We have to get rid of every last one of these scumbag
Republicans:
Congress reached a deal Thursday to avert a shutdown that would have begun at midnight tonight, and in doing so, Republicans found another low-income program to target, cutting funding for subsidies that help the poor stay warm during the winter by nearly 25 percent. At the same time, however, the Pentagon’s budget is getting a 1 percent boost, as the Associated Press noted:
Highlights of the $1 trillion-plus 2012 spending legislation in Congress:
—$518 billion for the Pentagon’s core budget, a 1 percent boost, excluding military operations overseas. […]
—$3.5 billion for low-income heating and utility subsidies, a cut of about 25 percent.
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) has become increasingly vital for American families affected by the recession, and it is utilized more and more by military families. One of every five families using LIHEAP is a military family, a 156 percent increasefrom 2008. Congress, however, decided to cut that program to give a boost to a budget that already makes up 20 percent of the country’s total budget and has been spared in multiple spending agreements this year (the super committee trigger a notable exception).
Plenty of evidence exists that Congress should be focused on investing into programs that boost economic growth and job creation, rather than chasing fiscal austerity toward another recession. If it insists on cutting spending to deal with the deficit now, however, the least it could do is not take the knife to each and every program that helps the poor.
“Share the wealth”…..Part II. Historically (from 1789 to 1981) when profits rose, wages went up and when profits fell, wages went down. In the aggregate. Higher profits are a result of increasing labor productivity and/or the introduction of labor saving devices into the workplace. Since Reagan (1981) increasing profits have resulted in either stagnating or falling wages. A new normal. This new normal triggered a massive transfer of wealth away from the 99% and into the hands of the top 1%. Reagan began our march back into feudalism and Bill Clinton accelerated our journey backwards into the darkness. To be continued…..
Perhaps if someone could explain that money spent on heating assistance for the poor is actually a subsidy to the energy industry?
Death Panels must be set up to determine which of the poor will die due to lack of heat.
Republicans are mad about criticizing possible Death Panels, so why not turn it on them? Dying from hypothermia is a pretty sure way of offing the poor, so go for it, you scum sucking bog dwellers who coddle the One Percent!