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phantom power

(25,966 posts)
Wed Nov 14, 2012, 02:33 PM Nov 2012

The crisis of the deficit crisis mongers

Serious question: how many Democrats in congress are pointing out that the SS/Medicare "crisis" is 100% bullshit, and how many either believe or pretend that it's "real"?

The gang for gutting Social Security and Medicare (aka "The Campaign to Fix the Debt&quot are running in high gear. During the long election campaign they gathered dollars, corporate CEOs and washed up politicians for a full-fledged push in the final months of the year. They are hoping that the hype around the budget standoff (aka "fiscal cliff&quot can be used for a grand bargain that eviscerates the country's two most important social programmes, Social Security and Medicare.

They made a point of keeping this plan out of election year politics because they know it is a huge loser with the electorate. People across the political and ideological spectrums strongly support these programmes and are opposed to cuts [PDF]. Politicians who advocated cuts would have been likely losers on Election Day. But now that the voters are out of the way, the Wall Street gang and the CEOs see their opportunity.

It is especially important that they act now, because one of the pillars of their deficit horror story could be collapsing. Due to a sharp slowing in the rise of health care costs over the last four years, the assumption that exploding health care costs would lead to unfathomable deficits may no longer be plausible even to people in high level policy positions.

...

This is why the Campaign to Fix the Debt and the rest of the deficit hawk industry will be operating at full speed at least until a budget deal is reached over the current impasse. If CBO adjusts its long-term health care cost projections downward then their whole rationale for gutting Social Security and Medicare will disappear. Now that is really a crisis.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/11/20121112122253519136.html
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The crisis of the deficit crisis mongers (Original Post) phantom power Nov 2012 OP
The biggest tragedy of this "Grand Bargain" garbage woo me with science Nov 2012 #1

woo me with science

(32,139 posts)
1. The biggest tragedy of this "Grand Bargain" garbage
Wed Nov 14, 2012, 04:15 PM
Nov 2012

is that, even after a mandate and a landslide, our Democratic representatives continue to validate Republican framing of our economic issues by agreeing that we desperately need to slash the budget.

This is not just about Medicare and Social Security; it is about the unconscionable numbers we are hearing in the proposals for revenue versus cuts.

It is about the direction we choose as a nation. We should not be hearing lies about the urgency of deficit cutting from Democrats. Democrats should be telling the country the truth:

We know that austerity is a scam. It is malignant and destructive. It slows economies and harms millions. Hundreds of economists have warned against this path. Yet Democrats keep agreeing with Republicans about the urgency of slashing the budget now.

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