(The cartoon image above is by Khalil Bendib at otherwords.org.)The Republicans in Congress are still trying to sell the American public on their economic plan. They would like Americans to believe they are budget-cutters, and that cutting the budget is the path to economic health. Unfortunately for most Americans, their plan for austerity would just keep the economy from exhibiting a healthy growth and job creation.
What is their plan? They want to cut the social programs that help poor and hurting Americans. And they want to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare (or privatize those programs). In other words, they want to take money away from the poor and disadvantaged, and the elderly. But they won't use these funds to balance the budget. Instead, they want to turn around and put that money into the already bloated military budget (and into new tax cuts for the rich).
But they aren't having a lot of success in selling that crazy economic plan to the American people. Poll after poll has shown that Americans like the Social Security and Medicare programs. They know those programs work as they were designed to work, and they don't want them cut. And a new survey by the Pew Research Center shows that feeling cuts across party lines and income levels (with about 7 out of 10 people opposing cuts to these programs).
And it doesn't stop there. The public also doesn't want to see any more cuts to spending for the poor and disadvantaged (about 6 out of every 10 Americans). They know most Americans are still struggling to recover from the Bush recession, and more cuts to social programs will just make matters worse, not better.
And the public is starting to realize that the military already receives too much money (actually the military-industrial complex). A slim majority of Americans is in favor of cutting military spending -- not increasing it. In this poor economy, we simply can no longer spend an amount equal to the next 13 big-spending nations combined.
The congressional Republicans are once again swimming against the stream of public opinion.
These charts were made from a recent Pew Research Center survey (taken between December 3rd and 8th of 2,001 nationwide adults, with a margin of error of 2.6 points).
