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The residual welfare state in practice - flexible capitalism and fry them (or inject in these humane days)! -----Original Message----- From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> To: PROGRESSIVE SOCIOLOGISTS NETWORK <[log in to unmask]> Date: 26 January 2000 16:43 Subject: Getting Bushwacked >Well, its about that time of the year, or every four years, do we vote for >socialists, greens, or hold nose and do Gore-the lackey of WTO and inventory >of internet. Hey, for me its easy, my buddy Joel Kovel is running on the >Green Party ticket, but for those who consider the choice between Gore and >Bush on criteria other than kissing the ass of global capital, consider >this. Lauren Langman > >George W. Bush's Texas: poverty and death > >George W. Bush, the reputed "frontrunner" for the >Republican nomination as US Presidential candidate, >boasts of his policy of "compassionate conservatism" - >which is nothing more than a modern version of social >Darwinism. Texas, as Bush likes to brag, is the >"second largest state in the nation.... If Texas were >a nation, it >would have the eleventh largest economy in the world." >Yet, Bush's state has one of the worst records in the >entire US on both poverty and the death penalty. > >According to figures compiled by the Center for Public >Policy Priorities, one out of every six Texans lived >in poverty in the 1990s, and "These rates are >significantly >above the national average." Data from the National >Education Agency, the US Department of Education, and >other federal and state agencies, show that Bush's >Texas holds a near-record in poverty, lack of health >insurance, and lack of public education. Among the 50 >US states, Texas ranks second in the number of people >suffering from hunger, the number of children in >poverty, and the percentage of population without any >health insurance. Texas ranks first in percentage of >children >and percentage of poor working parents who have no >health insurance at all. In terms of "benefits," Texas >is at the other end of the list: In the size of >welfare payment >for eligible families ($201/month), Texas is 47; in >per capita funding for public health, Texas is 48; as >for teachers' salaries and benefits, Texas is 50; in >the number of >public libraries and branches, Texas is 46; and the >high school completion rate, is 46 in the US. > >Of all children and youth up to age 18 in the state, >26.9% (1,502,000) are poor. In the time 1994-97, >24.5%, or 1,497,000, of all children and youth in >Texas under >age 19, had no medical insurance. Child poverty >escalated under Bush's regime: In 1979-83, 24.4% of >children under the age of 6 in Texas were poor; this >jumped >to 30.3% in 1992-96, according to the National Center >for Children in Poverty. By 1996, over 572,000 Texan >children were living in poverty. > >Since 1996, when the Conservative Revolution's >"welfare reform" bill was made US law, the situation >has grown much worse. In January 1999, the Urban >Institute >released a survey showing that Texas families report >significantly greater problems obtaining daily >necessities, including adequate housing and food, than >the rest of >the nation; some 17% of low-income parents doubt they >can get medical care for their children. According to >1998 data from the Children's Defense Fund, every 23 >minutes a baby is born in Texas with low birthweight, >and every four hours, a baby dies during its first >year of life. Texas cut 302,786 people from the >welfare rolls >between August 1996-September 1998, second only to >California, which has a much larger population. Bush >even wanted to put private corporations in charge of >determining families' "eligibility" for welfare, but >this was prevented by the US Department of Health and >Human Services in 1997. The private "screeners" would >have received a bonus for keeping eligible families >off welfare. > >Bush's newly proposed $1.7 trillion "tax cut plan" >over 10 years shows more of the same. According to a >December 1999 analysis by the Citizens for Tax Justice >and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, >based in Washington, Bush's tax policy is a sop to the >very rich. The poorest people in America, those in the >lowest 20% of the population, with an income of less >than $13,300, will get an average tax cut of $43 a >year, amounting to only 0.6% of Bush's tax cut. In >contrast, >the top 10% of the income bracket, those with an >income of $89,000 or more, would receive an average >tax cut of $8,362, amounting to 61.6% of Bush's tax >cuts. >But for the top 1%, with an income of $301,000 or >more, the average tax cut would be $50,166 a year, >36.9% of Bush's plan. > >Governor Bush is also a killer. He is proud that he >has killed more people under Texas capital punishment >laws, - 113 in five years, - than any other US >governor. >He plans to execute three prisoners on Death Row >during the month of January (all three committed their >crimes as juveniles), and will execute five more >during the >early primaries. Bush's cruelty was shown last year, >in the execution of Karla Faye Tucker. After he had >refused to grant her clemency, Bush told a reporter >for >Talk magazine, in a high-pitched, mocking voice, how >Tucker has asked: "Oh please, don't kill me." Hundreds >of leaders around the world, including Pope John >Paul II, had asked Bush to grant Tucker clemency. > > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%