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Irreparable Human Deficit Looms in Wake of Budget-Cutting Frenzy

Investment in human infrastructure is essential for success in the post-industrial economy. Gutting social programs such as Medicare is behavior that borders on the criminal.

A financial debt can be paid. But the debt we'll owe our children if investments in health, nutrition and education are slashed is irreparable. Investment in human infrastructure is essential for success in the post-industrial economy, and this should be our policymakers' guiding economic principle.

It's up to us to ask the hard questions: Why are we being told we can't raise taxes on the rich, but must cut wages for teachers, nurses, child-care workers and others on whom our future depends? There is no evidence that lower taxes on corporations and millionaires raise all boats, or that massive cuts in social services have ever helped people in developing nations rise from poverty. The opposite is true. It's countries like Canada, Sweden, New Zealand and Finland that have made commitments to caring for future generations that have risen from poverty to prosperity.




In 2009, more than 4.4 million single mothers earned wages below the national poverty level and were barely able to supply their children with basic needs. That number of women had increased 6.7 percent compared to the previous year, according to census figures. The kinds of cuts now proposed -- especially cuts to programs to help impoverished families with children -- will push us down even further.


