Topics we truly need to be having a National dialog about
Republicans Debating Republicans: Social Welfare Cuts
Wednesday, 19 December 2012 15:05
By Thom Hartmann and Sam Sacks, The Daily Take | Op-Ed
...President Obama should be putting progressive solutions on the table. Things like a financial transaction tax, which could reduce the debt by $1.8 trillion over the next decade.
Or, cutting off taxpayer subsidies to big oil, which total $40 billion over ten years.
Or, ending the massive "capital gains" loophole which sets income taxes on hedge fund managers and vulture capitalists like Mitt Romney at a maximum 15 percent, less than half of what working people can pay.
Or, common sense cuts to our bloated and wasteful Defense Budget.
Or, raising the minimum wage to stimulate the economy and, thus, over the long haul, reduce our debt.
Or, breaking up the big banks to prevent more costly, deficit-expanding bailouts in the future.
Or, creating a single-payer healthcare system to reduce deficit-inducing healthcare costs.
If all of these were on the table, then this would be a robust debate that reflects the political leanings of a center-left nation.
But, they're not, which shows not just of the weakness of President Obama, but also the weakness of the progressive movement when compared with the hard-right movement funded by cranky billionaires like the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson.
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/13438-fiscal-cliff-republicans-debating-republicans
= new reply since forum marked as read
