If anyone wondered who was the victor in the sequester debacle, it seems Obama is far from claiming that prize.
To allow the sequester to go forward, as a way to show the country what Republicans have wrought, might be the best way to create a backlash not against those who have asked for it, but for those who have allowed it.
The sequester, without a doubt, hurts those with lesser means. If this means that people out there will think it a cruel measure, one that only the Republicans would ask for in lieu of taxation of the rich or Wall Street profit, the results might very well be so disastrous for those in financial distress, so that all that might be remembered is why it was allowed and by whom in the first place.
But let's see what programs are hurt by the sequester. Among them are a 5% cut in the Head Start program. Translation: 70,000 children will no longer have access to pre-school program. Other victims of the program are cancer patients, long-term unemployed and meals on wheels recipients. A 2% cut in Medicare funds means that thousands of Medicare patients, even ones who are on chemotherapy, have to be turned away.
Austerity is the buzz word, here and in Europe. It is the favorite word of republicans and conservatives here and abroad. But austerity does nothing to improve the economy. That has been proven in Europe, where countries that have adopted the strictest austerity measures are the ones that are faring the worst so far. If there is a turn around, which many doubt, it will be at the cost of lost lives, and the hardship of millions of people. What is worse, In Europe austerity has generated sky high unemployment numbers, some as high as 30%.
Already numbers are trickling in: the Brookings institution in Washington D.C. has related preliminary studies that places the cost of austerity at 2.2 million lost jobs.
Op-Ed
Source : Al Jazeera 5.8.13
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