首页
登录
职称英语
If there was one thing Americans had a right to expect from Congress, it was
If there was one thing Americans had a right to expect from Congress, it was
游客
2024-12-29
33
管理
问题
If there was one thing Americans had a right to expect from Congress, it was a federal plan to help the elderly pay for prescription drugs. It is a promise that has been made again and again--in particularly high decibels during the last presidential election. The House and Senate have passed bills, and although both are flawed, this page has urged Congress to finish work on them as a first step toward fulfilling this longstanding commitment.
Unfortunately, things have changed. The government cannot afford the program now. That is the fault of President Bush and the Republican majorities in the House and Senate. They broke the bank with their enormous tax cuts. The country is facing the largest budget deficit in history, and there is no realistic plan for getting it under control. The limited version of a prescription drug benefit now being considered in Congress would cost about $400 billion over 10 years.
Older Americans had a right to expect that help, but they do not have a right to demand it, not when it would be financed by borrowing, with the bills to be paid by their grandchildren.
Mr. Bush, a specialist in pain avoidance, told people that they could have the programs they wanted prescription drugs for the elderly, better schools for children along with modest tax cuts for the middle class and whoppers for the wealthy. When 9/11 occurred, the president simply added the war on terror, and then the war on Saddam Hussein, to the list. For all his talk about fiscal conservatism, Mr. Bush has never vetoed a spending bill, even the obscene $ 180 billion farm subsidy program. To pay for it all, he simply increased the deficit.
Deficits in and of themselves are not necessarily a problem, but the current one is frightening for two reasons. One is its size: projected at well above $500 billion for next year, and approaching 5 percent of the gross domestic product. The Other is its permanence. Cutting taxes temporarily to fight the recession made sense, but the Bush tax cuts are meant to be permanent even though Congress gave most of them a phony 10- year expiration date in an attempt to mask their effect.
Dropping the proposal is, of course, just what a large chunk of the Republican Party was hoping for all along. For those Republicans, deficits are a useful tool to beat back popular entitlement programs--a "starve the beast" strategy, in the words of Ronald Reagan’s budget director. Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, rail against the deficit, but they are still pushing for the prescription drug plan. Like the tax-cutters, they are simply building up to some sort of financial Armageddon like soaring interest rates or a collapsing dollar and hoping that blame will fall on the other party.
Our answer is different. The people have to decide whether they want tax cuts or programs like the prescription drug plan. It’s true that the tax-cut radicals will win this round. But then we will have an election. [br] What is the purpose of cutting taxes temporarily?
选项
A、To fulfill the farm subsidy program.
B、To fight the recession.
C、To levy the war on terror and the war on Saddam Hussein.d
D、To fulfill the prescription drugs program.
答案
B
解析
减税的目的是什么?本题难度不高,答案在倒数第三段。
转载请注明原文地址:http://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3890132.html
相关试题推荐
"Ido."ToAmericansthosetwowordscarrygreatmeaning.Theycanevenchange
"Ido."ToAmericansthosetwowordscarrygreatmeaning.Theycanevenchange
[originaltext]TheFoodandAgricultureOrganizationsaysitexpectsanotherd
[originaltext]U.S.congressmanandformerentertainerSonnyBonohasdiedin
"Ido."ToAmericansthosetwowordscarrygreatmeaning.Theycanevenchange
"Ido."ToAmericansthosetwowordscarrygreatmeaning.Theycanevenchange
"Ido."ToAmericansthosetwowordscarrygreatmeaning.Theycanevenchange
"Ido."ToAmericansthosetwowordscarrygreatmeaning.Theycanevenchange
MoviesarethemostpopularformofentertainmentformillionsofAmericans
MoviesarethemostpopularformofentertainmentformillionsofAmericans
随机试题
Whatifwecouldreadthemindofaterrorist?ResearchersatNorthwesternUn
再现所强调的“真实”呈现,既包括生活真实,也包括( )。A.基础真实 B.想
ABO血型的天然抗体类型是()A.lgM B.lgG C.lgD D.
在对电子商务A公司做财务尽调时,按照市销率2倍进行估值。A公司全年平台销售8亿元
A.安宫牛黄丸 B.紫雪丹 C.至宝丹 D.苏合香丸 E.以上都不是高热
A.乙胺嘧啶 B.硝喹 C.甲氟喹 D.氯喹 E.奎宁主要用于耐氯喹的脑
某叠合梁,结构安全等级为二级,叠合前截面尺寸300mm×450mm,混凝土强度等
个人汽车贷款的特点中不包括()。A.在汽车产业和汽车市场发展中占有一席之地
我国小学的德育内容有统一的规定,它体现在1993年正式颁布的《_》里,
使用CTX治疗SLE的指征是() A.血清ANA抗体阳性 B.关节炎 C.
最新回复
(
0
)