John Nichols: Avoid sequester cuts by taxing Wall Street [View all]

[hue]

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-avoid-sequester-cuts-by-taxing-wall-street/article_15e29e24-7fc8-11e2-a234-001a4bcf887a.html

Sequestration threatens to cut vital public services and undermines the economy in order to achieve budget priorities that benefit Wall Street while damaging Main Street.

And, of course, sequestration asks nothing of Wall Street.

That’s austerity, just as it has been practiced in Europe.

That’s austerity, just as it has failed in Europe.

Worse yet, the Simpson-Bowles “Fix the Debt” campaign seeks more austerity. They’re already trying to exploit the sequester mess that will play out this week to achieve the ultimate goals of Wall Street: the acceptance of the “principle” that the only way to balance budgets is by undermining Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid – with schemes like “chained CPI” cuts in cost-of-living increases for seniors, and an upping of the eligibility age for programs to qualify for earned benefits.

This is a critical moment for the proponents of austerity. They’ve lost at the polls, but they want to win in a moment of supposed crisis: using a new variation on the “disaster capitalism” strategies outlined in Naomi Klein’s "Shock Doctrine."...