Friday, April 8, 2011

What makes me angry? Republican hypocrisy in the budget debates

The Republican Party claims that they speak for all Americans and that we all want to cut government spending to the bone and want further tax cuts. They are in fact not serious about cutting spending, they only want to cut programs which do not fit into their social agenda. And they do not speak for me.

Want some evidence?

On Tuesday March 1st Republicans in the House of Representative voted unanimously to continue tax subsidies for oil companies. Yes, you read that correctly. Republicans gave billions of dollars of tax subsidies to companies such as ExxonMobil and BP.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/05/oil_company_subsidies.html
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/01/house-gop-oil-subsidies/

Speaking for all Americans on this issue? I don't think so. 74% of Americans oppose these subsidies:
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/03/03/americans-oil-subsidies/

Robert Gates, a Republican, became Secretary of Defense under President Bush and was retained in that position by President Obama. He is responsible for putting together the budget request for the Department of Defense. Republicans in Congress are insisting that the DOD needs more money than he is requesting. In particular they insist on continuing a program to create a second jet engine for a new fighter plane. Sec. Gates has asked Congress several years in a row to allow this program to die, it will ultimately cost three billion dollars and the Pentagon considers it unnecessary.

Speaking for all Americans on this issue? I don't think so. 76% of Americans support eliminating unnecessary weapons systems:
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/03/03/americans-oil-subsidies/

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

My message to Congress - Raise Taxes

Senator Schumer,

I believe the Republican Party is determined tear apart the very fabric which generations of Americans have woven together. The ideal of e pluribus unum is being cast aside to appease a vocal minority who believe they never received any help from others and owe nothing to the community at large. They are delusional, all Americans have benefitted from programs such as Head Start, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The Republican Party, despite is rhetoric, appears bent on creating a permanent lower class. In a recent article in Vanity Fair, Joseph Stiglitz wrote: “In terms of income equality, America lags behind any country in the old, ossified Europe that President George W. Bush used to deride. Among our closest counterparts are Russia with its oligarchs and Iran.” - http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105

If we allow this to happen our great country may never recover. If we do not address our budget deficits and keep social programs intact they could be lost forever. The only responsible way to address the issue is to raise taxes. If we give in to the conservative ideologues now it may be several political cycles before we could even broach the subject again. Having any discussion with the Republican Party of spending cuts without talking about increasing revenues is a fool’s errand.

Please stand up for what is best for our country and fight for what is best for all of us now and for generations to come.

Sincerely,

NealnNYC