Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty.
Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act.
Liberals created Medicare.
Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act.
What did Conservatives do?
They opposed them on every one of those things...every one.
So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor."
To what other conclusion can one come about AARP, ostensibly named the "American Association for Retired People" than that they are useless, ineffectual?
Sure, you can get discounts to buy things if you want, if you join as a member but when it comes down to representing, really representing those "retired people", do they do anything?
When one political party in this nation not only comes out for taking funds from even just Social Security, let alone Medicare and then Medicaid, too, all so already-wealthy people can get still more of the nation's wealth, does the AARP do anything? Do they speak up? Do they attack even the IDEA of depleting the Social Security fund, let alone the political party that wants to do this?
Oh, hell no.
No, they don't.
Not only do they not attack the idea or the person proposing it or the idea, AARP does----nothing.
And it's not that this has only happened once that a person in that political party has tried attacking, depleting the Social Security fund, as just one example, it keeps happening, again and again, over the years.
AARP?
Silent. Deafeningly silent. Not a word.
If you're a member and get their magazine in the mail, what are the articles about? Some examples:
--Commit Yourself to an Exercise Routine
--Get Financial Advice Without Going Broke
--Test Your Knowledge of Voting Facts
--Find the Best Health Care Where You Live
And this one. I love this next one:
--Why a Vacation Might Make You Feel Better
Like we need an article for that.
All no doubt fine articles but let me say this again---ONE POLITICAL PARTY IS REPEATEDLY, OVER THE YEARS, WORKING, FIGHTING TO DEPLETE THE SOCIAL SECURITY FUND.
And if you're an AARP member, you wouldn't know it.
It's almost as though they don't want to upset or alienate any people in that political party--let's go ahead and say it---Republicans, either members or, God forbid, members of Congress.
Sure, don't upset any Republican or Republicans, even though they vote and have voted, time and again, to drain the Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid funds for other purposes.
And the latest use or attempted use of Social Security funds?
Well, those pesky Republicans voted for TAX CUTS FOR THE ALREADY-WEALTHY AND CORPORATIONS earlier this year. It's blowing up the deficit so THEY WANT TO TAKE MONEY FROM SOCIAL SECURITY and what they call "entitlements" to pay for those now deficits. Don't believe it? Check out the very recent headline:
You would think that, since they're supposed to be for retired people--it is in their name, after all--that each and every time a politician, any politician, from any party, even mentioned, once, aloud, draining the Social Security fund or Medicare or Medicaid, that that same organization would be screaming bloody murder to its members to, for heaven sake, contact their representative and express their disbelief and strong support for these programs.
But AARP?
Not a word. Never. Not a peep.
But if you want a tote bag with your new membership and 5% off your next purchase of some tchotchke or a roadside atlas or advice on why you might enjoy a vacation, well, then, AARP is just the group for you.
Besides the fantastic leaders the Republicans have foisted on us---think Nixon, Trump and Greitens, as just 3 quick examples--it seems we just keep getting yet more gifts from these people. This news story broke today.
So they railed against big budgets and too much spending for 8 years while a Democrat was in the White House but when they get their own man in there, what do they do? Do they slash spending and whittle down the deficit they hate so much?
Heck no!
They've done quite the opposite, as we keep seeing! First it was with their budget giveaway for the already-wealthy and corporations.
Then look what they've done to "Obamacare" and health care in the nation, folks.
The stupidity of Trumpcare: Government will spend $33 billion more to cover 8.9 million fewer Americans, as premiums soar
They wanted to make sure they undid President Obama's legacy on health care, for sure. So we'll all be paying more for health insurance, fewer will have coverage and so, access to health care and then the nation will spend more to get it all.
Fantastic, no?
Finally, here are just two of the results of their tax plan.
They famously, even infamously did it in and to Kansas, as we all watched, right next door, from 2012 to today with Governor Brownback's and the Republican Party's tax cuts for the already-wealthy and corporations.
Did anyone learn?
Oh, heck no. So here we go again. Some more. But on a larger, national scale now.
God help them if they go after Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other budgets.
For the love of God and all that's good, someone, someone tell me why anyone but the wealthy votes Republican.
I am really more than a bit tired of the trend--because that's all it is, a trend--to be against or to out and out hate government.
Like most trends, it's tiresome but this one goes beyond that. It's not just wrong but wrong-headed, too
Seems Right Wingers and Republicans and Libertarians, all, at minimum, like to rail against government. They sometimes literally say or will write, on social media, that "government doesn't do anything right."
To that I like to point out just a few of the things government has gotten us all.
Note that's "healthy and employed" so they can stay at work and be productive and benefit our society, locally and nationally. So there aren't just costs to Medicare and Medicaid, to be clear. There are benefits as well.
Heck, "gubmint" took us all, took man to the moon, for God's sake, no small task.
Again, this is a case of all of us benefiting, too, due to "gubmint", these regulations called the Clean Air Act of 1970 and what it's done for us. We live longer lives, better lives, healthier lives and so, more productive lives because we require companies to pollute less. It's a total win for all, including those companies.
Have governments, has our government, at times gone wrong, done wrong by the very people it is to serve?
Of course.
Has there been, is there waste in government?
Most certainly.
But it's up to us, the people, to keep our government on the "straight and narrow." Things will go wrong, things will be done poorly or wrongly and/or not at all, at times. But government can do and has done great things, over time, certainly.
Remember when the so-called President said he was going to donate his salary?
He just accepted his second paycheck. Says he'll pay it back later.
Remember when he said Mexico was going to pay for the wall?
He has asked Congress to appropriate the $25 billion of taxpayer money to cover costs.
Remember when he said he was going to divest from his businesses?
He changed his mind.
Remember when he said he was going to release his tax returns?
Again, changed his mind.
Remember when he said he wasn't going to go on vacation or play golf?
5 of the last 7 weekends he went on vacation and played golf, costing taxpayers $11.1 million.
And he's going again this weekend.
Remember when he said he was going to use American steel to build these dangerous pipelines?
Russian steel arrived last week for the Keystone Pipeline XL.
Remember when he said would defeat ISIS in 30 days?
He still has no plan whatever.
Remember when he said he was going to appropriate money to historic Black colleges?
He lied to get a photo-op.
Remember when he said he was going to drain the swamp of Washington insiders?
His cabinet is filled with lobbyists, oil and Wall Street executives.
Remember when he said he wasn't going to cut social security and Medicare?
The Republican bill does just that.
Remember when he said that nobody on his campaign has any communications with Russian govt?
7 in his administration--so far--have now admitted they spoke and/or met with Russian officials, after they lied and got caught.
Remember when he said that the Obamacare replacement would cover more people at lower cost?
The AHCA that the GOP and he are now pushing; they now admit will cover fewer people at a higher cost.
So here's to you, Trump voters, Trump supporters.
Unless you regret that vote and now, that support, the rest of us out here in America have no idea what you're thinking. You got duped but we have to pay the costs for your mistakes, too. And the poor and elderly have to pay a "higher price" than just about any of us.
Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty.
Liberals ended segregation.
Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act.
Liberals created Medicare.
Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act.
What did Conservatives do?
They opposed them on every one of those things...every one!
So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor."
Conservatives, also, under the George W. Bush administration, got us into two, count 'em, two wars and crashed the economy, too, by the way. And by economy, I don't just mean the US, national economy, I mean the world economy. There was very nearly a global, economic meltdown.
More.
“If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people-their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties-someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal", then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal.”
The Seven Biggest Economic Lies from economist Robert Reich:
1. Tax cuts for the rich trickle down to everyone else.
Baloney.
Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush both sliced taxes on the rich and what happened? Most Americans' wages (measured by the real median wage) began flattening under Reagan and has dropped since George W. Bush. Trickle-down economics is a cruel joke.
2. Higher taxes on the rich would hurt the economy and slow job growth.
False.
From the end of World War II until 1981, the richest Americans faced a top marginal tax rate of 70 percent or above. Under Dwight Eisenhower it was 91 percent. Even after all deductions and credits, the top taxes on the very rich were far higher than they've been since. Yet the economy grew faster during those years than it has since. (Don't believe small businesses would be hurt by a higher marginal tax; fewer than 2 percent of small business owners are in the highest tax bracket.)
3. Shrinking government generates more jobs.
Wrong again.
It means fewer government workers -- everyone from teachers, fire fighters, police officers, and social workers at the state and local levels to safety inspectors and military personnel at the federal. And fewer government contractors, who would employ fewer private-sector workers. According to Moody's economist Mark Zandi (a campaign advisor to John McCain), the $61 billion in spending cuts proposed by the House GOP will cost the economy 700,000 jobs this year and next.
4. Cutting the budget deficit now is more important than boosting the economy.
Untrue.
With so many Americans out of work, budget cuts now will shrink the economy. They'll increase unemployment and reduce tax revenues. That will worsen the ratio of the debt to the total economy. The first priority must be getting jobs and growth back by boosting the economy. Only then, when jobs and growth are returning vigorously, should we turn to cutting the deficit.
5. Medicare and Medicaid are the major drivers of budget deficits.
Wrong.
Medicare and Medicaid spending is rising quickly, to be sure. But that's because the nation's health-care costs are rising so fast. One of the best ways of slowing these costs is to use Medicare and Medicaid's bargaining power over drug companies and hospitals to reduce costs, and to move from a fee-for-service system to a fee-for-healthy outcomes system. And since Medicare has far lower administrative costs than private health insurers, we should make Medicare available to everyone.
6. Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.
Don't believe it.
Social Security is solvent for the next 26 years. It could be solvent for the next century if we raised the ceiling on income subject to the Social Security payroll tax. That ceiling is now $106,800.
7. It's unfair that lower-income Americans don't pay income tax.
Wrong.
There's nothing unfair about it. Lower-income Americans pay out a larger share of their paychecks in payroll taxes, sales taxes, user fees, and tolls than everyone else.
Oh, and it was Dubya's administration that made it illegal--ILLEGAL, mind you--for our own government to be able to negotiate lower costs for our--for you and me out here in America--prescription drugs from the pharmaceuticals.
And people think the current President is out to do bad things to the public NOW, by making the most expensive health care system in the world more affordable for us?
"As we begin debating competing budget plans, regressives want Americans to believe the fundamental issue is the size of government, but it's not. It's whom the government is for. Wall Street got bailed out, and the biggest banks are still reaping a huge financial advantage by their implicit guarantee they'll be bailed out if they get into trouble. But underwater homeowners are still in jeopardy. Big agribusiness, Big Pharma, and Big Oil all get special subsidies and unique tax breaks. Military contractors are already planning their post-sequester moves. The wealthy are the largest beneficiaries of the tax preference given capital gains. Hedge fund and private-equity managers still get their own "carried interest" loophole. The rich can deduct unlimited mortgage interest on mansions as well as second and third mansions, while a majority of Americans now rent their homes and have no mortgage interest deduction at all. The Medicare drug benefit is a giant give-away to the pharmaceutical industry. Social Security tax revenues continue to grow as a proportion of federal revenues while corporate tax revenues continue to shrink. Were we to rid ourselves of these special bailouts, subsidies, and tax giveaways, we could reduce the budget deficit and have enough left to invest in the future of our people (world-class education, infrastructure, and basic R&D). We would not have to do it on the backs of the middle class and the poor, or to the disadvantage of our children our seniors, but by placing responsibility on those best able to bear it." --Robert Reich, political economist, professor, author, and political commentator. He served in the administrations of PresidentsGerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and was Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997. Links:
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