Social Security: Bipartisan Fervor to Whack the Old Folks
By William Greider
August 25, 2010
An appalling consensus has developed among Washington elites: they tell themselves cutting Social Security is a slam-dunk. If the two parties will hold hands and act together, they reason, voters can’t blame either one. When Washington players talk up “bipartisan compromise,” it usually means the people are about to get screwed.
It’s part of the new austerity—American-style. We’ll all have to learn to live with less, we’re told, in order to reduce America’s swollen federal deficits. So we’ll whack Social Security benefits, dump school teachers and other state employees, and suppress wages by accepting high unemployment.
Barack Obama is actively collaborating with this conservative ploy. He created a presidential commission on deficit reduction, stacked with conservative deficit hawks from both parties. They will not reveal their recommendations until after this fall’s election—too late for voters to push back.
Obama is playing coy himself, but his aides have made clear his intentions. Social Security is the sacrificial lamb. It will be offered up to Republicans to get them to make a deal on taxes. The tax cuts for the wealthy enacted in the Bush era are set to expire, but Republicans and many Democrats are loath to let that happen.
If the political system succeeds in whacking Social Security now (when it isn’t a problem), it will do so again and again, while also stripping away other hard-won public programs that benefit the broad population.
Social Security, in other words, is a political test case for the “new austerity.”
The origins of the feds’ red ink are not a mystery, though. Deficits have soared because of tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, fighting two wars on borrowed money, the deep recession that has savaged tax revenue, and the long-term consequences of trade deficits and deindustrialization.
But taking on those issues would require politicians to challenge the most powerful interests. That’s why they think it’s easier to whack old people, and hope future retirees who are the real victims won’t notice
MOBILIZE QUICKLY
Our side can win this fight if we mobilize quickly and smartly. Whatever Washington claims to believe, the people have their own consensus about Social Security, shared by both young and old, left and right. Americans are overwhelmingly opposed (85 percent in an AARP poll) to reducing Social Security benefits to address the deficit. A strong majority (65 percent) thinks Social Security benefits should now be increased, given everything else that has happened to people.
The political problem is, how do we make the people’s will felt if neither party is willing to stand up for it? One answer, developed by a galaxy of labor and progressive groups, is to confront individual members of Congress, Republicans as well as Democrats, with a straightforward demand: Take the pledge. Hands off Social Security. Commit to vote against whatever benefit cuts the deficit commission dares to propose.
If senators and representatives decline to sign the pledge, put them on the target list in this fall’s elections. MoveOn, Campaign for America’s Future, the Teamsters, and other organizations are actively collecting signatures. For more information, contact Alex Lawson at the Campaign for America’s Future.
Please read the full article at:
http://www.labornotes.org/2010/08/social-security-bipartisan-fervor-whack-old-folks
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
