The Truth Speaks for Itself

     If the Bush tax cuts are so vital to spurring economic growth, then why did we lose millions of jobs and face a Second Great Depression when they were already deeply in effect? It's a scam to make the middle class pay for the privileges of the rich. The incredibly rapid shrinking of the middle class is proof that we cannot pay for this scheme and maintain a viable economy.
     Union employees have agreed to take the recommended cuts in pay & benefits (or increases in paying premiums), yet, Republicans, like WI Gov Walker, refuse to accept that and wants to go beyond fiscal issues and end collective bargaining. Collective bargaining has nothing to do with the budget.
     For those who lose their jobs in the private sector, we should check the amount of bonuses (multi-millions per CEO) handed out to CEOs at the same time as these layoffs occur. Before asking the Middle Class to "take their fair share of the budget burden", we need to expect that from the rich who make employment decisions while they pocket their millions. This is an apparent rigged system!
     Tax rates are the lowest in decades. Going lower makes us even more broke. In fact, eliminating the Bush tax cuts brings us back to the tax rates of the 1990s, that time period of the greatest economic expansion in our history. The issue isn't revenue out to pay for programs and policies, it's revenue in to financially support what Americans want and expect. That is why Republican candidates never answered where they would make budget cuts if elected. Republicans knew that if the electorate knew how much this would adversely affect their personal budgets, they would have never voted for them in the first place.
     Now that Republicans have made sizable gains in the November elections, they are doing exactly as they ambiguously promised, and much to the dismay of mainstream America.  NBC & Wall Street Journal conducted a poll to see where Americans stand on all these budget cuts, and the numbers indicate that the populist rhetoric against government has quickly evaporated.  
     Now, more than ever, is the opportunity for Progressives to move with legislation that ends oil subsidies and closes all corporate tax shelter loopholes.  We need the IRS to collect back taxes owed by businesses, which was over $58 Billion as of the 2008 GAO reports.  CEOs need to be called out to publicly justify their exorbitant bonuses and salaries while their workers are laid off and at the same time, connect them to politicans who are in bed with their lobbyists.  
     Accountability is a cornerstone of justice!  The Middle Class must survive and thrive in order for this country to regain its economic might!