The Democrats have recently been making a great deal
of political hay about the diminishing surplus in the
United States. They are apparently deeply concerned
that the United States might have to spend the Social
Security and Medicare surpluses on domestic programs,
rather than using that money for debt reduction.
Next time, you hear that feel free to laugh out loud.
According to today's Washington Post, in a "52 to 48
vote, which split mostly along party lines", the
Democrats voted down the Republicans' agriculture
spending bill.
Why? Because the agriculture bill didn't spend enough
money. In particular, it turns out that food is
becoming *too cheap* in this country, so our Federal
Government is needed to step in and make food more
expensive.
Of course, the poor in this country spend the largest
percentage of their incomes on food. For example,
let's say a rich family spends 5% of their income on
food and a poor family spends 40% of their income on
food. If the Federal Government raises food prices by
10%, the rich family only loses 0.5% of their income
to higher food prices. The poor person, however,
loses an additional 4% of their income to higher food
prices.
So, not only do we have Democrats raiding the Social
Security and Medicare lockboxes (as they love to put
it), but we have them doing it to hurt poor people.
Good grief.
JDG
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John D. Giorgis
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Takoma Park, MD
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