Budget plan wrong for America
KENNEWICK - About a month ago, the House voted on a bill that Republicans had touted as a "Path to Prosperity." Among other things, the bill attempted to balance our national budget by transforming our Medicare system into a voucher program.
They would give each senior a voucher for a set amount, which would increase at a rate of 1 percent above the inflation rate/year. If medical costs exceeded that voucher's value, seniors would be responsible for the difference.
This sounds OK, until you account for the 25-27 percent increase in medical expenses, per year. This "coupon" bill would amount to a $500/month tax increase on our seniors, for their medical expenses, or $6,000/year.
Republicans tried to quiet the fears of our current seniors by telling them, and anyone above the age of 55, that these changes wouldn't effect them- thus forcing seniors to choose between benefits for themselves, or benefits for their children and grandchildren. That is generational warfare, and it's wrong!
Many Republicans, like our Rep. Hastings, took this "coupon" plan around their districts, and told folks that congressional Republicans had no choice. "We're broke!" Rep. Hastings said.
Fair enough, but if we're so broke, why is there a massive tax break for the wealthiest Americans in this bill? And why are Congressional Republicans refusing to end the billions in subsidies for oil companies? Medicare is overwhelmingly utilized by the middle class, and those tax breaks will only benefit the ultra-rich, and the most profitable corporations in world history. Robbing our middle class to give another tax break to millionaires and billionaires is class warfare, and that's wrong!
Both Medicare and Social Security have run with massive surpluses for almost their entire existence, to provide benefits when we knew we would have program deficits. But career politicians, like Rep. Hastings, borrowed from those surpluses year after year, and decade after decade, so they could win elections by bringing more pork back to their districts, while promising lower and lower taxes. That's generational theft, and it's wrong!
If we're serious about solving our current budget, we shouldn't be privatizing Social Security and Medicare, which are wildly popular among 85 percent of this country. We should be repealing the Bush tax cuts for the rich, making corporations pay their share of taxes, ending oil subsidies to the richest companies in the world, who have been cutting thousands of US jobs every year for the last decade, we should end tax loopholes for companies that send US jobs overseas, and yes, the richest in our country should pay more in taxes.
We have the lowest taxes that we've had since the late 1950's, and if 85 percent of Americans like Medicare and Social Security, then our elected officials should be looking for ways to keep these programs going as they are, not cramming their ideological agenda down our throats.