Congress Acts In Hours For Affluent, Ignores People In Need

There was a flaw in the "sequester" -- it hit some people who are not poor. The sequester budget cuts caused delays for business travelers (and members of Congress) and the Congress acted in hours. Meanwhile the elderly, poor, homeless, disabled, hungry and unemployed experience dramatic cutbacks. And 750,000 layoffs in 2013 will result.

Congress Helps Business Flyers In Hours

The sequester is forcing dramatic cuts in Head Start, Meals on Wheels, Children's Health Insurance Program, Homeless housing program, Legal Aid, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), unemployment checks. Too bad for them.

But Congress acted in hours when business flyers faced some flight delays.

Business flyers faced delays on Monday, made noise on Tuesday, legislators thought heard it Wednesday and Thursday: Senate votes unanimously to fix FAA furloughs, Friday: House passes bill to end FAA furloughs, now goes to Obama to sign.

Not just affluent business flyers, CEOs, too. Reuters: Congress passes plan to ease flight delays,

They had also faced anger from airline CEOs whose companies had mounted a grassroots campaign through a website called dontgroundamerica.com, encouraging Americans to send messages to Congress and the White House.

PS to Reuters: Actually CEOs mounting a campaign is called "astroturf" not "grassroots."

The Poor, Hungry, Homeless, Disabled, Elderly -- Not So Much

NBC Connecticut: Sequester Cuts Hit Low-Income Families,

Melissa Rothkugel, 28, of Bristol says the sequester has rendered her homeless.



"I feel very, very defeated from the sequester cuts," she said. "I [have been] literally out on the streets. I was staying in my car. I went and got a tent and was sleeping in a tent."

Click to see the video with this story.

Austerity Discredited, Deficit Down By Half, Congress CUTS!

Earlier this week, Deficit Falling, Austerity Discredited But Destructive Sequester Continues,

The deficit is already down by half. The intellectual foundation for austerity turned out to be a spreadsheet error combined with cherrypicked data. In Europe austerity has brought nothing but stagnation, recession, depression and suffering. But our own "sequester" ramps up with disastrous effects -- unless it affects the affluent.

Also this week, Deficit Falling Even More Dramatically, Few Know It,

There is no reason for the sequester to continue. But it continues. Dean Baker explains why, in Deficits Are Bad and the Sun Goes Around the Earth,

...many people can profit from slow growth and high unemployment. The after-tax profit share of GDP is at its highest level more than 60 years. For those who own lots of stock and are at the top of the income ladder, times are good. These people may see efforts to lower unemployment as posing a risk. With lower unemployment workers may be able to get a larger share of productivity growth. This may be good for most of the country and mean increased economic growth, but it would mean less for the one percent.

Once again: "Many people can profit from slow growth and high unemployment." So here we are.

No One Deserves This

Don't let congress off the hook. Next week we will mount a campaign: what Congress did for business flyers Congress should do for every American hurt by the sequester. No one deserves this.