General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA positive way to fight end of year deficit hysteria
What budget plan actually saves lifeline programs while reducing the deficit? The Congressional Progressive Caucus Budget of course! Demand that your representatives and candidates running in your district to take a stand on it. No cuts for Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security!
http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=70
The Peoples Budget eliminates the deficit in 10 years, puts Americans back to work and restores our economic competitiveness. The Peoples Budget recognizes that in order to compete, our nation needs every American to be productive, and in order to be productive we need to raise our skills to meet modern needs.
Our Budget Eliminates the Deficit and Raises a $31 Billion Surplus In Ten Years
Our budget protects Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and responsibly eliminates the deficit by targeting its main drivers: the Bush Tax Cuts, the wars overseas, and the causes and effects of the recent recession.
Our Budget Puts America Back to Work & Restores Americas Competitiveness
Trains teachers and restores schools; rebuilds roads and bridges and ensures that users help pay for them
Invests in job creation, clean energy and broadband infrastructure, housing and R&D programs
Our Budget Creates a Fairer Tax System
Ends the recently passed upper-income tax cuts and lets Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of 2012
Extends tax credits for the middle class, families, and students
Creates new tax brackets that range from 45% starting at $1 million to 49% for $1 billion or more
Implements a progressive estate tax
Eliminates corporate welfare for oil, gas, and coal companies; closes loopholes for multinational corporations
Enacts a financial crisis responsibility fee and a financial speculation tax on derivatives and foreign exchange
Our Budget Protects Health
Enacts a health care public option and negotiates prescription payments with pharmaceutical companies
Prevents any cuts to Medicare physician payments for a decade
Our Budget Safeguards Social Security for the Next 75 Years
Eliminates the individual Social Security payroll cap to make sure upper income earners pay their fair share
Increases benefits based on higher contributions on the employee side
Our Budget Brings Our Troops Home
Responsibly ends our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to leave America more secure both home and abroad
Cuts defense spending by reducing conventional forces, procurement, and costly R&D programs
Our Budgets Bottom Line
Deficit reduction of $5.6 trillion
Spending cuts of $1.7 trillion
Revenue increase of $3.9 trillion
Public investment $1.7 trillion
Ive culled the quotes to emphasize approval of this plan by certified establishment types.
President Bill Clinton
"The most comprehensive alternative to the budgets passed by the House Republicans and recommended by the Simpson-Bowles Commission"
"Does two things far better than the antigovernment budget passed by the House: it takes care of older Americans and others who need help; and much more than the House plan, or the Simpson-Bowles plan, it invests a lot our tax money to get America back in the future business"
The Economist
Mr Ryan's plan adds (by its own claims) $6 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, but promises to balance the budget by sometime in the 2030s by cutting programmes for the poor and the elderly. The Progressive Caucus's plan would (by its own claims) balance the budget by 2021 by cutting defence spending and raising taxes, mainly on rich people.
The Washington Post
The Congressional Progressive Caucus plan wins the fiscal responsibility derby thus far."
Forbes
"instead of gutting programs for the poor like Medicaid and Medicare, food stamps, and the new healthcare law, the Peoples Budget focuses on cuts in defense. It also doesnt scrap new financial regulations designed to at least partly stave off another massive financial collapse like the one that put us in this mess in the first place."