Letter #133... Dear Mr. President... Yes, $40 makes a difference.

Dear Mr. President:

President announces extension of tax cuts for the middle class

Earlier this week you asked the American people what $40 dollars less in their paychecks each week would mean to them or their families. Well it turns out quite a lot, as over 300,000 people responded to your question you learned that it does make a difference in a variety of ways most of us cannot even imagine.

While you learned about what a difference $40 dollars may make in peoples lives, the people also learned the difference between whom the Republicans care about and who the Democrats care about. The Republicans only passed the two-month extension of benefits under duress and pressure from you, House and Senate Democrats, a few Republicans concerned with GOP re-election prospects, and the public.

We learned that Republicans would rather continue to cut taxes and protect the wealth of 385,000 multi-millionaires rather than extend the tax cuts and unemployment benefits for 160,000,000 American families, once again proving that they do not care one iota 99% of the population.

Here’s what the Republicans do not understand about that $40… when you take it away from the wealthy, it means nothing, literally and figuratively, because it would not alter their lives or their spending habits in any way what-so-ever. When you take that $40 away from average families, it comes at the expense of not only the family, but, our already struggling economy. If that $40 is missing every week from someone’s paycheck, it would not be available to purchase groceries, or purchase cloths, buying gas, eating out, etc… etc… which in turn would hurt businesses that are just beginning to see a turn-around in the economy.

The snowball effect of those losses could devastate our fragile economy just when we can see recovery on the horizon, and that’s the difference between Republicans and Democrats… they don’t care about recovery as much as they care about seeing your presidency fail, which in turn means that America fails and more Americans suffer.

What the Republicans seem incapable of understanding, is that $40 can quite literally, mean the difference between life and death. While we heard about the things people would have to do without, there are some things that people cannot do without. That $40 can be the weekly tank of gas that gets a person to dialysis, or chemotherapy sessions, or for the daily radiation treatments to shrink tumors in cancer patients… yes, it can literally mean the difference between life and death.

Speaker Boehner stands alone after caving to public pressure

The difference between what you are trying to do for the American people is evidenced by the press conference with ordinary citizens standing with you… while in contrast, Speaker Boehner stood alone to announce that his Party had backed themselves into a corner and the only way out was to vote for the extension of tax cuts for the middle class… something they were loath to do… even though this is the ‘season of giving.’

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers, 

Your Gadfly Granny