The Starve A Senior Today Act
Sequestration is forcing communities to cut back on Meals On Wheels.
by Kay Wood
The Congress acted speedily so that rich people – including themselves – wouldn’t have to suffer delays when flying. However they don’t seem to feel the same urgency when it comes to helping people avoid going hungry. Homebound seniors will be facing this grim fact all too soon unless something is done fast.
A recent Washington Post story says “Across the country, Meals on Wheels programs are slashing staff, reducing the number of meals delivered or shutting down. The programs receive money through the Older Americans Act, which is filtered through state governments, which divvy up the funds to local agencies based on factors such as size and levels of poverty.”
This isn’t the only vital program being recklessly cut. The same thing is happening to Head Start, programs for the disabled, education, nutrition, and on.
Because our Congress can’t get its act together more Americans will suffer. Democrats do have their own failings and should step up, but it is largely the radical far right wing of the Republican Party (Or “Regressives” as I’ve heard them called) that is creating this bogus but awful problem.
The fiscal result if we keep on this trend of cruel heartless treatment of those of our citizens least able to protect themselves – of refusing to balance our budget in a sane manner? It will cost the country exponentially far far more.
Our GDP will go down. Our children will not be adequately educated. Our prison population and crime rates will go up. New inventions won’t be invented. We will lag farther and farther behind in the world economy because we haven’t made the investment in our future.
We seem to be heading to become the modern era’s first country to go from super power to a third world country. And we are paying mind bogglingly huge sums for the privilege.
http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/2013/05/30/the-sequester-poverty-and-politics/