An economics, investment, trading and policy blog with a focus on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). We seek the truth, avoid the mainstream and are virulently anti-neoliberalism.
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Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Cutting the deficit on the backs of those who can least afford it
Here's how they attack the deficit, by going after those who can least afford it. Disgraceful.
Some of the cuts include:
-The Women, Infants and Children nutrition program is cut $504 million
-Assistance to state and local law enforcement by $415 million
-The Environmental Protection Agency is cut by $1.6 billion
-The Homeland Security Department sees significant cuts as well: $226 million
-FEMA first-responder grants are cut by $786 million
-Community healthcare centers lose $600 million
-HIV and other disease-prevention funds are cut by $1 billion
-Low-income heating assistance is cut $390 million
-Community Development Funds are cut $942 million
-Federal highway investment is cut $650 million
And it's even more disgraceful that Democrats didn't fight harder to resist this.
Here's one you overlooked, Mike.
ReplyDeleteIRS Funding Cut Days Before Report Shows $330 Billion In Uncollected Taxes
Sam Stein: "As part of the budget deal hashed out on Friday evening, lawmakers agreed that no additional federal funds would be used to hire new IRS agents.
Then on Monday, the Government Accountability Office publicly released a study showing that, as of the end of fiscal year 2010, roughly $330 billion in federal taxes had never been paid -- an amount that, if collected, would represent nearly nine times the amount of savings as the budget itself."
Anyone see a pattern here?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI'm on the MMT'r platform and I say to all the democrats and republicans that they are not really democrats and republicans, as the likes of which haven't been seen since the 70's and 80's.
ReplyDeleteTom, the pattern I see is one of institutionalized kleptocracy.
ReplyDeleteCrony capitalism, Joe. Lynn Paramore's interview with Thomas Ferguson gives the details. Scroll down to the heading, "How did the 1994 Republican victory affect Congress itself?," where he talks about auctioning off committee chairs to those that bring in the most contributions. Naturally, those chairs deliver to the donors. It is pure graft. Both parties are corrupt because of the institutional arrangements in an era of super-expensive campaigns.
ReplyDeleteConversation With Thomas Ferguson: How Political Money Drives Deadlock
Hello Here is the USAID web site. None of this budget money has been cut to my knowledge.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.usaid.gov/policy/budget/money/