Squandering America's Future

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Wed, 9 Feb 2005 12:33:02 -0800 (PST)

 

 

Squandering America's Future

 

 

 

Squandering America's Future

Robert L. Borosage

February 08, 2005

 

There's a lot of truth beneath the big numbers in the federal budget.

Behind the millions for this or billions for that, how we allocate

money reveals where we place our national priorities. That's why

Campaign for America's Future's Robert Borosage is so disheartened by

President Bush's new budget.

 

Robert L. Borosage , a veteran strategist and institution builder, is

co-director of the Campaign for America's Future.

 

Beneath the incomprehensive numbers—a $2.57 trillion budget, a $427

billion deficit, a $419 billion military budget—the federal budget is

a moment of truth. It reveals what we value, what kind of nation we

are and what we seek to build. In this regard, the Bush budget is a

stunning disservice to the nation. It offends common decency even as

it cuts investment in our future. It reveals an administration that is

fundamentally out of step with the needs of the American people.

 

In a global economy, it is vital that our children get the best

education in the world. But the Bush budget breaks his promise to fund

reforms of our schools, coming up $9 billion short. He would throw

kids out of Head Start, child care, literacy programs, after-school

programs and leave college priced out of reach to more and more

working families. One in three schools is forced to use trailers as

classrooms, but the president would cut money for school construction

and maintenance. He would slash federal support for vocational

education. His budget forfeits the effort to provide America's

children with even the basics of a good education.

 

America's health care system is broken. Forty-five million people lack

health insurance; millions more are one illness away from bankruptcy.

Yet the president's budget would cut Medicaid, the safety net of

health care programs, hurting the most vulnerable in our

country—seniors in nursing homes, poor children, those most in need of

catastrophic care. His health savings accounts will aid the wealthy

and healthy, but make it more expensive for most Americans to afford

the insurance they need, while giving businesses the excuse to

eliminate coverage.

 

Poverty is rising, with one in five children now living in poverty.

Hunger and malnutrition is up; affordable housing is scarce. Yet the

president's budget will cut food stamps for some 300,000 recipients,

eliminate child care for thousands of poor working mothers and slash

support for affordable housing.

 

Many Americans still don't have safe water, but support for sewage

systems is to be slashed. Support for park land will decline; worker

health and safety violations will rise. Mass transit will be less

available or more costly. America's economy will suffer even more

from an aging infrastructure.

 

On the other hand, America has the most powerful military in the

world, and spends almost as much on its military as the rest of the

world combined. The military is also the largest cesspool of waste,

fraud and abuse in the federal government. But in Bush's budget,

military spending will increase. America will police the world, even

as the Bush budget cuts back support for policing its own streets.

 

We now witness an inequality not seen since the Gilded Age. The

wealthy capture more of the nation's income and wealth, while

middle-income and poor families are losing ground. Yet the president's

budget will extend tax cuts for the very wealthy, even as it cuts

services for the many.

 

The president touts this budget as " lean, " and necessary to bring

deficits under control. But the president's new tax cuts—$1.6 trillion

over 10 years, going overwhelmingly to the wealthiest Americans—and

his continuing wars insure that the debt and deficits will continue to

rise. The next generation will be stuck with the bill.

 

Burden the weak; protect the privileged. Police the world while

neglecting needs at home. Lavish tax breaks on the few while cutting

education and health care for the many. Pass trillions of new debt on

to the next generation. This president's budget offends our values

even as it squanders our future.

 

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/squandering_americas_future.php

 

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