Screwed At Both Ends

Legal assistance for the poor will take a huge hit under a proposal just released by the House Appropriations Committee, which aims to slash the budget of the Legal Services Corporation back to 1999 levels. Officials at LSC, which has been around for four decades and supports 136 independent legal-aid outposts all over America, knew big cuts were coming — the program was by no means exempt from DC’s budget-slashing hysteria. But supporters were betting on losing $70 million, the figure proposed last year during budget negotiations.

The new proposal would take away $104 million — 26 percent of the program’s resources — at a time when demand is soaring. Legal-aid offices from Texas to Maine report that the need for their services already has been outstripping funding for years.

"Demand is just going to keep going up. People are still losing their jobs. People are still struggling to put food on the table. Foreclosures are still happening," says Cynthia Martinez, spokeswoman for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, the state's largest legal-services agency. "Last year, we had to turn away half of the people that came to us because we just don't have the resources. And it's not like when we say no, the legal problems just go away."
~ from The Budget-Slashing Hysteria's Latest Victim: Legal Aid for the Poor by Kat Aaron ~

As this article underscores, the shock doctors are preparing the way to screw us at both ends. First, without regard to law or regulation, they plan to smash us under the weight of their iron boot. Most people will be too demoralized even to try to fight back.

But some people won't take being smashed into the ground lightly. They will try to fight back...with the law. Now, of course, if this proposal is adopted, that avenue predominantly will be blocked. Too few people will be served. The lucky few who are able to receive legal representation through legal aid will be hamstrung by limited resources.

The noose around our necks is tightening. The corporate class and their friends in Washington are working fervently to cutoff every known escape route. In time, the good 'ol US of A will become nothing more than one large company town.