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mMmm catfood! (photo: Julia Manzerova / flickr)
Top CEOs from 80 large companies across a variety of industries have joined the push for a grand bargain deal that could happen during the lame duck session. In a statement organized by the well-funded Fix the Debt campaign, the CEO’s called for a bipartisan deal to reduce deficit the by increasing revenue and cutting spending.
The statement comes only a week after the biggest executives on Wall Street sent a letter to Congress expressing a similar sentiment, but this new statement is more explicit in what the CEO’s are really after from a deal. Mainly they want to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid so they can have lower tax rates while increasing the number of lower income Americans paying federal taxes. From the statement in the Wall Street Journal.
Reform Medicare and Medicaid, improve efficiency in the overall health care system and limit future cost growth;
Strengthen Social Security, so that it is solvent and will be there for future beneficiaries; and
Include comprehensive and pro-growth tax reform, which broadens the base, lowers rates, raises revenues and reduces the deficit.
President Obama has not only rhetorically left himself room to pursue just such an agenda, but he told the Des Moines Register that getting a deficit deal is his top goal for his second term.
The amount of money, energy and political capital lining up to push for cutting entitlements after the election is remarkable. The best hope is that House Republican intransigence on tax increases and a revolt by a few Senate Democrats will kill any deal, but when so many CEOs actively lobby for an issue in Washington they rarely fail.
Individuals who have for years wanted to cut the social safety net now see the fake crisis of the “fiscal cliff” as their best opportunity in years. They are preparing to go all out to get Social Security and Medicare benefits cut in the coming months.
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Hmm, if I want to protect those programs I should vote for Obama then write him a stern letter asking him not to cut them.
Just kidding. Screw you, Mr. President.
Welcome to the Pandora’s box opened up when they decided to “stimulate” the economy by cutting payroll taxes (= entitlement funding). Next stop, cut benefits.
Nice going Dems.
Just remember not one, not one single person trying to cut Social Security will rely on SS being all or a significant portion of their retirement.
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‘that’s when I’m gonna lend a hand, find my brother in every man- I’ve always known’
the Civilian Conservation Corps’ ‘lend a hand’ from the album #resist on acme records
“This song was written specifically as a reaction to the Democratic party’s embrace of the Republican program to dismantle Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. I know that I have to lend a hand, with or without the traditional supporters of America’s poorest. Increase empathy – embrace action” – mkultra
That’s why it is up to the spiritual Left and the spiritual Right to come together and assert that the reason we have government is to protect the welfare of the people, not to grease the wheels of heartless business plans.
The process which I am fascinated by is the silence of the clergy and the universities.
E.G. There is a great photo of the two presidential candidates wearing white bow ties and smiling admiringly toward each other and in between them sits a corpulent clergy person wearing a little white square around his neck and black attire, also smiling for no apparent reason other than his place among the most rich and the most powerful men. It is from the candidates’ dinner several weeks ago and was published in the LA times. (I cannot republish it here because it is copyrighted.)
When CEOs and Presidents and clergy and universities conspire to rule us, can we now call that a conspiracy?
Using tricky CEO words like reform, improve, limit, strengthen, broaden, lower, raise, and reduce when they really mean CUT.
Reform Medicare and Medicaid, improve efficiency in the overall health care system and limit future cost growth;
Strengthen Social Security, so that it is solvent and will be there for future beneficiaries
What a joke these statements are! I have worked in Corp America for years and I remember when my old company dumped the pension..”now you have control over your retirement needs you can invested in our sweeten 401k plan” Not only did that 401k plan go down but the Executives at my company kept their pension for themselves!!.
These CEOs can go to hell along with pols who support them! all of them are bastards!
It is really a fairly ingenious way to not have to pay back the over 2 trillion dollars the federal government owes the Social Security system. In effect, we have all been paying a 12.4% income tax that we could not even claim as taxes paid on our ‘normal’ income tax.
See, when they raise the retirement age, ultimately, to 75 they no good and goddamn well a large portion of people will not make it to live that long, or not much longer (especially if they cut Medicare so the elderly cannot afford to go to the doctor), and those would-be recipients will most likely starve to death because few if anyone is going to want to employ some late 60′s to 70-something person in many many cases.
Even if you could enforce age discrimination laws, those people doing demanding physical labor jobs are not going to be able to keep up that kind of work into their advanced years.
The gubmint is just drooling to eliminate those liabilities they never intended on paying back since fucking Greenspan ‘reformed’ Social Security with FICA in the 1980′s during the vaunted Reagan revolution.
My sentiments exactly, Beerman. May I refer you to a happy day,
Jan.21. 1793….Seems like the French had a few good ideas beyond cooking.
This time the French Revolution will look like a mannered tea party compared to what’s coming.
As long as the Democratic Party continues to focus solely on social issues like the search for even more behavioral equality results, the Republican business class will focus on screwing the workers to the point they will have only the fantasy of a decent life, let alone equality with rich masters of both sexes, various races, many religions, but all united in hatred and disdain of you and me.
I’m sure that TBogg, Pam, and all of the other obots will be cheering on the cuts if done by o, but booing if done by mitt. No matter what they say, the goals of the two uniparty candidates are the same: wreck the middle class, cut the social support network, and further enrich the 1%. Along the way, both will say that there was no choice because the fiscal problems determined the actions. Not that my vote will actually count, but I going with Jill Stein.
Senator Sanders has responded to these CEOs and the companies who have received help from our government, which means our money has helped them.
Sander’s list of Companies Receiving Billions in Tax Cuts, Refunds, or who have evaded taxes in Offshore Accounts.
This is excellent. Maybe even more effective in the form of a chart.
And we will probably get another Robespierre but this time he will be a Christian Dominionist.
No doubt about it.
I agree!
1) Reform Medicare and Medicaid: let’s start with universal single payer so everyone is covered; essentially Medicare for all. We can pay for it with the premiums current going to the people that own the insurance companies and by negotiating with big pharma and medical supply houses. Doctors can graduate from public medical schools debt free in exchange for setting up practices in rural areas and inner cities where there are shortages for specific periods of time.
2) Strengthen Social Security: immediately eliminate the earning cap. Lower the retirement age to 60 creating new jobs by creating job openings for new workers and by making sure that SS payments are high enough that retired people have additional money to spend to keep the economy growing.
3) Comprehensive and pro-growth tax reform: we have historically proven methods for economic growth. We need only look at the period our nation experienced the greatest growth, 1950′s and early 1960′s and re-institute the tax policies, financial regulations, and workers rights. Or we can just put back the Clinton era tax rates and make Glass-Steagall a law of the land again. Either way, assuming no more unfunded wars, we immediately get the debt under control and the economy growing again.
Sanders also proposed a Progressive Deficit Reduction Plan. HERE.
He lists 11 changes which would result in 5 trillion saved in 10 years.
It is a vuvox recording which takes a moment to load.
Sander’s progressive deficit reduction plan:
1. Expire Bush Tax Cuts.
2. make a millionaire’s surtax.
3. end tax breaks for overseas job outsourcing.
4. End Big Oil and Gas Tax breaks.
5. End offshore tax shelters.
6. Establish wall st. speculation tax.
7. Tax capital gains and dividends like work.
8. Create a progressive estate tax.
9. End waste and fraud in pentagon spending.
10. Require Medicare drug price negotiations.
11. Establish fees for currency manipulations.
my apologies to Senator Sanders if I have read these inaccurately.
Eliminating the cap ensures that the rich maintain their paycheck superiority into and throughout their retirement.
it is great that Bernie does things like this and I thank him for it but it would much better if Bernie (or someone of his ilk) led a movement. sponsoring bills that will not get passed and writng lists on blogs is fine but what we all need is someone like Bernie to led the way. I am not saying he needs to run for President but he needs to say let me gather your energy/time and work into getting bills passed; blocking bills; getting pols to listen and act in our interests.
He needs to turn words into action; all of the things Bernie mentions in the progressive debt plan is great but Bernie how about leading a planned rally in front of the WH and or Congress? How about leading the way to presure the Progressive C to get off its ass and help us?
I know a lot of people like me and TT would love to help you!
I’ve got a better plan, an immediate law that limits CEO and top management pay and bonuses to 50 times the lowest paid full time worker, requires them to have the same health care and retirement plan as the majority of their workers, and requires that a quarter of the board of directors (with voting rights) is worker representation as selected by the workers.
After that is done, we can start reforming the tax system, because it is past time the CEOs recognize that in a global society they must match their foreign counterparts particularly the more successful German ones….
Yeah. A lot of people feel that way about all of the ‘proposals’. Best of luck to you, bearman!
you too; 60 hits in Feb just hope the Corp Creeps can keep their greedy hands off of our money
good points all!
As a nurse, I am especially vocal in support of “Medicare for all….NOW!”
These corporate assholes are just as much to blame as the banksters!! Now ,they want a grand bargain in their favor. All these recession years they have sat on the sideline with TRILLIONS in their coffers!! Not once did they offer to jumpstart the economy by pushing in some of their own money. Always claiming we can’t put money in this economy not knowing what’s going to happen with Obamacare,taxes and the confidence in consumers.. These guys are nothing more than leeches on us taxpayers just like the Wall Street PRICKS!! I wish Obama nad Holder would get some balls and put a few of these bastards in jail!!
many good comments…@2,3,7,8,9,17 and 22 easily highlighted as being spot on