While I agree that Democrats must push the message that Republican budget cuts will hurt grandma, force the elderly from nursing homes, and increase the cost of medical care for the middle class that message is not enough. Americans also know that the budget is blown and must be fixed.
Republicans are pushing a message that we must all share the pain. They are programming Americans into believing that the average American as well as the wealthy American needs to cut back. In typical Republican fashion they are advertising this notion on cable, online, and everywhere. They are willing to invest in mis-education.
Democrats must invest in real education and not just sound bites. Americans must be made to understand that the budget deficit is not due to entitlements but to an inordinately low tax rate on the wealthy.
Social Security tax collection stops south of $110,000. Capital gains taxes are 15% while the working man taxes are at 35%. The estate tax is virtually 0. All those breaks benefit mostly the wealthy and bringing equity to the tax code is likely enough to balance the budget.
We have transferred middle class wealth with supply side economics to the top 2% for the last 30+ years. This is not conjecture but fact.
Americans ‘Very Concerned’ GOP Budget Will Force Elderly From Nursing Homes: Poll
WASHINGTON — Democrats are getting set to ramp up the budget cut rhetoric with a new message: Don’t throw grandma from the nursing home.
The messaging comes after new polling by a Democratic-aligned polling firm found that messages about the impacts of the House Republican budget plan on elderly Medicaid recipients resonate even more powerfully than criticism about its impact on Medicare.
The budget blueprint crafted by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) turns the healthcare system for the elderly into a private program, which will double the cost of healthcare in 10 years for future seniors, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The Ryan privatization plan is deeply unpopular: Fresh polling by Bloomberg released Thursday found that Americans think they would be worse off if Ryan’s Medicare proposal is adopted by a margin of 57 percent to 34 percent — including 58 percent of electorally key independents who dislike the plan.
But the new polling by Anzalone Liszt Research, the Democratic-aligned polling firm, found an even more dramatic response on Medicaid if respondents are told of the impacts seniors face.
Told that the Ryan budget "would cut $750 billion from Medicaid, including funding for 80 percent of nursing home residents, forcing many seniors to be kicked out of their nursing homes," 63 percent of respondents said they were "very" concerned. That figure was 69 percent for seniors and 64 percent for independents.
About 64 percent of senior nursing home residents depend on Medicaid as the primary means of paying for their housing. Still more rely on Medicaid for other expenses or to be able to stay in their own homes.
