Budget debate leaves out the least among us

It is morally unacceptable that the Republican dominated House of Representatives is proposing $60 billion dollars in cuts to next year’s federal budget while a couple of months ago it continued the huge tax cuts for the very rich (regrettably supported by President Obama and the Democrats).

Deficit reduction cannot and should not be on the backs of the poor and middle class.

According to The Los Angeles Times, the House proposal would in California, as an example, significantly reduce funds for job training at the very moment we need to provide jobs.

It would cut Meals on Wheels, cut Pell Grants for needy college students, cut funding for k-12 schools, cut federal funds for transportation losing jobs -- along with major reductions in many other areas.

Where is the conscience of the Republicans that they seem to only want to help the rich and let the poor and struggling middle classes fend for themselves?

They respond that dealing with the deficit is the way to help the poor and the middle class. But then why did they allow the tax breaks for the very rich to be renewed since that only adds significantly to the deficit?

If tax breaks for the rich creates jobs then where were these jobs during the Bush administration when those tax cuts were enacted? Instead very few jobs were created.

Morality has to play a role in these debates about the budget. People have to live up to their Judeo/Christian values of helping the least amongst us. What did Jesus say about feeing those who were hungry?

"Morality has to play a role

"Morality has to play a role in these debates about the budget. People have to live up to their Judeo/Christian values of helping the least amongst us. What did Jesus say about {feeding} those who were hungry?"

Yes. We should feed the hungry; but this does not mean that we should use the government to tax people to do so. In other words, we should set the example of feeding the hungry without forcing people to go along with us.

He said "You feed them,"

He said "You feed them," Mario. You and me, both of us.

In case you haven't noticed, the country is broke. We can't go in paying for the four biggest parts of the Federal budget (in rank order) - Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security, interest on the Federal debt and Defense - by borrowing money from China.

What are you personally willing to give up to return the United States to ongoing, sustainable fiscal solvency & budgetary sanity? Speak up and don't be shy.

Post new comment

NCR Comment code:

  1. Be respectful. Do not attack the writer. Take on the idea, not the messenger.
  2. Use appropriate language. Avoid vulgarities and slurs.
  3. Keep to the point. Deliberate digressions don't aid the discussion.

For more detailed guidelines, visit our User Guidelines page.

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
(if you have one; if not, leave this blank)
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <font> <swf> <swf list>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • You may use <swf file="song.mp3"> to display Flash files inline

More information about formatting options

CAPTCHA
This is to prove you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.