The Only Responsible Budget is a Liberal Budget

Only a liberal budget that restores the social safety net, protects Social Security and Medicare, reins in Wall Street and forces the parasitic rich to return their stolen booty and start paying their fair share in taxes is capable of creating jobs, growing the economy and rebuilding the middle class.

From The Nation's Progressive Honor Roll: 

MOST VALUABLE BUDGET PLAN: Bernie Sanders’s Progressive Budget Blueprint 

When the Vermont senator joined the select Senate and House budget committee after the GOP-led government shutdown, he did so as a steadfast opponent of cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. But Sanders went further, producing a progressive budget blueprint that seeks to shift the debate from austerity and toward fairness. The Sanders budget would crack down on offshore tax shelters as part of a strategy to reduce the deficit by as much as $1 trillion over the next decade; tax capital gains and dividends in the same way we tax salaries and wages to raise over $500 billion; and repeal Bush’s tax cuts for the rich to reduce the deficit by $400 billion. It would raise hundreds of billions more by establishing a progressive estate tax; ending breaks and subsidies for big oil, gas and coal companies; and initiating a Wall Street speculation fee on the sale and purchase of credit default swaps, derivatives, stock options and futures. “When we are experiencing more wealth and income inequality than at any time since the 1920s, and when Wall Street and large corporations are enjoying record-breaking profits, I believe that we should be asking the very wealthiest people in this country to start paying their fair share,” says Sanders.