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US Democrats Seek Up to $3 Trillion in Budget Savings
WASHINGTON - U.S. Democrats are proposing $2.5 trillion to $3 trillion in measures to reduce the budget deficit, including revenue increases and significant cuts to Medicare, congressional aides told Reuters.
(Photo: CC Flickr | Fifth World Art) The plan was unveiled on Tuesday at a closed-door meeting of a special 12-member congressional panel, the so-called "super committee", that is tasked with finding at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years.
It was the first formal proposal by Democrats on the committee and is aimed at galvanizing talks that are quickly running up against a Nov. 23 deadline.
The congressional aides did not say why Democrats were proposing such a big deal, but Democratic congressional leaders have repeatedly called on the committee to go beyond its mandate to fix the country's fiscal mess.
According to congressional sources, the plan includes a roughly equal mix of spending cuts and revenue increases; between $200 billion and $300 billion in new economic stimulus spending that would be paid for with lower interest payments from reducing deficits; and around $400 billion in Medicare savings, with half coming in benefit cuts and the other half in cuts to healthcare providers.
(Editing by Sandra Maler)
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Show Allthis will decrease tax revenues and worsen the deficit and national debt
I thought Reuters is a news outfit.
This is not news.
We knew that Obama was posturing for this move when he formed his catfood commission in 2010.
Since Obama's super secret catfood commissioners are either retiring or not too close to their next election, they have no reservations about hanging their supporters out to dry.
The Super committee was stacked to achieve just this outcome. Obama is a monster.
Reuters is owned by the Rothschilds, and so is the Associated Press. You may notice that what they report is sometimes completely misleading, giving the opposite impression of the news, while carefully wording it so as to technically not be an outright lie. But in fact, it is a lie because the reader gets the wrong understanding of what happened.
This was inevitable given the corrupt members chosen and the desire of the president to prove that he is a responsible right wing democrat despite his latest rhetorical embrace of a minimum jobs bill. The democrats especially the president do not want any serious cuts to the military budget which is why he rejected the Simpson-Bowles compromise.
proof that congress including democrats don't give a rats ass about the people they are supposed to represent, only those that have paid for the privilege.
This proves America has the best Congress money can buy.
Why do we let these jerks push us around?
great question alan&the answer is simple,we will not let these nazis do any more of t5heir dirty word now that the revolution has started!!!with this problem we need to mass a million or so in washington to occupy and shut down this corrupt &out of control captive of wallstreet and not let them f up this country&the world anymore!!!with those numbers we should negate the cops from their nasty /illeagle stuff,as this protest will be live on the nightly news around the world&the real american gov. will finally be out in the open for all to see!!!! ho ka hey/it is a good time to live
Maybe a better idea. Citizens for Legitimate Government is calling for a general strike to start the Monday after Thanksgiving--the announcement that we've been sold down the river is scheduled for just before Thanksgiving. I think it's a good idea EXCEPT they are only calling for a labor strike and I think we need to ask people not only to stay away from work or class but also to buy nothing (if possible) and we need to make clear exactly what the demands are and of whom, and whether it's ongoing strike or a repeating (eg Mondays Wednesday and Fridays). And we should take advantage of the newfound free time of the public to hold teach-ins, rallies and concerts, and listening projects everywhere. The other question is whether we can do enough outreach in a month to get adequate participation.
Who'da thunk it?
Me'da thunk it, along with 99% of the other commenters here.
The abominable "super committee" is a public-relations gimmick to give Candidate Obama deniability, among other things.
Its not the "super committee".
It is OBAMA's SUPER SECRET CATFOOD COMMISSION.
OK, here's my take - on top of the fact that it's clear all these guys/gals want to cut SS/Medicare in answer to their corporate paymasters - i think there is something else going on, and that is the recognition among TPTB that there is a growing movement for things like single payer, which must be headed off at the pass. So how to do that? Make an almost universally loved program an anathema among providers, and inadequate for recipients.
Obamacare was the first effort to head it off, but as that is apparently not working, the more direct route must be chosen - starve the beast so that it is unable to function properly - underpaying providers, gutting services will make the program, not simply irrelevant, but despised, so that when the single payer devotees show up, folks will say "What? you want that lousy program for EVERYONE? What, are you crazy?
I think TPTB would have been content to leave it alone as long as it remained a relatively restricted piece of the "market", but once it threatened to take over as a popular model for the whole system - THEN it must be squashed. I think that is why you are seeing this push now from all parts of the corporate party .....
Interesting comment ...
I agree. The 'plan' to destroy Medicare is already working. Many doctors no longer take Medicare patients and some are even getting out all together. And, it's not only Medicare, other health insurance programs are under attack. Check it, my wife's primary care physician notified her that the doctor was going to start charging $100 per month just to be the doctor's patient. This doctor is not the only one either, just google it. Can you believe that?
And the elitists are holding up signs that read: "Hands Off tax loopholes - tax exemptions - tax deferals - corporate welfare.
The elitists do their bidding with multimillion dollar electronic fund transfers at home and abroad. Its much cleaner than suitcases full of cash
there is no Democratic party, we should get over it. What we are seeing is the rise of a fascist state
The only problem is that SS/Medicare are not part of the Federal Budget deficit. These are self-funded programs, with their own special tax devoted solely to these programs, going into their own special trust fund. More bullshit being shovelled by the corporate Dem/Rethug whores to the masses. What is not talked about is the truth - that the Federal government has been raiding the SS trust fund for decades, using the money they "borrow" from it to narrow the deficit in their profligate spending sprees for the regular federal budget. They have left I.O.U.'s behind, but those are worthless.
I want to hear from leftiright and the other Dem-Worshippers. Let's hear your gushing support for the Democrat whores. Let's hear you spout some bullshit Dem party line about "having to make sacrifices" to explain away their putting Medicare on the chopping block, while not making the rich or corporations pay THEIR fair fucking share. Go ahead. Let me hear your excuses for the Dem whores you worship.
The GOP is the party of no. SSA is not the enemy, the GOP is.
Giving tax breaks to the rich and ripping off the Trust Funds is the game of the day.
I cannot believe that the anti-entitlement clowns who actually are the villains and that people believe this rubbish.
Leave SSA/Medicare alone.
Interesting response, Demondade. I could have sworn that the article made it abundantly clear that the DEMOCRATS were the ones volunteering to put Ss/medicare on the chopping block, but strangely, you saw only "GOP."
It is this willful blindness to the collusion of the Democrats in the Corporate Duopoly by their ardent, lemming-like supporters that guarantees the continuation of the massive fraud being perpetrated on the Amereichan people by the 2-Party Vichy Corporate system. Until and unless you Dem-worshippers open your eyes and stop supporting these corporate whores, you have only yourselves to blame for the abyss our country is being thrown into.
The dems are corporate whores? I do not agree with cutting social security or Medicare but the republicans, Ryan, Boehner, McConnell, all want to give SS to wall street and put Medicare on a voucher program that will not cover health care, the republicans, every republican voted against any health care for Americans. Just as many people die each month as Americans in Iraq, each month, just as many die each month from the lack of health care as died at 911, and the republicans say keep the government out of our health care, the republicans along with that little whiner leibeman are insurance corporation whores. The dems tried to get us some help.
Really? Then why did the Dems play dead during the Bush years, allowing VP Cheney to be the 51st vote (tie breaker) in the Senate when they could have EASILY invoked rule 22 and filibustered all the Republican crap to death? Remember it was a Democratic majority in the Senate then.
And by the way, the present Senate could, with a simple majority (which the Dems have) eliminate rule 22 and destroy Republican filibusters on all legislation coming from the House so the bullshit 67 vote requirement would get shit canned. They don't do that because they are united in their loyalty to the 1% and want to keep up the facade that Democrats are defenders of the people. Wake up!
Wake up? Why didn't the dems fight more? Why should they have to? Because the fucking republicans pray on fear? What's happening in Wisconsin, Ohio, the republicans are at war with the working class, union busting, no collective bargaining, no speech, no overtime for teachers that have longer hours and larger class rooms. Or would you rather just cut public education completely like the Koch brothers want.
"Why didn't the dems fight more? Why should they have to?"
Because this is a freaking democracy and neither party is doing what the damn general public wants! You can claim the Democrats are better, maybe you are right, in some ways you probably are. I just don't understand people coming here, just a week after three horrible, horrible "free trade" deals are signed and after these cuts were announced (which we knew would happen) and defending the freaking Democrats. It is one thing to hold your nose and vote for these clowns, its another to defend them. It is fascinating that people get all bent out of shape when people want the bare bones basics within a democracy, for the two major political parties to not go against 80% of the general public on (usually economic) issues that greatly impact the general public. If the vast, vast majority of people, across the ideological spectrum don't want these cuts, what the hell is the argument? If the cuts will make a horrible economy even worse, and they 100% will, what exactly are you defending? If the economy hasn't been fundamentally changed in ways that are needed for the real economy of production and working people to recover from this financialized neoliberal disaster (which both parties helped create), who are you arguing on behalf of? Why do we have to, election, after election, after election, chose one of these parties? At what point will things get so bad that you will use your damn brain and imagination and think of and help develop alternatives for change? Or are the Democrats your ONLY vehicle for change? I kept on hearing how Obama was playing 12th dimensional chess with the Republicans. That was of course nonsense, a tired Democratic talking point. If if he is playing 12th dimensional chess he is playing it with working people and the left who still support him. It is YOU and people like you he is running circles around and getting you to back things that are indefensible. I'm sorry but the Democrats have their own Koch brothers, and many of them are on Wall Street. Keep your corrupt, neoliberal, corporate sellout of a party. I have much more faith in groups like OWS and building something outside of the control of the Democratic Party. If you Democrats can reform the party maybe it can once again be ONE vehicle amongst many for change. IF, big if. As of know your party is part of the problem. Who gives a damn if they aren't as bad as the other team. They are causing this countries decline as well. The only difference is that the Democrats will cause a more gradual decline while the Republicans will cause outright collapse.
Well-stated, Wilber. I usually compare what the Dems are doing to Amereicha and the Rethugs are doing to Amereicha by using a rape analogy: one rapes us gently and slowly, the other brutally and quickly. Ask any woman who has been raped "would it have been less traumatic for you if your rapist had been more gentle?" We all know what her answer would be. NO. Rape is rape, no matter HOW it is done.
Yet millions of die-hard Democrat-supporters continue to vote for being raped, year in and year out, even though they KNOW they are being raped - - - -just a bit more slowly and gently than the Republicans. As if that somehow is any better.
"each month, just as many die each month from the lack of health care as died at 911"
So you know what is a great idea then? Cut the programs that keep people alive. Doubly when those cuts are hugely unpopular, triply when we know these cuts in general are going to make a HORRIBLE economy even worse. It isn't open to debate, it will, it is 100% certain. So it makes total sense. Cut programs that keep people alive, cuts that are unpopular and will make a bad situation worse. The Republicans are worse though. Oh, and you HAVE to support one of the parties. See, building up something new takes too much time. We must always think about the next election, coming up with a viable LONG TERM strategy is soooooo 20th century.
I have a little news for you. The left in the early part of the 20th century wasn't just an appendage of the broke ass Democratic Party. The Socialist Party candidate for president got over 6% of the vote. Unions were much more radical and represented far more people. Other left of center parties had decent support and many on the left either were ideologically opposed to voting or focused on non-electoral actions (i.e. union organizing, educating, strikes, etc). The Democrats had to work for the left's and working people's vote. Now, you are done come March at the latest of each election. You have your candidate and it is then time to fall in line.
The Democrats have given us NAFTA, ended "welfare as we know it", the WTO, the Telecommunications Act, the gutting of New Deal financial regulations, three more horrible "free trade" deals that are in some ways even worse than what Bush was offering, they are putting these cuts on the table (which are again horrible and unpopular), Obama is privatizing education, has a corrupt and incompetent economic team. So naturally you must just support the party that isn't as bad as the other and ignore the decades long attack against workers by both parties. Pathetic. Keep your damn party, it isn't willing or able to solve any of the big problems we are facing. In many ways it is making things even worse.
This move to the right on economic issues has happened, by the way, in every country in the West. The Labour parties in Britain, New Zealand, Australia, the Socialist Parties in Greece, Spain, France, they have all moved well to the right on economic news. If people had any faith in these corrupt parties they wouldn't be in the streets raising hell. If you pathetic party doesn't do something radically different there WILL be clashes in streets across the country. If that comes about, you as a Democrat own it just as much as the Republicans.
".....the republicans say keep the government out of our health care, the republicans along with that little whiner leibeman are insurance corporation whores."
constitutional,
Given that Republican lawmakers want government out of our healthcare, they should pass a bill to eliminate all of their health care benefits that are being paid for by "We the People", a/k/a government funders.
We need more information before we denounce the super committee. Both Medicare C (Advantage) and Medicare D (Drugs) are massively wasteful and provide massive profits to private insurers. Both of these programs make up approximately 20% of the Medicare Budget of $440 billion. This means more than $80 billion in profit to private insurers. You can eliminate both programs, reduce the budget and have substantial funding left over to provide improved Medicare programs (e.g. Single Payer). I am no fan of the super committee. We, however, should not jumpt to conclusions from incomplete reporting.
You seriously assert that this is all about sidelining Pharmaceutical companies and Insurance companies in favor of bolstering Medicare's single payer status?
When you think about it, we have no proof that purple unicorns don't fly out of Obama's butt everytime he farts, so this latest ploy by the Democrats could be about cutting into corporate profits instead of into a sick American's coverage. I however, would sooner believe the one about the unicorns.
Just the opposite.
"ducksawce"
Medicare C, Medicare D, Medicare Whatever Other "plan".
These plans were implemented as part of the scheme to turn Medicare over to the private insurance crooks.
These plans were not necessary when they were created. They were deliberately created to produce massive profits for the private corporations and to make medical treatments more expensive.
They were the first salvos of the attack, which is now escalating.
" …and around $400 billion in Medicare savings, with half coming in benefit cuts and the other half in cuts to healthcare providers."
Savings? Rather, the money "saved" by Americans who have deposited money into the system according to a legal contract, will be outright stolen, and redistributed upwards.
Again, we have a one-party system. When Bush arrested and jailed US citizens based on "secret evidence," most people on the left freaked. When Obama literally killed three US citizens using secret evidence, we hear nothing. Bye, bye, habeas corpus--when the King wants you dead, you die.
Obama has allowed deep water drilling to resume in the Gulf. HE put cutting SS and Medicare on the table. Obama wants to MANDATE that all US citizens buy health insurance from private companies--the same ones that have killed thousands through denial of services.
I really don't see much difference between Obama and Bush. Well, Obama can speak the ;language...
I just looked at the phony politcal tool Wikipedia and their Single payer map showing The USA as having Universal CAre by other means. Whatever that is suppose to mean. Not only do we not have care for millions , this bull crap site like Wikipedia pretending we do for other countries to look at. Wikipedia wouldn't allow me to put on Ayn Rand''s page that she collected Medicare and SS. I entered about five times and it was removed in about three minimutes everytime.
If anyone knows how to deal with this I would like some help because it sickening control of info for the detrament of people.
Once I saw Max Baucus was on the SuperCommittee, I knew we were in trouble. You will recall how he took single payer off the table during the health care reform debates. He refused to allow any discussion of the cost effectiveness of a publicly funded, nonprofit plan. His WellPoint buddies control his Senate vote.
I agree with the commenter who says the Supercommittee may want to destoy Medicare so it can no longer be cited as a successful model.
Adopting an Improved Medicare for All planl, as detailed in HR 676 (thomas.loc.gov), is the answer to our health care problems --ensuring access, comprehensive high quality care and sustainability. First, we need to get the privateers out of Medicare, then we will be able to afford an expansion of the program to everyone.
Behold the spectacle of Obama , a Democratic President, and Democrats as the driving force behind cutting Medicare and Social Security.
Not a penny cut from defense/homeland security spending, and not a peep about implementing drug price bargaining rights. No specifics for tax increase or so called stimulus package.
Obama is campaigning hard and offering student loan reform to college students. Obviously Obama and Co. believes loosing senior supports will not damage his election chance.
Privatization of SS will benefit WS casinos. Will gutting Medicare benefit healthcare industries? Perhaps it does: more seniors will be forced to buy supplemental insurance provided they can. A relentless march to neo-feudalism continues.
So far OWS seems to have had very little effects on the governing elite.
chrism,ows is doing a great job about wallstreet,that said there already is an occupy washington,so we all need to get ready to shut that town&our corrupt gov. down with massive numbers going&staying in the capital,shutting down the corrupt congress before they can f our country anymore!!!if we wait till they pass these ugly laws our jobwill get much harder&our kids&grandkids will live in a hell hole that we allowed to happen by doing nothing!!! ho ka hey/it is a good time to live
We need to join them.
The Democrats on the super-committee are attacking Medicare instead of defending it? Imagine my (complete lack of) surprise. What would be newsworthy would be "Americans fed up with corrupt congress demand new government 'of the people, for the people and by the people'." Now that is a headline I would be surprised to see.
If the US stopped invading and occupying other countries they wouldn't be attempting to shortchange the elderly and sick with Medicare cuts.
"Archie1954"
I wouldn't be so sure about that. They might be more viciously attacking all of us if they weren't viciously attack innocent people elsewhere.
Money, money, money.
There seems to be only one choice left when these pond scum get finished with the damned "super committee" bullshit. As the ad says, we are 50 million seniors and a lot of others who will be negatively affected by their actions except the super rich.
All the names of those that supported their results should be recorded and widely distributed and every one of these fuckers driven out of office.
And a 50 million man/woman march on DC!
The super committee is neither super nor a committee. They are pack of sick fucks carrying water for the 1%.
They'll be lucky to avoid getting indicted on RICO statutes for the deals they are now making with the 200 lobbyists that have registered to lobby them.
OWS has more legitimacy as a body representing the people of the USA than that pack of crooks in congress and the white house.
Right on. Throw out the Democrats on principle. And throw out all incumbents. At least we buy time and hope (yeah, you are a real let-down Obama) that lobbyists will have to regroup. Retaliate with a message from US, a message from OWS, our representatives.
Great news if it will hasten the implosion of the democratic party.
So is OWS getting anywhere. It's business as usual. If Dems are screwing Americans this bad, Im sure the Repubs will be too happy to oblige them. Why vote at all , the two party system is a scam and we are being robbed blind. I hate these people running our government. Just like those thugs you hear about raping family members in front of other family members. This is an overt show of contempt and control.
We need to dump them all... voters must go to the polls en masse in 2012 -- and vote every single incumbent out of office (including the president) -- only write-ins permissible. The two-party system is dead. Our president, the constitutional law professor, has made a travesty of the constitution and constitutional rights. Stand with the 99% wherever you are and refuse to participate. And PLEASE watch the Amy Goodman interview with Glenn Greenwald (in today's edition) to see just how sick our political "democracy" has become...