We're hearing the same old rhetoric from the Republicans that we heard in the election: Screw the 47 percent of middle and lower class. The House Republican "fiscal cliff" plan is heavy on cutting spending on entitlement programs.
Similar to the pre-election drumbeat, the House plan spells out very little on where Republicans will cut in the social programs and what loopholes they would close to raise revenue. You would think closing loopholes would be a no-brainer, and one has to ask why they have been left open for so long.
Even the Republican plan fashioned and promoted by House Speaker John Boehner as the Erskine Bowles plan is an untruth since Bowles flatly denies this is in any way his plan.
The people said in the election and in the exit pools that they support, not raising taxes on the upper income earners but just re-establishing them to the levels before the Bush giveaway.
We need a fair and balanced approach of raising revenue by taxes on the higher income class and cutting by reformation of social programs for the middle and lower class. It is only hoped that the two sides being so far apart leaves plenty of room in the middle for serious considerations.
Dennis Minori
Tyrone
