Cutting the Social Safety Net to Fix Our Economy – Myths and Reality

Myth: We need to cut social programs for housing and homelessness, in order to get our economy back on track.
Fact: Cutting these programs increases unemployment. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate has already gone up since the new budget went into effect on July. And that means fewer people buying things, which leads to less manufacturing, more lay-offs, and fewer taxes paid. Then the whole downward cycle starts again.

Cutting proven cost-effective programs actually costs more. For example, numerous studies show that supported housing for people with mental illness costs less than homelessness. Preventing foreclosure costs less than losing a home.

Myth: Cutting government assistance will force people to look for jobs.

Fact: Many people who receive housing assistance, even living in homeless shelters are already working but don’t earn enough to make ends meet. More than half are elderly or disabled and can’t work.

Myth: We can’t afford to raise revenue during a recession.
Fact: What we can’t afford is to balance the budget on the backs of hard working, elderly, and disabled Americans. We can’t cut homeless programs while we give subsidies to Big Oil and tax loopholes to corporations making big profits (who aren’t hiring after getting government bailouts). We can’t stand by while people lose their homes yet allow hedge fund managers to pay a lower tax rate than their secretaries.

When a crisis strikes anywhere in the world, Americans always come through. That’s who we are. We don’t stand by while people suffer. Now we have a crisis here at home and our neighbors are suffering. Let’s do the right thing – preserve the many programs that are the lifeblood of so many Americans – and our national economy.