National Council on Aging: Obama budget cuts funding for elderly services

[Bluebear]

The Obama administration has proposed cutting funding for programs that go directly to senior services in the 2012 proposed budget, meaning many older Americans may lose federal aid to help pay for things like heat, food and public transportation.

An analysis by the National Council on Aging highlights what will hit low-income older Americans the hardest, emphasizing the 45 percent cut to the Senior Community Service Employment Program, a 45-year old program funded by the U.S. Department of Labor to help unemployed people over the age of 55 find part-time jobs for community service organizations. Eligibility is limited to 125 percent of the poverty line (more on that later).

“This jobs program works,” said Sandra Nathan, NSCOA’s senior vice president for economic security at NCOA, in a statement. “SCSEP not only helps mature workers make the transition from unemployment to self-sufficiency, it also helps them develop new skills that the economy needs. There are workers in our jobs program in North Carolina right now who are getting trained to install solar panels – just the kind of ‘green’ jobs that the President mentioned in his State of the Union address.”

The National Council on Aging predicts the cut would translate to 55,000 lost part-time jobs.

A recent report from the policy research group the Urban Institute (PDF) shows that 8.9 percent of Americans over 65 live in poverty — $10,289 for a single individual living alone at or over the age of 65, and $12,968 for a couple with at least one spouse at or over 65. The official federal poverty measure considers only pre-tax cash income, not out-of-pocket medical expenses that many older adults pay. The report found that 13 million out of 38 million Americans over 65 live in families earning less than twice the federal poverty rate.

http://coloradoindependent.com/76038/obama-budget-cuts-funding-for-elderly-services

[emilyg]

1. kick for granny

[Dappleganger]

10. It's time they stop kicking grannies...

how sickening that they want these elderly folks to work LONGER at jobs which are no longer THERE and then starve or freeze to death when they have nothing left.

Our society is declining to 3rd world status, indeed.

[emilyg]

22. Indeed.

[tabatha]

2. Jeepers, how about relieving the rich of someof their $.

[RKP5637]

3. I look forward to the 2012 primaries! n/t

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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[emilyg]

23. So am I. The present D party

is not what I was raised with.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[leftstreet]

6. K&R

[Autumn]

7. That Granny? Yeah I feel just like she does.

My new role model.:loveya: She really has a nice way of saying things, right to the heart of the matter.

[RKP5637]

8. +1, n/t

[bobbolink]

9. Obama? The savior who was going to PROTECT poor and old people?

We were told that, right?

Yup, Obama our savior!

:puke:

[RKP5637]

11. Let's see, I think there are 54 million people living in poverty now in the US? And now

we can probably start adding more seniors to the list, and I'm sure this will go over well with many baby boomers that had their finances wiped out. Then we can add the unemployed still looking and all of the homeless and many disfranchised. And I think it's something like 25% of children go hungry in the US. There is much more to this list, but this is pretty good for starters. And on top of this we have many working multiple jobs to stay afloat and menial labor jobs created. This is a real la la land.

[bobbolink]

12. And yet, where are the big protests in the streets? Where is the outrage, demanding

help for all those people?

Oh, that's right... it much more important to send ALL energies to the muddleclass in Michigan. Silly me.

Folks, you have abdicated until you have started the REAL class war... between the ME ME ME muddlclass, and the hurting poor people.

You sat back and let it happen. You KNEW it would explode, and it will. Take a good look at yourselves!

[RKP5637]

14. What people fail to realize IMO is when one large segment of society starts to fail they

are probably going down with them too. Demand will dry up and the domino theory will prevail. Most Americans IMO are completely asleep at the wheel, a combination of ignorance, willful stupidity and arrogance. And a good percentage just don't know any better and frankly don't care. Additionally, with globalization, one hiccup ripples across the world. It is all class warfare and the middle class had best get used to being at the bottom of society with a huge gap to something better.

[bobbolink]

15. I don't think DUers can be accurately described as "asleep at the wheel".

Its not like they haven't been properly informed.

The "not caring" that you mention... that is more like it. Latte liberals are just about THEM.

I appreciate your words..... at this point, there are many who really don't care that the ME people go down.

:yourock:

[Dragonfli]

17. The party that works for the poor does not exist

When people are dying, some will rise up and fight for themselves. They bring this on themselves. Not all will die quietly to help a party to pretend to care while they starve and freeze people.

[bobbolink]

19. It used to exist, but you are right.... it no longer does.

"Not all will die quietly to help a party to pretend to care while they starve and freeze people."

Very eloquently put. Sadly.

:yourock:

[StarsInHerHair]

13. K&R

nt

[Dragonfli]

16. The poor and the elderly(mostly poor) are easy targets to fund the rich - ask yourself

whose side you are on.

Ask yourself whose side is this budget on and you will know who the president is working for and who he is targeting.
I can't tell you the answer (literally if this post is to remain here)

[bobbolink]

20. "Whose side are you on?" Exactly.

Words are CHEAP.

Its the actions that are TELLING.

What was that Martin Luther King quote... something about the words of your enemies will fade into the past, but the silence of your friends will stay with you...?

That one is right on, and both King and Malcolm X knew it very well.

Sadly, we are certainly finding it out, too.

[Dragonfli]

21. The silence is deafening

[bobbolink]

24. Completely so, because integrity and heart are missing.

However, the roar of rage is beginning to be heard in the background.

[upi402]

26. Silence would be refreshing at this point

This man is a betrayer. His words are golden, but....

MLK and Jesus need to come back and light it up a bit.

[bobbolink]

29. I've been thinking a lot lately about the speech by Elie Wiesel that Sapphire Blue used to post

regularly. Maybe many DUers need to see it again.

It was a speech at the Clinton white house, called The Perils of Indifference.

While hatred is ugly and damaging, silence is more deadly. The message is, "We don't even care if you are dead or alive." As bad as hatred is, that is worse.

Just something to consider.


Here is the audio:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLsi1OV8GA0

[Bluebear]

30. KICK KICK KICK

[Bluebear]

28. Exactly. Obama above Party. Party above People. It's sickening.

[Starry Messenger]

18. k&r

[patrice]

25. This is what extension of Bush'sTax Cuts means. nt

[upi402]

27. "...they will take a Republican before they will a phony Democrat." - Harry S. Truman

Your sig line says it all, we were warned, huh?

"The people don't want a phony Democrat. If it's a choice between a genuine Republican, and a Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will choose the genuine article, every time; that is, they will take a Republican before they will a phony Democrat." - Harry S. Truman