Why Washington Is Cutting Safety Nets When Most Americans Are Still in the Great Recession

[Crewleader]

Friday, November 1, 2013

by Robert Reich

So how to explain this paradox?

As of November 1 more than 47 million Americans have lost some or all of their food stamp benefits. House Republicans are pushing for further cuts. If the sequester isn’t stopped everything else poor and working-class Americans depend on will be further squeezed.

We’re not talking about a small sliver of America here. Half of all children get food stamps at some point during their childhood. Half of all adults get them sometime between ages 18 and 65. Many employers – including the nation’s largest, Walmart – now pay so little that food stamps are necessary in order to keep food on the family table, and other forms of assistance are required to keep a roof overhead.

The larger reality is that most Americans are still living in the Great Recession. Median household income continues to drop. In last week’s Washington Post-ABC poll, 75 percent rated the state of the economy as “negative” or “poor.”

So why is Washington whacking safety nets and services that a large portion of Americans need, when we still very much need them?

http://robertreich.org/post/65720831745

[Autumn]

1. Hard hitting article. Recommended and it's good to see you back.

Survey say. It's not a recession if the top 10% are feeling better than they have since 2007. For the rest of us it still sucks.

[Crewleader]

2. Thanks Autumn

and yes friend, you said it, sucks indeed!

[truedelphi]

3. In a banana republic, the needs and desires of only the top one percent

are provided for.

And it always bugs me when Reich gets so many the laudatory comments - he was a big supporter of NAFTA under Bill Clinton, and even now has an ivory Tower attitude about many things, including immigration.

[Crewleader]

4. NAFTA would be better with labor & environment standards -Robert Reich on Free Trade

Q: When you were the labor secretary to the first term of the Clinton administration, they pushed through the North American Free Trade Agreement. You were part of that administration. Was that a mistake?

A: I don’t think it was a mistake, but it wasn’t really a tremendous help. If you put labor and environmental standards into our trade agreements, it’s not a race to the bottom. If you have an environmental standard and a labor standard that, for example, bars all slave labor, guarantees the right to organize, maintains kind of minimum labor standards throughout the world, you are setting a floor for all nations. It’s not protectionism. This is a way of actually getting everybody up rather than having the bar continue to trend downward. We tried to do this in NAFTA, and, unfortunately, we couldn’t get the Mexican government support. We tried to have a labor and environmental side agreement. I think it would have been a much better agreement had we had that.

http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Robert_Reich_Free_Trade.htm

[truedelphi]

8. I find many folks over at NakedCapitalism far better informed than Reich -

Or does he know what they know, except he realizes it really wouldn't be good for him to be outspoken?

Plush jobs at UC Berkeley are hard to come by. So better to keep one's mouth shut than to rock the boat.

[Crewleader]

10. NakedCaptapitalism

I'll have to check it out one these days truedelphi.

[gopiscrap]

5. Good article thanks!

[Crewleader]

9. gopiscrap

You're welcome friend.

[tecelote]

6. Poor people are bankrupting America!

All the money going to support these good people of our country could be used for more war, or corporate subsidies, or...

[Crewleader]

11. you got it tecelote

[Crewleader]

12. LiberalLoner you are not alone in your thinking

[bvar22]

13. Neither Political Party is cutting the Safety Nets.

[font size=3]It is The SEQUESTER" that is cutting the nets[/font],
and NOBODY is responsible.

It is called Plausible Deniability,
and THIS scam was/is a BEAUTY.
Not a single representative, Democrat or Republican, will be forced to face the Home Crowd and take responsibility for these immoral and unconscionable cuts to those of us who need it the most.


So the Sequester is just another SCAM too?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023612281



You will know them by their [font size=3]WORKS,[/font]
not their excuses.

[Crewleader]

14. Thanks bvar22 for the link

Last edited Sat Nov 2, 2013, 11:21 PM - Edit history (1)

Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it.
~Mark Twain

[bvar22]

15. Hi, Crewleader!

Seems like it has been forever.
Good to see ya!

[Crewleader]

16. Good to see you too! The World Series 2013 was good economics for Boston,the latest Red Sox Cartoon!

BOSTON STRONGER





And For All The Red Sox Fans, It Is So Very Good For Our Spirits

[Crewleader]

17. by Clay Bennett