By: Rmuse
July 24th, 2012
Around the globe there is a feeling that America is the land of
unlimited opportunity where anyone can prosper in the richest country in
the history of the world. There was never unlimited opportunity in
America, but ambition, hard work, and perseverance could earn anyone a
good life and a semblance of security in their old age. However, since
the 1980s, conservatives have chipped away at the so-called American
Dream and slowly transformed America into a land where the wealthy
absorbed the nation’s riches at the expense of the rest of the
population, and after over 30 years are on pace to achieve their goal of
universal poverty in the land of opportunity. The increasing poverty
numbers in America seem to be a badge of honor for Republicans whose
economic agenda is founded on providing the richest Americans with as
much wealth as they can drain from the peasants as a sacrificial
offering to earn the favor of the wealthy elite.
In the fall, new census figures for 2011 will tell Americans what
many already know; poverty is growing at an alarming rate and there is
little hope for any improvement in this Republican economy. In fact,
looking back over the past couple of years, it is apparent that the
increase in poverty is the result of a concerted effort by Republicans
to finish the job they started when Reagan was president. That is
another article.
As poverty spreads across the country as a result of underemployment,
lower wages, cutbacks in assistance, and outsourcing, economic experts
cite specific causes that just so happen to be the heart and soul of the
Republican economic agenda proposed by Paul Ryan and Willard Romney and
supported by every Republican in Congress. What makes matters worse is
that for millions of Americans at or near poverty, the prospect of
falling through the cracks and ending up destitute are guaranteed if
Republicans slash unemployment benefits, Medicaid, wages, public sector
jobs, public assistance, and particularly food stamps. However,
diminishing public benefits is not the only culprit and as economist
Peter Edelman, director of Georgetown Center on Poverty Inequality and
Public Policy noted, outsourcing, automation, and less unionization is
pushing most median household incomes lower adding to the number of
Americans in poverty. Analysts’ estimates are that at least 47 million
Americans lived in poverty last year with the old number of 22% of
children living in poverty increasing drastically, and they expect the
numbers to rise until at least 2014. If Republicans are successful
slashing food stamps, housing and heating assistance, Medicaid, and
other public assistance programs, there is little hope that millions
more Americans will not live in poverty for the foreseeable future.
The Republican economic agenda of cutting food stamps, wages,
Medicare and Medicaid, public sector jobs, and breaking unions is not
about reducing the deficit or balancing the budget, it is about funding
tax cuts for the wealthy, and if millions more Americans slip into
poverty, then as John Boehner says, so be it. It appears Republicans are
finally within reach of creating poverty levels reminiscent of the
1960s that prompted then-President Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty that
created Medicaid, Medicare, and many other social welfare programs.
Those programs are favorite targets of Republicans who are promising to
eliminate or drastically reduce if they gain control of Congress and
the White House in what they call fiscal responsibility. It’s not news
that the Ryan and Romney budgets will blow up the deficit with
unrealistic tax cuts for the wealthy, but deficit reduction is an
oft-repeated canard for creating more wealth at the top at the expense
of 98% of the population.
The American people overwhelmingly oppose cuts to anti-poverty
programs, and 79% correctly cite the ever-widening income gap between
rich and poor as the cause of growing destitution in the population. In a
Public Religion Research Institute survey last November, over 67%
oppose cutting federal funding for social programs that help the poor as
a means of deficit reduction, and yet the only deficit reduction plans
from Republicans are Draconian cuts to food stamps, public assistance
programs, Medicare, Social Security, and public sector jobs. For the
past three years, Republicans have perpetuated high poverty numbers by
refusing to fund infrastructure projects or pass any of the President’s
jobs plans because they claim the country is broke, but they have had no
problems pushing for more tax cuts for the wealthy or reducing tax
rates for corporations that are posting record profits as they outsource
jobs, reduce wages, and hide money in offshore accounts to avoid paying
taxes.
The GOP caused the economic recession that helped send millions of
Americans into poverty, and they are attempting to take the country back
to the same situation that nearly crashed the world economy with
deregulation, unfunded tax cuts for the rich, and two unfunded wars.
Their austerity program for 98% of the nation will send poverty levels
skyrocketing and analysts predict that the numbers coming out in
September may indicate that child poverty increased to a point that
America will finally achieve Republicans’ coveted number one rating for
the highest percentage of children living in poverty in the world. At
present, America is number two. Willard Romney’s proposed tax plan will
eliminate tax credits and food stamps that keep working-poor families
from dire poverty, as well as send many middle class families
precariously close to poverty level existence. Romney said he doesn’t
worry about the very poor and proves it by promising to eliminate social
safety nets to make room for tax cuts for the one percent.
The conservative think tank, Heritage Foundation, believes that
America’s social safety nets have outlived their usefulness and that it
is time to bring them to an end. Robert Rector, a senior research
fellow, says he is worried that news of increased poverty will cause
advocates for the poor to use rising poverty rates to justify additional
spending on the poor that he claims live in houses, drive cars, own
microwave ovens, and have a television. The Heritage Foundation authored
the Ryan Path to Prosperity budget that if enacted, will guarantee that
the poor live on the streets, go hungry, and lose those storied symbols
of wealth and prosperity; microwave ovens and televisions. It is a
sick, twisted mindset that sees poverty rates rivaling third world
countries as proof that social safety nets have worked their magic and
need to be eliminated to make room for more tax cuts for the wealthy and
their corporations. But that is the conservative mindset that every bit
of the wealth in America is rightly owed to the richest 1% and if it
means rising poverty, homelessness, child hunger, and a population
without healthcare, then so be it.
Republicans have abandoned any precept of caring for the American
people who are not the wealthy elite. Their economic malfeasance is
solely responsible for the economic stagnation the nation is suffering,
and their persistent attempts at cutting social safety nets will ensure
that whatever the poverty numbers reveal in September, they will not be
high enough to stop the slash and burn economic agenda to provide the
rich with what little wealth 98% of the population still holds. There
was a time when the American Dream was attainable for every American
willing to work hard, follow the rules, and persevere, but the dream
vanished when Republicans began their march toward plutocracy that
culminated in the Great Recession of 2008-2009. It is difficult to
comprehend, but Republicans are deliberately sabotaging any chance of
any American ever achieving a decent life and as they cut wages, reduce
the public workforce, eliminate social safety nets, and hand the wealthy
more tax cuts, it is obvious that they revel in the news that America’s
poverty rates are extraordinarily high for the richest country in the
world, and if they are successful, America will finally be the nation of
peasants they have worked tirelessly to create for over thirty years.
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