John Nichols: Avoid sequester cuts by taxing Wall Street
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.
Thats austerity, just as it has been practiced in Europe.
Thats austerity, just as it has failed in Europe.
Worse yet, the Simpson-Bowles Fix the Debt campaign seeks more austerity. Theyre 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. Theyve 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 Kleins "Shock Doctrine."...