Whatever the outcome of the debacle in Washington, President Obama and his spineless fellow Democrats in Congress have already betrayed the nation's elder citizens, and the sick, the poor, the jobless.
The ransom the Republicans extort from the people in exchange for what has historically been the routine act of raising the debt ceiling will be taken from these, the people who can least afford it.
Oil and gas companies will continue to record the highest corporate profits in the history of money. Profits of private insurance companies will continue to rise even as they exclude more and more needy people from coverage. Wall Street banks will swell with cash and CEO pay and bonuses will soar. Corporations sitting on piles of cash -- Apple right now has more money on hand than the federal government -- will continue to ship jobs overseas to places where even children have to work, and workers earn pennies a day.
Meanwhile:
--45.25 million American retirees will have their Social Security income cut, their Medicare premiums increased and benefits slashed, their private pensions -- if any -- cut off because of failed or stolen funding.
--The number of unemployed Americans, now roughly 57.28 million, will continue to rise, while the nation's roads, bridges and water systems, already outdated and in disrepair, will continue to be neglected and deteriorate.
--More than 40 million Americans will remain without health insurance; some 20,000 unnecessary deaths will occur each year because of this. The nation's overall health care system, now 13th best among industrialized countries, will decline even more.
--The number of Americans living below the poverty level -- now almost 40 million -- will increase as older retirees by the millions lose the benefits they live on.
--The 6 million Americans whose only income is food stamps will lose that assistance. Presumably they will starve to death. Triage, GOP style.
This is America as designed by The Audacious Hoper, the Tea Party and the Republicans.
Don't complain, though. As Dr. Kidglove recently scolded, he's offering a glass half-full and we only see one half empty.
And this was before he siphoned still more out of that glass to appease the puppets of the corporations that rule us.
When will we ever learn?
"Don't tell Momma I'm a journalist; say I play the piano in a whorehouse."
