Peter Peterson, the Washington Post, Robert Rubin, and killing the economy

[Nikki Stone1]

For those who don't remember, The WaPo recently got caught in a pay-to-publish debacle, in a case that was like Armstrong WIlliams on steroids. Peter Peterson, a wealthy, Wall Street neoconservative, was allowed to publish an article, presented as news. DU had several threads on this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7398484

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x508030

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x507744

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5115896

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7408270

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7404817

It got so many threads because it was so very important. Peter Peterson is important not just because of his economy-killing (but self serving) ideas, but also because of his connections to former Treasury Secretary ROBERT RUBIN, who is connection, some say at the hip, to Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner.

Here is the Guardian on Peter Peterson:

Peter Peterson is a Wall Street billionaire and former Nixon administration cabinet member who has been trying to gut social security payments and Medicare for at least the last quarter of a century. He has written several books that warn of a demographic disaster when the baby boomers retire. These books often include nonsense arguments to make his case. For example, in one of the books making his pitch for cutting social security as matter of generational equity, Peterson proposes reducing the annual cost of living adjustment. Peterson justified this cut by arguing that the price index overstated the true rate of inflation, therefore the annual cost of living adjustment was overcompensating retirees....

...Of course, what Peterson says matters because he uses his billions to make sure that his voice gets heard. In the case of his books, he would take out full-page ads in major newspapers to ensure that these otherwise very forgettable tracts got taken seriously.

And he started organisations. First, he had the Concord Coalition ("a nationwide, non-partisan, grassroots organisation advocating generationally responsible fiscal policy") and, more recently, the Peter G Peterson Foundation, and now its offspring, the Fiscal Times. Interestingly, the Fiscal Times' debut piece in the Post managed to reference both of Peterson's earlier creations.

Peterson is well-known for trashing Social Security and Medicare/caid and wanting these important social programs off the books. It is due to the influence of Peterson and those like him that the Medicare option and the public option were shelved during the health insurance debate.

What you may not know is that ROBERT RUBIN is using Peterson's ideas to support his own regressive economic views. In his Newsweek piece on the economy, Rubin says:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/225623/output/print

Most immediately, as President Obama and the other G20 leaders warned, restrictive trade measures in response to the current crisis could lead to highly destructive trade wars. For the long run, we should continue pursuing the open markets that the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington think tank, estimates have added $1 trillion to America's current GDP. But the United States must make an even greater effort to reduce trade-distorting practices in countries less open than ours. And the U.S. must increase its savings rate over time, while countries with trade surpluses must reduce theirs and increase domestic demand to reduce global trade and financial imbalances.

The Peterson Institute for International Economics is the same Peter G. Peterson we talked about above who is its founding chairman.

http://www.piie.com/events/event_detail.cfm?EventID=16

In a photo from its 25th anniversary celebration, Andrea Mitchell, Alan Greenspan and Robert Rubin are pictured in a discussion panel.





Rubin has a publication on the website: http://www.piie.com/publications/pubs_author.cfm?ResearchTypeID=3#353

and has been involved with other Peterson events. At very least, Rubin is a neoconservative fellow traveler.

And Rubin has a great deal of influence over Geithner and Summers. And Geithner and Summers have a lot of influence over Obama.


Peterson wasn't some nobody with money who got published. Through his non profit "institutes" and non-profits, his political connections, and now his articles in the Washington Post, Peterson is trying to dictate US policy.

For Peterson:

...the real goal is to slash spending to impose onerous austerity measures that will lay the groundwork for dismantling critical social programs, like Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. That's why Rubin is working hand-in-hand with his allies in and out of the White House. It has nothing to do with what's best for the country. It's another looting operation spearheaded by the same band of Wall Street pirates who just blew up the financial system.

Let the Plunder Begin

[Tutankhamun]

1. It's amazing how many ultra rich RW bastards buy a seat at the political table

and use it to ry and crush the middle class. What is it about being that rich that makes people so evil?

[Nikki Stone1]

2. kick

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[Nikki Stone1]

3. .

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[hfojvt]

4. at least one of those links was not about a recent story

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5115896

that's from last year. I was gonna say I had not heard the story and then was surprised to find myself the only one posting on one of the threads.