http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/07-8
The $2.5 Trillion Tragedy: What America
... and Counting
by Zaid Jilani
Think Progress: June 7, 2011
Today marks the 10th anniversary of former President George W. Bush signing into law his 2001 tax cuts (he passed a second round in 2003). While doing so, Bush promised prosperity and growth, but the nation got neither.
The cost of these budget-busting 2001 and 2003 tax cuts was, as estimated by Citizens for Tax Justice, roughly $2.5 trillion through 2010. But
ThinkProgress, using data on various social spending projects from the National Priorities Project — which does these calculations for the cost of the Iraq and Afghan wars — has estimated ten other possible policies we could’ve paid for at the same $2.5 trillion price of the Bush tax cuts. While not all of these policies are currently performed by the federal government, they do represent an accurate calculation of the monetary tradeoffs, and each one individually would cost the same as the Bush tax cuts. Here are ten alternatives we could’ve pursued instead:
- Give 122.7 Million Children Low-Income Health Care Every Year For Ten Years
- Give 49.2 Million People Access To Low-Income Healthcare Every Year For Ten Years
- Provide 43.1 Million Students With Pell Grants Worth $5,500 Every Year For Ten Years
- Provide 31.5 Million Head Start Slots For Children Every Year For Ten Years
- Provide VA Care For 30.7 Million Military Veterans Every Year For Ten Years
- Provide 30.4 Million Scholarships For University Students Every Year For Ten Years
- Hire 4.19 Million Firefighters Every Year For Ten Years
- Hire 3.67 Million Elementary School Teachers Every Year For Ten Years
- Hire 3.6 Million Police Officers Every Year For Ten Years
- Retrofit 144.6 Million Households For Wind Power Every Year For Ten Years
- Retrofit 54.2 Million Households For Solar Photovoltaic Energy Every Year For Ten Years
The tradeoffs paint a stark picture. For the same price as the Bush tax cuts, which did little to help the economy, we could’ve sent tens of millions of students to college, retrofitted every household in America with the capacity to generate alternative energy, hired millions of firefighters and police officers, effectively ended our national shame of having kids who lack health care coverage, or put millions of more teachers into classrooms. But instead, Congress passed budget-breaking tax cuts, and then went on to pass even more in 2003. In 2010, Congress then went on to renew the Bush tax cuts for an additional two years, and the political will for the sort of public investments listed above appears to have dried up.
* * *
From: Romi Elnagar
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2011 6:08 PM
Hope in the Andes: What Ollanta Humala’s Victory Means for
by Benjamin Dangl
TowardFreedom.com, 07 June 2011 16:19
Fried
pork rinds, fish, potatoes and eggs were sold by street vendors
outside polling stations on election day in
thousands of people gathered in a central plaza waving the white flags
of Ollanta Humala’s political party.
Ollanta
is an Incan name meaning “the warrior everyone looks to.” Indeed, all
eyes were on the leftist president-elect as he greeted the crowd just
before midnight with the words, “We won the elections!”
Humala,
a former military officer who led a failed military uprising in 2000,
lost the elections in 2006 to Alan Garcia. On the June 5th
presidential elections this year, he narrowly defeated Kieko Fujimori,
the daughter of ex-president Alberto Fujimori, who was jailed in 2007
for corruption and crimes against humanity. If elected, Kieko would have
likely worked to release her father from jail, and carry on his
administration’s capitalist and repressive policies.
This
election puts Humala among a growing number of leftist presidents in
society.
The
poverty rate in
in three people live under the poverty line. In Sunday’s elections, it
was the impoverished rural areas that went for Humala over Kieko
Fujimori.
"You
cannot speak of Peru advancing if so many Peruvians live in poverty,”
Humala said in his victory speech, explaining that he would work to
make sure that the government functioned “above all for the poorest
people in the country.”
economy has been booming for the past decade, with 7 percent growth
expected this year – one of the highest growth rates internationally.
Sixty five percent of the country’s export income comes from the mining
industry, and investors are expected to provide over $40 billion in the
coming decade for mining operations.
Yet
many Peruvians have not benefited from this growth. This is partly
because former administrations have not been interested in
redistributing wealth to the poor through social and development
programs.
Humala
wants to change that. He plans to redistribute wealth by increasing
taxes on the lucrative mining industry. The new government funds will go
to expanding access to water, electricity and homes, and providing
free school lunches and preschool care. The president-elect has also
pledged to expand pensions and healthcare for the poor, and lower gas
exports to reduce the cost of this resource for Peruvians.
Such
plans for economic and social reform contributed in Humala's victory
on Sunday. Yet his first months in office will likely be anything but
peaceful. Over 230 protests, road blockades and strikes took place in
rural areas of the country, and were focused on social and
environmental issues.
Walter
Aduviri, the president of the Front for the Defense of Natural
Resources in Southern Puno, has been active in protests against the
government’s licensing of Canadian Bear Creek Mining Corp’s silver
mining in
mining would lead to the contamination of land and water, and that
local communities would not benefit from the private operation.
While
protests and blockades were postponed for election day, activists have
threatened to restart the mobilizations. Aduviri told reporters, “The
election of Humala was positive, but the promises of the candidates
should be reflected in documents and agreements.”
***
Benjamin Dangl is the author of the new book Dancing with Dynamite: Social Movements and States in
(AK Press). He edits TowardFreedom.com, a progressive perspective on
world events, and UpsideDownWorld.org, a website on activism and
politics in
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