This is a bad deal for you and I !

by Duane Campbell

The omnibus budget deal being debated in Congress passed on Sat. evening  includes a continuation of the budget cuts known as the sequester. 

Josh Silver has noted 5 major problems with the deal. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-silver/omnibus-budget-deal-2014-5-worst-things_b_6307852.html

And Senator Elizabeth Warren has revealed the Wall Street subversion in this bill and is making a brave stand against the deal.
http://sacramentopa.blogspot.com/2014/12/sen-warren-calls-on-house-to-strike.html

It is important to understand our current economic situation to understand the  conflict in Congress  and our economic future.

First, know that Wall Street has recovered, but main street has not.

Middle-class wages are stagnant. Unemployment is stalled at record levels. College education is leading to debt servitude and job insecurity. Millions of unemployed Americans have essentially been abandoned by their government.  Poverty is soaring.

 Bankers break the law with impunity, are bailed out, and go on breaking the law, richer than they were before. Only a handful of people have gone to jail, none of the really big operators. Now, more than 6 years after the crisis began,  no senior officials of the corporations that looted our economy have been held accountable.  

Get Serious About Funding Education

NEA and AASA executives call on Congress to get serious about investing in education

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - November 21, 2013 -

Today, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel and AASA Executive Director Daniel A. Domenech released the following statement:

“The austerity policies ushered in by Congress aren’t working. They are harming our students and our economy,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. “In fact, the across-the-board cuts, coupled with the worst economic recession since the Great Depression, are wreaking havoc in schools across the country and will only grow worse if allowed to continue.”

A recent NEA analysis revealed, and today’s report by AASA confirms, that the impact of the austerity approach falls unevenly, harming schools that rely more on federal funding for education, including students most in need of extra attention. One in four students in America attends school in a district where 15 to 20 percent of total revenue comes from federal sources. Sequester cuts, NEA’s analysis found, hurt these students even more.

Federal Sequester hurts our schools

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Urges Congress to Prevent Devastating Cuts

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today urged Congressional leaders to work together and immediately pass legislation that would repeal drastic budget cuts set to take effect Friday under sequestration.

"Without Congressional intervention, automatic budget cuts from sequestration will take effect on March 1," said Torlakson in aletter to Congressional leaders. "After years of extensive state and federal budget cuts to education, these cuts will devastate communities across California…. These automatic cuts will cause long-lasting and irreparable harm."

Sequestration cuts could represent a $262 million funding reduction to California’s federal education program. These include estimated cuts of:

• $91 million for Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, intended to improve education for disadvantaged students;
• $72 million in special education funding for programs that serve the needs of students with disabilities;
• $2.8 million for public charter schools;
• $6.9 million for Career and Technical Education;
• $9.6 million in funding for English learners; and
• $3.7 million in Impact Aid affecting students in federally impacted school districts in California, including children of active duty service members.

"Further, these cuts come at a time when California is just beginning a recovery from state-level cuts of over $20 billion to education spending over the last five years," Torlakson added. "The California Department of Education, school districts, and local educational agencies will need to find ways to cut costs even further under sequestration. This could result in school closures; teacher and administrator layoffs; increased student-teacher ratios; the elimination of college counselors and school-based mental health personnel; and deferred purchases, renovations, and repairs. These cuts would come at a crucial time in a student’s life. Many of these students may never make up the lost ground."

Statement of Feb. 26.  Since then, the sequester has happened. 

Cancel the Sequester

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) supports the bill advanced by John Conyers (D-MI), HR 900, to simply cancel the $85 billion in “sequestration” cuts. These cuts will harm millions of low-income Americans, while weakening an already anemic, jobless recovery. According to the Congressional Budget Office, if the cuts are fully carried out, they will cause a 0.6% drop in GDP and a loss of over 700,000 jobs. The layoffs of 700,000 public employees since 2008 have already contributed to unconscionable levels of unemployment.

   The sequester will cut 10,000 teaching jobs, 70,000 spots for preschoolers in Head Start, $43 million for food programs for seniors, $35 million for local fire departments, and access to nutrition assistance for over half a million women and their families.

   And the reason congressional Republicans let these cuts go into effect is because they simply wouldn't support closing tax loopholes for millionaires and billionaires -- for things like yachts and corporate jets

We do not have a deficit crisis in this country; we have a jobs crisis. Sequestering will increase the deficit--not decrease it--by slowing the economic recovery and by keeping more people out of work and not paying taxes.

Sequester + austerity = stupid budget cuts

Take Action: The Senate will vote Thursday on legislation to prevent harmful cuts.  Please tell your Senators to vote for the American Family Economic Protection Act, S. 388 and for more information on how your state would be affected by the cuts, see our state fact sheets.

 In economics austerity is the  policy of reducing government spending by cutting social services such as health care, education, food assistance, and other welfare assistance.   At the federal level, Republicans and some Democrats  seek austerity by cutting social Security and Medicare. Republicans also are insisting on massive budget cuts known as the sequester.  By any name, these cuts are bad.  In the case of state governments  public tax money is used for police, fire fighters, park services, nurses, doctors, social workers and health assistants.  State  and local austerity efforts cut these services.

In the current economic crisis, the governments of Ireland, Greece, Italy, the UK, Spain and Portugal have implemented austerity programs and cut their budgets  creating  more unemployment and making  the recessions in these countries worse.