Reject the Fiscal Cliff, Tax the Rich, Invest in Infrastructure and Services
DSA rejects the “fiscal
cliff” hysteria of the corporate establishment and the pressure for a “Grand
Bargain” that would cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. While unemployment
remains high and economic growth slow, the government should not impose
austerity measures that reduce essential programs that benefit the middle and
working classes and that further shred the safety net for the most vulnerable.
Rather, government policy should prioritize investments in job creation, public
education and healthcare reform, while raising essential revenues by taxing the
large corporations and wealthiest citizens who can afford to pay.
Those who will suffer. Photo. D. Bacon
Immediately after the
election, Wall Street-backed foundations such as Third Way and the Concord
Coalition organized a “Campaign to Fix the Debt” to spin the election results
as a mandate for a “bi-partisan” focus on reducing the deficit as the highest
national priority. For decades the billionaire Pete Peterson has funded groups
that claim that the universal entitlement programs Social Security and Medicare
are bankrupting the nation and that their future growth must thus be
drastically trimmed. These neoliberals
scored an initial success in 2011 when the Simpson-Bowles Congressional Commission
put to a vote a long-term “budget compromise” that would have instituted three
times as much in budget cuts than in tax increases.
If your tax bill goes up
$2,200 a year, or you're one of the millions who would stop receiving
unemployment benefits, the cause of your economic pain is not some a natural
disaster, or a major structural flaw in the economy. The cause is Republican
fear of being beaten in a primary by people like Sarah Palin, Sharon Angel or
Richard Mourdock - funded by far Right Wing oligarchs like Sheldon Adelson and
the Koch Brothers. It's that simple.
