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    Information Technology SolutionsMiddle WisconsinNews

    A FACT-DRIVEN VOICE FOR

    MIDDLE WISCONSIN VIEWS

    FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE STATE

    FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS

    Se p te mb e r 4 , 2 0

    September . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

    Morally Indefensible . . . . . . . 2

    Economic Disaster . . . . . . . . 3

    Working Wisconsin . . . .. . . 4

    Moving Forward . . . . . . . . . . 5

    American Health . . . . . . . . . 6

    American Education . . . . . . . 7

    Postal Service . . . . . . . . . . . 8

    Tax Pledge Cult . . . . . . . . . . 9

    Around Wisconsin. . . . . . . . 10

    Day of Peace . . . . . . . . . . 11

    The Only Issue . . . . . . . . . . 13

    Spaceship Earth . . . . . . . . . 14

    Wealth and Money . . . . . . . 15

    Challenging the Myth . . . . . .18

    Budget For All . . . . . . . . . . . 19

    2011Middle Wisconsin

    IN THIS ISSUE:

    w w w .M id d le W isco n s in .co m

    It is September in Wisconsin and fall is in the air. The early Maples have begun

    showing their reds and yellows, the soybeans and field corn are nearing harvest,

    and the squash is mature on the vine. It has been an unusually hot and dry summer

    in much of Wisconsin, but September approaches perfection. We live in a beauti-

    ful state.

    But we are only too aware that not all is perfect in Wisconsin. Like the rest of

    America, we are bracing ourselves for the upcoming elections. We are bracing

    ourselves because we know how moneyed interests have replaced so much of our

    democracy and we are worried about where the next four years will lead. Will we

    survive as a people - as a community that believes in fairness and respect for every

    one, or will we allow ourselves to be dragged down the ugly, destructive path of

    you or me, every man for himself? It seems, once again, to be the ancient battle

    of good against evil - of the best of human nature against the worst - of goodness

    and decency against greed and ruthless self-centeredness. We turn to the quiet

    strength of Gandhi and the peaceful vision of Martin Luther King. Courageous

    nuns - our good sisters on a bus - give us hope.

    As always, there is much insight and wisdom from our authors in the newsletter

    this month. It is the work of caring citizens. We urge you to also read the recently

    revised 2013 edition of the Progressive Caucus Budget (The Budget For All) at the

    end of the newsletter. It is the work of caring statesmen and it stands in stark con-

    trast to the gross inequities in the Ryan budget. And as John Spiegelhoff tells us in

    his article this month, let us Keep Calm and Carry On.

    ,

    SEPTEMBER 2012

    Middle Wisconsin Newswelcomes letters, articlesand essays on relevant top-ics. We ask that you limitsubmissions to 800 wordsand provide sources whenappropriate. Submissionsmay be edited for length,clarity and taste. Emailedsubmissions should be sentin plain text or MicrosoftWord attachments to:[email protected]

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    Information Technology Solutions

    The House budget is a moral sin and it is unpatriotic and we will not rest until politicianslike Paul Ryan set it aside, stated Sister Simone Campbell of the Network, a Catholic sociajustice organization. Several other groups have been speaking out about the Ryan Budget,written by Republican Paul Ryan of Janesville. While the Ryan Budget was being discussedin the House of Representatives earlier this year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishopscriticized the budget for cutting food stamps and other assistance programs for the poor. Thebishops said the budget fails to meet certain moral criteria by disproportionately cuttingprograms that serve the poor and vulnerable people.

    Some 60 Catholic social justice leaders released this statement: This budget is morally indefensible and betrays Catholic principles of solidarity, just taxation, and a commitment to thecommon good. A budget that turns its back on the hungry, the elderly, and the sick while giv

    ing more tax breaks to the wealthiest few cant be justified in Christian terms.

    Robert Greenstein, President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released an analysis in March 2012 that found the Ryan budget would likely produce the largest redistributioof income from the bottom to the top in modern U. S. history and likely increase poverty andinequality more than any other budget proposed in recent times (and possibly in the nationshistory).

    A version of the Ryan budget was passed by the House of Representatives (HR #8) in July,2012, with all Republicans voting yes, including Congressman Sean Duffy.

    On August 1, 2012, after the House budget was passed, Pastor Jim Wallis of Sojourners had

    this to say:A budget is a moral document. In effect, to roll back tax credits for the poor to help fun

    tax breaks for the rich is morally reprehensible, and the faith community needs to speak out.

    Proven and effective tax credits which can lift families out of poverty, such as the EarnedIncome Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit are being drastically reduced. All the while, taxcuts for the wealthy are further expanded and the amount of money the richest can keep fromtheir estate taxes continues to grow. This is an egregious contrast and a starkly immoral budet choice.

    To reward the rich even more while actually punishing the poor is a direct offense to all relgious traditions.

    Some highlights of HR#8:**A $160,000 tax break on average to someone who makes more than a million dollars ayear.**$5.3 trillion spending cuts for the have-nots.**$4.3 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy

    Ryan is on record saying: Im not concerned about the very poor. If we have a debt crisithen the people who hurt the first and the worst are the poor and elderly.

    I am a person of faith and I am speaking out. The budget just passed by the House is immora

    Sources: Belief Blog, Sojourners, Washington Post, Faith in Public Life, and MSNBC.

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    2011Middle Wisconsin

    Morally Indefensible

    By Joyce Leudke - Hayward

    Don't mistake me, Iclearly see that Ryan hasa whole lotta "rage" inhim: A rage againstwomen, a rage againstimmigrants, a rageagainst workers, a rageagainst gays, a rage

    against the poor, a rageagainst the environment.Basically the only thinghe's not raging against isthe privileged elite he'sgroveling in front of forcampaign contributions.

    You see, the super richmust rationalize havingmore than they couldever spend while mil-

    lions of children in theU.S. go to bed hungryevery night. So, whenthey look themselves inthe mirror, they convincethemselves that "Thosepeople are undeserving.They're . . . lesser." Someof these guys on the ex-treme right are more cyn-ical than Paul Ryan, buthe seems to really be-

    lieve in this stuff. Thisunbridled rage againstthose who have the leastis a cornerstone of theRomney-Ryan ticket.

    -- Tom Morello Rage

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    Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary, economist and professor, has several videos

    on YouTube explaining the US economy. Although Romney hasnt yet shared detail

    of his economic plan, Romney has called VP nominee Paul Ryans plan bold and ex

    cing, excellent, and marvelous, but Reich reaches these very dierent conclu

    sions in his video analysis of the Ryan/Romney Plan (R/RP), Five Reasons Why the

    Ryan/Romney Economic Plan Would Be a Disaster for America:

    1. The R/RP will increase unemployment because it slashes public spending

    2013-2014 when the economy sll needs a boost. The Economic Policy Ins

    tute esmates the R/RP will result in the loss of 1.3 million jobs in 2013 and

    2.8 million jobs in 2014.

    2.The R/RP will take from lower-income Americans and give to the rich, who

    already have the biggest share of Americas wealth and income in almost a

    century. Taxes will be raised on folks making $30,000-$40,000 by about $50

    year. Medicaid, Food Stamps and childrens health programs will be slashed

    This saved money will be used to reduce taxes on the wealthy by an aver-

    age of over $500,000/year.

    3.The R/RP will turn Medicare into vouchers that wont keep up with the ris

    ing cost of health care, shiing the burden onto seniors, ending guaranteed

    health coverage, leaving them at the mercy of insurance companies. By con

    trast, Obamas Aordable Care Act saves money in the Medicare program b

    reducing what is paid to insurance companies, drug companies and hospital

    4.The R/RP will add to defense spending while making cuts to research and

    development, educaon and infrastructure. America already spends more o

    defense than the next ve biggest military spenders combined.

    5.The R/RP doesnt reduce the Federal budget decit for decades. The Cent

    for Budget and Policy Priories esmates the R/RP will push public debt to

    over 175 percent of Gross Domesc Product by 2050.

    Ask Mr. Reich quesons about the economy at reddit.com. Ask naonalpriories.o

    to fact-check candidates claims and answer quesons about the Federal budget an

    taxes.

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    We reveal our child-ishness, our belief thatif we are happy, if weare entertained andfeel good, then the restof the world will takecare of itself. Othersshould find a way to

    feel good with us. Weabandon our mentallyill to sleep on cityheating grates, leavechildren in urban ghet-tos functionally illit-erate, scuttle our pub-lic transportation sys-tem, deny 50 millionof our citizens healthinsurance and scrap

    controls on coal-burning power plants

    that poison the air andwater supply. We failto examine what isdone in our name incountries such as Iraqand Nigeria. We goalong with the flow,deadened to the painof others, seeking our

    own emotional tran-scendence. The worldwill take care of it-self.--Chris Hedges,LosingMoses on the Freeway,

    2011Midd le Wiscons in

    Economic Disaster

    By Jeanne Larson - Phillips

    http://reddit.com/http://reddit.com/http://nationalpriorities.org/http://nationalpriorities.org/http://reddit.com/
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    Keep Calm and Carry On

    Keep Calm and Carry On was a poster produced by the Government of the UnitedKingdom in 1939 during the beginning of the Second World War, intended to raisethe morale of the British public in the event of invasion. It had only limited distribu-tion, so was little known. (Source Wikipedia).

    Over fifty years ago, Great Britain entered the war against Nazi Germany. One canonly suspect that the British were scared and apprehensive about what would happenin the upcoming years. The powers against them seemed insurmountable. Howwould the British keep up morale and not turn into a country of defeatists and suc-

    cumb to fear?

    Fast forward to 2011 where Governor Walker, his billionaire financiers and lock steplackeys in the legislature turned a proud progressive state into a playground for corporations and the wealthy at the expense of working people. Worker exploitation, votsuppression, environmental rollbacks, political cronyism and corporate favoritism infiltrate the state at every level. A blitzkrieg in every sense of the word. It is simplyoverwhelming at times. We wish we could close our eyes and believe that it was jusa bad dream.

    This unholy assault is not new to our Nation. The Guilded Age at the turn of the cen

    tury with Robber Barons such Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, Carnegie and

    Gould at the helm amassed huge sums of wealth by exploiting workers. However, w

    are two generations removed from the turn of the century Robber Barons, we forgot

    our history and now we are doomed to repeat it. Now is the time to not despair. In

    your everyday life, do something each day to fight back. Write a letter to the editor,

    join a Union, join a progressive group and most importantly, talk to your friends and

    family about what is at stake. When we become despondent and silent we give our

    power away. Our democracy depends on you to turn back this assault on our free-

    doms. KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON.

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    Ive studied, admiredand gotten to know alot of leaders in mylife. Across Florida, inWashington andaround the country,I've watched the failureof those who favor ex-treme rhetoric over

    sensible compromise,and I've seen howthose who never losesight of solutions sowthe greatest successes.As America preparesto pick our presidentfor the next four years and as Florida pre-pares once again toplay a decisive role

    I'm confident that Pres-ident Barack Obama isthe right leader for our

    state and the nation.

    - Charlie CristFormer Republican

    Governor of Florida

    2011Midd le Wiscons in

    Working Wisconsin - Labor News and Views

    By John Spiegelhoff- Merrill, WI

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_United_Kingdomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_United_Kingdomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_World_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_World_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_United_Kingdomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_United_Kingdom
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    Information Technology Solutions

    I think progressives are missing one lesson from the Walker victory. I think this indcates that we are not a majority. We don't have the support of the general public. Progressives probably never were a majority, but a majority of the general public sup-ported most of the progressive agenda (women's rights, civil rights, Social Security,etc.). I think we have to assume that this is no longer the case. The majority of thepopulation has accepted the Republican propaganda on taxes, big government, andsocial issues. Therefore just "getting out the vote" in the hope that more voters willmean more Democratic votes is no longer a good strategy. I think we have to seriouly begin seeking converts. Preaching to the choir is no longer enough.

    How do we do this when the general public is "pridefully ignorant, doesn't pay at-tention, and doesn't read? I don't know. But I think we need to rethink our methods.We don't have the money to compete on TV or with Fox News. Probably we need todevelop much more one-on-one outreach - individuals reaching their circle of friendrelatives, and co-workers much like religious proselytizing.

    In the past Dems were big when we had ward bosses and politics (at least in the big"machine" run cities) was personal and had benefits. You got your job, or apartmentor status from a connection with the boss. We can't go back to that corruption butthere was a personal connection there. Currently the Republicans have been masterfat getting church support. Dems used to have a platform in more liberal churches.

    Churches, especially the growing conservative mega-churches, have a large social

    function. They have many age stratified groups, run daycares, schools, operate gymetc. Again, personal connections. Unions used to have some of this but have largelybecome impersonal third party negotiators.

    How we accomplish this in our over stimulated world I do not know, but we have tostart by recognizing that we need something new.

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    2011Middle Wisconsin

    Moving ForwardBy Phillip Anderson - Iron River

    This world ofours... mustavoid becom-ing a commu-

    nity of dread-ful fear and

    hate, and be,instead, aproud confed-

    eration of mu-tual trust and

    respect.

    -Dwight Eisenhower

    http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/dwightdei169267.htmlhttp://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/dwightdei169267.htmlhttp://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/dwightdei169267.html
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    A frightened teen mom in Milwaukee called the emergency contraception (EC) hotline. Shehad been raped in a snow bank on her way home from the convenience store where she hadpicked up milk for her toddler.

    It was such a struggle for her to take care of the child she already had, that what she mostwanted was to prevent a pregnancy. She got the emergency contraception she needed withhelp from Wisconsins Medicaid Family Planning Program. She was grateful and very muchrelieved.

    Realities like this teen moms often contradict our most cherished beliefs. Much of the time,rather than challenging our prior convictions, we hold on to them even more strongly.

    Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan have repeatedly expressed their conviction that Eand many other forms of contraception are wrong, but responding to the embarrassingly inaccurate and insupportable remarks by Missouri U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin that nature isome mysterious way prevents pregnancy from forcible rape, the Romney/Ryan campaign

    spokesperson issued a statement that the campaign supports abortion rights for rape victims.

    Perhaps reality has contradicted their beliefs and they will adjust other positions to the reveltion -- perhaps not. It is clearly inconsistent to support abortion rights for rape victims whileopposing EC for the same women. Even the Conference of Catholic Bishops Health CareDirectives allow for EC for rape victims (#36). The most common form of EC (The MorninAfter Pill) does not cause an abortion and theres no evidence it prevents pregnancy afterfertilization. It seems that everyone would agree it is better to prevent a pregnancy than toabort one.

    For Republican candidates to force Todd Akin out of the U.S. Senate race with a presidentiacampaign statement of support for abortion rights for certain types of rape victims doesnt

    begin to address fundamental contradictions between anti-contraception policy positions and

    medical science or between the partys anti-abortion dogma and the realities of a teen momraped on her way home from the Kwick Stop Store.

    Lon Newman, of Wausau, is execuve director, Family Planning Health Services Inc.; public aairs chair, Wiscon

    Family Planning and Reproducve Health Associaon and president, Wisconsin Reproducve Health Network.

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    2011Middle Wisconsin

    I do not believe thatjust because you're op-posed to abortion, thatthat makes you pro-life. In fact, I think inmany cases, your mo-rality is deeply lackingif all you want is achild born but not achild fed, not a childeducated, not a childhoused. And whywould I think that youdon't? Because youdon't want any taxmoney to go there.That's not pro-life.That's pro-birth. Weneed a much broaderconversation on whatthe morality of pro-lifeis.

    - Sister Joan ChittisterBenedictine Nun

    American Health

    Contraception and Campaign Contradictions

    By Lon Newman Wausau, WI

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    More than one-third of all students entering college in the USA today need some kind of re-medial education. This comes after ten years of No-Child-Left-Behind. It is good news thatNCLB is quietly expiring in many states and new assessments are coming. It is clear that educators, parents and students need a better assessment tool, something that can assist studentto prepare for college and career.

    I am happy to note that Wisconsin is one of 24 states already a member of Smarter BalancedAssessment Consortium. Smarter Balanced is funded by the US Department of Education

    through Race to the Top Assessment Program and American Recovery and Reinvestment AcThe states role is fiscal agent.

    SMARTER BALANCED is aligned with CCSS, Common Core State Standards which weredeveloped for English Language Arts and Math. The Standards tell what a student is ex-pected to learn in Math and Language Arts.

    Now Smarter Balanced has developed the tests to measure the Common Core Standards.The test-developing group includes educators, researchers, policymakers as well as communty groups. The group is funded by grants from the US Department of Education. The groupdeveloped a valid, reliable and fair system of 21-century testing for math and language arts.

    Pilot testing of SBAC will be done in 2013. The Smarter Balanced will be implemented in2014-2015 school year. The tests go beyond multiple-choice with paper and pencil. Thesetests are done on the computer, corrected by computers with results available in a short timeThis gives educators, parents and students useful feedback in time to make changes in instrution and learning, if needed. However, there are limits to any assessment. This test cannotmeasure a persons study habits or perseverance.

    SMARTER BALANCED will assess analytical skills and real-world problem-solving as weas communication skills. A retake is possible. An assessment for science is in the future.Each student can show what he knows. Computer adaptive testing adjusts to a studentsability by basing difficulty of future questions on previous answers, providing more accuratemeasurement of student achievementparticularly for high and low-performing stu-dents. (from SmarterBalanced website)

    Testing will be done at the end of grade 3, 8 and 11. It will be done online to provide fasterresults. As a retired teacher, I lived through many reforms in education. I hope that thisassessment program will be shared by more states and will make an impact in how studentsare taught. Our world cries out for people with thinking skills and communication skills.

    For more information, check out these sources: smarterbalanced.org andCorestandards.org

    To be continued . . .

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    Weve bought intothe idea that educationis about training andsuccess, definedmonetarily, rather thanlearning to think criti-

    cally and to challenge.We should not forgetthat the true purposeof education is tomake minds, not ca-reers. A culture thatdoes not grasp the vi-tal interplay betweenmorality and power,which mistakes man-agement techniques

    for wisdom, whichfails to understand thatthe measure of a civili-zation is its compas-sion, not its speed orability to consume,condemns itself todeath. Chris Hedges,Empireof Illusion: The End of Lit-

    eracy and the Triumph of

    Spectacle

    2011Midd le Wiscons in

    American EducationNEW SMARTER BALANCED ASSESSMENTS ARE COMING

    By Virginia Kirsch-

    Wausau

    http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15438.Chris_Hedgeshttp://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/6771033http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/6771033http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/6771033http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/6771033http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/6771033http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/6771033http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/6771033http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/6771033http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/6771033http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15438.Chris_Hedges
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    The government created the United States Postal Service (USPS) to provide mailservice to everyone in our country at a reasonable price, no matter where they live,

    realizing how essential this function is to our democratic society.

    Recent media stories depict the USPS as an outdated, bloated system that loses billions of taxpayer dollars. The solutions they propose? Cut jobs, close rural post of-fices, slash service, open the way to privatize the system. Certainly the USPS needupdating for the 21st century, but further information suggests the current news sto

    is a manufactured crisis.

    According to an 8-10-2012 story run by FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Report-ing), mainstream media leaves out this part of the story: Congress passed the PostaAccountability Enhancement Act in 2006 which required the USPS to fully prefunhealth benefits for future retirees for the next 75 years, and to do it within 10 yearsEvery September the USPS is mandated to pay the Treasury about $5.5 billion tofully prefund health benefits for people who arent even born yet. Also, according two independent studies, the USPS has overpaid $50 to $75 billion into their pen-

    sion fund.

    In 2008 a loss of $2.8 billion was reported, but that year the USPS paid $5.6 bil-lion to the health benefit fund. But for the mandate, the USPS would have been in

    the black.

    Bob Sloan spent several months investigating the background of the 2006 legislatioand the subsequent attacks on the USPS, and reveals his findings in a thoughtful anthorough Op-ed at the Voters Legislative Transparency Project web site, vltp.net.The money/lobby/influence trail he followed led tono surprise herethe Ameri-

    can Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the Koch Brothers.

    Representative Stephen Lynch (D-MA) has introduced HR 1351 to apply overpay-ment money to the obligation for future health benefits to get the USPS out of thiscongressionally-contrived crisis. If you value the service of the USPS, contact Rep

    resentative Duffy and Senators Kohl and Johnson to urge them to support this bill.

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    America isbroke, they say.But this is a dan-

    gerous lie. Itfreezes peopleinto thinkingthere is no solu-tion.whenthere is.

    --Van Jones,

    founder ofRebuild the Dream

    2011Midd le Wiscons in

    US Postal Service-

    The Rest of the Story

    By Jeanne Larson - Phillips

    http://vltp.net/http://vltp.net/http://vltp.net/
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    When plunderbecomes a wayof life for agroup of men

    living in society,they create forthemselves, inthe course oftime, a legal sys-tem that author-izes it and a mor-al code that glo-rifies it.

    -- Frederic Bastiat,French writer andeconomist, 1850

    For a complete list ofTax Pledge Cult Mem-

    bers see:

    http://s3.amazonaws.com/atrfiles/files/files/072911-federalpledgesigners.pdf

    2011Midd le Wiscons in

    I Pledge Allegiance To The Flag Of The Wall Street Lords Of

    America And To The Predator Class For Which They Stand.Subjugated Masses Under domination,

    With Liberty and Justice For The Fit.

    Missionaries For The Lords Of Wall Street

    Tommy Thompson (R- Wisconsin)

    U.S. Representative Michelle Bachmann (R- Minnesota

    The Grover Norquist

    Tax Pledge Cult

    August 2012 Featured Cult Members

    These are the men and women who have placed allegiance to an ideology above their alle

    giance to the people of America - who have placed ideology above truth and intelligence.No matter how it harms America, these individuals refuse to ask the very rich and corpora

    tions to pay their fair share. Indeed, it is the goal of the Supreme Leader of this Cult,Grover Norquist, to destroy our government or, as he phrased it, To drown it in a bath-

    tub. This is the respect these men and women have for the hope of humanity-

    for America - once the shining light of democracy. Drown it in a bathtub.

    U.S. Congressman John Boehner (R- Ohio)

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    Womens CaucusMonday, September 104:00 p.m.Vino Latte, Wausau

    For more information email: [email protected]

    FightingBobFestSeptember 15th, 2012Coliseum at Alliant Energy Center

    Madison, WI

    International Day Of Peace - Push4PeaceSaturday September 22, 2012From 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.Pot Luck Lunch at NoonAt Ojibwa Park on Highway 70 between Ojibwa and Winter

    See Page 11 for details

    We Are Wisconsin Inaugural Leadership SummitSaturday, September 22 (9am-6pm) and Sunday, September 23 (9am-3pm)

    Monona Terrace

    1 John Nolen DriveMadison, WI 53703

    RSVP for the We Are Wisconsin Leadership Summit

    Please let us know if you would like to have Middle Wisconsin News publish up-

    coming events. Contact: [email protected]

    Around Wisconsin

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    International Day of Peace

    Push4Peace

    Saturday September 22, 2012

    From 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

    Pot-luck lunch at noon

    At the Ojibwa park on Highway 70 between Ojibwa and Winter

    Sponsored by The Democratic Party of Sawyer County and The Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation,

    The Democratic Party of Rusk County and the Democratic 7th Congressional District of Wisconsin

    9:45 a.m. LCO Drummers and Pipestone Singers

    10:15 a.m. Opening Blessing by *Dennis White, LCO Ojibwa Elder

    Welcome and Words of Wisdom by *Rusty Barber and *Mic Isham, LCO Tribal Board Members

    10:30 a.m. History and significance of the Ojibwa Park by Jacquie Cadotte and Gayle Johnson

    Announcement of silent auction items

    *Music by Dennis and Cleo White

    Invited Speakers for the 11:00 morning session:

    *State Representative Janet Bewley

    *State Senator Bob Jauch

    *Pat Kreitlow, 7th Congressional District Candidate for U. S. Congress

    U. S. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, Candidate for U.S. Senate

    State Senator Kathleen Vinehout

    *Paul Knuth, Democratic Party 7thCongressional District Chair

    12:00 noon pot-luck lunch

    7thCongressional District Executive Committee Meeting

    Continued on page 12

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    International Day of Peace

    Push4Peace

    Continued . . .

    Invited speakers for the 1:00 afternoon session:

    Elizabeth Riley, Candidate for the 87thAssembly District

    *Kaleen Ringberg, Northwest Wisconsin Campaign Coordinator

    Dave Obey, past Congressman from the 7thCongressional District

    *Dane Varece of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign

    *Nate Timm, Grassroots Wisconsin

    *Sara LittleRedfeather Kalmonson, Native GOTV

    Mike Wiggins

    Frank Koehn

    Jeff Peterson

    John Greendeer

    Winona LaDuke

    *Matt Dannenberg, WI League of Conservation Voters

    *Al Manson, Rusk County Democratic Party Chair

    Summation and concluding statements by Paul DeMain Co-chair of the Democratic Party of

    Sawyer County and the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation

    Vendor Information booths are Welcomebring own table and chairs

    * indicates confirmed as of 8/18/12

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    When everything is important to do, nothing that really matters gets done.

    That is the essence of what Thoreau expressed so much more eloquently: "There are a thousand hacking at the branches ofevil to one who is striking at the root."

    If you care to admit how deep our country's problems run and if you care a whit about the future we bequeath to our childreand grandchildren, Lawrence Lessig's book Republic, Lost is must reading. If this brilliant assessment of the condition ofour democracy is anything, it is a clarion call for rootstriking.

    Branches of evil abound. Witness the recklessness and irresponsibility on Wall Street that brought America's and theworld's economy to its knees. The only surprise is that anyone was surprised, after Depression-era protections against succhicanery were systematically weakened and eventually swept away altogether. Banks became glorified casinos. In3...2...1..., the financial system descended into chaos. Homes were lost. Life savings vanished. Economic growth ground to halt. Sales slumped. Employers laid off millions. Factories were shuttered.

    Were banksters thrown in jail? No. Was Glass-Steagall reenacted? No. Why not? Because, at the root, our nation's "leadersare not free to lead. They are paid by the likes of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup and Bank of Americato do nothing.

    For others, the branch that simply must be hacked is the massive redistribution of wealth in America and the slow but steadextermination of the middle class. In 2010, 93% of all income growth in the U.S. went to the wealthiest 1%. The concentra-tion of wealth at the top is the greatest in living memory.

    Are tax rates for millionaires and billionaires being restored to levels seen in past years when our economy was most prospous and America was growing together rather than growing apart? No. Why not? Because, at the root, our "leaders" are notfree to lead. The 2010 midterm congressional elections were bankrolled by less than 1% of Americans and 2012 will be nodifferent. The richest 1% control one-third of America's net worth, but just 1% of the 1% contribute a quarter of the money all federal political campaigns.

    Some see climate change as the problem that none of us can afford to see go unaddressed. Yet our nation's "leaders" havetheir heads buried in the sand on global warming. Is Congress moving on cap-and-trade legislation to address carbon emis-sions? No. Are big public investments being made in renewable energy sources? No. Compared to federal subsidies for oiland gas production, green energy gets almost nothing. Why? Because, at the root, our "leaders" are paid by Exxon Mobil,Koch Industries and Chevron to remain in denial over climate change.

    Few things affect all of us as much as what we eat. Yet our food policy is a mess. All manner of poisons are dumped oncrops, and regulations have been eased. Drug allergies are on the rise and more antibiotic-resistant bacteria emerge almostdaily, yet factory farmers are allowed to "treat" disease prophylactically by feeding healthy cattle antibiotics. We face alarming levels of childhood obesity and unprecedented rates of diabetes among children, yet we continue to heavily subsidize thprocessed food industry and the production of high-fructose corn syrup among other culprits. Why? At the root, Monsantoand Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland and their ilk are paying handsomely to make sure our nation's "leaders" keep thingthe way they are.

    As Lessig concludes, there really is only one issue in America. Our "leaders" are not free to lead on any of the gigantic problems facing our country. There are countless branches of evil, but one root that must be struck.

    This article was originally published in Wisconsin Democracy Campaigns Big Money Blog.

    The Only IssueBy Mike McCabe

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    For a moment let us attempt to envision the reality of being aboard Spaceship Earth - tointernalize being crewmembers of the ship - to understand that our continued well being de-pends upon the integrity of the ship and the well being of our fellow crewmembers. Thinkin

    as diligently as we can in this frame of mind . . . . . . . . . . . .

    Would crew members be denied healthcare for not having insurance?

    Would requiring crew members to have insurance make any sense at all?

    Would wasting valuable resources to maintain insurance companies make any sense at all

    Would hedge fund managers be valuable on a spaceship?

    Would exotic financial instruments be useful? Credit default swaps?

    Would we allocate so large a portion of the otherwise adequate resources of the ship to 1%

    of the crew that it would cause another 30% of the crew to starve?

    Would we waste massive amounts of the spaceships resources and the intellectual capa-

    bility of our greatest scientists designing armaments to blow up the spaceship?

    Would we allow crew members and their children to live unsheltered out in the elements

    when there was more than enough existing housing to take care of everyone?

    We are trying to operate a spaceship using reptilian/reflexive guidance systems.

    To be continued . . .

    Middle Wisconsin NewsSe p te mb e r 4 , 2 0

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    Our littleSpaceship Earth

    is only eightthousand miles

    in diameter,which is almost

    a negligibledimension in thegreat vastness

    of space

    -- R. Buckminster FullerOperating Manual For

    Spaceship Earth

    2011Midd le Wiscons in

    SPACESHIP EARTH

    Ive often heard people say, I wonder what it would be like to be on board a spaceship, and the answer is very simple. What does itfeellike? Thats all we have everexperienced. We are all astronauts.

    I know you are paying attention, but Im sure you dont immediately agree and say, Yes thats right, I am an astronaut. I'm sure that you dont really sense yourself to beaboard a fantastically real spaceship - our spherical Spaceship Earth. Of our littlesphere you have seen only small portions. However you have viewed more than did pre-twentieth century man, for in his entire lifetime he saw only one millionth of theEarths surface. Youve seen a lot more.

    -- R. Buckminster Fuller Operating Manual For Spaceship Earth

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    Wealth and Money

    Government debt is an insidious tool-

    a deliberately and methodically created tool to enable the dismantlingof social programs such as social security and Medicare, to enable the privatization of the commons and all

    things public, and to enable the replacement of our democracy by an oligarchy, by a government of the ultra-rich

    and the Lords of Wall Street. To accomplish this feat required years of spreading unwarranted hatred for gov-

    ernment among average citizens, and years of spreading the lie, and yes it is a lie, that government spending was

    out of control.

    On the following two pages we have published a table on government spending taken directly from the U.S. Of-

    fice of Management and Budget, and a graph which show the actual record of government spending from 1940

    through 2011. The table shows government spending (shown as Outlays while revenue is shown as Receipts)

    both in billions of dollars and as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    When the radical right speaks of government spending they will always refer to spending in terms of billions of

    dollars. This, of course, is because in terms of dollars, spending has gone steadily up since 1940. However,

    Americas GDP also grew immensely during those same years. To use dollars as a measure of excessive gov-

    ernment spending is equivalent to saying that Ford Motor Company spends more on facilities, technology, and

    employees now than it did when Henrys first Model T came off the production line, so therefore Fords

    spending is out of control. It is an invalid argument and this is precisely why perpetrators of the government

    spending lie will always avoid speaking in terms of spending as a percentage of GDP.

    Please spend a little time looking at the last three columns on the table because they give Receipts (revenue),

    Outlays (spending) and yearly Surplus or Deficit as a percentage of GDP. What one finds is that government

    spending reached almost 44 percent of GDP in the World War II years of 1943-44 and then fluctuated up and

    down to reach 19 percent of GDP in 1952. Thereafter government spending remained incredibly constant

    (between 17 and 23 percent with the highest years occurring during or immediately following the Reagan Ad-

    ministration) for the next 56 years until 2008. The Bush and Obama bank bailouts and the stimulus funds

    caused spending to reach 25 percent of GDP in 2009, but spending is already projected to return to 22 percent of

    GDP in 2013 (lower than the highest Reagan years).

    IN OTHER WORDS -THERE HAS NEVER BEEN RUNAWAY GOVERNMENT SPENDING - EVER

    Through tax breaks for corporations and the ultra-

    rich, and deregulation of the financial industry which causedthe near total collapse of our economy and the subsequent loss of revenue from millions of unemployed or poor-

    ly paid workers (not to mention a decade of unfunded wars), government has been deliberately and methodically

    defunded. Per Grover Norquist, we want to drown government in a bathtub. What Norquist doesnt say is

    that when government has successfully been drowned, the ultra-rich (six Walmart heirs are worth as much as the

    bottom 42 % of all Americans and the top 25 hedge fund managers each make as much as all of the teachers in

    Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis, and St. Paul combined while paying only 15% taxes) can buy America for

    bargain basement prices and average people (you and I and our kids and grandkids) will be their serfs.

    Continued on Page 16

    By Dave Svetlik- Mosinee

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    Table 1.3SUMMARY OF RECEIPTS, OUTLAYS, AND SURPLUSES OR DEFICITS () IN CURRENT DOLLARS, CONSTANT (FY 2005) DOLLARS, AND ASPERCENTAGES OF GDP: 19402017

    (dollar amounts in billions)

    Fiscal In Current Dollars In Constant (FY 2005) Dollars Addendum: As Percentages of GDPYear Composite

    Receipts Outlays Surplus or Receipts Outlays Surplus or Deflator Receipts Outlays Surplus orDeficit () Deficit () Deficit ()

    1940 ................. 6.5 9.5 -2.9 81.4 117.8 -36.3 0.0804 6.8 9.8 -3.01941 ................. 8.7 13.7 -4.9 104.2 163.3 -59.1 0.0836 7.6 12.0 -4.31942 ............... 14.6 35.1 -20.5 156.3 375.4 -219.1 0.0936 10.1 24.3 -14.21943 ................24.0 78.6 -54.6 233.9 765.6 -531.7 0.1026 13.3 43.6 -30.31944 ............... 43.7 91.3 -47.6 461.0 962.1 -501.1 0.0949 20.9 43.6 -22.71945 ............... 45.2 92.7 -47.6 499.0 1,024.4 -525.4 0.0905 20.4 41.9 -21.51946 ............... 39.3 55.2 -15.9 433.7 609.6 -175.9 0.0906 17.7 24.8 -7.2

    1947 ................38.5 34.5 4.0 385.1 345.0 40.2 0.1000 16.5 14.8 1.71948 ................41.6 29.8 11.8 392.8 281.3 111.5 0.1058 16.2 11.6 4.61949 ................39.4 38.8 0.6 384.9 379.2 5.7 0.1024 14.5 14.3 0.21950 ................39.4 42.6 -3.1 370.4 399.6 -29.3 0.1065 14.4 15.6 -1.11951 ............... 51.6 45.5 6.1 493.0 434.7 58.3 0.1047 16.1 14.2 1.91952 ............... 66.2 67.7 -1.5 635.0 649.6 -14.6 0.1042 19.0 19.4 -0.41953 ................69.6 76.1 -6.5 619.3 677.1 -57.8 0.1124 18.7 20.4 -1.71954 ............... 69.7 70.9 -1.2 599.3 609.2 -9.9 0.1163 18.5 18.8 -0.31955 ................65.5 68.4 -3.0 544.1 568.9 -24.9 0.1203 16.5 17.3 -0.81956 ................74.6 70.6 3.9 590.6 559.3 31.2 0.1263 17.5 16.5 0.91957 ................80.0 76.6 3.4 602.8 577.1 25.7 0.1327 17.7 17.0 0.81958 ................79.6 82.4 -2.8 566.8 586.5 -19.7 0.1405 17.3 17.9 -0.61959 ................79.2 92.1 -12.8 542.4 630.4 -87.9 0.1461 16.2 18.8 -2.61960 ................92.5 92.2 0.3 630.5 628.4 2.0 0.1467 17.8 17.8 0.11961 ................94.4 97.7 -3.3 626.3 648.5 -22.1 0.1507 17.8 18.4 -0.6

    1962 ................99.7 106.8 -7.1 659.7 707.0 -47.3 0.1511 17.6 18.8 -1.31963 ..............106.6 111.3 -4.8 674.9 705.0 -30.1 0.1579 17.8 18.6 -0.81964 ..............112.6 118.5 -5.9 703.8 740.8 -37.0 0.1600 17.6 18.5 -0.91965 ..............116.8 118.2 -1.4 720.6 729.4 -8.7 0.1621 17.0 17.2 -0.21966 ..............130.8 134.5 -3.7 788.6 810.9 -22.3 0.1659 17.3 17.8 -0.51967 ..............148.8 157.5 -8.6 875.4 926.3 -50.8 0.1700 18.4 19.4 -1.11968 ..............153.0 178.1 -25.2 866.7 1,009.3 -142.6 0.1765 17.6 20.5 -2.91969 ..............186.9 183.6 3.2 993.5 976.3 17.2 0.1881 19.7 19.4 0.31970 ..............192.8 195.6 -2.8 967.9 982.2 -14.3 0.1992 19.0 19.3 -0.31971 ..............187.1 210.2 -23.0 877.4 985.3 -108.0 0.2133 17.3 19.5 -2.11972 ..............207.3 230.7 -23.4 908.1 1,010.4 -102.4 0.2283 17.6 19.6 -2.01973 ..............230.8 245.7 -14.9 956.5 1,018.3 -61.8 0.2413 17.6 18.7 -1.11974 ..............263.2 269.4 -6.1 1,003.9 1,027.3 -23.4 0.2622 18.3 18.7 -0.41975 ..............279.1 332.3 -53.2 965.7 1,149.9 -184.2 0.2890 17.9 21.3 -3.41976 ..............298.1 371.8 -73.7 955.9 1,192.4 -236.5 0.3118 17.1 21.4 -4.2TQ ...................81.2 96.0 -14.7 253.1 299.1 -45.9 0.3209 17.7 20.9 -3.21977 ..............355.6 409.2 -53.7 1,054.4 1,213.6 -159.1 0.3372 18.0 20.7 -2.71978 ..............399.6 458.7 -59.2 1,113.3 1,278.2 -164.9 0.3589 18.0 20.7 -2.71979 ..............463.3 504.0 -40.7 1,186.7 1,291.1 -104.3 0.3904 18.5 20.1 -1.61980 ..............517.1 590.9 -73.8 1,197.3 1,368.2 -170.9 0.4319 19.0 21.7 - 2.71981 ..............599.3 678.2 -79.0 1,251.1 1,416.0 -164.9 0.4790 19.6 22.2 -2.61982 ..............617.8 745.7 -128.0 1,202.6 1,451.7 -249.1 0.5137 19.2 23.1 -4.01983 ..............600.6 808.4 -207.8 1,113.4 1,498.6 -385.2 0.5394 17.5 23.5 -6.01984 ..............666.4 851.8 -185.4 1,173.9 1,500.4 -326.5 0.5677 17.3 22.2 -4.81985 ..............734.0 946.3 -212.3 1,250.5 1,612.2 -361.7 0.5870 17.7 22.8 -5.11986 ..............769.2 990.4 -221.2 1,277.2 1,644.6 -367.4 0.6022 17.5 22.5 -5.01987 ..............854.3 1,004.0 -149.7 1,375.0 1,616.0 -241.0 0.6213 18.4 21.6 -3.2

    Continued on Page 17

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    Table 1.3SUMMARY OF RECEIPTS, OUTLAYS, AND SURPLUSES OR DEFICITS () IN CURRENT DOLLARS, CONSTANT (FY 2005) DOLLARS, AND ASPERCENTAGES OF GDP: 19402017

    (dollar amounts in billions)

    Fiscal In Current Dollars In Constant (FY 2005) Dollars Addendum: As Percentages of GDPYear Composite

    Receipts Outlays Surplus or Receipts Outlays Surplus or Deflator Receipts Outlays Surplus orDeficit () Deficit () Deficit ()

    1988 .....................909.2 1,064.4 -155.2 1,420.7 1,663.2 -242.5 0.6400 18.2 21.3 -3.11989 .....................991.1 1,143.7 -152.6 1,493.3 1,723.3 -230.0 0.6637 18.4 21.2 -2.81990 ..................1,032.0 1,253.0 -221.0 1,508.3 1,831.3 -323.1 0.6842 18.0 21.9 -3.91991 ..................1,055.0 1,324.2 -269.2 1,472.4 1,848.2 -375.8 0.7165 17.8 22.3 -4.51992 ..................1,091.2 1,381.5 -290.3 1,466.9 1,857.1 -390.3 0.7439 17.5 22.1 -4.71993 ..................1,154.3 1,409.4 -255.1 1,510.9 1,844.7 -333.8 0.7640 17.5 21.4 -3.91994 ..................1,258.6 1,461.8 -203.2 1,617.3 1,878.4 -261.1 0.7782 18.0 21.0 -2.91995 ..................1,351.8 1,515.7 -164.0 1,690.8 1,895.9 -205.1 0.7995 18.4 20.6 -2.21996 ..................1,453.1 1,560.5 -107.4 1,774.8 1,906.1 -131.2 0.8187 18.8 20.2 -1.41997 ..................1,579.2 1,601.1 -21.9 1,889.3 1,915.4 -26.2 0.8359 19.2 19.5 -0.3

    1998 ..................1,721.7 1,652.5 69.3 2,040.2 1,958.1 82.1 0.8439 19.9 19.1 0.81999 ..................1,827.5 1,701.8 125.6 2,135.4 1,988.6 146.8 0.8558 19.8 18.5 1.42000 ..................2,025.2 1,789.0 236.2 2,309.2 2,039.9 269.4 0.8770 20.6 18.2 2.42001 ..................1,991.1 1,862.8 128.2 2,214.3 2,071.7 142.6 0.8992 19.5 18.2 1.32002 ..................1,853.1 2,010.9 -157.8 2,027.9 2,200.6 -172.6 0.9138 17.6 19.1 -1.52003 ..................1,782.3 2,159.9 -377.6 1,900.5 2,303.2 -402.6 0.9378 16.2 19.7 -3.42004 ..................1,880.1 2,292.8 -412.7 1,949.3 2,377.2 -427.9 0.9645 16.1 19.6 -3.52005 ..................2,153.6 2,472.0 -318.3 2,153.6 2,472.0 -318.3 1.0000 17.3 19.9 -2.62006 ..................2,406.9 2,655.0 -248.2 2,324.6 2,564.3 -239.7 1.0354 18.2 20.1 -1.92007 ..................2,568.0 2,728.7 -160.7 2,413.1 2,564.1 -151.0 1.0642 18.5 19.7 -1.22008 ..................2,524.0 2,982.5 -458.6 2,288.1 2,703.8 -415.7 1.1031 17.6 20.8 -3.22009 ..................2,105.0 3,517.7 -1,412.7 1,899.0 3,173.4 -1,274.4 1.1085 15.1 25.2 -10.12010 ..................2,162.7 3,456.2 -1,293.5 1,927.9 3,081.0 -1,153.0 1.1218 15.1 24.1 -9.02011 ..................2,303.5 3,603.1 -1,299.6 1,998.7 3,126.3 -1,127.6 1.1525 15.4 24.1 -8.72012 estimate.2,468.6 3,795.5 -1,326.9 2,089.4 3,212.5 -1,123.1 1.1815 15.8 24.3 -8.52013 estimate.2,902.0 3,803.4 -901.4 2,409.1 3,157.4 -748.3 1.2046 17.8 23.3 -5.52014 estimate .3,215.3 3,883.1 -667.8 2,620.7 3,165.0 -544.3 1.2269 18.7 22.6 -3.92015 estimate .... 3,450.2 4,059.9 -609.7 2,759.0 3,246.6 -487.6 1.2505 19.0 22.3 -3.42016 estimate .....3,680.1 4,328.8 -648.8 2,886.8 3,395.7 -508.9 1.2748 19.1 22.5 -3.42017 estimate .....3,919.3 4,531.7 -612.4 3,013.2 3,484.1 -470.9 1.3007 19.2 22.2 -3.0

    To be continued . . .

    National Spending includes Federal, State, and Local GovernmentNote both government debt and spending in Reagan, Clinton, and Bush years

    Graph by Middle Wisconsin

    Reagan Clinton Bush

    Table Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/hist.pdf

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    By Dave Svetlik - Mosinee

    and Miguel de Cervantes - Spain

    and Dwight D. Eisenhower- America

    Middle Wisconsin NewsSe p te mb e r 4 , 2 0

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    CHALLENGING THE MYTH...And if all others accepted the lie which the party

    imposedif all records told the same talethen the lie passed into history and became the truth.

    George Orwell, 1984 (published in 1949

    The Myth That We Cannot Afford Medicare For All

    - Or For That Matter, Simply Care For All People

    In Our Society In General

    It isnt a perfect world. We all know that. But to accept the status quo, to believe that nothing can be done to

    care for all people in our society, or our world for that matter, is to accept despair and defeat. The brutal pro-posals in the Ryan budget endorsed by the radical right are the epitome of such defeat. They are the recipe for

    cynicism and despair.

    We are constantly told that we are broke, that we can do nothing to help ourselves or our fellow man, that we

    cannot afford healthcare for 46 million Americans, that one in four American children must live in poverty, that

    we must cut food stamps for families in need. The list of ways in which those of us who are not ruthlessly self-

    centered, or who refuse to believe in the juvenile, Randian ideology of greed so apparent in Congressman

    Paul Ryan and Senator Ron Johnson, or who choose to believe in the decency of our fellow man - the list of

    ways in which we are sacrificed for the rich and the corporate, seems endless. For us, nothing can be afforded.

    And yet we are all fully aware that when the oligarchy, the plutocracy, feels threatened, all of the money neces-

    sary to wage war or do whatever else is deemed necessary to protect the selfish interests of the powers that be

    magically appears. Suddenly mankind can afford to do anything to take care of the ultra-rich. This same pat-

    tern holds true not only in the defense industry, but in all facets of how we as a nation are led to invest our re-

    sources. The following quotations are food for thought:

    I've been a soldier and a slave. I've seen my comrades fall in battle or die more slowly under the lash in Africa.

    I've held them in my arms at the final moment. These were men who saw life as it is, yet they died despairing.

    No glory, no brave last words, only their eyes, filled with confusion, questioning "Why?" I don't think they

    were wondering why they were dying, but why they had ever lived. When life itself seems lunatic, who knowswhere madness lies? To surrender dreams --this may be madness; to seek treasure where there is only trash.

    Too much sanity may be madness! But maddest of all -- is to see life as it is and not as it should be.

    -- Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote de La Mancha

    Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from

    those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending

    money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is

    not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.

    -- Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower

    http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/23920.Dwight_D_Eisenhowerhttp://www.goodreads.com/author/show/23920.Dwight_D_Eisenhowerhttp://www.goodreads.com/author/show/23920.Dwight_D_Eisenhower
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    U.S. House of Representaves

    Washington, DC 20515

    The Budget for AllBudget of the Congressional Progressive Caucus

    Fiscal Year 2013

    Executive Summary

    The American Dream has always meant that hard work and responsibility lead to a good job and a better life foryour children. The American people deserve and demand a budget that makes that dream a reality for all. Getting

    our fiscal house in order and addressing our jobs crisis will require asking tough questions and making difficultdecisions. The Congressional Progressive Caucuss Budget for Allresponds by listening to the American people andreflecting their values.

    Throughout our history, Americans have stood shoulder to shoulder to fight through the worst. At this decisivemoment, the Budget for Allasks the most fortunate to contribute a sensible share. We ask because we value a teach-er as much as a CEO, a grocer as much as a venture capitalist, working moms as much as working dads, and ourrough neighborhoods as much as our safe suburbs. The CPC budget is a governing vision for all Americans. It is areflection of their priorities and voices.

    Americans believe in the covenant made between a government and its citizens. We hear them, and honor the

    promises made by Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The CPC Budget protects these basic guarantees:When you are old, you will not live in poverty; when you are sick, you will have affordable health care; and whenyouve fallen on tough times, you will have support to get back on your feet. Those promises are not up for nego-tiation or experimentation.

    Americans believe, and experts agree, that the solution to our debt and deficit woes should rely on three compo-nents: Job growth, increased revenues, and spending cuts. The Budget for Allrelies on all three. Government is notthe panacea for the issues that we face, but it is not the singular cause of our nations strife as some would suggest.Our budget is a plan for those that believe in a government that works for them and helps find solutions.

    Our Budget Invests in Job Creation Now & Lays the Foundation for the Future

    When middle-class Americans earn a paycheck, the entire economy succeeds. By focusing our investments in tar-geted areas such as transportation infrastructure, domestic manufacturing, and small businesses innovation, whilesupporting tax credits for working families, the Budget for Allgets the economy back on the right track.

    Make no mistake: every tax cut for a millionaire is an education cut for Americas children; every tax giveaway tospecial interests gives away our ability to rebuild America. We need a budget that works for all Americans notjust the well-connected and well-off. Working and middle class Americans have been working harder and harderfor less and less. This budget achieves long-term fiscal sustainability while protecting the services, programs, andpromises that Americans support. There is a pathway forward of shared responsibility and prosperity. This is it.

    Budget for All | 1

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    Overview of Our Policies

    Our Budgets Top LineDeficit reduction of $6.8 trillion

    Primary spending cuts of $749 billion

    Public investment and job creation measures of $2.9 trillion

    Debt reduced to 62.3% of GDP by 2022

    Comprehensive Economic Recovery PackageInfrastructure Bank

    Surface transportation investment (we propose a six-year $556 billion reauthorization bill that, over ten years, wouldlead to a $241 billion increase in transportation funding)

    Making Work Pay tax credit for 2013 through 2015

    More than $2 trillion domestic investment package including:

    The Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream ActSchool Improvement, Park Improvement, StudentJobs, Neighborhood Heroes, Health, Community, and Child Care Corps

    Widespread domestic investments (see function chart)

    Job Creating Initiatives from the Presidents FY2013 Budgeto Temporary 10 percent tax credit for new jobs and wage increases ($20.8 billion)

    o Additional tax credits for investment in advanced energy manufacturing ($3.2 billion)

    o National Network of Manufacturing Innovation Institutes ($1 billion)

    o Capital access for entrepreneurs and small businesses ($2 million)

    o Manufacturing Communities tax credit ($4.3 billion)

    o Tax credit for the production of advanced technology vehicles ($1.7 billion)

    o Tax credit for alternative-fuel commercial vehicles ($1.7 billion)

    o Double the amount of expensed start-up expenditures ($3.1 billion)

    o Enhance and make permanent the research and experimentation tax credit ($99.3 billion)

    Individual Income Tax Policies* Allow the Bush-era tax cuts to expire for the top 2% of earnings at the end of 2012, while extending marriage relief,

    credits, and incentives for children, families, and education.

    * Allow the 28% and 25% brackets to sunset once the economy is on solid footing, in 2017 and 2019, respectively.

    The 10% bracket does not sunset and is extended throughout the 10 year window.

    * Maintain refundable credits expansion as outlined in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Earned In

    come Tax Credit, the Child and Dependent Care Credit , and the American Opportunity Tax Credit)

    * Index the AMT for inflation for a decade (the AMT patch is fully paid for)

    * Enact the Fairness in Taxation Act - millionaire and billionaire tax rates proposal (adding 45%, 46%, 47%, 48%, and

    49% top rates)* Tax all capital gains and qualified dividends as ordinary income

    * Repeal the step-up basis for capital gains

    * Limit the rate at which itemized deductions can reduce tax liability to 28% for high earners

    * Eliminate the mortgage interest deduction for vacation homes and yachts

    * Replace the tax exclusion for interest on state and local bonds with a subsidy for the issuer

    * Enact a high net worth surcharge (0.5% on wealth over $10 million, over 10 years)

    * End the exclusion for foreign-earned income

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    * Eliminate corporate welfare for oil, gas, and coal companies

    * Enact a financial crisis responsibility fee

    * Enact a financial speculation tax

    * Reinstate Superfund taxes

    * Price carbon pollution together with a robust rebate that holds low and moderate income households

    harmless

    * Close various corporate loopholes that distort true tax liability

    * Adopt the international tax reforms in the Presidents FY2013 budget

    Health Care

    * Enact a public option

    * Allow Medicare to negotiate cheaper prescription drug prices in Part D

    * Adopt targeted Medicare and Medicaid fraud, waste, and abuse savings from the Presidents budget while

    maintaining all benefits

    * Adopt the generic prescription drug development and release proposals in the Presidents budget

    * Adopt the Narrowing Exceptions for Withholding Taxes (NEWT) Act

    * Prevent a cut in Medicare physician payments for a decade (the doc fix is fully paid for)

    * End subsidies for junk and fast food advertising to children

    Social Security

    * Eliminate the taxable maximum on the employer and employee side, phased in over 5 years.

    * Maintain benefit structure, increase benefits based on higher contributions on the employee side

    Defense Savings

    * End overseas contingency operations emergency funding starting in Fiscal Year 2014, providing funding for a

    secure redeployment in FY2013

    * Reduce baseline defense spending by reducing strategic capabilities, including Cold War-era nuclear weaponsand infrastructure, conventional forces, procurement, and end strength

    Other Policies

    * Enact Comprehensive immigration reform

    * Reduce agriculture subsidies* Adopt public financing of elections

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    Pa g e Background on Policy Proposals

    Job Creation & Domestic InvestmentsThe Budget for Allattacks Americas persistently high unemployment by utilizing all of the tools at our disposal:Direct-hire programs (as seen in the Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act), private sector tax in-centives (as outlined by the Presidents FY2013 budget proposals), and widespread domestic investments.

    The Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act.This legislation outlines a plan to put over 2 mil-lion individuals back to work over the next 2 years by hiring them for work in areas critical to our quality of life.This would create the School Improvement Corps for public school rehabilitation projects, the Park ImprovementCorps made of youth ages 16 to 25 for restoration on public lands, the Student Jobs Corps of college students forpart-time work study positions, the Neighborhood Heroes Corps to employee teachers, firefighters and cops,among others. Priority hiring is given to the unemployed and veterans.

    Targeted Economic Improvement Tax Incentives from Presidents FY2013 Budget.The Budget for Allin-cludes several of the Presidents proposals to spur clean energy, manufacturing, and cutting-edge technologicalinvestments in the private sector. These specifically targeted approaches will remake the middle class, keep ournation competitive in the 21st century, and boost much-needed private sector job growth in the immediate future.

    Domestic Investments. Domestic investments create jobs and lay the foundation for exceptional American in-dustries competing in the global economy. The creation of an infrastructure bankwould attract private invest-ment toward critical infrastructure projects and facilitate private-public partnerships with our states and localities.Some projections estimate that the iBank could mobilize up to $625 billion in funding for infrastructure. A $556billion surface transportation billwould help meet the overwhelming need for repair and construction of ourroadways and aging infrastructure. Lastly, the Budget for Alloutlines a plan for nearly $2.1 trillion inwidespreaddomestic investment, getting badly needed funds to valuable programs that are scheduled for starvation undercurrent law.

    Housing. Millions of families have already lost their homes and an estimated twelve million Americans now owemore money than their home is worth. This means one in four homeowners is at high risk of foreclosure and theproblem is far from over. The negative equity creates a drag on consumer spending and is prolonging the econom-ic crisis. Our budget protects and invests in important programs that are staving off further devastation by provid-ing additional funding to Income Security, Housing and Commerce, Education, Training and Social Services, andVeterans Benefits and Services functions within the budget. Additionally, the caucus supports policies that are be-yond the context of this budget, but will further hold banks accountable for careless and fraudulent actions as wellas allowing write down on mortgage principal amounts for struggling homeowners.

    Protects Working Families.The middle class that is the backbone of America is shrinking as more families fallinto poverty. The Progressive Caucus believes that every child has the right to good health, a good education and aroof over their head. Our budget invests in Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) and NutritionProgram for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) that ensure children arent going to bed hungry at night. Fund-

    ing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) provides assistance and work opportunities to families thatare struggling through the recession. Unemployment compensation protects American families and creates theconsumer demand needed to create jobs. The Budget for Allproperly funds education so that American children arenot falling behind the rest of the world and that we are making Americas future bright starting with each and eve-ry child.

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    Our Budget Creates a Fair Tax System

    It defies all reason and common-sense that a multi-millionaire like Warren Buffett would pay lower tax rates thanhis secretary. At the very least, our nation should take a basic step towards fairness and adopt the Buffett Rule.

    The Budget for Allgoes beyond this rule by treating wealth made off investments the same as income earned by ahard days work. Further, the CPC budget would institute new tax brackets for millionaires and billionaires, as out-lined by the Fairness in Taxation Act. These sensible brackets would still place the top marginal rate lower thanwhat it was for nearly all of the Reagan Administration. Additionally, the CPC budget calls for long overdue re-form to the estate tax and caps the value of itemized deductions that disproportionately favor the wealthy. Thesepolicies are pursued alongside credits for vulnerable Americans, the middle class, and students.The Budget for Alleliminates corporate welfare for oil companies making record profits and makes polluters thatendanger our health pay for irresponsible practices. It ensures that the banks that wrecked our economy pay amodest financial responsibility fee and that exotic trading and gambling by Wall Street traders incurs a tax to determore reckless behavior. Finally, the CPC Budget institutes corporate tax reform that closes loopholes businesseshave used for far too long to game the system, break the rules, ship American jobs overseas and avoid paying their

    fair share.

    Individual Income Tax Policies

    2001/2003 Tax Cuts and Other Tax Relief.The Budget for Allextends tax relief for approximately 98% ofAmericans while our economic recovery is still fragile for the next 4 years. In 2017, the CPC budget would allowthe 28% bracket to revert to 31%. Two years later, in 2019, the 25% bracket would sunset. The budget wouldmaintain the 10% bracket, marriage penalty relief (standard deduction, EITC phase-out, and the 15% bracket),preferential treatment of Coverdell Education Savings Accounts, employer provided education assistance, studentloan interest, select tax free scholarships, and tax exempt bonds for school construction.

    Boosted Refundables established under ARRA. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a num-

    ber of tax credits targeted at working families were expanded to boost relief during hard economic times. TheBudget for Allretains the improvements made to the Earned Income Tax Credit (qualifying children and phase-outrange), Child and Dependent Care Credit, and the American Opportunity Tax Credit.

    Index the AMT for inflation for a decade.The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) was designed to keep wealthytaxpayers from using loopholes to avoid paying taxes. But because it is not automatically updated for inflation,more middle-class taxpayers are getting hit with the AMT. We need a long-term solution to this problem and sup-portat the very leasta shift to the Buffett Rule, which would set an appropriate $1 million income thresh-old. Until a clear solution is brokered, this budget is honest about our obligations to middle-class families in thiscountry. Our budget fully pays for the AMT patch for the next decade.

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    Millionaire and billionaire tax rates proposal.The Schakowsky plan asks the extraordinarily wealthy to pay asensible share by creating five additional income tax brackets, the highest of which is still lower than the topbracket in place during nearly all of the Reagan Administration

    $110 million 45%$1020 million: 46%

    $20100 million: 47%$100 million - $1billion 48%$1 billion and over 49%

    Tax Capital Gains as Ordinary Income & Eliminating Step Up Basis.This policy would eliminate any pref-erential treatment on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends (currently set at 15%), similar to the policyestablished by the 1986 tax reform signed by President Reagan. As one of the leading drivers of income inequalityin this country, our nation must end special tax breaks for investment income. Further, by eliminating step-up ba-sis and using the carryover standard instead, where capital gains taxes are levied upon the sale of assets, the basisfor that tax will be founded on the true appreciation in the assets value.

    Progressive & Sensible Estate Tax.The Budget for Allmakes important estate tax reform including a $2.5 mil-lion exemption ($5 million for couples) followed by a progressive series of marginal rates ranging from 45 percentto 65 percent, as seen in the Senator Sanders Progressive Estate Tax Act. Further, the Progressive Caucus sup-ports the reforms and loopholes closures as seen in Representative McDermotts Sensible Estate Tax Act.

    Cap the benefit of itemized deductions at 28%. Only 30% of taxpayers itemize their deductions because themajority of Americans claim the standard deduction. Further, the value of a deduction corresponds to an individu-als marginal tax rate making itemization highly regressive. For example, itemized deductions totaling $10,000reduce taxes for a person in the 15 percent bracket by $1,500 (15 percent of $10,000) but cut taxes by $3,500 for aperson in the 35 percent bracket (35 percent of $10,000). While itemizers are of all income levels, this proposalholds lower earners completely harmless, only affecting those currently in the top two income brackets.

    Eliminate the Mortgage Interest Deduction for Vacation Homes and Yachts.The purpose of the modern-day home mortgage interest deduction is to spur homeownership among average Americans, not subsidize thelifestyles of the rich and the famous. This proposal would eliminate the mortgage interest deduction for vacationhomes and yachts currently being subsidized by the hard-earned tax dollars of everyday people.

    Replace the tax exclusion for interest on state and local bonds with a subsidy for the issuer.The Budget forAllwould replace the tax exclusion for interest income on state and local government bonds with a direct subsidyto state and local governments. Under this policy, bond issuers would make interest payments to bondholders sub-ject to taxation and receive a 15% subsidy from the federal government for the interest paid on those bonds. Thiswould simplify the tax code, increase budgeting transparency, and more directly and cleanly subsidize borrowingby subnational governments.

    High Net Worth Surcharge.The Budget for Allrecognizes that our economy has systemically gotten off track.With more and more American children living in poverty, income inequality is hitting all-time highs while eco-nomic mobility, the middle-class, and the American dream all suffer. This policy would adopt a temporary 0.5%surcharge on net worth over $10 million. The surcharge begins to phases in gradually from 2013 to 2017. This sur-charge only affects less than one-half of 1 percent of Americans owning more than $10 million in assets.

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    Corporate Tax Reform

    Eliminate corporate welfare for oil, gas, and coal companies.The Budget for Allrepeals exploration and devel-opment expensing, preferential tax treatment of royalties, and domestic manufacturing deductions, among othertax preferences, for oil, natural gas, and coal producers.

    Enact a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee.The Budget for Alllevies a small tax on large banks with more than$50 billion in assets to repay the cost of the financial calamity of 2008, and that still pose a structural danger to oureconomy as too big to fail institutions.

    Wall Street Gaming Tax.This policy would enact a tax on derivatives, credit default swaps, and other exotic fi-nancial products, including both sides of futures and forwards, option premiums and foreign exchange spot trans-actions. This is a tax levied directly against the types of opaque, complex trades that Wall Street manipulators usedto inflate their profits and were a direct cause of the financial crisis. This policy would use tax base and rates asfollows: stock transactions at 0.25%, bond transactions at 0.004%, option premiums at 0.25% per year to maturity,foreign exchange transactions at 0.004%, and futures and swaps at 0.01%

    Reinstate Superfund taxes.The Environmental Protection Agencys Superfund program, once largely funded bydedicated taxes, is now largely funded by general revenue. Having a stable source of funding, rather than relyingon year-to-year appropriations, would help plan multi-year cleanup of hazardous chemical waste. The budgetwould reinstate the Superfund excise taxes that expired in 1995 in order to finance cleanup of hazardous waste.

    Impose a Price on Carbon Pollution.The Budget for Allwould impose a $20 per ton price on CO2 (increasing at5.6% a year) on polluters, and rebate 25% of all revenues as refundable credits holding low and middle incomefamilies harmless.

    Closing corporate loopholes that distort true tax liability.These policies reform and update the rules that cor-porations have exploited in order to dodge taxes including

    Eliminating the stock option loophole. Under current law, when a company deducts stock options asthey are cashed in by an employee, the value reported to the IRS can be inflated to current market value, ra-ther than the original cost to the corporation. As of late, this has commonly been referred to as theFacebook loophole although it has long-existed and been used by businesses to minimize or eliminate theirtax liability. Under the Budget for All, the value of this deduction would match the costs reported to sharehold-ers, which is typically much lower. In addition, this policy would impose a $1 million cap on deductions relat-ed to stock options, the current standard applied to other types of executive compensation.

    Employee Misclassification Prevention Act. Under current law, a business owner must withhold incometaxes, withhold and pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, and pay unemployment tax on wages paid to anemployee. In contrast, a business owner does not have to withhold or pay any taxes on payments to inde-pendent contractors. This policy would impose new obligations on employers that use independent contrac-tors and enact stiff penalties on businesses that misclassify their workers. When last comprehensively studiedby the IRS in 1984, misclassification resulted in a one year loss of $1.6 billion.

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    International Tax Reforms in the Presidents FY2013 Budget.The President put forth a strong set of reformsto curtail business behavior that moves jobs and investments overseas. The Budget for Allincludes proposals to endmanipulation of interest expenses of foreign subsidiaries, determine foreign tax credits on a pooling basis, crackdown on transfers of intangible assets to tax havens, level the playing field between domestic and foreign insurers,and modify tax rules of dual capacity taxpayers, among others.

    Our Budget Brings Our Troops Home & Realigns Our National Security StrategyOur military engagements overseas are currently being financed on borrowed money, fought on borrowed time,and following a strategy unsuited for modern threats. Defense spending has nearly doubled over the last decade,and this approach has strained our military and economy to the brink. The Budget for Allresponsibly ends opera-tions in Afghanistan, and puts an end to nation building outside the United States.

    With two wars drawing to a close, we need a leaner, more agile force to combat 21st century risks. By employingstrategies designed for todays enemies, the CPC budget maintains a smaller, but still unparalleled, armed forces.The CPC budget reduces baseline military spending to ensure defense spending does not continue to contributesignificantly to our current fiscal burden and redirects these funds to priorities such as caring for our veterans andsmart diplomacy.

    In total, the Budget for Allachieves nearly $1.9 trillion in savings by bringing our troops home and realigning theDepartment of Defense. Our budget invests in foreign diplomacy and international aid to stabilize key regions ofthe world by smarter, more efficient means.

    End emergency war funding beginning in FY 2014.The Congressional Progressive Caucus believes that themilitarys time in Afghanistan must come to a responsible and expeditious end. The Budget for Allmaintains Over-seas Contingency Operation funding for redeployment in FY 2013, but the funding is zeroed out thereafter, andincludes a prohibition on funds being used for any permanent bases in Iraq or Afghanistan. This achieves $1.1tril-lion in savings over 10 years.

    Reduce base discretionary defense spending.With more than a decade of war coming to a close, every dollarspent at the Department of Defense must be reviewed with renewed vigor. A modern defense strategy must focusour armed forces on their strengths of crisis response, defense, and deterrence. Our military needs to adapt to cur-rent threats and challenges, particularly on nuclear proliferation and terrorism. The threat of terrorist attacks couldbe effectively dealt with through cost-effective deployment of Intelligence and Special Operations, while eliminat-ing failed strategies.

    To suit the newly formed strategy, the Budget for Allgradually achieves a smaller force structure with fewer person-nel through attrition. Further, no savings are obtained by reducing military personnel wages or benefits,including TRICARE and pensions.The proportion of private contractor personnel would be significantly re-duced, curbing needless outsourcing that creates excessive cost overruns. The contraction in force structurewould also reduce expensive modernization requirements, especially for older or unnecessary platforms such asthe Trident II nuclear missile, F-35, V-22 Osprey and field alternatives, and the Virginia-class submarine, whichare ill-suited to handle current threats. Further, the CPC budget limits the modernization of Cold War-era nuclearweapons and infrastructure, as outlined by the Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures (SANE) Act. In con-trast, this budget supports the retention of current Special Operations Forces and their capacities for operations.

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    Pa g e Health Care

    Medicare & Part D Prescription Drug Negotiation. Medicare is a cornerstone of the American health caresystem and a vital part of life for more than 45 million America seniors. Our budget understands that the healthcare system cannot be transformed on the back of Medicare which already provides more efficient care to a morecostly set of the population. While some budgets suggest ending Medicare or shifting more costs onto seniors, ourbudget does not ask Americans seniors to pay more, instead we protect Medicare benefits while making the sys-tem even more efficient.

    Our budget amends Part D of Medicare to allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate pre-scription drug prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers. Since establishment of the Medicare Part D program, thefederal government has been expressly prohibited from directly negotiating with drug companies. Giving the HHSSecretary the ability to negotiate Part D prices, the current practice at the Department Veterans Affairs, will yieldsignificant cost savings of $157 billion for Medicare over 10 years and will reduce costs for seniors.

    Offer a Public Option. Republicans are pushing to repeal the health reform law before it has even been fully im-plemented. They want to return us to the old status quo, where health insurance premiums rise uncontrollably andthe ranks of the uninsured continue to swell. Instead, our budget improves on the Affordable Care Act by allow-ing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to offer a public health insurance option that ensures choice,

    competition, and stability in affordable, high-quality coverage throughout the United States. This will save $104billion over 10 years.

    Junk Food and Fast Food Marketing.The Institute of Medicine, Federal Trade Commission and the WhiteHouse, among others have all recognized the role of advertising and marketing junk food and fast food to childrenin childhood obesity. One out of every three children is overweight or obese, disproportionately affecting kids inlow income families as well as African American, Hispanic, Native American and Asian American and Pacific Is-lander children. Our budget ends the tax deductibility of advertising and marketing junk food and fast food tochildren. There is no reason for the government to subsidize a contributing factor to a serious health issue for to-days youth.

    Closing the S Corporation Medicare Tax Loophole. Some service professionals have been avoiding Medicaretaxes by exploiting a current loophole in the tax code. Under current law, certain self-employed individuals canavoid paying full Medicare taxes by routing their income through an S corporation. To close this loophole, ourbudget adopts the Narrowing Exceptions for Withholding Taxes (NEWT) Act. It would clarify that individualsthat are engaged in professional service businesses are unable to avoid employment taxes by routing their earningsthrough a limited liability corporation or a limited partnership.

    Generic Prescription Drug Development and Release.While the Affordable Care Act will expand insuranceoptions for many Americans, there will still be more work to do controlling healthcare costs. Profit driven medi-cine in not the answer to our countrys health care needs. With this in mind, the Budget for Alladopts a number ofpolicies aimed at creating wider accessibility of affordable, generic prescription drugs.

    State Waivers.The Progressive Caucus believes until we guarantee universal access to quality care, our work isnot complete. As states continue to struggle with their state budgets, we will provide them with the ability to setup and administer more efficient state single payer health programs. Our budget provides the necessary waivers,including State Innovation Waivers starting in 2014, three years earlier than under current law, and protects exist-ing federal funding for those states establishing a state single payer program.

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    Comprehensive Immigration ReformThere is no doubt that our current immigration system is broken. As a result, millions of individuals are forced tolive in the shadows, rather than being able to openly support their families and contribute to their communities.Our immigration laws ought to reflect both our interests and our values as Americans. Supporting comprehensiveimmigration reform is not only humane, but is also fiscally responsible by generating substantial economic bene-fits. The Budget for Allrecognizes that by reforming the system, we allow immigrants to fully integrate into U.S.society and help stimulate the economy by becoming entrepreneurs, small business owners, innovators, and futurejob-creators. During these tough economic times, we must bring people out of the shadows and allow them tobegin a process to become citizens to maximize their contributions to society.

    Social SecurityA budget is first and foremost about values. The American people overwhelmingly value Social Security, and theBudget for Allstands with Americans in protecting this essential program. The foundation of retirement security ofthe vast majority of working Americans and retirees, Social Security also protects virtually every child under age 18and families against lost wages if a working parent becomes severely disabled or dies.

    The Budget for Allproposes modest but important changes to Social Security not as part of deficit reductionby

    law, Social Security is excluded from surplus or deficit totalsbut for its own sake to strengthen the program fortodays and tomorrows generations of beneficiaries.

    The CPC budget strengthens Social Securitys finances by phasing out, over 5 years, the cap on payroll tax contri-butions so that all working Americans and their employers pay contributions at the same rate on all their earnings,just as they have been doing for Medicare since 1994. Today, earnings above $110,100 are exempted from payrolltax contributions. This budget corrects this inequity by requiring the top six percent of all earners to pay the samerate on all their wages as the bottom 94 percent now do.

    Social Securitys benefits are extremely modest, averaging just $13,500 a year, yet vitally important to the over-whelming majority of its 56 million beneficiaries. Although not scored for this proposal, the Progressive Caucus

    believes Social Security benefits should be increased. At the very least, benefits should maintain purchasing powerover time. With this in mind, the CPC looks favorably on basing future COLAs on the BLSs Consumer Price In-dex for Elderly Americans (CPI-E) which gives larger weight to the disproportionately large health care expendi-tures of elderly persons and individuals with disabilities, and consequently, more accurately measures their true rateof inflation. When Congress next takes up proposals to strengthen Social Security, CPC looks forward to explor-ing options to improve benefits, separate from any deficit reduction discussions.

    In good times and bad, Social Security works for America. The CPCs budget will keep it working and strengthenits benefit protections for todays beneficiaries, working Americans, their children and grandchildren. This reformwould extend full benefits and trust fund solvency for the next 75 years.

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    Functional Increases in theBudget for All(FY2013 2022)

    Budget for All | 11

    Function: 050

    National Defense Restoration, Formerly Used Defense Sites Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs Procurement Technical Assistance Program for small businesses

    Function 150:

    International Affairs

    (increase of $156.2billion over 10 yrs)

    Reconstruction assistance SMART Security U.S. Institute of Peace McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program Bilateral Global HIV\AIDS Programs (PEPFAR) Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (The Global Fund) USAID Microfinance Child Survival and Health Programs Peace Corps

    Function 250:

    General Science,

    Space and Technology

    (increase of $78.1 bil-lion over 10 yrs)

    Science, Aeronautics and Technology Advanced Manufacturing Research Clean Energy Technologies Research STEM Education Research

    Function 270:

    Energy

    (increase of $156.2 bil-lion over 10 yrs)

    Renewable energy technology and deployment Energy Innovation Fund Geothermal Technology Weatherization and Intergovernmental Activities Smart Grid Research and Development

    Function 300:

    Natural Resources