Years ago I read in the aerospace industry newspaper Space News that they were sending lobbyists to Washington to 'secure a dedicated funding source' for all of their many plans for space.
The industry journal reported they had identified the source for future funding for 'everything space' - they called it the 'Entitlement programs' which officially are Social Security, Medicare (for the old), Medicaid (for the very poor) and what little is left of the 'social safety net'.
Medicare will turn 56 on July 30, and Social Security has its 86th anniversary on August 14. These are programs that the ruling corporate oligarchs have always hated and want defunded.
In fact, 85% of Americans 50 and older oppose cutting these vital programs. Republican and Democrat voters feel almost exactly the same in their strong support for these programs which people paid for with their taxes over their working lives.
Social Security is the main source of income for more than 34 million older households. For many, it is nearly all their income. And of the 62 million people covered by Medicare, half have incomes of less than $27,000 a year.
Because the benefits people receive from these programs are so vital, older Americans expect Congress to protect and strengthen them.
Yet a bipartisan bill was recently introduced in Congress to cut these programs. The 'Time to Rescue US Trusts (TRUST) Act' would set up groups of a dozen lawmakers with the power to recommend cuts to these essential programs. (Just the name itself reveals that this legislation is one very bad deal.)
If only seven members of these so-called 'rescue committees' approved of changes, they would be fast-tracked in the House and Senate, with no adequate debate among lawmakers within traditional committees and no amendments permitted on the floor of the House or Senate.
No democracy there - just more dirty tricks.
There is unity among the banksters, the military-industrial complex, and the 1% - they want control of all those accumulated savings that have gone into Social Security and Medicare trust funds for their own devious and selfish purposes.
Don't let them have it. Fight like hell to maintain and expand these very important programs that came out of the vigorous people's struggles for social justice during the Great Depression-era and since.
Bruce
~ Parts reprinted from AARP Bulletin
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