Bailouts & Bonuses: Out of the Mouths of People who are Elderly, Disabled, and Young

The dominos have continued to fall throughout the country and the bottom line is this:

Bank bailouts and bonuses have come directly from the elderly, people with disabilities and young people.

Colorado, facing a staggering budget shortfall is cutting its budget in the only places the state has any discretion to cut – programs that literally provide home meals for senior citizens, health and community-based services for people with disabilities, and education.

If this isn’t an example of “trickle down” economics, I don’t know what is.

Robin Hood at least had the good sense to steal from the rich to give to the poor. But the “American Way” is to steal from the poor and promising to give to the rich and powerful. As a result, thousands of people will be without healthcare, community programs, and any chance to go to college. What this means for our future is that those affected by the cuts will have greater needs in the future. Again we are putting off the promise of America so that no African American young of low or even middle income has a prayer of becoming a future president. Again we are ensuring that people with disabilities will continue to be under “house arrest” as inmates in their own homes because there are no supports for them to live and work in the community. Again we are treating our senior citizens like throw-aways – after all they sacrificed for us.

Colorado is only one of many states making such cuts. Not only that, but we are told that Colorado’s budget crisis isn’t nearly as bad as other states. Twenty-two states are facing enormous budget short-falls (Colorado isn’t even on the list shown, which was published in April 2008).

And don’t forget for a moment how this all started. It started on the backs of people of color, low to moderate income people, and senior citizens who were scammed into taking risky mortgage loans while Wall Street began making bets on their future. Their bet was that the products would make enormous amounts of money for them until they failed – and their backup plan was for the government to not allow them to fail.

But the government seems to have no problem allowing your granny, my sons, and your daughters to fail. Not only to fail, but also to take food right out of their mouths, education out from under them, and community living is off the table.

Why aren’t we angrier? What can be done to make them pay people back?