a-cruel-republican-budget

In February, after embarrassing himself by saying he was “not concerned about the very poor,” Mitt Romney explained that the government’s safety net would take care of them, and he promised to repair any holes in the net. That promise didn’t last very long. On Thursday, House Republicans approved, on a party-line vote, a disastrous new budget that would leave millions of struggling families desperate for food, shelter and health care — and Mr. Romney has embraced it.

The budget, developed by Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, would cut $3.3 trillion from low-income programs over 10 years, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, even more than the $2.9 trillion in Mr. Ryan’s first disastrous budget last year.

“It’s an excellent piece of work,” Mr. Romney said. (Rick Santorum said it didn’t cut enough.)

The biggest of the cuts would be to Medicaid, the joint federal and state program that is already gasping for money in many states that put a low priority on health care for low-income people. Mr. Romney often talks casually about turning the program over to the states entirely and simply writing a check to dispose of a half-century federal commitment. The Ryan budget exposes just how paltry that check would be: a cut of $810 billion through 2022, one-fifth of current spending, which would lead states to drop coverage for an estimated 14 million to 28 million people.

By eliminating the expansion of Medicaid in the health care law, cutting $1.6 trillion, it would leave another 17 million low- and moderate-income people uninsured.

Just as revealing is the acceptance by Mr. Romney and the other Republican presidential candidates of the Ryan plan to cut food stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The budget would cut 17 percent of the SNAP budget, or $133.5 billion over a decade. As the center points out, there are only two ways to achieve that savings: Mr. Romney could simply take the benefits away from 8 million of the 47 million who now receive them, or he could cut everyone’s benefits. For a struggling family of four, that would mean a loss of $90 worth of food a month.

Already, most people who get SNAP benefits use them up in the first two weeks of a month, and many turn to food banks by month’s end. Cutting benefits so sharply would lead to a significant increase in hunger, particularly among children, which would quickly create dangerous ripples through the health and education systems.

At the same time, though, those families would find themselves unable to pay for health care, and they would also face reductions in housing assistance, job training and Pell grants for college tuition, all of which Mr. Ryan wants to cut, with Mr. Romney’s approval.

In all, 62 percent of the budget’s cuts come from low-income programs, and that’s on top of the substantial cut in spending already in place from last year. But the Ryan budget does contain a substantial tax cut for the rich, which is one of the reasons Mr. Romney said he was “very supportive” of the plan.

“It’s a bold and exciting effort,” he said, “and it’s very much consistent with what I put out earlier.” It is also consistent with his stated lack of concern for the very poor.

A version of this editorial appeared in print on March 30, 2012, on page A26 of the New York Times with the headline: A Cruel Budget.

Louie, Greece will well come you. You will have it made over there.

how true iifforfrdb. I really wonder how our country's liberals cannot see what the future holds if we continue our out of control spending on social programs. It doesn't seem to be working anywhere in the world.

Louie, Greece will well come you. You will have it made over there. Originally Posted by IIFFOFRDB

You should go to Greece on vacation, and discover what a beautiful country it is. Same for Italy and Spain by the way.
Only take some precautionary pills for your stomach with you, it might get upset by eating food that you are not used to: it is not poisoned with chemicals like all the food here in the USA.

how true iifforfrdb. I really wonder how our country's liberals cannot see what the future holds if we continue our xxx xx xxxxxxx spending on social programs. It doesn't seem to be working anywhere in the world. Originally Posted by satexasguy

It's working perfectly fine in most of Europe, the countries that you hear off that are in problems are really just a few countries out of many.
When did you last hear of problems in the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Monaco, France, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Andorra, just to name a few?
All these countries have a lot more social services than the USA ever will get and most of them are doing much better than the US.
Did you know for instance that minimum wage in the Netherlands is almost $12 per hour and of course a stupid thing like Earned Income Credit doesn't exist because it is not necessary?
There are many examples, America doesn't like to hear them because of their own failed systems.

You should go to Greece on vacation, and discover what a beautiful country it is. Same for Italy and Spain by the way.
Only take some precautionary pills for your stomach with you, it might get upset by eating food that you are not used to: it is not poisoned with chemicals like all the food here in the USA. Originally Posted by waverunner234

like pink slime?

like pink slime? Originally Posted by cptjohnstone

wots that??????

Quick someone link to the world debt clock. I'm mobile. All those country's have wow big debt to GDP ratio.

Guys no one wants the poor to suffer. Do you go out and try to make a difference yourself? Do you go give directly to a family that needs it in your community or are you just depending on the government to handle it. They CAN'T. I'm totally down for some bleeding heart time in the soup kitchen. Take that burden off the government so it can heal. Get off your ass and help your fellow man you bums. Quite expecting the government to do everything. Gee freaking wiz.

like pink slime? Originally Posted by cptjohnstone

Just a few examples, no where in the world except in the US can you buy milk that you can hold for more than 2 weeks. Same with bread. In other countries they sell bread that's left over for half the price next day because it is old. Here they put a load of chemicals in it and it's good for 2 weeks.
Cheese, Christ didn't know cheese could taste so bad as American "processed" cheese. But it explains why cheese from abroad is so popular.
If that was not so expensive no one would buy American cheese.
You should taste the difference between a burger from McDonalds in the US or in Europe. In Europe they can't get away with the shit they sell here.
There are lots of imported foods here in the US, do you think you can find imported American food in Europe? No you can't find it because it's not there.

It's working perfectly fine in most of Europe, the countries that you hear off that are in problems are really just a few countries out of many.
When did you last hear of problems in the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Monaco, France, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Andorra, just to name a few?
All these countries have a lot more social services than the USA ever will get and most of them are doing much better than the US.
Did you know for instance that minimum wage in the Netherlands is almost $12 per hour and of course a stupid thing like Earned Income Credit doesn't exist because it is not necessary?
There are many examples, America doesn't like to hear them because of their own failed systems. Originally Posted by waverunner234

Wave, wouldn't you tend to agree that a lot of that has to do with the fact that the population is considerably less in those countries than the US? Less people, less resources needed and they would better positioned to be able to offer more government benefits? I know you are from overseas and would know better, so I am genuinely interested.

Many of these countries have a total population much less than many small/medium sized cities in the US. Of the countries you mentioned, the largest (Germany and France) still have much less than 1/3 of the US population.

United States 313,232,032
Netherlands 16,847,008
Norway 4,691,849
Sweden 9,088,728
Denmark 5,529,888
Finland 5,259,250
Germany 81,471,832
Austria 8,217,280
Switzerland 7,639,961
Monaco 30,539
France 65,312,248
Liechtenstein 35,236
Luxembourg 503,302
Andorra 84,825

http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx

Another interesting stat on that same site, most of the countries you mentioned have a much higher "Physicians per 1000 population" than the US. Not quite sure how to interpret that.

http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?t=0&v=2226&l=en
Look at the drop down box at the top for that chart.

Just a few examples, no where in the world except in the US can you buy milk that you can hold for more than 2 weeks. Same with bread. In other countries they sell bread that's left over for half the price next day because it is old. Here they put a load of chemicals in it and it's good for 2 weeks.
Cheese, Christ didn't know cheese could taste so bad as American "processed" cheese. But it explains why cheese from abroad is so popular.
If that was not so expensive no one would buy American cheese.
You should taste the difference between a burger from McDonalds in the US or in Europe. In Europe they can't get away with the shit they sell here.
There are lots of imported foods here in the US, do you think you can find imported American food in Europe? No you can't find it because it's not there. Originally Posted by waverunner234

You mean those pathetic countries actually LET their people drink raw milk, and eat bread made with natural ingredients? At least here we call those raw milk gangsters what they are. CRIIMINALS!!

Wave, wouldn't you tend to agree that a lot of that has to do with the fact that the population is considerably less in those countries than the US? Less people, less resources needed and they would better positioned to be able to offer more government benefits? I know you are from overseas and would know better, so I am genuinely interested.

Many of these countries have a total population much less than many small/medium sized cities in the US. Of the countries you mentioned, the largest (Germany and France) still have much less than 1/3 of the US population.

United States 313,232,032
Netherlands 16,847,008
Norway 4,691,849
Sweden 9,088,728
Denmark 5,529,888
Finland 5,259,250
Germany 81,471,832
Austria 8,217,280
Switzerland 7,639,961
Monaco 30,539
France 65,312,248
Liechtenstein 35,236
Luxembourg 503,302
Andorra 84,825

http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx Originally Posted by Chica Chaser

You're right, many problems can better be handled for smaller groups of people. The US could much better utilize that if they would let go of everything that could be handled at the State level.

There was a time somewhere in history where the post offices in Europe were ran by the state. No more.
Fedex, UPS and DHL can do a much better job than USPS for instance.

For a thing like Universal Health Insurance, they make it very simple. They don't force people to buy health insurance, but there is a mandatory % withholding on all income to pay into it. ON ALL INCOME, Salaries, Other Compensation, Unemployment money, Social Security, Welfare, Sick Leave money, ALL INCOME up to certain limits has withholding for health insurance. That's 50%, the other 50% is paid by who ever issues the paycheck.

Another thing that's a big problem here like ID theft hardly exist in those countries. The solution is sooooooooooo simple.
You cannot ever get an ID or Credit Card in the mail. You can handle everything online, but to receive the physical card you get an invitation in the mail to receive it at a post office or a bank WITH PHOTO ID.

Check Fraud? Hardly exists. Bank Robberies? Impossible. Those things are soooo easy to solve. Lol I could go on for hours.

You mean those pathetic countries actually LET their people drink raw milk, and eat bread made with natural ingredients? At least here we call those raw milk gangsters what they are. CRIIMINALS!! Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

COG, Here is a delicatesse from France, Netherlands, Switzerland and a few other countries:It's RAW filet mignon with RAW egg, RAW onion and RAW cappers. (I love it and I'm sure you would too).
And The RAW haring in the Netherlands is world famous.

But of course I realize that everyone that eats it is a CRIMINAL

I feel sorry for y'all. You don;t know what double cream is, you have never poured it over a rounded breast and licked it up, you have never had strawberries and proper cream, you have never had scones and cream and proper strawberry jam.

You have never had fresh squid, not frozen, and made it into a paella the same day as it was caught.

Shall I go on?

But I must admit your high class steaks do taste good.