NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg Proposes Federal Budget that Will Devastate Middle Class and Elderly

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is asking President Barack Obama, Congress and the American people to embrace his proposed federal budget ideas that he claims will eliminate the federal deficit in ten years.

Appearing on a national news program, Bloomberg explained some of the key aspects of his proposed plan to help America, but as I listened to him I quickly realized that his ideas would be devastating to middle and lower class Americans as well as the elderly.  Here are some of Bloomberg’s ideas:

First thing he said was that he would urge President Obama to use his power to immediately end the Bush era payroll tax cuts.  He explained that just raising taxes on the wealthy would only add about $1B in additional tax revenue and that the middle class provides the largest tax revenue base so their taxes, as well as everybody’s taxes need to be raised.

In other words, middle and lower class Americans will be asked to pick up the burden of the $1.6T deficit at a time that sees more of them filing bankruptcy and losing their homes than ever before.  Bloomberg is obviously ignoring the reports that the middle class is shrinking while the poverty class is growing because families can no longer pay their way.  So his solution is to ask them to pay even more.

Next he would start cutting programs and federal spending, but do it slowly.  Seems to me if you do it slowly, it would take too long to be very effective.  Just look at Obamacare.  It created over 400 new government programs and/or government agencies.  These need to cut immediately, not slowly over time.

Then Bloomberg said that he would start raising the age and requirements for government entitlements such as Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.

He would also raise the co-pays for Medicare.  He said that by making people on Medicare pay more for their services and medications, it would make them think twice before using those services.  In the end, people would only seek those services or medications that are absolutely necessary and forgo others.

Is Bloomberg an idiot or what?  The vast majority of elderly people that are on Medicare have limited fixed incomes and can ill afford more cost and less coverage.  He is right that it will force them to re-think their medical needs, but in the long run it will end up creating more health problems by forgoing routine and preventative measures.  Those elderly that are barely surviving on what they make on Social Security will end not being able to afford any medical treatments or prescriptions and will end up dying sooner, but then this may be just what Bloomberg is thinking.  If this causes a higher mortality rate among the elderly, it would mean fewer people seeking benefits.

Bloomberg’s logic defies reality.  It’s easy for a wealthy person like him to say that the average American can and should pay more taxes, higher co-pays for less coverage and have to work longer before being able to retire.  He doesn’t have to worry about any of those things.  Perhaps if he spent a year living with a ‘real life struggling middle class family’, he might see things differently.  Until then, I suggest he return to his ivory tower and leave us peasants alone!

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