Will the Middle Class & Poor Bear the Brunt of President Obama-John Boehner Deal to Avert National Default

Will the middle class and poor, including blacks and Latinos, bear the brunt of the cuts and taxes increases coming as a result of the deal President Obama struck with Congressional leaders to avert national default?

Has President Obama and John Boehner kicked the middle class with possible tax increases in the face with the latest debt ceiling deal reached Sunday afternoon? The latest deal to avert a national default is seen as fudge by many, including progressives and the Congressional Black Caucus. Even Minority Leader of the House Nancy Pelosi is expressing concerns that she may not be able to rally her troops to support the deal. Many are saying this is a "cruel deal to increase taxes on the middle class via the back door." The middle class in this country is already financially strapped and financially drained. Why not increase the taxes on the richest Americans and do away with the tax loopholes to the big corporations such as GE, General Motors, Exxon Mobil, etc.

We cannot continue down this treacherous path by not making the necessary cuts to the behemoths that continue to drain the country's resources. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are draining us. There is far too much fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, as well as many of the social services. These must be fixed, along with cuts to defense. How many people are collecting welfare who are able-bodied and can find work of some type? How many people are on Medicare who have the financial means not to be?

The agreement is set to slice at least $2.4 trillion from federal spending over a decade, a price which is seen as too steep for many Democrats and too little for many Republicans.

According to President Obama, the deal, which came with scant time remaining before Tuesday's deadline for paying government bills, 'will allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that Washington imposed on the rest of America.'

Experts, however, insist the crisis may still hit middle America the hardest, with the very real possibility that a 12 person bipartisan committee, which will meet in the aftermath of the agreement, could still opt to impose a hard-hitting tax hike.

GOP lawmakers said the super committee could well recommend a rise in taxes, which would be passed by the House. Source

The House Democrats are promising a rebellion if Medicare cuts are deeper than they want, while the Republicans are saying they are not deep enough. President George Bush created a monster with Medicare Part B that was not paid for and is contributing significantly to the drain in our country's resources. Some of these politicians who claim they want change in Washington D.C. sat there and allowed this monster to be unleashed on the American people.

But experts today warned that the plan, which still needs to win enough support to pass both chambers of Congress, does not at all remove the threat to America's AAA credit rating.

Julian Jessop, chief international economist at Capital Economics, said: 'It looks like none of the numbers are going to reassure the debt rating agencies. I'm pretty sure America will lose its triple-A rating.'

Peter Morici, an economics professor at the University of Maryland, added: 'This will have minimal impact on the economy. The cuts are not there for the first couple of years, which really makes you wonder if they're really going to happen at all.' Source

As a centrist, I applaud President Obama for moving to the center, and he realizes that the changes we need to make are tough ones but he is certainly no reincarnation of Bill Clinton or Harry S. Truman for that matter. President Obama seems to prefer being led, than being the leader. He has an awesome platform from which to reach the American people, but he chooses to hang back until an implosion of sorts is about to take place, then he acts. The reality is, a second Obama term is most likely going to be like the first. Well, from December on, that is, when the Republicans, led by Tea Party darlings gave him a "shellacking" in the mid-term elections. Like the BP Gulf oil spill, President Obama abdicated all responsibility to others, the House of Representatives in this instance. Survival of the fitness is the name of the game in this country today. President Obama and the Congress have failed in helping to stem the bleeding in this country -- high joblessness, declining economic growth, eroding house values and high foreclosure rates, inflation, all with no end in sight.

 Any household in this country must operate under budgetary constraints, so too should the government. You can't continue to spend money you don't have. Borrowing all the time and in increasing amounts is only a recipe for disaster. Look at the millions of households forced into bankruptcy over credit card debt and using their homes as a piggy bank. On the flip side, we can achieve change and change the course of this country, but it shouldn't only be on the backs of the middle class and the poor. I have to ask out loud, did President Obama, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) throw the middle class and poor, including blacks and Latinos, under a bus to reach this deal?

The key points of the agreement:

--The deal would allow President Barack Obama to raise the debt ceiling in three steps. Congress would get a chance to register its disapproval on two of these, but would not be able to block them unless it musters a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate -- an unlikely prospect.

--It envisions spending cuts of roughly $2.4 trillion over 10 years, which Congress would approve in two steps -- an initial $917 billion when the deal passes Congress and another $1.5 trillion by the end of the year.

--The first group of spending cuts would apply to the discretionary programs that Congress approves annually, covering everything from the military to food inspection.

--Those programs would be capped each year for 10 years. The caps would be relatively modest at first to avoid stifling the shaky economy -- spending for the fiscal year that begins October 1 would be only $6 billion below the current level of $1.049 trillion. The caps would have a greater impact in later years, when it is hoped that the economy will have recovered.

--Some $350 billion of the $917 billion total would come from defense and other security programs which now account for more than half of all discretionary spending. Republicans are resisting this idea and it is one of the few areas of dispute left.

--Automatic across-the-board spending cuts would kick in if Congress does not observe the caps in coming years.

--A 12-member congressional committee, made up equally of Republicans and Democrats from each chamber, would be tasked with finding a further $1.5 trillion in budget savings.

--That committee could find savings from an overhaul of the tax code and restructuring benefit programs like Medicare -- the politically risky decisions that lawmakers have not been able to agree on so far.

--The committee would have to complete its work by November 23. Congress would have an up-or-down vote, with no modifications, on the committee's recommendations by December 23.

--If the committee cannot agree on at least $1.2 trillion in savings, or Congress rejects its findings, automatic spending cuts totaling that amount would kick in starting in 2013.

--Those cuts would fall equally on domestic and military programs. Medicare would face automatic cuts as well, but Social Security, Medicaid, federal employee pay, and benefits for veterans and the poor would be exempt.

--The plan also calls for both the House and the Senate to vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution by the end of the year. It is not likely to receive the two-thirds vote in each chamber needed for passage, but its inclusion will make it easier for conservatives to back the overall deal. Source: Daily Mail