We have a problem. Bowles and Simpson--flush with millions of dollars from who knows where--are campaigning to bring us more Catfood; meeting scheduled with Gang of Eight.
And the new Catfood they are hacking looks like a poorer quality product than their first failed attempt.
Now, Simpson and Bowles are looking to retool their deficit reduction package to decrease the amount of revenue it raises — to address those concerns from the right regarding tax increases. And they’re zoning in on increased tweaks to health care programs and want to bolster social safety net protections for low-income Americans — to address concerns from the left. (emphasis mine)
http://www.politico.com/...
These two remind me of Buth Cassidy asking, "Who are those guys? I don't recall electing them to office and hopefully, they are not working for the White House, anymore.
So, who's really behind their concerted effort? The out-of-elected-office Gov. Rendell and former Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) are their front men; guess they need a paycheck.
This galls me. Just the other day Bowles and Simpson endorsed a Tea Party Republican over a progressive Democrat candidate for Congress. Their involvement in attempting to influence a campaign for Congress destroys all appearances of bipartisanship especially for Bowles. He is what he is, a Wall Street insider.
Bowles and Simpson are supporting a Tea Party Republican, scream this from the rooftops.
"In their attack on Annie Kuster (NH), Bowles and Simpson praised her Tea Party opponent, Congressman Charlie Bass, for supporting their plan to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits. Their attack ad is appearing in three local newspapers: the Concord Monitor, New Hampshire Union Leader, and the Nashua Telegraph" http://www.dailykos.com/...
“Simpson-Bowles” was the most popular Google search during the debate."
Behind the scenes, the two deficit hawks are enjoying more than just a search engine moment. The pair is heading to Virginia’s Mount Vernon next week to meet with the new bipartisan Senate “Gang of Eight” in an effort to hash out a major deficit and tax package.
Will the People's Budget have representation at this "special meeting?" Or, like Single Payer in the healthcare debate, can't we assume that the good solution will not be considered by these oh-so-bipartisan concerned legislators?
In effect, this is legislation without representation or as other's have said, "the fix is in."
Gregg and Rendell are chairing the Fix the Debt campaign — an effort to centralize disparate groups’ efforts to push for a grand deficit compromise. (There is that magic word again, the 'Fix.')
They are raising massive amounts of money to help support lawmakers who join their fight for a large-scale package and rallying business leaders and opinion makers who can get their message out.
Will this group conveniently ignore a Wall Street transaction tax. Of course they will!
By contrast, in their quest for every possible source of savings, Bowles and Simpson seem never seriously to have considered a financial speculation tax that would target the country's bloated financial sector. The United Kingdom has imposed taxes on its financial sector for centuries, and much of the European Union is considering a tax that could go into effect as early as next year. A tax comparable to the one the UK has on stock trades, but applied to all financial assets, could raise close to $1.5tn over the course of a decade.
There is evidence that our overgrown financial sector is a serious drag on growth, pulling resources away from productive segments of the economy. In addition, the financial sector is also where many of the highest earners get their income. This means that a tax on financial speculation could be a real win-win-win: it could raise money to reduce the deficit; make the economy more efficient; and reduce inequality. That should place it on top of anyone's list for deficit reduction.
But the tax apparently didn't make it to the Simpson-Bowles list. While we may never know why, it is worth noting that Erskine Bowles sits on the board of directors at the huge Wall Street investment bank Morgan Stanley, where he is paid several hundred thousand dollars a year. Interestingly, Bowles also sits on many other corporate boards, also being paid millions for his services over the last decade.http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
And according to the Guardian, Bowles isn't that good at making investment decisions. Since April of 2003, the Erskine Bowles stock index (as calculated by CEPR) has lost 33.5% of its value. By contrast, the S&P500 is up by 53.1% over this period.
Bowles wants to lower corporate taxes. I ask, why not a plan to collect corporate taxes first?
This BS must not stand. Bowles and Simpson will erode the very backbone of our Democratic Party's good work of almost a century. In brief, their plan is a give away to corporations, hurts elderly people, the middle-class and poor and it will doom the Democratic Party in 2014 and years to come if Democrats endorse it.
“Bowles-Simpson, and their organization, are attempting to insert themselves into the process for cutting a ‘big deal’ in the lame duck or near future,” one leadership aide said. “Their real utility, however, is in the court of public opinion, not in swaying individual members of Congress or the White House. To the extent a deal is reached, their ‘seal of approval’ could help validate it — marginally — with the press and public.”
Screwing with Social Security, and defunding Medicaid, Medicare and other needed saftey-net programs for the poor and working middle-class citizens will not be embraced by the public.
The Gang of Eight and Simpson/Bowles must think we are like the people of Iraq and will welcome their intrusion into our life-long investments with open arms.
We will not!
The 81-year-old Simpson added, “You better hope and pray … that the Gang of Eight or the Gang of 80 is putting your country back together in a fiscally responsible matter.”
Bowles and Simpson have an agenda and it's an agenda for the rich and corporations. And Mr. Simpson, we are hoping and praying that our President and Democratic legislators have more common, economic and political sense than you and Mr. Bowles.