Dean Baker: Vicious Ideologue Renews Attack on Social Security

[marmar]

from Truthout:



MONDAY 21 JULY 2008


Vicious Ideologue Renews Attack on Social Security
Monday 21 July 2008

by: Dean Baker, t r u t h o u t | Perspective



Billionaire investment banker Peter Peterson is back on the warpath. He just established a new foundation with a $1 billion endowment, the main purpose of which is to cut back spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

These programs, which provide an essential safety net to virtually the entire country, are hugely popular and will be politically difficult to cut. Nonetheless, $1 billion is a lot of money. Therefore, Peterson's campaign deserves to be taken seriously.

Peterson has long been an ardent foe of these programs. He first rose to national prominence as commerce secretary in the Nixon administration. He then returned to the private sector and became a partner in the Blackstone Group, a very successful private equity fund.

Mr. Peterson is fond of telling his audiences that he doesn't need his Social Security. Of course, as a manager in a private equity fund, Mr. Peterson was allowed to take advantage of the fund manager tax subsidy - a provision of the tax code that allows some of the richest people in the country to pay much lower tax rates than ordinary workers.

With his enormous wealth, Mr. Peterson was probably given more than 1,000 times as much money through this tax subsidy as the typical worker can expect to see on her Social Security. Needless to say, if the rest of us had been beneficiaries of the government's largesse to the same extent as Mr. Peterson, we would not need our Social Security either.

Mr. Peterson's public crusading against Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid began in 1992 when he formed the Concord Coalition. This organization crusades for cuts in these programs under the pretext of fiscal responsibility. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthout.org/article/vicious-ideologue-renews-attack-social-security

[n2doc]

1. Why is it that these MF'ers always want to hurt other people?

As he says, none of these things will make a gnat's ass worth of difference. But to save a few $$$ off of his taxes, he would like to screw millions out of the only retirement and health care they can get. Evil bastard.

[JHB]

2. The answer to your question in two words: "fund manager"

Why, it's absolutely criminal what he's losing in fees because the gummint ties up all that money in Social Security.

After all, he needs the momney: he has seven vacation houses to pay for!

/sarcasm