Holy shit...
Jim Hightower doesn't pull any punches! (much more at the link)
On Sunday, he waved his white hankie of surrender in the debt ceiling battle, agreeing to a disastrous deal ruthlessly pushed by the loopiest of the tea party extremists in the Republican House. It slashes some nearly $1 trillion from national programs that ordinary Americans count on, puts Social Security and Medicare at risk, and promises to make our depressed economy, and even the deficit, worse.
Obama also cravenly conceded to the demand by GOP/tea party corporatists that those fortunate few at the tippy-top of our economy make no sacrifice whatsoever to the goal of deficit reduction. Tax-dodging corporations, hedge-fund profiteers and the richest 1 percent of our nation's plutocratic elite are allowed by this sorry deal to retain every dime of their subsidies, tax breaks and other federal giveaways.
Not to worry, though, for as our champ signed his abject capitulation into law on Tuesday, he said that stage two of the deficit reduction process will be better. The pampered and privileged few, he insisted, will also have to "chip in," reassuring all who will be harmed by this week's deal that he'll be "fighting for" fundamental principles of fairness in the next one.
But we've all seen again and again that this guy "fights" by backing up and begging for compromise. For example, even as he caved in last December to Republican demands that the ridiculous Bush tax cuts for the superrich be continued, he talked tough about fighting for fairness "next time." When will next time be now?
He rightly goes after him for capitulating to the Republicans and doing exactly what will contract our economy, not strengthen it. As he points out, "consumer spending accounts for about 70% of our country's economic growth" and people who are impoverished aren't going to be bolstering the economy with their increasingly meager dollars, unemployment is destined to continue (and worsen, IMO). Corporations only hire when they need employees -- low consumer spending --> increasing unemployment.
The above was obvious to me in the
last economic retraction. They'll continue starving the little guy and the economy will continue to splutter along.
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