At The Deficit Table: Wingnuts, Wall Street & Wealthy But Not Women & Working People

May 24th, 2011 by Dave Johnson

… The old boys club meeting has consisted of Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), U.S. Senators John Kyl (R-AZ), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Max Baucus (D-MT), Reps. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), who have convened for the budget negotiations with Vice President Biden, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Budget Director Jack Lew, and economic adviser Gene Sperling.

Media Gives A Pass

The elite media say that the only “serious” approach to deficits is to cut back on the things We, the People (government) do for each other — budget cuts. Tax increases on the wealthy, taking rates back to where they were when we didn’t have these problems — that’s not “serious.” Investing in modernizing infrastructure, educating our people and efficient energy so our economy is more competitive is not “serious.” Taking on mercantilist trading partners who are grabbing jobs and markets is not “serious.” The People’s Budget especially is not “serious.”

The People And Democracy Demand To Be At The Table

A new round of polls is out, and the public is demanding a change in the DC elite approach. Even more than the last round of polls, these polls show that the public demands to be at the table.

Associated Press-GfK poll,

They’re not buying it. Most Americans say they don’t believe Medicare has to be cut to balance the federal budget, and ditto for Social Security, a new poll shows.

Public Policy Polling conducted a poll sponsored by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy For America, MoveOn.org and CREDO Action, which showed the following answer to the idea of cutting Social Security:

In order to reduce the national debt, would you support or oppose cutting spending on Social Security, which is the retirement program for the elderly?

Ohio: 16% support, 80% oppose

Missouri: 17% support, 76% oppose

Montana: 20% support, 76% oppose

Minnesota: 23% support, 72% oppose

A Daily Kos/SEIU State of the Nation Poll asked respondents to name their top issue, from a list of nine. Of course JOBS was #1:

Q: I’m going to name nine issues. Which of these is most important to you right now: education, Social Security, Medicare, jobs, national security, gas prices, taxes, immigration, or the federal budget deficit?

Jobs: 26

Federal budget deficit: 18

Education: 15

Social Security: 13

Gas prices: 10

Medicare: 5

National security: 5

Immigration: 3

Taxes: 3

Something else: 2

Take action: Tell President Obama to put the People’s Budget on the table.

This post originally appeared at Campaign for America’s Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF.