The Income and Information Gaps Are Widening
By Junious Ricardo Stanton

"Anticipating the release of devastating new poverty and health care statistics, the Bush administration today took the extraordinary step today of trying to bury the numbers. Specifically, the Administration had its top political appointee at the Census Bureau release the numbers a month earlier than usual, during the August congressional recess when many reporters and Americans take their summer vacations.

The rescheduling of the announcement also means that the bad numbers will not come out in September immediately after the Republican National Convention, when they have traditionally been released. With the President's economic and health care agenda leaving millions behind, the Associated Press reports, "the statistics today show the number of Americans living in poverty increased by 1.3 million last year, while the ranks of the uninsured swelled by 1.4 million."

This is not the first time the White House and Republicans have gone to great lengths to hide damning information. As CBS News reported, President Bush released his military service records late on a Friday night on the eve of a three day weekend in order to make sure the story about his poor attendance was seen by as few people as possible.2 In Congress, GOP leaders regularly pass the most controversial bills in the middle of the night. Those included bills to slash veterans benefits and health/education funding, as well as spending $87 billion on war in Iraq and passing the President's Medicare bill.3 "- The Daily Mislead 08-26-04

The Bush administration in a move reflecting an ongoing pattern and standard method of operation (MO) has attempted to suppress the fact more AmeriKKKans are living in poverty and increasing numbers of AmeriKKKan citizens lack basic health insurance. The Bush administration ordered it's representative at the Census Bureau to release figures earlier than usual at a time when the alarming numbers will not emerge following the Republican National Convention.

Bush and the Republicans will continue to lie, distort their record and put a "positive" spin on the Iraq war debacle, the economy and the slumping standard of living being experienced by more and more AmeriKKKans. According to the Census Bureau the number of AmeriKKKans living in poverty or below the poverty line increased by 1.3 million in 2003. Most of the 1.3 million are children. Not only are we getting poorer but the ones causing this alarming shift have done it stealthfully so the public doesn't know. This is business as usual for the Republicans as was noted in a recent article in the St. Louis Call and Dispatch.

"Always in the middle of the night. Always after the press had passed their deadlines. Always after the American people had turned off the news and gone to bed. What did the public see? At best, Americans read a small story with a brief explanation of the bill and the vote count in Saturday's papers. But what did the public miss? They didn't see the House votes, which normally take no more than 20 minutes, dragging on for as long as an hour as members of the Republican leadership trolled for enough votes to cobble together a majority. They didn't see GOP leaders stalking the floor for whoever was not in line. They didn't see Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay coerce enough Republican members into switching their votes to produce the desired result. In other words, they didn't see the subversion of democracy."

Woe unto AmeriKKKa. Woe unto the Neo-Con policies that have caused a widening income and suffering gaps. The last thing Bush and Co. want burned in the nation's consciousness as the Republicans are partying whooping it up drinking champaign and gorging themselves is for us to learn the income gap is widening and even more AmeriKKKans are forced to exist without the safety net of health insurance.

The compliant corporate press has provided little or no analysis or coverage of the implications of this report. Partly because the Republicans do their dirt in the wee hours of the morning. But partly because the consolidated corporate media is part of the ruling elite. So, in true Bizzaro World fashion the corporate media keeps the asinine diversion about Kerry's war record on the front burner so Bush's record as a deserter from the Texas (and Alabama Air National Guard) will not be an issue.

We have the corporate media expanding pages of newspaper headline space and literally hours of television coverage about a war the happened over thirty years ago while ignoring the devastating loss of jobs, the decline in real income and living standard as Bush's inopportune tax cuts and immoral war drain the nation of resources and force the income gap even wider.

No one should be surprised at these figures. What we should be surprised about is the lengths the Bush administration will go to cover what their policies have wrought. The Republicans since Reagan and Bush The First have been emboldened by their insane decisions to cut taxes, drive federal deficits higher and higher while subverting the US Constitution and stealing from the people.

The Republicans have demonstrated a pathological insensitivity and mean spiritedness towards the working class and people of color. They could care less that more and more people are suffering. Their goal is to return to the gruesome days of the 19th century, the age of the robber barons, anti-labor, monopoly capitalists, racial disparity and rigid class distinctions. Ronald Reagan denigrated the poor insinuating all welfare recipients were dead beats and fraudsters when actually the system was getting ripped off more by corporate welfare, white collar criminals and government corruption than by so called "Welfare Queens".

George H.W. Bush used Willie Norton to scare AmeriKKKans into voting for him. His son George W. Bush shamelessly uses 9-11, the resulting bogus War on Terrorism and continual terror alerts to rachet up the fear level. All the while his rich friends profit from the perpetual war and domestic lock down of our civil and procedural rights under the guise of making the nation safer.

This is a classic con game, make the people think they are under attack so the ruling elites can offer us safety and protection (which they failed miserably to do on 9-11, if you believe the official party line about 9-11) in exchange for freedom. In this process/scenario the masses will become poorer and poorer while the fascists become more powerful as they take away the last remnants of freedom that exist. The sadder reality is the masses continue to go for the okey-doke.

Submit an article
Join the Mailing List
Join a Discussion

Afromerica: Where its all Black & white and some gray areas.

[TOP]     [BACK TO COLUMN]