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21 Dec 2010

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Non-Whites to Pay for Tax Cuts for the Rich

Black and brown Americans, who will comprise a majority of the U.S. population by the year 2042, will wind up paying for today’s tax cuts for the wealthy and other profligate policies of the past 12 years, says Dr. Maya Rockeymoore, president of Washington-based Global Policy Solutions. “The children of the recession generation will literally be climbing out of a deep hole” caused by the mass foreclosures, high unemployment and the economic meltdown, when the bill comes due for unfinanced tax cuts and wars under Clinton, Bush and Obama.

Obama’s Left Supporters Criticized

Last week’s anti-war demonstration at the White House, where 131 protesters were arrested, would have been “larger by a factor of 100” if it had been backed by “a unified Left,” says upstate New York activist John Halle. Halle is author of a widely circulated letter criticizing members of what he called the “establishment Left” for continuing to support the Obama administration. “Critical support” of Obama “is no longer sufficient,” said Halle, singling out Bill Fletcher, Tom Hayden and other founders of Progressives for Obama.

Single Payer Not Dead

Single payer health care could be back on the table, should the courts rule that the government cannot force Americans to buy private health care insurance, says Dr. Claudia Fegan, past president of Physicians for a National Health Program. “If this is thrown out, there won’t be any way to provide universal coverage other than single payer,” said Fegan. At any rate, “we know from the experience in Massachusetts that the individual mandate is not an effective way to cover everyone.”

Targeted Killings Case Up In Air

“The president shouldn’t have unchecked authority over the life and death of U.S. citizens,” says ACLU attorney Jonathan Manes, but civil liberties forces are unsure of how to get the courts to recognize that principle. A recent ruling threw out a suit against presidential targeted killings, on procedural grounds. “If this ruling stands, it’s hard to see how the case goes forward.”

Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgandaReport.com.

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