BACK DOOR PROPOSAL TO END MEDICARE,MEDICAID,& SS

[bjobotts]

There is a shifty proposal Democrats are signing onto that would end Medicare and Medicaid and SS as we know it which is going to be added to the "Raising the Debt Ceiling" proposal. A spending cap proposal called the Corker-McCaskill "Commitment to American Prosperity Act" which caps government spending to a percentage of GDP, which makes it sound harmless as it mentions no specific programs to be cut yet it is much worse than the Ryan Budget for ending these popular and voter supported programs.

Imagine having a cap on government spending and another war or disaster breaks out calling for emergency funds that exceed the spending cap. Now imagine that our treasury is loaded with cash from revenues which could easily cover the emergency. With the spending cap in place we could not use the treasury funds but would instead have to take the money to cover the emergency from other spending programs like Medicare, Medicaid or SS. Ding ding ding...you got it. It's an insane idea which would mean the end of any progressive policies we might wish to enact in the future. It is in fact A DEPRESSION MAKER. I refer you to this article:

A Spending Cut by Any Other Name

Conservative Dems shouldn't be fooled: The "CAP" Act would mandate huge cuts to popular domestic programs -- even when there's a budget surplus.
Heather McGhee | May 2, 2011 |

(here is a brief excert) The cap would also mean major cuts to the entitlement programs that three out of every four Americans want left alone. Here's some context for that 20.6 figure: Under Ronald Reagan, spending on health care and senior citizens was more than a third lower as a share of GDP, and total spending still averaged only 22 percent of GDP. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the proposed cap would lead to cuts of $1.3 trillion from Social Security, $856 billion from Medicare, and $547 billion from Medicaid over the first eight years of its operation. Recall how Republicans' midterm campaign ads about the Affordable Care Act's $400 billion Medicare cuts turned seniors against the party of Medicare? Now Republicans are luring Democrats into endorsing a cap that would cut entitlements even further (and into justifying tax breaks, not expanded health care).

Legislators may assume that the average voter won't grasp how capping spending at our historical average will actually diminish health and retirement benefits. If you're used to thinking about debt in terms of a monthly credit-card bill, capping the credit limit seems reasonable. But if your bills keep growing -- because, for example, you start supporting aging relatives -- capping it will mean you and your family will just have to go without. Sen. Manchin, from a state where one out of every six residents is a senior citizen, tried to have it both ways, endorsing the entitlement-cutting cap while paying lip service to "keep ... our promises to seniors by protecting Social Security and Medicare." But make no mistake, a vote for a global spending cap is a vote to cut Social Security and Medicare, and soon.

Manchin can contradict himself with such ease because a GDP spending cap makes the components of the federal budget even more invisible than they are now. ..." Please follow the link below and read the entire article as this is even more serious than the Ryan budget proposal that passed the House.


This is extremely serious and unless the people attending town halls are well informed this will sound like a good idea so it is up to us to get the word out as many complacent democrats are signing on to this bill and it must be stopped if we are to have a middle class in the future as well as an elderly class. Please read this article as it details the horror of this proposal which some senators will attempt to force onto Obama in order to raise the debt ceiling. Here's the link:

http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=a_spending_cut_by_any_other_name#

It is called an insane depression maker yet senators are signing onto it daily...without knowing the consequences. Make it known.

[Bennyboy]

1. K and R'd.