It's the Military, Stupid!: Don't Blame America's Debt Crisis on Social Security and Medicare

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/It-s-the-Military-Stupid-by-Dave-Lindorff-110529-609.html

Amid all the nonsense and gobbledegook that has been written about banking industry and about the economic slump during the last four years of the global financial crisis, New York Times reporter Gretchen Morgenson has stood out both for the clarity of her analysis, and for her willingness to go after the guilty parties in the political and especially the banking system, naming names and calling it as she sees it.

So it was kind of disappointing--even shocking--to read her latest article reporting on a new "study" by Peterson Institute for International Economics Senior Fellow Joseph Gagnon, warning about the nation's growing debt crisis.

The Peterson Institute, founded by Wall Street tycoon Peter Peterson, has long been gunning for the Social Security and Medicare systems, which he, and the rest of the Wall Street gang, see as unfairly competing with Wall Street for the assets of the public, and as destructive of the "free market."

Peterson's basic schtick is that the two systems are going to bankrupt the country as they pay out benefits that exceed what retirees paid into the system, and that the solution is to cut back on those benefits, increase the taxes collected, or better, to privatize both systems.

More at the link --

[RegieRocker]

1. It is truly mind boggling isn't it?

[JackRiddler]

2. Why, why, why must the obvious be said 10,000 times to no effect? One day...

the verdict will be obvious. We can wake up to it now, finally, and stop spending our surplus wealth on the most destructive, murderous and criminal activity in the world, or we can continue until the empire is wrapped up by its inevitable and well-deserved bankruptcy.

[TBF]

3. Only 4 recs on this OP so far shows the COMPLICITY from the dems.

It's disgusting.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[madmom]

7. WOW 16 whole minutes and only 4 recs. means the dems are

completely complicit. :eyes:

[rfranklin]

8. Yes, that's silly, but the Dems are easily controlled by saying "Weak on defense!"

Most of them shake in their boots when they hear that allegation.

How many Dems have you heard raising this issue? Not many.

[obxhead]

9. Up to 23 now.

I do find many Dems to be complicit in the ongoing crimes of war, poverty, and tax cuts for the wealthy. However, I think the low rec count for this thread has more to do with many posters off doing the holiday thing today.

[TBF]

11. I'd buy your holiday explanation if there weren't 45 recs for our Queen looking

beautiful in GD:P. You know what - I think Michelle Obama is beautiful and I think it's great that she dresses up and so forth. And she's a sight for sore eyes (both she and Barack after the Bush monstrosity). But, still, I'd love the war-mongering to get equal discussion. What is our party doing?

[JHB]

15. After only 16 minutes, on Memorial Day afternoon?

Give people a chance to read it. It's gotten a few more k&r's since then.

[krabigirl]

4. K & R

[Warren Stupidity]

6. that plus 31 years of untax the rich.

[slay]

10. The Military Industrial Complex and the Bush tax cuts

n/t

[Electric Monk]

12. k&r

[Vinee]

13. It's a revenue problem actually: no jobs----->no tax revenue----->austerity.

we're all trying to adjust. and by adjust, I mean we're all blaming each other and fighting over nickles and dimes. Free trade, ain't it great?

[TBF]

14. Why not tax the folks at the top who stole all the money? I know, what a "socialist" idea. nt

[socialist_n_TN]

19. Yeah. And we both know that a REAL socialist idea

would be a CONFISCATORY tax on the folks that actually STOLE the money we're talking about. Take it ALL back.

[TBF]

20. Yup - you got my vote on that. nt

[Vinee]

21. Sounds like a fine idea to me. If only we had a Democratic president and congress

that felt the same way. They seemed to feel that handing out billions of dollars to a bunch of billionaires and then extending the Bush era tax cuts for billionaires made more sense. Doesn't look like that worked out too well for America in retrospect.

[JHB]

16. Every Peterson "study" should be accompanied by a history package...

...showing their consistent crisis-mongering over SS and Medicare over the years ... no matter what the circumstances, and highlighting how their budgetary concerns virtually disappeared during the Bush administration.

[raccoon]

17. K&R to the moon! nt

[hifiguy]

18. This is so blindingly, ludicrously obvious

that it is remarkable that it even needs to be pointed out. But that is just how stupid people in this country have become.

$1.3 trillion per year to the military/industrial/"intelligence" complex, billions and billions to big pharma, big ag, and big oil, combined with functionally no taxes on the people who have all of the money and you wonder why the treasury is empty. SQUIRRELS could figure this much out, but apparently 'murkans can not. :eyes: