Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Obstructionist Republicans

Federal or state, it makes no difference.  Republicans in Congress continue to crow about not supporting the stimulus bill and California Republicans continue to stand in the corner and hold their breath.  Why is it so hard for the media to point out that even though California has a Democratic legislature that it is Republicans, and Republicans only, who will not compromise on the budget issue?  Even though this budget isn't the best for those who don't have money, those who have been laid off or disabled, those who don't have health insurance and those who don't want to buy a new house, something must be done before the state grinds to a halt.

Businesses will receive a 1 billion dollar permanent tax cut, I guess they need it more than the average citizen.  Way back in 1978 when I voted for Prop. 13 I had no idea that businesses were going to benefit from the property tax bill also.  There are buildings that have stood empty for years because the company doesn't want to sell the land and make the tax rate increase.  Which means that lower property taxes are paid and revenues have not kept pace with inflation.  Meanwhile a good proportion of the people who this proposition was designed to protect have either moved or passed away.  There are a few left and they should be protected but the business protections need to be eliminated.

Gray Davis was recalled over a budget crisis and Arnold Schwarzenegger took over and immediately proceeded to try and balance the budget on the backs of the little people.  Several years later and they are still using the little people to try and balance the books repeating ad nauseam  the tired old canard that Republicans have used for years.  If businesses have to pay more taxes, a higher minimum wage or let their employees have breaks for lunch and get paid for overtime, then the whole business structure will collapse.  What a load of hooey.  Slavery was supposedly abolished in 1865, let's keep it that way.

Businesses use the roads, their employees use the emergency room in lieu of preventative healthcare.  Corporations have the ear of the governor, their employees have the sound of silence.  Corporate taxes go down, employee benefits disappear.  The elderly paid taxes at a higher rate than we do now during their earning years, now they are treated as disposable and considered to be a drain on the economy.  If it wasn't for them this state would never have achieved the greatness it did, now they are being punished for being old and are portrayed as leeches for using services that everyone else imagines are theirs.

We are one of the few nations on earth that treats its elderly as disposable.  Which is interesting since we all grow old eventually.  If you're lucky, otherwise it's just people's memories of you that get old.  Growing old gracefully is not a privilege reserved for the rich, it's a right that everyone is entitled to.  Too bad the Republicans have no respect for their elders.

Ten thousand people could permanently lose their jobs if this crisis isn't resolved.  Just what the state needs.  More unemployed.  As I have reason to know, rents are not cheap in the Bay area so cutting a disabled person's income by thirty dollars will increase the homeless population and why should someone who through no fault of their own be forced to survive on the street while the fat cats continue to be driven around on the taxpayer's dime?  If we can't afford to help the weakest among us what makes us think we are so great?

BBB

1 comment:

  1. If we can't afford to help the weakest among us what makes us think we are so great?

    For 'Thuglicans and corporatists, the weakest among us are a commodity because they are so easy to exploit.

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