More Cat Food, More war, no fiscal responsibility for Corporate
Welfare, it's just good business.
Scott
It's What for
Dinner<http://nprcheck.blogspot.com/2010/11/its-what-for-dinner.html>
by [email protected] (Mytwords)
0
<http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U2lvwVLuvc4/TPTt9oeB9tI/AAAAAAAADHE/WwafVnw7LeI/s1600/catfood.jpg>
Peter Peterson must be one pleased bankster
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pete_Peterson>, turns out
his $1 billion dollar attack on Social Security
<http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/tell-market-place-peter-peterson-spend-1-billion-of-his-own-money-to-cut-social-security>
is
paying off handsomely
<http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/11/10-2> (has been for some time:
here
<http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/06/pete-peterson-has-won-americans-rate-federal-debt-as-top-threat.html>
and
here
<http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/07/20/poll-relentless-demonization-and-propaganda-works/>)
- and his propaganda gets free and seemingly endless airtime from NPR -
mainly through Maya MacGuineas
<http://budgetreform.org/biography/maya-macguineas-0>, a paid
propagandist for the Peterson Institute. Do a quicksearch of her as
"hea! rd on the air" on NPR
<http://www.npr.org/templates/search/index.php?searchinput=MACGUINEAS&sort=date&tabId=hoa>
and
you'll see she's their latest go-to "expert" on attacking Social
Security, Medicaid and Medicare. She's always introduced on NPR as the
"president of the non-partisan Committee for a Responsible Federal
Budget" (Ydstie on Monday's ME
<http://www.npr.org/2010/11/26/131611695/counting-the-reasons-why-deficits-keep-growing>).
Of course, the "Responsible" in this committee's title rings about as
true as "Democratic" does in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
<http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_988.html>.
So what Peter Peterson cat food
<http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/08/obamas-cat-food-committee-alan-greenspan-and-dancing-grannies-medicare>
"solutions"
does Ms. MacGuineas repeat for l isteners to NPR? Here are a few choice
spoonfuls:
On Saturday's ATC
<http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=131632282>,
the painfully clueless Audie Cornish
<http://nprcheck.blogspot.com/2010/02/its-time-for-interesting-comparison.html>
let
MacGuiness toss these doozies out there without any challenge:
"Just like you can't go on borrowing forever in your own household.
That's not sustainable for the federal government...We put these
policies in place before without paying for them, they're still
there on the books and they're going to be exacerbated as more
*people are aging and health care costs* are growing...! ." [those
old, lazy freeloaders
<http://www.salon.com/entertainment/comics/this_modern_world/2010/07/20/this_modern_world/index.html>...sheesh!]
"So in the '90s....a lot of things came together and helped us get
out of that fiscal hole...which was great *until it loosened
Congress' resolve*. And then, suddenly, it was tax cuts and spending
increases everywhere...." [and about that $8 trillion dollar housing
bubble
<http://www.truth-out.org/the-folks-who-missed-bubble-want-your-social-security56930>?]
"And what we need to do is have a adult conversation about the
different kinds of trade-offs....the co-chai! rs of this White House
commission, Erskine Bowles and Al Simpson, have changed the game by
putting forth an *honest, straightforward* plan about the kinds of
things that will be involved."
Anytime you hear these hacks talking about rising health care costs or
paying for mistaken policies, you have to ask why they never mention the
savings of getting rid of our bloated private insurance "health care"
system
<http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-eds-&-columns/op-eds-&-columns/globalizing-healthcare>
and
never talk about the role of private speculators
<http://www.truth-out.org/who-will-pay-wall-street-or-main-street-tobin-tax-or-vat60902>
in
creating the debt crisis they are so concerned about.
There was more on Monday's ME
<http://www.npr.org/2010/11/26/131611695/counting-the-reasons-why-deficits-keep-growing>
with
MacGuineas and John Ydstie teaming up:
Ydstie: "But now the cost of Medicare threatens to crush the whole
federal budget. And Social Security benefits for the baby boom
generation will add to that burden..."
Ms. MacGuineas: "When it comes to Medicare and health care in
general, we just don't know how to fix it."
Ydstie: "While a growing population of elderly is part of Medicare's
problem, the largest threat is the rising cos! t of health
care....But, without a doubt, the biggest challenge for deficit
wranglers is reining in the long term growth of entitlements for the
elderly....The President's fiscal commission hopes it can deliver a
road map to lower deficits and debt later this week." [Oh yeah, the
President's fiscal commission...meeeeeooooowww....]
Maybe NPR realized it was a tad unseemly to have Ms. MacGuineas be the
only voice of Peterson, so on Monday ATC
<http://www.npr.org/2010/11/29/131673417/solving-federal-debt-crisis-hinges-on-compromises>,
they went fishing for another Peterson clone and found, "chief economist
Diane Lim Rogers of the fiscal watchdog The Concord Coalition." And
guess who owns the Concord Coalition?
<http://www.concordcoalition.org/about-us/board/peter-g-peterson> You
betcha!!
The Monday ATC piece offered more of the same with Scott Horsley explaining:
"Both plans would curtail Social Security benefits for future
retirees, while increasing payments to the neediest seniors. In
other words, both plans involve compromise." [Compromise - oh goody!]
Painfully, NPR promises there will be more
<http://www.npr.org/2010/11/29/131673417/solving-federal-debt-crisis-hinges-on-compromises>:
"On Tuesday's Morning Edition, we explore the choices for dealing with
the debt."
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digest: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
