Plan B Forum

The proposals described below represent the consensus blueprint for the budget policies of today’s Republican Party. Should the presidency change parties next year, these ideas could represent the point of departure for a dramatic transformation of the role of government, particularly as it relates to the least advantaged, in ways that would intensify hardship for tens of millions of Americans.

Let me show you what I mean:

— Loss of health insurance coverage: The Republican budget would, of course, repeal Obamacare — and, thus, the Medicaid expansion. It would then convert Medicaid into a block grant (a fixed funding amount to states), disabling the problem’s ability to ramp up in recession. The budget would also end subsidies to those who’ve recently been able to afford private health coverage. The result would be loss of coverage for tens of millions of Americans and a sharp reversal of a great national achievement from 2014: the decline in the rate of uninsured from 13.3 percent to 10.4 percent, the largest such decline on record.

— Underfunded public goods: Funding for non-defense discretionary programs, which include education, scientific research, infrastructure, national parks and forests, law enforcement, courts, and other national needs, is already slated to reach a historic low in 2018. The House Republican budget would further cut spending in these areas by about $1 trillion over the next decade.

— Environmental and economic exploitation: The House Republicans would get rid of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and roll back most of the financial regulation passed in response to the “innovations” that brought us the housing bubble. It would then gut both the budget and regulatory capability of the Environmental Protection Agency, inhibiting its ability to fight global warming.

— Greater poverty: All told, under this budget, roughly 40 percent of current federal resources to help low-income households would be gone by 2026. Moreover, though conservative rhetoric argues for devolving federal functions down to the state level, House Republicans have also begun pushing for the repeal of the Social Services Block Grant — which “provides states with $1.7 billion a year to meet the needs of their most vulnerable populations, primarily vulnerable children, seniors, and people with disabilities” — and an anti-immigrant change to the Child Tax Credit that would deprive millions of kids (about 80 percent of whom are U.S. citizens) of much-needed income.

Oh wait,

That's exactly how they think!

‘Are there no prisons?'
‘Plenty of prisons,’ said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
‘And the Union workhouses,’ demanded Scrooge. ‘Are they still in operation?’
‘Both very busy, sir.’
‘Oh. I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,’ said Scrooge. ‘I’m very glad to hear it.’
‘Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude,’ returned the gentleman, ‘a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?’
‘Nothing!’ Scrooge replied.
‘You wish to be anonymous?’
‘I wish to be left alone,’ said Scrooge. ‘Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned - they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.’
‘Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.’
‘If they would rather die,’ said Scrooge, ‘they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.’

This is the Republican view for America — early/mid 19th-century England.

Scrooge: So I suppose you'll be wanting the whole day...

Cratchit: Yes sir, but it's only one day a year...

Scrooge: A poor excuse to pick a man's pocket every 25th of December...well...be sure you're here all the earlier the next day...

Cratchit: Yes Mr. Scrooge, thank you sir...

oldr_n_wsr wrote:Must be the same people who each fly thier own private jets and jump into seperate limos on their way to the climate summit.

If they save the world I don't give a rats ass how they got there.

It is a stupid criticism.

oldr_n_wsr wrote:

If they save the world I don't give a rats ass how they got there.

It is a stupid criticism.

So you agree with "Do as I say, not as I do".

Glad to have that cleared up.

Oh, please. Stop being such a total idiot.

Must be the same people who each fly thier own private jets and jump into seperate limos on their way to the climate summit.

According to you, they are being hypocrites unless they travel by sailing ship or row boat.

Oh, please. Stop being such a total idiot.

Part of solving our problems will involve people meeting at different places on the earth. To do that they have to travel there by some reasonably time-efficient method.

According to you, they are being hypocrites unless they travel by sailing ship or row boat.