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In High Gear: The GOP Class War
By Max J. Castro
Progreso Weekly
17-23 February 2005 Edition
While President Bush tries to sell the American people on a bogus plan to solve a non-existent social security crisis, real and present crises fester unattended or are aggravated by Republican policies.
Health is a prime example. More than 45 million Americans lack insurance coverage today - not in 2042 - and the number keeps rising. Latinos, the fastest growing population in the country, is also the least likely to have coverage. That’s a bad omen for the future. What is Bush proposing to do about this crisis? Nothing.
But the health care problem in this country is more than just the tragedy of tens of millions of people who lack a basic human right. It’s an economic calamity as well - for the nation and for families and individuals. The United States spends a higher percentage of its Gross Domestic Income (GDP) on health care than any other nation, and the result, as translated into indicators such as life expectancy and infant mortality, are mediocre compared to other rich countries. Yet costs here are continuing to rise rapidly.
The problem is not just at the national level either. A recent study found that health costs often spell economic disaster for American families. Half of all bankruptcies in this country result from medical bills. Even more amazing is the finding that points out just how broken the health care system in this country is beyond the issue of having or not having insurance coverage. For many of the people bankrupted by monster medical charges had health insurance coverage.
The study, published in this month’s Health Affairs, estimates two million people annually, including 700,000 dependent children, are affected by medical bankruptcies. "Our study is frightening. Unless you’re Bill Gates you’re just one serious illness away from bankruptcy," said Dr. David Himmelstein of the Harvard Medical School, the lead researcher. Himmelstein said those bankrupted by the high cost of medical care were "average Americans who happened to get sick." Indeed, 75.7 percent of them were insured at the onset of illness. The reality of American health care according to the study is that "even middle-class insured families often fall prey to financial catastrophe when sick."
What are Republicans planning to do to help prevent Americans from suffering a financial catastrophe on top of a serious illness? Worse than nothing: They are getting ready to pass a law to make it harder to declare bankruptcy. Doing the bidding of yet another group of corporate cronies - in this case the credit card companies - Republicans in Congress are hoping to parlay their strengthened dominance in both houses into a victory that consumer advocates say would come at the expense of the public.
Personal bankruptcies increased from less than 800,000 in 1994 to 1.6 million in 2003. Studies have shown that the vast majorities of bankruptcies are caused by personal crises resulting from job loss, illness, and divorce. While credit card companies claim there is widespread abuse of bankruptcy laws, the American Bankruptcy Institute says only about 3 percent of bankruptcy filers could afford to repay even a part of their debts.
The bill supported by Republican leaders in Congress would place additional burdens on already-strapped American families and individuals while letting the wealthy off the hook. The Washington Post ("Tighter Bankruptcy Law Favored," Feb. 11, 2005) reports that "consumer advocates say it would allow some rich debtors to continue to hide wealth through homeownership while bankruptcy relief would be denied to many people with low or moderate incomes who have fallen on hard times..."
Thus the Republican solution for people devastated by serious illness and financial disaster is to deny the worst off among them what scant relief bankruptcy offers in order to maximize the profits of the credit card companies.
But squeezing Americans who have been devastated by illness and ruinous medical charges or who have lost their jobs in today’s unstable labor market is hardly the only way the GOP is planning to reward its big business allies. The Washington Post also reported last week that "with prodding from President Bush," Republicans in Congress are resurrecting energy legislation they have been trying to pass for four years. Amy Myers Jaffe, associate director of the energy program of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, said the proposal "would just line the pockets of special-interest groups and do virtually nothing to enhance the energy security of our country."
The epitome of the immoral values reflected in Bush-GOP policies is the 2006 budget proposal, which Princeton economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman rightly describes as "Bush’s Class-War Budget." The proposed budget would severely cut programs serving human needs like health and education while making the tax cuts for the rich passed in the first Bush term permanent. "It may sound shrill to describe President Bush as someone who takes food from the mouths of babes and gives the proceeds to his millionaire friends," writes Krugman. But, he adds, "the budget proposal really does take food from the mouths of babes... One of the proposed spending cuts would make it harder for working families with children to receive food stamps, terminating aid to about 300,000 people." At the same time, the Bush budget proposal contains a provision that would eliminate two little-known provisions of the tax code. The beneficiaries? Fully 97 percent make more than $200,000 a year and half more than $1 million. The average annual benefit to the latter group: $19,000.
There has been a lot of talk about obscenity and indecency lately, especially on the anniversary of Janet Jackson’s famous Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction. Yet is there anything that the worst purveyors of smut have ever come up with that rivals the obscenity, indecency and perversity of the policies advocated by the rulers of our new one-party government?
By Max J. Castro
Progreso Weekly
17-23 February 2005 Edition
While President Bush tries to sell the American people on a bogus plan to solve a non-existent social security crisis, real and present crises fester unattended or are aggravated by Republican policies.
Health is a prime example. More than 45 million Americans lack insurance coverage today - not in 2042 - and the number keeps rising. Latinos, the fastest growing population in the country, is also the least likely to have coverage. That’s a bad omen for the future. What is Bush proposing to do about this crisis? Nothing.
But the health care problem in this country is more than just the tragedy of tens of millions of people who lack a basic human right. It’s an economic calamity as well - for the nation and for families and individuals. The United States spends a higher percentage of its Gross Domestic Income (GDP) on health care than any other nation, and the result, as translated into indicators such as life expectancy and infant mortality, are mediocre compared to other rich countries. Yet costs here are continuing to rise rapidly.
The problem is not just at the national level either. A recent study found that health costs often spell economic disaster for American families. Half of all bankruptcies in this country result from medical bills. Even more amazing is the finding that points out just how broken the health care system in this country is beyond the issue of having or not having insurance coverage. For many of the people bankrupted by monster medical charges had health insurance coverage.
The study, published in this month’s Health Affairs, estimates two million people annually, including 700,000 dependent children, are affected by medical bankruptcies. "Our study is frightening. Unless you’re Bill Gates you’re just one serious illness away from bankruptcy," said Dr. David Himmelstein of the Harvard Medical School, the lead researcher. Himmelstein said those bankrupted by the high cost of medical care were "average Americans who happened to get sick." Indeed, 75.7 percent of them were insured at the onset of illness. The reality of American health care according to the study is that "even middle-class insured families often fall prey to financial catastrophe when sick."
What are Republicans planning to do to help prevent Americans from suffering a financial catastrophe on top of a serious illness? Worse than nothing: They are getting ready to pass a law to make it harder to declare bankruptcy. Doing the bidding of yet another group of corporate cronies - in this case the credit card companies - Republicans in Congress are hoping to parlay their strengthened dominance in both houses into a victory that consumer advocates say would come at the expense of the public.
Personal bankruptcies increased from less than 800,000 in 1994 to 1.6 million in 2003. Studies have shown that the vast majorities of bankruptcies are caused by personal crises resulting from job loss, illness, and divorce. While credit card companies claim there is widespread abuse of bankruptcy laws, the American Bankruptcy Institute says only about 3 percent of bankruptcy filers could afford to repay even a part of their debts.
The bill supported by Republican leaders in Congress would place additional burdens on already-strapped American families and individuals while letting the wealthy off the hook. The Washington Post ("Tighter Bankruptcy Law Favored," Feb. 11, 2005) reports that "consumer advocates say it would allow some rich debtors to continue to hide wealth through homeownership while bankruptcy relief would be denied to many people with low or moderate incomes who have fallen on hard times..."
Thus the Republican solution for people devastated by serious illness and financial disaster is to deny the worst off among them what scant relief bankruptcy offers in order to maximize the profits of the credit card companies.
But squeezing Americans who have been devastated by illness and ruinous medical charges or who have lost their jobs in today’s unstable labor market is hardly the only way the GOP is planning to reward its big business allies. The Washington Post also reported last week that "with prodding from President Bush," Republicans in Congress are resurrecting energy legislation they have been trying to pass for four years. Amy Myers Jaffe, associate director of the energy program of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, said the proposal "would just line the pockets of special-interest groups and do virtually nothing to enhance the energy security of our country."
The epitome of the immoral values reflected in Bush-GOP policies is the 2006 budget proposal, which Princeton economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman rightly describes as "Bush’s Class-War Budget." The proposed budget would severely cut programs serving human needs like health and education while making the tax cuts for the rich passed in the first Bush term permanent. "It may sound shrill to describe President Bush as someone who takes food from the mouths of babes and gives the proceeds to his millionaire friends," writes Krugman. But, he adds, "the budget proposal really does take food from the mouths of babes... One of the proposed spending cuts would make it harder for working families with children to receive food stamps, terminating aid to about 300,000 people." At the same time, the Bush budget proposal contains a provision that would eliminate two little-known provisions of the tax code. The beneficiaries? Fully 97 percent make more than $200,000 a year and half more than $1 million. The average annual benefit to the latter group: $19,000.
There has been a lot of talk about obscenity and indecency lately, especially on the anniversary of Janet Jackson’s famous Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction. Yet is there anything that the worst purveyors of smut have ever come up with that rivals the obscenity, indecency and perversity of the policies advocated by the rulers of our new one-party government?
