer dollars for whatever they please.

[xchrom]

2. Du rec. Nt

[forestpath]

3. And they all joke around together at a glitzy dinner while people go hungry and cold

due to the 1% calling the shots. It's sickening. And I get the exact same feeling when I see Obama at those press dinners as I did with Bush.

[socialist_n_TN]

4. I just finished a draft for an article on the Worker's Power website.........

about the various budget proposals and it included a section on the sequester and some of it's effects on the working class and poor. The research was interesting and rage inducing.

This kind of shit is WHY I'm a commie.

[Laelth]

5. k&r for the truth, however depressing it may be. n/t

-Laelth

[davidn3600]

6. What do you expect when we only elect millionaires

We've pretty much created an elitist class of politicians that the average, working man cannot ever possibly crack into.

[CrispyQ]

7. This^^^ & this:

[CrispyQ]

8. Grrrrr...

The swift and bipartisan response to the problem of slowed air travel leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. While the bill did not approve new funds to the FAA, it effectively forced the agency to shift funds around in a way to ensure that Congresspeople (and admittedly, all American air travelers) could get around the country more quickly.

There of course has been no similar rush to, for instance, shift funds away from the subsidies provided to the oil industry to support mass transit, or to shift funds away from the mortgage interest tax deduction to support affordable housing. Why? Because the Congress, in this quick response to a national problem, has shown itself to be completely concerned with government issues that affect the nation’s wealthy but unaffected by a loss of government aid to the poor. Democrats, who might have used this situation to argue for restoring essential funds for social programs, simply abdicated responsibility, mostly choosing to vote in line with the GOP here.

More & more I feel we are not going to vote our way out of this mess.

[LovingA2andMI]

10. K/R~~~

And this:

"Democrats, who might have used this situation to argue for restoring essential funds for social programs, simply abdicated responsibility, mostly choosing to vote in line with the GOP here."

YEAP!!

[Skittles]

12. that abdication of responsibiliy was DEFENDED by some DUers

they STILL have their heads in the sand

[L0oniX]

9. Poor people can't afford to contribute to political campaigns = fuck you little people.

[caraher]

11. It's been a very instructive moment symbolically

The speed with which this problem was diagnosed and solved by a Congress that normally can't agree on anything of substance is an utterly unambiguous demonstration that they work for an elite and not the good of the country.