首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
If there was one thing Americans had a right to expect from Congress, it was a federal plan to help the elderly pay for prescrip
If there was one thing Americans had a right to expect from Congress, it was a federal plan to help the elderly pay for prescrip
admin
2011-03-10
34
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.
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:https://jikaoti.com/ti/zzpYFFFM
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Americansoftentrytosaythingsasquicklyaspossible,soforsomeexpressionsweusethefirstlettersofthewordsinstead
IftherewasonethingAmericanshadarighttoexpectfromCongress,itwasafederalplantohelptheelderlypayforprescrip
Themusicindustry,hurtbyadeclineinCDsalesandthecontinuedfreeswappingoffilesontheInternet,tookthedrasticact
Themusicindustry,hurtbyadeclineinCDsalesandthecontinuedfreeswappingoffilesontheInternet,tookthedrasticact
Themusicindustry,hurtbyadeclineinCDsalesandthecontinuedfreeswappingoffilesontheInternet,tookthedrasticact
AnavidBushsupporterwhoalreadyhas25shoppingmallstohisname,Congelhimselfisnotamanyouwouldexpecttoentertain
TobroadentheirvotingappealinthePresidentialelectionof1796,theFederalistsselectedThomasPinckney,aleadingSouthC
Computers,andespeciallyconnectingtotheInternet,provideuniqueopportunitiestoenhancescienceandmatheducation.Tak
Computers,andespeciallyconnectingtotheInternet,provideuniqueopportunitiestoenhancescienceandmatheducation.Tak
随机试题
目前,我国初级卫生保健工作已总结积累了很多宝贵的经验,但由于其自身特点及我国现实条件的制约使得它的全面实施还面临许多挑战,其顺利实施的关键在于,除了
这种组织模式合理吗?20世纪80年代,某大型企业由于任务不足,允许各分厂自己对外承揽加工业务。这样一来,传统的计划管理模式就不大适应了。主要问题是管得太死,缺乏灵活性。厂领导决定改革传统的组织结构模式,由直线职能制改为事业部制。成立了供应事业部、制造事业
下列哪一种运动可以出现在结肠而不在小肠
男性,24岁,3个月来右腕部出现一进行性增大的质硬肿物,伴疼痛,轻微外伤后疼痛症状明显加重。X线片示:桡骨远端存在偏心溶骨性骨质破坏区,伴有病理性骨折,骨皮质膨胀,有“肥皂泡样改变”。最可能的诊断是
根据委托方的要求,工程项目在进行到一定阶段后予以转让;房地产项目要求进行楼宇的销售工作等。这是项目直接管理子系统中的()
对于不放回简单随机抽样,所有可能的样本均值取值的平均值总是等于总体均值,这就是样本均值估计量的()。
我国传统式清真寺有明显的中轴线,其中礼拜正殿是()。
有如下类和对象的定义:classConstants{public;staticdoublegetPI(){return3.1416;}};Constantsconstants,下列各组
Whatiswrongwiththecassetterecorder?
"Thefatherlethissonhimselfmendthekite."Theitalicizedwordisusedtomodify________.
最新回复
(
0
)