Cold-Blooded: Grandma Souljah, Felon-Friendly Cuts, And Other Austerity Horrors

[XanaDUer]

Slasher-Movie Economics

A vicious, savage, axe-wielding killer stalks the political landscape, yearning to draw blood, slash victims, and amputate limbs. That's not my description of austerity economics - that's how its fans talk about it.

"Austerity" is defined as "the trait of great self-denial (especially refraining from worldly pleasures)." accompanied by a round of self-congratulation for showing such courage and discipline. Austerity's Austerity economics, on the other hand, is the practice of denying others things that they need while at the same time ensuring your own continued privilege and comfort. It's usually sinister spell is seducing Republicans into aiding and abetting felons with budget cuts that would make them de facto accomplices to a thousand crimes. And what the President's about to do will literally send chills down a million spines.

Back in 2009 Geithner joked about being a "fiscal hawk" while adding that "the President explicitly rejects (emphasis mine) the notion that Social Security is an untouchable politically ..." And while the Administration has insisted that its Social Security "reforms" would only be used to stabilize the program itself, the Administration's decision to suspend Social Security payroll taxes blurred the line between Social Security and general taxation for the first time in history. The Simpson/Bowles plan actually cuts taxes for the wealthy and for corporations, supposedly in the name of "deficit reduction," while at the same time slashing Social Security benefits.

This is Bizarro-World economics, the exact opposite of what's needed. Studies show that the wealthy will save most of their newfound riches, while Social Security beneficiaries will spend most of their benefits. It would have made much more economic sense to end tax breaks for the rich and use the money to give Social Security recipients a multi-hundred-billion dollar benefit increase instead.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/rj-eskow/34248/cold-blooded-grandma-souljah-felon-friendly-cuts-and-other-austerity-horrors

:scared: