http://www.otherwords.org/articles/tell_the_people_about_the_peoples_budget
There's a good chance you've never heard about
the People's Budget, though there's been a mountain of media coverage of
the budget mess.
If you listen to the pundits and
TV commentators, the federal budget problem has a simple solution: cuts,
cuts, and more cuts. They cheer politicians for making "tough choices,"
which usually entails taking money away from schools, stiffing public
workers, and telling the poor and the elderly they need to make do with
even less. Tough choices, indeed but for whom?
The funny thing
is, regular people aren't buying the idea that this is the only way to
balance the country's books. Maybe there's something about a millionaire
TV host talking about "shared sacrifice" that rubs Bob and Betty
Sixpack the wrong way. Or maybe the American people just feel like
there's got to be another way one that doesn't require scrapping
Medicare or slashing Social Security.
If you look at the polls,
the public's message is clear: protect Medicare and Social Security,
spend less on the military, and raise taxes on the wealthy. And while
we're at it, let's tax the Wall Street speculators who wrecked our
economy.
But if you look at the newspapers or your TV screen,
those ideas are rarely, if ever, part of the budget debate. Is there no
one in Washington who is sticking up for what the majority of the public
wants?
But wait. The Congressional Progressive Caucus, which
includes 74 House Democrats and Sen. 
Bernie
Sanders (I-VT), released an alternative budget blueprint back in April.
This "People's Budget" would achieve a better balance by taxing the
wealthy, reining in runaway military spending, and protecting the New
Deal social safety net just what people tell pollsters that they want.
There's
a good chance you've never heard about this part of the budget debate,
though there's been a mountain of media coverage of the budget mess
thousands of articles and television programs. If you've paid attention
to any of it, you're probably well acquainted with Rep. Paul Ryan. The
Wisconsin Republican has "jet black hair and a touch of Eagle Scout to
him," according to one magazine profile. The New York Times told
readers about his "piercing blue eyes." It's not just his looks that
impress the media. His budget plan, which pairs yet more big tax breaks
for the rich with spending cuts for everyone else, is constantly touted
as being "bold" and "serious."
And the People's Budget? Well,
it's not even mentioned. There were no hard news stories about it in the
big papers. Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank wrote about
the press conference unveiling the People's Budget only to mock it
right down to poking fun at one lawmaker's tie.
Milbank spelled
out some of the details of the People's Budget, but only because he
thought the ideas were absurd on their face: "No cuts in Social Security
benefits, government-negotiated Medicare drug prices, and increased
income and Social Security taxes for the wealthy. Corporations and
investors would be hit with a variety of new fees and taxes...The wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan would end."
Ending wars and making the
wealthy pay their fair share? That probably doesn't sound so crazy to
most people. But that the Post considers Milbank to be one of its
"left-leaning" columnists is completely nuts.
The budget debate
is locked up in a partisan stalemate. That makes it as good a time as
any to tell the people about the People's Budget. Most newspapers and TV
networks aren't doing that. And when you look at who stands to gain
and who stands to lose it's no mystery why corporate-owned media are
keeping us in the dark.
Peter Hart is FAIR’s activism director. www.fair.org