Race To The Lowest Common Denominator
by digby
Can someone explain to me why Arne Duncan's "Race to The Top" money is so damned sacred?
We were told we have to offset every damn dime of [new teacher spending]. Well, it ain’t easy to find offsets, and with all due respect to the administration their first suggestion for offsets was to cut food stamps. Now they were careful not to make an official budget request, because they didn’t want to take the political heat for it, but that was the first trial balloon they sent down here. … Their line of argument was, well, the cost of food relative to what we thought it would be has come down, so people on food stamps are getting a pretty good deal in comparison to what we thought they were going to get. Well isn’t that nice. Some poor bastard is going to get a break for a change
I was going to say that I wish the administration would be as protective os social security and then realized what I was saying.
Bur really --- food stamps? It sounds like somebody in the White House thought they'd like to see the Democrats get some "credit" for sticking it to the poor ... excuse me, "tightening their belts," without actually having to make the ask.
This is looking more and more like a race for who can look toughest by calling for sacrifice among ordinary Americans hit by hard times.
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