Ed Koch - the SOB backed Bush in '04, but he's right today.

[nickshepDEM]

It's hard to believe, but nevertheless it is true.

The Republican majorities in both Houses were unable to achieve the goal of a $50 billion reduction over the next five years in a total annual federal budget of $2.6 trillion this fiscal year, settling instead for $39.7 billion, a ridiculously small amount. Described by the Chairman of the Committee on the Budget as, “less than one-half of 1 percent of the total mandatory spending projected over the next 5 years.” One-third of the total savings comes from reductions in student programs. College students will be paying higher rates of interest and receiving lower subsidies. The other forced contributors to the meager savings achieved overall are the most vulnerable people, Medicaid beneficiaries with benefits scaled back and co-payments imposed, as well as the elderly whose benefits were reduced.

While many economists -- among them Alan Greenspan, the retiring Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank -- continue to warn of the danger to our economy resulting from rising federal budgetary deficits, little of substance is being done to address the issue. Nothing can be responsibly accomplished as long as the Congress and President are bent on using enormous amounts of tax revenues to enrich those already wealthy, diverting those revenues which should be used to maintain adequate services for those in need, expand our health and education coverage for the entire nation, and reduce the national debt, reducing thereby the huge interest payments on that debt.

Instead, the President and Congress continue to assist the top two percent of America’s taxpayers by providing billions in tax reductions that began in the first four years of the Bush administration. Now they're trying to make them both permanent and larger. Those tax deductions overwhelmingly benefit people who earn more than $300,000 a year, with two percent of the taxpayers getting 37 percent of the tax reductions.
<snip>

I also believe just as firmly in fairness, which requires us to help those who need government assistance. It's not fair that those with the necessary ability should be denied the opportunity to pursue a higher education because they were born into the homes of financially poor parents. The country needs their talents. It is simply wrong that people should suffer because the country’s legislators favor helping those already better off. They are so shameless they have even eliminated subsidies intended to help poor families with their heating bills. Consider how shameful that is when at the same time our government stands by without taking appropriate regulatory and criminal actions against oil companies and foreign countries that violate the existing anti-trust laws intended to protect American consumers.

Continue reading...

[hatrack]

1. Too little, too late

Nothing personal, NickShepDEM, but Ed Koch can go and fuck himself.

[pinerow]

2. Fix your link...leads to Microsoft home page...

nt

[nickshepDEM]

4. thanks. fixed.

[calico1]

3. I agree with him but why is Ed Koch

surprised? He expected something different? Like maybe not penalizing the poor and students? :eyes:

[BillZBubb]

5. Oh please! Koch is crying after he left the barn door open.

He supported the Chimperor and what is happening is no surprise, just a continuation. Democrats should tell Koch to go screw himself. He's the northern Zell Miller.

[cmkramer]

8. No Zell Miller

Miller would heartily endorse the Republican economic package.

However, he's a good example of what is wrong with "one issue" voting. Unless you know that your candidate and the one you chose not to support agree on the issues, you're likely to end up supporting someone whose views you fundamentally disagree with.

[gratuitous]

6. "Consider how shameful . . ."

Gee Ed, what did you expect different when you endorsed His Chimperial Majesty for a second term? Did you honestly think that re-election would soften his hard eyes, and make him more amenable to compromise and change? If you did, then you're an even bigger ignoramus than I thought, if such a thing is possible. You knew, or should have known, that re-election would only confirm for the Chimp that everything he'd done in his first term, right or wrong, had been justified and validated by the electorate, and his depredations would continue unchecked.

Your pathetic and late concern for folks who need government assistance was surely not born out in 2004, and your protestations of Republican shamelessness can be safely ignored by the Republicans now that you've so usefully and idiotically served their purpose.

Go Cheney yourself, Mr. Koch. The folks you now claim to be so concerned about have already been Cheneyed.

[PA Democrat]

7. Ed Koch is just *now* figuring out that the Bush agenda

is to further enrich the filthy rich at the expense of the middle class and the poor? Wow, to say that he is a slow learner, would be kind.

[wyldwolf]

9. Though I've lost respect for Koch, it is a good piece

My favorite passage leads into the last paragraph you quoted:

I deplore fascism, socialism and communism. I'm a believer in the capitalist system that allows you, subject to reasonable restraints and taxes, to use for your own benefit and that of your family your personal abilities -- the skill of your hands and the power of your brain.

But I also believe just as firmly in fairness, which requires us to help those who need government assistance. It's not fair that those with the necessary ability should be denied the opportunity to pursue a higher education because they were born into the homes of financially poor parents. The country needs their talents. It is simply wrong that people should suffer because the country’s legislators favor helping those already better off. They are so shameless they have even eliminated subsidies intended to help poor families with their heating bills. Consider how shameful that is when at the same time our government stands by without taking appropriate regulatory and criminal actions against oil companies and foreign countries that violate the existing anti-trust laws intended to protect American consumers.

Exactly.