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Green Party leaders warned that President Obama and Democratic leaders will betray the American people if they agree with Republicans to cut Social Security and Medicare, and demanded that such cuts be taken off the table.

The Green Party has challenged bipartisan claims that the deficit, rather than the recession and job crisis, is the major economic problem facing the US.  Green candidates and leaders have promoted a ‘Green New Deal’ with an array of positive solutions for the economy and employment (http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2010/08/11/62-green-candidates-endorse-green-new-deal).

There are ways other than cutting Social Security and Medicare to end the federal deficit — ending the three wars, sharply reducing the military budget, raising taxes on the wealthy.  A modest raise in the contribution cap for the highest income brackets would keep Social Security solvent.  Social Security and Medicare are accounts separate from the federal budget — they play no part in the deficit crisis.  But President Obama, compromising with congressional Republicans and fulfilling his own ambition to ‘restructure entitlements’, has signaled his willingness to roll back the protections that his party passed in the 1930s and 1960s to give working Americans their financial security and prosperity since the mid 20th century, saving millions of people from financial destitution.  The President’s deal, which we can count on Democratic leaders in Congress to support, may compel
people to gamble their retirement savings in the Wall Street casino.  And pushing back the eligibility age will be a ‘work till you die’ sentence for many Americans, including Black people, the poor, and others with statistically shorter life spans. Read more »

Filed under: 3rd party, Action Alert!, activism, grassroots democracy, Green Party, News, politics, president, third party, US Politics | Tagged: green, Green New Deal, medicare, social security, united states | 3 Comments »