Cuts in food for the impoverished...

LANSING — Budget woes could force a state-funded program to cut back on donating fruits and vegetables to the hungry, even though demand is spiking at food pantries and soup kitchens in Michigan. -- Article

Cuts for the arts...

States across the country are slashing their arts funding for the second year in a row as they cope with falling tax revenues. Those cuts, which often happen during recessions, are a serious blow to arts agencies and individual dancers, painters and actors at a time when private donations are down and many art organizations are being more selective in what they produce. -- Article

Cuts for health care for the poor in the hopes the Fed will pick up the slack...

There are two big themes in health coverage for the poor in this country right now, and they’re moving in opposite directions. Theme 1: Strapped states are slashing their budgets for Medicaid — among the biggest expenses in most states — and other health programs for the poor. Theme 2: Democrats in Washington are moving to beef up funding for health programs for the poor. This morning’s Los Angeles Times has a litany of state health programs being trimmed, from breast cancer care for poor young women in South Carolina, to outpatient chemo for the uninsured in Nevada to home services for low-income seniors in Florida. -- Article

Cuts for early education...

California, by far, faced the biggest challenge — a whopping $26 billion gap — that forced the state to slash $15 billion in basic services, including program funds for K-12 education and health care for the poor, and to divert some $4 billion from local jurisdictions. -- Article

Michigan League for Human Services President and C.E.O. Sharon Parks said the proposed cuts were “simply too harmful” to low-income families. “We cannot balance Michigan’s budget on the backs of poor families – we need to paint a brighter future for our kids.” -- Article

Cuts in mental health services...

Gov. Bill Ritter’s proposed budget cuts, as described in The Denver Post, fall entirely on the backs of the most vulnerable among us, including a disproportionate slice taken from the already strapped and precarious mental health system. Fifty-nine beds at Fort Logan, a much-needed long-term psychiatric facility, as well as a program for children at-risk for out-of-home placement, are on the cutting block. -- Article

Of course we need to trim our budgets. But not in a way that hurts the most vulnerable.

All over the country, as banks and Wall St. get record bailouts and start to see "green shoots" state budget cuts take a cudgel to the kneecaps of the most vulnerable citizens. 'Cuz God Forbid we ask the businesses who are seeing "green shoots" to pony up for the society that gives them:

* the best damn military in the world that defends their interests overseas... * bailouts after bailouts after bailouts * a stable government * and a corporate friendly government...

Instead, we're twisting the knife into the sides of America's most vulnerable. Again. It's called Trickle Down Economics. And it's all happening right here under our noses at the state level. At the state level the Conservatives are using this recession as leverage to get the shriveled governments they want, lopsided toward business interests at the expense of the people who actually live here.

Even as we fight on a national level for the rights of middle class Americans, many states are seeing vast reversals in social programs. Why can't our people stand up to this stuff? Even on a state level?