In advance of President Obama’s speech Wednesday on the budget deficit, the nation’s largest union and professional association of nurses is calling on the President to oppose any cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security – and strengthen the nation’s economy by restoring fair taxes on corporations and the super-rich, ending the wars, and creating good paying jobs.
National Nurses United's executive board has already adopted a resolution saying they will not endorse candidates for federal office -- from the White House to Congress -- who vote to cut Social Security.
There's a lot of speculation today about what the President will propose in his budget speech, but many of the hints are worrisome.
Will he endorse the Wall Street-Republican game plan that makes sweeping budget cuts, part of their anti-government agenda, the top priority in Congress? Or will he stand up for the values of the base that elected him.
In a statement today, NNU Co-President Jean Ross, RN said the President needs to emphatically take the latter approach:
“America is not broke, it’s just deficient in political courage and leadership.It’s time to tell Wall Street and the politicians they finance in Washington and state governments that the American people have sacrificed enough. There can be no more cuts in healthcare programs for seniors, the disabled, and the disadvantaged, and no reductions in retirement security.”
“We expect the President and our elected leaders in Congress to stand up, and protect our most basic safety net programs, which start with Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. For 30 years, we’ve seen a massive shift of our nation’s wealth and resources transferred from Main Street to the executive suites. The result, record profits, and unbridled corporate corruption and thievery, while wages for working people stagnate, and income and health insecurity soar.”
There are, of course, far better ways to cut the deficit, if that was the top priority. The President and the Congress could, for example, end the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, reduce military spending, close all the corporate tax schemes that have allowed more than 40 percent of corporations to avoid taxes, restore a fair tax system, and re-invest in America to create good paying jobs in the U.S., not China or India.
There are plenty of resources out now about the corporate tax avoiders who are plundering out economy and fail to pay their fair share. Here's Sen. Bernie Sander's take on the corporate freeloaders, and an NNU critique of a recent 60 Minutes puff piece.
A great report in Vanity Fair discusses some of the consequences of this outrageous hijacking of our nation's wealth by the elite and the super rich.
Instead of accomodating the far right rhetoric about further destruction of the social safety net -- much less pandering to the proposals of Rep. Paul Ryan for the privatization of Medicare and the further gutting of Medicaid, NNU has proposed an entirely alternative vision.
That would be a Main Street Contract for the American People.
Premised on good jobs at living wages, guaranteed healthcare, quality education, a secure retirement for all, a safe and health environment, good housing, and the right to collectively organize and bargain. What a concept!
The Republican agenda, said Ross is “obviously reprehensible. But without real leadership from the other party and the White House, and a clear road map for an alternative vision, these mean spirited proposals, and continued handouts for the wealthy and corporate elites, will surely follow. It’s time for the President to stand up for the working people of this country, not the corporations which brought us an economic tsunami.”