Sequester Shenanigans The Latest Scam In GOP’s War On US Economy

And so the government-sanctioned elder abuse – as well as the assault on workers and children all over America – begins. The bull shit we face over the coming month through the sequestration budget cuts was preplanned, not accidental. Holding the U.S. economy hostage is a result of collusion between the GOP and the secretive billionaires that own them to enable a further shift of wealth to America’s corporate elite under what are already record levels of income inequality. Look closely at the headlines over the past three years and you see the reason for the current economic mess the U.S. is in (link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/03/05-4).
Presentation of the sequester being a result of gridlock and policy differences between Democrats and Republicans by America’s pusillanimous corporate media is nothing short of fraudulent political theater designed by both major parties to push America further to the right. The media has been busily playing a blame game but failed to notify its readers of how we got to the sequestration shenanigans and why the austerity charades were really happening. Instead of focusing on any sensible debate about the fundamental changes needed to rebuild working Americans and making the economy work for everyone, the media focused on the failed economic policies that benefitted a few while defrauding the rest of us long before Wall Street bankrupted the U.S. in 2008 (link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/03/01-0).

Once again the U.S. public will pay the price for the chaos that is about to be unleashed over the next few months through implementation of the sequestration budget cuts (link: http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/republicans-fulfill-their-cruel-ayn-rand-obsession-sequester) which serve as the GOP’s latest fraudulent social experiment based on the delusions of Sociopathic fiction writer Ayn Rand. The latest stage in the assault on the U.S. working class include — among a myriad of other things — across-the-board cuts in health care, housing, education, public transit, jobless benefits, nutrition assistance and other social services for children and the elderly (link: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/03/02/pers-m02.html).

SEQUESTRATION IS NOT ABOUT FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

The so-called sequester occurred as a result of financial crises invented by America’s corrupt Congress. The Tea Party and the billionaires that fund it created this mess by concocting a series of “triggers” during their multi-year battle against government and the people it allegedly serves. Sequestration is on the beginning of the Tea Party’s plan to eviscerate the U.S. public while trying to slash Social Security, Medicare and other falsely labeled “entitlement” programs. President Obama and the remaining Democrats in Congress share responsibility for aiding the Tea Party and the very same billionaires that fund it.

Sequestration is not about fiscal responsibility. By design, sequestration depresses the economy further and will add to the recession America has faced since 2008, and will cause serious repercussions to government operations and the American people. In effect, sequestration flushes the U.S. economy right down the toilet (link: http://www.alternet.org/economy/sequester-insanity-why-are-we-flushing-economic-recovery-down-toilet).

The sequester is the fourth act of austerity insanity in the last 20 months. Despite verbally protesting the budget cuts, President Obama’s actions reveal a different story (link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/03/05-2). Instead of protecting more vital cuts that will drastically impact every U.S. citizen, Obama is pushing massive cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Obama’s “grand bargain” would cut large portions of social programs, Social Security and Medicare while increasing revenue in little amounts. Obama’s “grand bargain” is actually a grand betrayal (link: http://www.alternet.org/undead-unnecessary-unhelpful-grand-bargain).

IGNORANCE IS BLISS FOR THE GOP AND THE TEA PARTY

Since their inception, as noted by many economists and others who point out the truth, the Tea Party has done its damnedest to undermine both the U.S. Congress and many State governments, slash “entitlement” programs like Social Security and Medicare, end worker protections in place since the 1930s, erode civil and voting rights, and everything else they can to destroy working Americans. Since buying Tea Party politicians, billionaires like the Koch brothers that own them have done everything they can to hold the U.S. economy hostage while enriching themselves.

In their ubiquitous profound stupidity, Tea Partiers have conspired to drive up unemployment because they want Americans to be more fearful and angry (link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/03/01-6). Tea Partiers also use the paralysis they’ve permeated Washington with to try and make the U.S. public believe their government is dysfunctional, despite the fact that the reason their government is dysfunctional is because of corrupt Tea Party Congress critters. Mr. Obama would be better off forgetting about his disingenuous “grand bargain” and letting Americans see the Tea Partiers for who — and what — they really are.

America’s GOP-created financial crises will be exacerbated by mass layoffs and furloughs of federal workers and a chain reaction of cuts and layoffs at state and local levels as well as the loss of nearly a million jobs across the U.S. when the sequestration budget cuts begin. Eventually the sequestration budget cuts will be used against the U.S. public in the imposition of drastic cuts to America’s basic health and retiree benefit programs. The interests and needs of working people are conspicuously absent in the debate in the media’s coverage of Washington’s austerity charades.

In addition to wanting to gut Social Security and Medicare, programs like Head Start which is a federal program that promotes the school readiness of children ages birth to five from low-income families by enhancing their cognitive, social, and emotional development will be discarded by the U.S. Congress but financial aid to Israel — to the tune of more than $3 billion a year — will not be affected. You have serious problems when profoundly corrupt U.S. political leaders put the needs of Israel above the needs of its own (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article34223.htm).

WHY SHOULD WE PAY FOR THE FAILURE OF A CORRUPT US CAPITALIST SYSTEM?

Legislation has been introduced by Rep John Conyers (D-Michigan) to repeal sequester budget cuts but his proposal has little if any chance of receiving a vote in the GOP-controlled U.S. House of Representatives. President Obama needs to forget about his pernicious “grand bargain” with the GOP and turn his attentions to creating jobs, increasing wages, and reversing the financial inequality between those who own corrupt Congress critters and the rest of us.

The public does have a few options for fighting the sequestration shenanigans. We could call out our elected leaders in Washington for behaving like morons and hold them accountable for their actions. Workers need to unite and reject being made to pay for the failure and corruption of the U.S. capitalist system (link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/03/01-0). The lies about there not being money for jobs, education, health care, housing, pensions and all need to be recognized for what they are.

Corporations have never been richer (link: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/03/02/pers-m02.html). Getting money out of corporations and those that run them should be made a priority. We need to reject the demands for “sacrifice” and bailing out those who fraudulently destroyed the U.S. economy and demand that all the cuts already enacted be fully restored. Those demands will only be met if we unite in opposing them. It’s time to make your voices heard.