In April of 2012, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) did a report on the impact of Republican Congressman Paul Ryan’s budget proposal, which was later passed by the House of Representatives, on health care. An analysis of the CBO report by Fight Back! shows that this plan would shift the burden of health care to poor, elderly and disabled people. This would cause millions of poor, seniors and disabled people to lose insurance and it would cause millions to pay much more for health care.
Fight for single payer government health insurance must go on
On June 28 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld most of the 2010 Affordable Care Act or ACA. In particular, the Court upheld the “individual mandate” that requires people with incomes above the poverty line to buy private health insurance. While the Court did not accept the government's argument that the mandate itself was constitutional, a slim majority (5-4) said that the fine for not buying insurance was like a tax and therefore was constitutional.
Most of the countries in the euro-zone, which includes most of the major economies of Europe (Great Britain and Switzerland being two notable exceptions), are now in a recession. The zone’s largest economy, Germany, is rapidly slowing. This growing crisis of overproduction among the capitalist economies of Europe is having a worldwide impact, with Asian economies and the U.S. being affected by slowing trade and growing fears of another financial crisis.
On June 1, the Labor Department reported that only 69,000 net new jobs were created in May, less than half of what economists had expected and less than a third of the relatively strong job growth of the December through February period. Immediately the Republicans and the Romney campaign blamed President Obama and his policies, especially the health care reform act. The Democrats and the Obama administration quickly fired back, blaming the Republicans for blocking their economic stimulus proposals in Congress.
Ron Paul is attracting a lot of attention, including some attention from some people in the anti-war movement, because of his views on foreign policy. Paul has demanded that the president “bring the troops home.” He reflects popular opinion when he says that President Bush overstepped his powers in starting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without a declaration of war. In general, Paul is known as an isolationist, rather than a pro-war candidate. However, Ron Paul supports assassinations and other ‘covert actions,’ acts, which are both illegal and anti-democratic, against other countries. In the Republican debates, his campaign tends to put little emphasis on his anti-war stances. Still, to find a candidate of either party who is against the wars is viewed by some as refreshing.
On Dec. 31, funding for extended federal Unemployment Insurance will expire. If funding is not renewed, almost 2 million jobless workers will be cut off from their benefits in January and almost 4 million more will lose their benefits by the end of May, 2012 – all at a time where the official unemployment rate is still 9%.
On Sept. 30, the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) publicly stated that the United States economy was tipping into a new recession. This adds to the growing evidence of a serious slowdown in the U.S. economy, including the zero job growth and falling personal income in August as well as falling prices and sales of homes in August.
_Working people need to fight back against austerity _
The U.S. economy continues to stagnate with almost no economic growth or job creation more than three years after the great financial crisis of 2008 and more than two years after the recession officially ended in 2009. The official unemployment rate is still over 9% nationally, and millions of workers who have stopped looking for work are not included in this count. Even worse, the Obama administration projects unemployment to stay above 8% for all of 2012, which would be four years of near double-digit unemployment.
As the US/NATO-led rebel forces assault the Libyan capital of Tripoli, it is important for antiwar and progressive forces to recognize a few key points. The development of events since the popular North African revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt led to some divisions among progressive forces as the imperialist countries maneuvered to take control of the situation and develop contradictions in North Africa in their favor. In Libya the U.S., France, the U.K., and Italy joined together to take advantage of the discontent among certain sections of the Libyan people, and thereby develop an armed rebel movement to topple the Gaddafi government. This criminal action taken by US and NATO forces should be condemned by all people of conscience. The success of the NATO-led rebels would certainly mean an end to an independent Libya.
April 4 is a day to stand up and be counted. We urge all readers of Fight Back! to join the nationwide protests that are set for April 4, the anniversary of the assassination of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. Say no to the attacks on public employees and on the rights of working people.
