Don't Expect Uncle Sam To Bail Out Black Communities

Even in a watered-down form, Congress will soon pass a major overhaul of the nation's health care system. Absent from reforms will be any effort by the government to enter the private market via a public option. Capitalists and the uncaring killed that possibility.

The real, but hidden, lesson from this and the recent budget meltdown in California is that the social safety net is likely to shrink in the future. Cuts in social safety net spending programs are always easier than cutting military or law enforcement spending. By law, the feds must pay interest on the debt and each year entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare take increasingly large shares of the budget pie. Any programs left over will meet the chopping block.

Read the rest at The Loop.