Jerry Brown Double-Deals -- But There IS An Alternative

Jerry Brown has dealt two cards face up and hidden the rest of the deck. Card one reads "Horrendous cuts to essential programs." Card two reads "Very bad cuts to essential programs and a regressive tax package." And, Brown warns, "There Is No Other Alternative".

Brown is smart, and carefully planned this scenario to stampede us into backing the proposal on card two by making us forget the other 50 cards in the deck. "We all must sacrifice" he says.

The poor must suffer: Medical cut by $1.7 billion. CalWorks cut by $1.5 billion. Higher Ed must suffer: UC cut $500 million. CSU cut $500 million. Community colleges cut $400 million. Working and poor people must suffer through regressive taxation, too: extend Schwarzenegger's 'temporary' soak-the-poor taxes for another 5 years (i.e., until after the next gubernatorial election). And CTA and the State Federation of Labor say, "We must fight for this proposed budget. It is balanced. It mixes cuts with [regressive] taxes. We must fight for it because the alternative is so much worse."

But wait -- not everyone is sacrificing. Not the banks -- record profits, big bonuses, minimal taxes. Not the corporations, who enjoy huge tax loopholes. Not the oil companies. Not the rich. These are the names on the other 50 cards. Taxing them provides a real alternative. Why don't the State Federation of Labor, CTA et al. say to Brown, "We're not gonna take it any more. We're not going to accept more job losses, more pay cuts, more program cuts." Why don't we demand that they do? Now. Don't say it's too late, because this crisis won't be resolved soon. If we act, all sorts of things that seem impossible will become possible. Suddenly, more cards will appear on the table. And this means more money will appear. IF we act. IF we fight. Otherwise, we'll get a hybrid mix of Card one and Card two: more cuts than card two, to pay for more tax breaks for business. Because the Republicans will fight hard. They will stonewall and hold out for more concessions from Brown. And they'll get them. Unless we fight harder.

Time to stop kicking the progressive taxation can down the road. That's been done for years, because it's never the right time to fight -- it's always a 'long-term goal', to be muted in the present.

I guess that those who are for Brown's tax extensions are also prepared to go along with the cuts to medical care and welfare for the poor; for the cuts to higher Ed; etc. Because that's the package deal Brown is offering. And he'll offer more of the same next year. And the year after that. Unless we fight back. Wisconsin shows that if we fight, we don't have to fight alone.