Our kids will sacrifice for a GOP plan that is just a bad deal.

 GOP is shedding crocodile tears for our kids .   Republicans are  using   concern for our kids’ future to rationalize all kinds of cuts to programs that already protect them. They do this in the  name of not saddling them with debt.   Gov. Chris Christie of NJ on CBS “Face the Nation”  September 30  tried out a new slogan.  He called for shared sacrifice.  The problem with the GOP plans he supports is the wealthy get the shares and the rest of us get to sacrifice, especially our kids.  Their plans do not add up  to cut the deficit, anyway.

I have two sets of kids: one, our own late 40 early 50 year olds and our grandchildren.  The cuts to programs proposed by the GOP  are to discretionary funds .  They have not provided specific details of program by program cuts  because they just might turn off some supporters .  However, if they were made across the board, it would require extreme cuts to   any federal funding to states for education,  student loans and Pell grants.  How does that help my grandchildren?  

The GOP wants to push our children not yet  55  into a changed Medicare plan that gives them no guarantee that the vouchers or the alternative traditional Medicare will be funded to the extent that it will keep up with the projected increase in health care costs .How does that help my kids?

  By repealing Obamacare and shoving the costs to states to provide any coverage for those with unable to afford premiums to the states they are giving us a plan that is a non starter, given their strapped finances and the GOP Teaparty stranglehold on statehouses and state legislatures. How does that help my kids who may fall on hard times?

What about   anyone with children with pre-existing conditions?   Mitt Romney claims he will require health insurance  for those who already have continuous insurance. That does not help grandchildren with pre-existing conditions or adult  kids  who had insurance but were laid off, or missed a day changing jobs. .  How does this help our kids?

 If they reach a stage in their lives where their health costs and nursing home care costs exceed their assets and they are impoverished, their safety net has been Medicaid. The GOP wants to cut that by 30%.. How does that help our kids?

For these almost seniors, the GOP plans to repeal Obamacare but in so doing, they reopen the prescription donut hole in , costing them in today’s dollars around $600 per year.  The repeal of Obamacare would  take 8 years off the life of Medicare as we know it . Instead, the GOP would voucherize and cap the growth of future federal fund for Medicare, meaning that sometime in the future, co-pays will rise dramatically.  How does that help my kids?

Republicans believe giving 5 trillion dollars in tax cuts to the wealthy,  increasing military spending will stimulate economic growth, while slashing government spending on discretionary spending,   the deficit will be cut. 

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Paul Ryan plan that includes these  proposals  will not decrease the deficit; it will increase it.  Romney has tried to distance himself from Ryan’s plans, but he never detailed how making both liberals and conservatives uneasy.  Repealing Obamacare  as the GOP proposes will not reduce the deficit; it will increase it, too, per the CBO. 

There are other ways to cut the deficit  that are less painful to the next generation and actually work.  Both the Simpson-Bowles Commission came up with one and so did the Obama administration. All Republicans in Congress voted against  both.

So our kids will sacrifice for a GOP plan that will not work to reduce their inherited debt?.  That is no trade off; that’s just a bad deal.

Crocodile tears.  The new Romney litany is , tsk, tsk, isn't it a shame that so many more people are on food stamps.  Let's give tax breaks to the rich and throw regulation under the bus to create jobs so those people can get off of food stamps.

Perhaps the increased number on food stamps is directly related to the policies that caused the crash and the loss of 8.3 million jobs?

Conor Doughtery, writing in the Wall Street Journal, 8/22/2012, noted the timing of the loss of the middle class and the increase in poverty and the reason.

"The middle class — defined as households with between two-thirds and double the nation’s median income — has shrunk considerably over the past few decades, a decline that has been greatly exacerbated by the recession and housing bust.

In 2011, the nation’s middle class income bracket held 51% of households, down from 61% in the 1970s, according to this report released today by the Pew Research Center. Over the same period, both the upper and lower income brackets have grown. Pew notes that while middle class incomes fell over the 2000s decade, the bigger hit was falling home and asset values. The median middle class income fell 5% over the decade, but total wealth — assets minus debt — fell 28%."

Here is what Romney proposes to do:  In embracing the Ryan plan, he would cut discretionary spending to pay for a 5 trillion tax cut for the rich would include cuts to  Pell grants for the poor to attend college, federal support of  education, Medicaid by 30%, and food stamps.  Most of those cuts affects kids and their grandparents, but it also directly affects the ability of their parents to give them a ladder  break out of poverty and minimum wage jobs, no matter how many  jobs that pay enough to support a family  are made available. 

 Not only that, never, never has cutting taxes to the rich ever created jobs in an economy recovering from a recession.  Romney may bemoan those "victims and dependents of Government dole", but he only supports policies that would cut the rungs of the ladder the poor could climb to a better future. His tears are only tools to make a point that trickle down and cutting the safety net are how he plans to bring people out of poverty.