Blood from a Stone

Above:  Erskine Bowles having a good 

laugh over Alan Simpson's fake budget

cutting proposal.

So you thought you'd tightened the belt about as much as you could?  Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles beg to differ.

They are proposing cuts in Social Security and Medicare as well as Defense spending; while we're at it, let's "level the playing field" on taxation, so that even those who are holding on to their mortgage by a thread can forego the interest deduction that they count on.

In the middle of the craziness wherein the republic party is insisting we cut spending while not cutting taxes on their corporate cronies, these guys have tossed in the kitchen sink.  And they did it pretty much by sneaking in in the middle of the night and slipping it in the President's in-basket when he wasn't looking.

I am looking forward to the day that the Tea Baggers who gave the House back to their republic friends realize that the government is now seriously considering taking away their Medicare.

It should be an interesting time, if we are able to live through it.  There are people out there who have no idea what it is like to not be able to afford to send your children to the doctor, much less to college.  They don't get that without public transportation, some of us can't get to work, because we don't make enough to be able to afford a car with it's expensive accoutrements, like taxes, insurance, repairs, and don't forget, gas.  People that believe in Reagan's trickle down theory, because they are the tricklers, not the tricklees.  And we just put them in charge of our government, again.


If Reaganomics worked, we wouldn't have record foreclosures and more than 50 million Americans without health care.  If the Bush tax cuts worked, we would all have jobs and be earning a living wage.


The thing is, if you take away the safety net, as thin as it is, it is going to cost the government more to clean up the mess.


But the thing is, really, that this is about people.  People trying to work, trying to pay bills, trying to take care of their families, trying to make it to retirement age.


We aren't going to be ready to move forward until those who have the means contribute their fair share.  All those other cuts Alan Simpson, the tea baggers, and the republic party are proposing are trying to get blood from a stone.  It doesn't work.