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President Barack Obama with Co-Chairs of National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson
Just in case you were worried that Washington might have accidentally stopped talking about Erskine Bowles, Alan Simpson, or the deficit for a whole day the dynamic duo is trying to grab the spotlight today with a brand new deficit outline.
Not surprisingly much of their proposed deficit reduction would come from cutting Medicare and Social Security benefits. They want to increase Medicare premiums and cost sharing. They also call for cutting Social Security by adopting the chained CPI. None of these proposed cuts are new.
What is new is that their plan now calls for another $2.4 trillion in deficit reduction. While they acknowledge roughly $2.7 trillion in deficit reduction has been adopted since their last plan, they are now claiming we need $5 trillion instead of $4 trillion in deficit reduction. Effectively, the main goal of this new plan is to try to shift the goalposts.
The so-called deficit hawks’ real goal has always been to cut Medicare and Social Security benefits. According to Simpson, Social Security is a “milk cow with 310 million tits.” So they need a deficit target that sounds big enough and scary enough to justify cutting these programs despite the electorate’s strong opposition.
Photo by The White House under Public Domain
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I’ll give Bowles & Simpson this: they are nothing if not persistent fuckers. Loved the first paragraph – managed to make me guffaw over a topic that is decidedly unfunny. That said, I’ll take my kicks where I get ‘em.
Thanks for the update. It’s, uh, “good” to keep up with these theiving greedy bastards.
Catfood Commission = Obama
They also are demanding a shrubbery. One that looks nice. And not too expensive.
America needs a big stiff enema, maybe coffee, to flush Simpson-Bowles out of the body politic. Perhaps they could be sent on a Carnival Cruise? Or to explore Mars?
Seriously, why does everyone always act as if these two got anything accomplished? They couldn’t get their own people on the commission to support their conclusions, so they issued a Rump Chair Report. And they’ve been eating out on it ever since.
These two need to be removed like the cancer they are. I mean, not to put too fine a point on it, but won’t Alan Simpson ever die?
Evil bastards!!
Another guffaw! thanks. it’s even more absurd, isn’t it?
Ni! Ni! Ni!
Good luck with that… ;-)
Bowles, Simpson and Obama Still Want to Cut Your Medicare and Social Security
Fixed it for ya!
That’s true. It really doesn’t matter if Simpson & Bowles go away & STFU. There’ll just be someone else dancing to this tune bc it is what the MOTU want, and Obama is eagerly going for it, as well, despite all his happy talk during the inaugural about beefing up the Middle & Working classes. Fat chance.
Meanwhile, trillions of dollars wasted out tailpipes? And I mean Trillions of dollars. Protect oil and their monopoly on energy like them slave owner who enjoyed a monopoly on energy! Human beings…
Congress will protect the rape of this republic enslaving America to energy monopolies. The cost of living will continue to rise as energy monopolies drive the cost of gas up by cutting back refining production, to make more money while fucking this republic. They suck just like slave owners…
Actually you’re confusing Congress with the President. Obama is “Drill Baby Drill!” and he just loves fracking.
These guys are like the Marlboro men? Selling not so good, “goods” that can kill you.
hilarious!
Yes, but know this. The shale gas is being capped because the new tech is finding more oil. So there is no competition. A monopoly protected and the republic gets fucked.
Wasting 6.4 trillions dollars out tailpipes with no return on investment, is fucking servitude.
Jon, you said
This will sound snarky, but it isn’t meant to be. I know the electorate strongly opposes the cuts, but how have we showed it? We reelected this person, our stamp of approval, essentially giving him an AUEF ( authorization to use economic force ) against us. How do we protect ourselves and what’s left of our commons against the Bowles Simpsons of the world who intend to wring the remaining blood out of this turnip? They have seats at Obama’s table. The electorate… not so much.
If we think that what we having been doing as an electorate has or is going to pressure this calculating bastard into fighting for anyone but the upper echelon, we have another think coming.
This is why I encourage people to not engage in Lesser Evilism voting. I didn’t vote for either Obama or Romney – Obama received no stamp of approval from me.
No, you’re right, there is nothing or very, very little we can do now. And yes, you’re right, we had our opportunity.
Political power isn’t something that anyone gives up easily, and it’s not something that’s easy to gain. If you want it, you’ve got to take it, and be willing to do whatever it takes to get it and keep it.
And it just seems to me that for the most part, liberals, progressives, Democrats, or whatever passes for the opposition of the right wing, are mostly unwilling to do what it takes to get that power. Thus, we’ll never have it.
Because there is nothing that is ever going to get a politician’s attention like losing a wanted re-election can. Yet, the left, as the wiser of the two sides, uses it’s wisdom to determine that not having a scary Republican in office and thus having a Democratic one that has no incentive to listen is somehow better than at some points in time having a Democratic one in there who’s first, second, and last thoughts of the day are “what can I do for you today” and the you s/he’s speaking to is progressives.
I swear I now believe that those on the left don’t want political power.
SI and OFG,
I went Green, but don’t say that to try to ‘I told you so’ to anyone, it just was the only power I felt I had to get that get attention and send a message that wouldn’t be interpreted as approval or acquescence.
We don’t have much time before March 1 and sequestration. What do we do?
Heat up the phone lines with calls and send emails.
Yeah, I didn’t mean to make mine sound like an I told you so either, but it does.
Sorry to all for that.
I’m still unable to vent my frustrations at the last election without offending those I’d really rather not offend, yet somehow it seems so important to get the word out that getting and holding political power isn’t easy, and you’ve got to really want it, and you may have to do things you’d rather not do to get it (like live with an all out R government for a time).
I dunno, sorry again though.
I’ll stay away this time. Swear.
Nah, you were not sounding like that at all and I feel bad that I made you worry about it. Don’t you go anywhere :). I mean it. I appreciate the responses from all of you. We are where we are, doesn’t matter much how we got here as long as we learn how to work effectively going on ….
Gotta go fix dinner, I’ll llok back in later. Thanks, guys.
Don’t worry, nothing whatsoever to do with you or anything you said or did. You’re fine.
Enjoy dinner, and best of luck. Like you said, there’s not much we can do. Whatever gets passed now will be because of the current crop of pols and lobbyists in DC, and our voices won’t be heard or matter if they were. It sucks, but then I guess we have to ask ourselves, what’s next???
Hopefully, more and more of us will agree on an answer to that.
As a late, and very great man, said here many times…
Namaste
Makes you wonder if there are no democrats living anymore who can fight this or have the will to do it. Both parties have moved to the right. Now the Rs are the crazy asses and the dems are moderates. And we lose. Does the left exist anymore?
Bernie Saunders, Alan Grayson and Harry Reid are all against screwing with Social Security. There are some Congressmen with backbone still.
I tell you what Simpson and Bowles… You cut the Defense Budget (all $1.08 Trillion of it..Not just the Pentagon portion) by 50%…and then get back to me. I’ll tell you how to save another $500 Billion after that. Then we have no problem.
2/15/2013
If people aren’t too skeptical of Congress at this point, maybe you want to encourage the critters who signed and pressure those who didn’t.
Old Fat Guy: Please don’t stay away. I’m among those frustrated with what happened in the election, but everyone’s thoughts are needed as far as what to do now.
Harry failed to change the filibuster rules. Will he prevent cuts to SS, Medicare, and Medicaid from coming up for a vote or not?
I will say this gently: voting matters less than what you actually do. And people have more opportunities to do than they think.
Yes, calling and emailing congresscritters seems to be empty and pointless since one doesn’t get an immediate reward or acknowledgemtn fo doind such an activity.
But I still recommend it. They all keep tally sheets in some way or another. So calling and emailing more than just your rep is a (relatively easy, and) good thing to do, particularly if you target the not-your-rep, like a Chairperson or something. And hit their counterpart on the committees too, so the Chair (I’m thinking House here) knows you also told his opposition “Yeah I think the Chair is fucked.”
Aside from that, depending on how gerrymandered your district is, you can go and visit in person at their local office.
That FREAKS THEM OUT. Nobody does that. I mean relatively. They hold constituent services folks in the offices, and they expect a certain amount of people, but they are Not Expecting You.
So, nope. I reject that we are powerless, voiceless, whatever you want to call it. I say, yes, you can make yourself known, you can personally hold them accountable, and there’s nothing stopping you, but you.
Is there any chance that Bowles and Simpson can be found to be illegal aliens and thus subject to deportation?
Namaste, OFG.
And thanks for all the encouraging nudges, everyone. Appreciate them.
Well said, KC.
Simpson said today that Obama needs to get a hand on the solvency of SS or it will affect his legacy. (Clip on Cenk Uygur tonight) Bowles also said similar nonsense in response to hecklers who challenged why corps don’t pay more. It is beyond rational to talk about insolvency of SS at the same time you defend corporate taxes. Obama really listens to this crap? His legacy will be shot if he cuts SSMM. Grandma has a lot more sway over her kids and grand kids than he might imagine.
And if it does come up for a vote will the dems vote it down? I
Durbin (D-Durbinville) voted for Bowles-Simpson and was part of the Austerity Gang of 6. That’s why I asked if Reid (who supposedly opposes SS cuts) would oppose enough to keep it from coming up for a vote.
I know. There are a few who will not vote for it, but no where near enough I bet.
The Republicans are a disgrace. The Democrats are a pathetic disgrace.
Heat up the phone lines, send emails to those same people. Contact both Representatives and Senators, but especially Representatives. Every one of them is only one year from being re-elected – or not.
I remind every Democrat that there is no safe Democratic seat as the Repugs have targeted them from the right and I will personally target them, even run AGAINST them, just to highlight their missteps on SS and Medicare.
I remind every Republican that they are currently unpopular and how would they like to become much more so?
We can contact the WH but I would put our efforts into those not-totally-gold-protected Representatives. Representatives are the weak spot of corrupt politics.
Also, as some have pointed out, Bowles and Simpson are losers, incompetents, that did not even bother or could not even get agreement from a committee hand picked with the same neocon and neoDem views as themselves.
Losers, Incompetents. Remind everyone in Congress and the WH of this. Look at how loser Romney is being treated – why not these other two super privileged, super losers?
Finally, with separate contacts, I remind everyone that there are easy fixes to both SS and our overall out of control medical costs.
SS – raise the income cap slightly, if you insist on doing anything.
Overall medical costs – and cost shifting from the govt is no solution, here. Stop paying doctors and other medical personnel by the procedure and put them on a salary or hourly rate same as lawyers, carpenters, etc.
As long as doctors can spend 5 minutes with a patient and up-code it to $550, which is about what happens where I live, costs will be out of control. Basically, doctors et. al. must be paid either by the hour or on a cost plus basis. Fix the overall medical costs or get your incompetent noses out of changing Medicare. Period.
Final Simpson – Bowles comment. (Awww – shouldn’t @ocoastperson just STUFU?).
Finally – If Simpson – Bowles have to change their cost goal after 1 yr. plus from 4 trillion to 5 trillion, the economic situation just jumps around too much, too quickly, for it to make sense to listen to them about any problem (Social Security) which is even by their stupid reasoning more than 20 years out. If economists can’t accurately predict NEXT QUARTER, why listen to some stupid commission that wants to wreck an in the black, greatly functional program because of projections that are based on lots of stuff where no one knows what is actually going to happen even 2 yrs. from now?
These guys (and Obomber, Obungler, our great wonderful King who now does what he wants whenever) have no credibility so lets go down hard against them and scare the sh%$# out of Congress.
An income cap to Social Security makes it means tested. Welfare. The cap could be $100,000 now.
Inflation – not tracked by the government of course – will take care of THAT cap eventually.
They’re in it for the long game.
F them. Tax the rich and deliver a fair tax scheme.
… X 2 … good thing Obama won WH again in 2012. O/D zealots wanted this.
Attacking ceaselessly those who said it was bad politics to elect Obama again.
Actions lead to consequences. O/D zealots did not want to stop Obama in 2012. Too late now. Likely coming H.Clinton 2016 WH bid will see these D zealots doing same damn thing again. No sympathy. All out. You wanted Obama again? You got him.
How about an energy policy which does not continually drive the cost of living up, since all goods services and people must be transported to conduct commerce and trade, even with electronic commerce?
Trillions of dollars wasted over generations. Ford’s model T got better gas mileage than the 2005 Ford, which to replace “lifetime air filter” cost couple hundred bucks, at least?
You are correct the entire paradigm is rancid meant to extract money from people and destroy standards of living while monopolies in commerce eat our own and fuck the republic….
You mean end America’s servitude to corporations which buy law to enjoy monopolies in commerce and trade….
Corporations controlled by corporate aristocrats which seem to continually screw the shareholders and the republic, while protecting their cash cows at a nation’s expense?
F them. Just like the slave owners. F em!
The real grief of it is, this is not really about Obama. He was only the Democratic nominee du jour in 2008.
Almost every Democratic elected official, city, town, county, state and federal is now third way. I would say almost everyone in D.C. except the 60 or so to which the House Progressive Caucus has dwindled. And most of them are Civil Rights era and won’t be around that much longer.
Besides, when push comes to shove and it really matters, even members of the Democratic caucus follow the leader, literally and figuratively. Further, the PTB of the Democratic Party are handpicking their primary choices–as they recently did with Markey. So, it’s pretty much pointless for any Democrat to run against him. Lynch is giving it a try, but he’a already about 23 points behind.
Anyway, cakes are baked well before primary day–much as they were with Obama in 2008, for that matter,
So, people either have to stop voting Democratic or prepare for things to get yet worse for the 99%. And worse things will get, at least unless and until the pendulum begins to swing back left, if ever.
I voted Green in 2008 and may never vote Democratic again.
If you misdiagnose, you can’t treat.
Blaming Simpson and/or Bowles is like seeing a crappy watercolor and blaming the brushes and paints, instead of the artist.
Who promised WAPO in January, 2009, that he would cut entitlements?
Who decided to appoint a cat food Commission?
Who chose Simpson and Bowles to head the Cat Food Commission?
When the cat food commission did not give him political cover for cuts, who created a possibly unconstitutional joint committee to reach a so-called “Grand Bargain?”
Who put cuts to Medicare and Social Security on the table?
When campaign season was upon him with no Grand Bargain, who proposed the sequester to put things off until after the election, with no back up plan?
Who, only a month ago, offered Republicans an increase in income taxes on incomes above $400,000 and no lower?
Which Party had the ability to change Senate filibuster rules very recently and, with the president’s sequester hanging over its head like the sword of Damocles, threw away that opportunity because inaction helps incumbents?
Hint: no correct answer to any of the above questions is McConnell, Boehner, Cantor or Republicans.
Me neither.
I did vote for Obama in 2008 and had to rue my vote while reading signature lines on other boards saying things like “Don’t blame me. I voted for McKinney.”
Well, don’t blame me this time either. I voted for Dr. Stein. She was probably once a good and loyal Democrat who was forced out of her Party by the Republicrats and the Demlicans, much as I have been.
It was not only bad politics to vote for Obama again. It was bad Darwinism to vote for Obama again.
Too late. Obama had that chance/mandate after 2 elections. And he has consistently declined to use it. See also Reply 48.
How do you suggest we “go at them” and scare them, now that Obama ad all but a few Senators are freshly elected or re-elected and raring to cut?
Please be specific.
Ah, emails and phone calls. How about online petitions, too?
Please name a time in the last 30 or 40 years any of those things changed the vote or plans of one elected official in Washington.
I haven’t been able to think of any. The most dramatic outpourings by the public I can think during that period of were women opposing confirmation of Clarence Thomas and a good chunk of the country pleading for a public option. My recollection is that neither made a dent.
What say we even (gasp) actually get up off our asses and march and demonstrate out of doors? Maybe get arrested outside the White House? Maybe even be willing to endure prolonged hardship, like camping out in public for a few fall and winter months, while getting beaten up from time to time by police dispatched by Democratic Mayors on advice of Obama’s Homeland Security?
Thing like that should work even better than emails, right?
Grayson’s vote will not matter. The House works on straight majority vote and Republicans have the majority. Therefore every Rep can vote however he or she thinks best for his or her own re-election.
A leftist like Grayson has little to lose by voting against it and making sure everyone knows he voted against it, but, again, it doesn’t affect anything but his own re-election chances.
The Senate is the group worth worrying about. Sanders has a megaphone, but no real power in his caucus apart from that.
Reid, however, does have power. Will Reid stand fast? Will the other Democrats follow him or Obama? What will Blue Dogs do?
And, outside chance–will any Republicans refuse to vote for cuts?