Bill Scher: It's Your Money

[marmar]

from OurFuture.org:



It's Your Money
Submitted by Bill Scher on November 14, 2007 - 12:39pm.


Newsflash: For seven years, George Bush has collected your taxes, and spent your money.

He may have collected those taxes in a more unfair manner than in the prior decade. And he may have spent much of that money in ways that weren't economically helpful or supported by the public.

Nevertheless, the record is clear. He has had a seven-year policy and taxing and spending.

Yet when Bush vetoed the annual bill that determines what we invest in labor, health and education, he railed against "the cost of tax-and-spend policies."

He said, "My philosophy is that the American people know how to spend their money better than the government can." Never mind that the American people didn't ask their government to lose $1.3 trillion (total economic cost projected through 2008) on an invasion and occupation of Iraq that has failed to do anything for national or global security.

And he said, "This year alone, the leadership in Congress has proposed to spend $22 billion more than my budget provides ... Over five years, their proposed spending spree adds up to an extra $205 billion. Put another way, that's about $1,300 in higher spending every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day, of every year for the next five years."

The Iraq Occupation happens to cost about $90,000 a second. But hey, you know how to spend your money, right?

Since it is your money, perhaps you might want to know a little about what your Congress was trying to do in that veteod bill. From the Associated Press:

* a 20 percent increase over Bush's request for job training programs.
* $1.4 billion more than Bush's request for health research at the National Institutes of Health, a 5 percent increase.
* $2.4 billion for heating subsidies for the poor, $480 million more than Bush requested.
* $665 million for grants to community action agencies; Bush sought to kill the program outright.
* Creating job opportunity, eradicating poverty, strengthening the overall economy and improving the nation's health, for a pittance of what the failed Iraq occupation has cost.

With Bush's veto supported by the conservative congressional minority, we're left with a clear contrast in visions for our government.

One that invests your tax dollars into effectively addressing pressing problems that affect us all. And one that wastes your tax dollars on reckless and disastrous adventures abroad.

It's your money.

http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/its_your_money?tx=3