Walpole Peace Vigil on Saturday, February 2, 2013 at 10-11AM, Walpole Common to support Budget for All

Please join us this coming Saturday, February 2, 2013 to stand for a Society that Values and Preserves a support system of vital services for all! ‘Stop the Cuts, Invest in Jobs, Tax the 1%, End the Wars, and Cut the Military Budget continues to be an urgent message. We will be standing at the corner of West and Main Street, across from Walpole Cooperative Bank, from 10 to 11 AM.

As supporters of the Budget for All Coalition we join to oppose cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and essential social services. “The next few months, and above all the month of February, promise to be a fast-moving, intense period as Congress faces several key decision points. The “sequester” (automatic budget cuts) will hit March 1 unless new legislation is passed. The FY13 continuing resolution expires and must be extended by March 27. Finally, the House-proposed debt ceiling extension (still pending in the Senate and thus subject to change) sets a deadline of April 15 for each chamber to pass a budget, and May 18 for the nation’s debt ceiling to expire.”

We need to remind our state representatives that voters in 91 cities and towns in Massachusetts spoke out clearly for the Massachusetts Budget For All. The budget deal as passed by the U.S. Senate and House does not raise enough revenue and makes it likely that Congress will still seek cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and vital social programs as long term solutions are debated.

Cuts to Social Security are unfair as Social Security is funded through its own trust fund, having no short term shortfall, and nothing to do with the current budget deficit. Many people depend on Social Security as their major source of retirement income and we should not be penalizing them for a budget crisis that has nothing to do with Social Security.

The real problems with Medicare and Medicaid are rising medical costs. The answer is to control those costs rather than increase the Medicare eligibility age or cut Medicaid eligibility. It’s incomprehensible how the United States can be the only developed country without some form of single payer system that insures all people and eliminates the bureaucracy and overhead of the insurance companies. Most countries with single payer health care spend substantially less than ours on medical care yet are ranked higher in regard to people’s health.

Congress should not cut critical programs that provide a safety net and vital services to low-income people. It is unfair to shift the burden to poor and working families who have already borne a disproportionate share of the impact of the economic downturn that that they never caused. The wealthiest and corporations should pay their fair share, starting with ending tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent. Income tax revenue as a percentage of Gross National Product has been about the lowest since 1950.

For more information on the Budget for All Coalition, please see the web site: http://www.budget4allmass.org/