home news topics photos press opinion donate contact

GLN ANTI-WAR NEWS

Obama & Republicans to gut Medicare?!

Don't let them get away with it!

GLN permalink 11-30-2012

Politico reported yesterday that for all the posturing by leaders of both major parties, President Obama and Congressman Boehner are close to a deal that would gut at least $400 billion, "and perhaps a lot more," from Medicare.

If they get away with it, the impending "grand bargain" on the deficit will probably be the single biggest attack on social service programs since World War 2. Much bigger than Clinton's infamous "ending welfare as we know it."

And since we've got a Democrat in the White House, the reaction from many non-profit organizations who otherwise would vigorously protest, will instead be predictably muted, pathetic, and useless. As Politico noted, "Democrats involved in the process said the chest-pounding by liberals is just that - they know they will ultimately cave and trim entitlements to get a deal done."

Fortunately, outside of the charmed beltway circles of the NGO elites, there are some who are taking action. Here in Chicago a broad coalition of community groups has united around a series of actions on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week, culminating in a boisterous protest on Thursday. All of the actions start at 12 noon at Federal Plaza.

The target of our protest? Dick Durbin, #2 man in the Senate and widely seen as President Obama's proxy there.

Our demand is: Hands off Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid!

Durbin's plan raises the age of Social Security eligibility - hitting lower-income retirees especially hard - and cuts cost-of-living increases, reducing benefits by almost 10% over time. His plan also cuts Medicare, Medicaid, veterans' healthcare, food stamps, nutritional support for poor women and children, grants for low-income college students, jobs for hundreds of thousands of critical front-line public workers and more. These cuts will create Depression-era conditions for millions of Americans.

And they're NOT NECESSARY - because these vital programs could be funded if rich corporations and individuals paid their fair share of taxes.

We don't buy for a moment the argument that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid "are running out of money."

Since U.S. military spending is about equal to that of all of the rest of the world COMBINED, the real reason for the budget "crisis" is that both Democrats and Republicans are united on military domination of the rest of the world. Not only is this a fiscal atrocity, more fundamentally, it violates the freedom of other peoples to determine their own futures.

That's why we're fighting back! Join us at NOON on December 6 to tell Senator Durbin that we will not tolerate any cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. We're hosting three days of soup and bread lines at the Federal Building from December 3-6 - culminating at NOON on Thursday, December 6 with the erection of a "Durbinville" shantytown encampment at the Federal Building to expose the dire Depression-era consequences of these cuts - and to demand that Durbin work to to preserve these essential programs.

This Sunday, December 2, we're hosting an afternoon of workshops, banner-making, brainstorming and trainings for participants to build for our soup lines and mass action on December 6. The Sunday, Dec. 2nd event will begin at 2 pm at Grace Place, 637 S. Dearborn Ave, Chicago.

Help us DEMAND that Senator Durbin to do the right thing! Join us this Sunday, volunteer for our December 3-6 lunchtime breadlines - and join us on December 6 at the Durbinville action to say NO to these cuts. And help us get out the word by spreading this message along via your email, facebook and twitter. Together, we can preserve the economic safety net we've all paid for and earned.

Gay Liberation Network



FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.