I came of age in the time of the Grand Bargain!
Millennial childrens can scarcely imagine how grand and bargainy it was in the 1980s. We were such uncompromising compromisers! Chrysler built the K-car which combined the style of Frank Sinatra with the grace of John Deere. George Steinbrenner combined the hiring of Billy Martin with the firing of Billy Martin...three times! Warner Communications combined the music with the television. The Reagan administration combined the secret sale of arms to Iran with the secret funding of right wing guerrillas in Central America with the lying about it to Congress. Are you nostalgic yet? There was something in the air during this time. Call it dreamagination. Call it lead. In the eighties, our bold leaders were able to remake the world into a new, different, often less good world.
So what does this have to do with Grand Bargains? Join me below and I'll tell ya!
In 1987 President Reagan signed an update to something called the
Older Americans Act. This provided for a bunch of cool stuff like expanded
Meals on Wheels, nursing home reforms, treatment for Alzheimer's patients, the Ricardo Montalban National Seashore, and the creation of something called
CPI-E. Some of this is true! This was a different time and the Older Americans Act Amendments passed the House 404-7 and the Senate 93-0. We didn't have so much of the gridlock back in the day. Congress was still constipated but in a different way. For example, Antonin Scalia was confirmed to the Supreme Court by a vote of 98-0. Gridlock ain't so bad, amirite?
Back to the Future! We all know about
Meals on Wheels and the Ricardo Montalban National Seashore but what the heck is
CPI-E? At first I thought it was some kind of
protocol droid but apparently not.
CPI-E is officially called the
Consumer Price Index for Older Americans. BLS says it's "commonly called the CPI for the elderly" but they say that quietly so as not to upset Older Americans who get cranky if you say the e-word. Now I don't consider 62 years old to be elderly (
sixtysomething is the new
thirtysomething) but I'm not the BLS. Did I mention
CPI-E is an inflation index that has nothing to do with speaking bocce? Where am I going with this?
Number 1, BLS figured out that people age 62 and over spend more money on
housing and healthcare and less on things like jetskis and quinoa. They said so in
CPI-E! You'll hear people call
CPI-E an experimental index but it is experimental like a cheeseburger is an experimental hamburger.
CPI-E is CPI-W with cheese. If subtracting households under age 62 and adjusting the model weights to account for senior spending patterns was cheese. Clear?
I don't follow the news too closely but apparently there is some controversy over President Obama's budget? Anyone following this? People sure seem fired up. Republicans and Democrats singing with one voice! It reminds me of that TV show where the people of Whoville sang so beautifully on Xmas morning even though they had no Roast Beast because the Grinch stole it. I loved that little dog! Anyway, the people are singing all happy and with wide mouths that they want MOAR ROAST BEAST for the elder..um..Older Americans. Not less. Everybody knows you can't substitute chicken for Roast Beast. Törnqvist schmörnqvist!
1980s secrets? One,
Nina Blackwood recommends using talc to avoid chafing in leather pants. Two, Dick Durbin, Alan Simpson, and Ronald Reagan all helped create
CPI-E together! In that Older Americans Act Thing!
CPI-E is the talc in the pants of prosperity for the elder...um...Older Americans! Or it would have been if we actually used it. Somehow
CPI-E was created to account for the economic conditions facing Older Americans but never used. 25 years later the elder...s of Whoville have really been chapped by
high inflation in healthcare and housing. But we can get the Durbin-Simpson-Reagan Grand Bargain Band back together! Obama can play
Sammy Hagar to Reagan's David Lee Roth!
Right Now!
CPI-E! Totally gnarly!
Wait, what?!? President Obama is proposing cutting Social Security?!? Gag me with a spoon!!!
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DailyKos Blogathon -- Week of April 8th
(All times are Eastern, diaries published by the Pushing back at the Grand Bargain group)
Monday, April 8
10:00 a.m. Roger Fox
12:00 noon eXtina
2:00 p.m. Guest crosspost by Yves Smith
4:00 p.m. Horace Boothroyd III
6:00 p.m. slinkerwink
8:00 p.m. joedemocrat
Tuesday, April 9
10:00 a.m. Guest crosspost by Bill Black
12:00 noon Livestream Event diary/Team
2:00 p.m. joe shikspack
4:00 p.m. Roger Fox
6:00 p.m. Priceman
8:00 p.m. TomP
Wednesday, April 10
11:00 a.m. Liveblog budget announcement press conference
12:00 noon Words in Action
1:00 p.m. bobswern
2:00 p.m. One Pissed Off Liberal (OPOL)
4:00 p.m. Puddytat
6:00 p.m. Tool
8:00 p.m. SouthernLiberalinMD
Thursday, April 11
10:00 a.m. Letsgetitdone
12:00 noon CitizenofEarth
1:00 p.m. Words in Action
2:00 p.m. Liveblog event diary
3:00 p.m. LeftHandedMan
4:00 p.m. Unitary Moonbat
6:00 p.m. cosmic debris
8:00 p.m. angelajean
Friday April 12
9:00 a.m. 2LaneIA
10:00 a.m. joanneleon
11:00 a.m. Roger Fox
12:00 noon jamess
1:00 p.m. joejoejoe
2:00 p.m. ek hornbeck
3:00 p.m. Seneca Doane
4:00 p.m. Vetwife
6:00 p.m. Jim P
7:00 p.m. teacherken
7:30 p.m. Horace Boothroyd III
8:00 p.m. Roger Fox
* If you would like to join the blogathon, contact joanneleon or Lady Libertine by kosmail.
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1. Call your senators and representatives and tell them "Hell No!" with a priority on contacting senators. U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. You can find email contact information here
2. Contact the White House and tell them "Hell No!". Switchboard: 202-456-1414. Email contact page is here.
3. Petitions. There are a number of petitions available. Choose from the following or preferably sign them all.
a. White House petition calling for no cuts to Social Security.
b. AFL-CIO petition calling for no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and calling for more jobs, repealing the sequester and ending tax loopholes for the wealthiest individuals and corporations.
c. Sen. Harkin's petition telling Pres. Obama not to cut Social Security.
4. Social Media. Share this diary and promote this blogathon on Facebook and Google+ using the buttons at the top of the diary. Send this out on Twitter and add the hashtags #HellNo and #NoGrandBargain.
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Blogathon diaries you might have missed
Monday:
Hell No! #NoGrandBargain: "Pushing back at the Grand Bargain" by Roger Fox
Hell No! Chained CPI will reduce eligability for EITC #noChainedCPI by Roger Fox
Hell No! Dan Pfeiffer: "The President's Budget Shows That He is Serious About Solving Deficits" by eXtina
Guest Crosspost, Yves Smith: Obama Wants to Be the President Who Rolled Back the New Deal by Yves Smith via joanneleon
Hell No! Stop crushing the poor by Horace Boothroyd III
Hell, No! Social Security Contributes Nothing To Deficit by slinkerwink
Hell No! No Grand Bargain: Chained CPI: Social Security Means So Much To So Many by joedemocrat
Tuesday:
Bill Black: “Wall Street Uses the Third Way to Lead its Assault on Social Security” by Bill Black via joanneleon
Hell No! Livestream. Petition delivered to White House. Millions of signatures. 12:30pm by Lady Libertine
Hell No! No Grand Bargain. Are "Progressives" Destroying the New Deal? by joe shikspack
#HellNo ! #ChainedCPI : $65 billion income tax increase on working families #noChainedCPI by Roger Fox
Hell No! Chained CPI is a Cut. You Either Care About People or You Don't. by priceman
Hell No! No Votes or Money To Dems Who Vote To Cut Social Security. by TomP
Wednesday:
Hell No! No Grand Bargain Liveblog 2014 Budget press conference by joanneleon
Hell No! No Grand Bargain: Are We At War With Our Own Neoliberals? by Words In Action
Hell No! “Progressives Rage...Over Plan to Cut Social Security” (Pt. 1 of 2) by bobswern
Hell No! Pam Martens: “Progressives Rage...Over Plan to Cut Social Security…” (Pt. 2 of 2) by bobswern
Hell No! There's No Way to Vote Against Goldman Sachs by One Pissed Off Liberal
Hell No! Hands Off Social Security - This Has Gotten Personal by Puddytat
Hell No! Expand Social Security - Don't Cut It by Tool
Hell No! "Do You Think That Democracy Is Part of the Problem?” Attacks on Soc Security& Democracy by SouthernLiberalinMD
Thursday:
Hell No! The Ultimate Pushback against the Grand Bargain by Letsgetitdone
Hell No! Obama & The War on Seniors by CitizenOfEarth
Hell No! No Grand Bargain. Death of the Third Way: Son of Plutocracy by Words In Action
Hell No! Liveblog: Joint press conference AFL-CIO, House Progressive Caucus, Sens. Sanders & Harkins by joanneleon
"Hell no!" Why Toss 'Enrage the AARP' into an Already Tough 2014 Haul As Is? by LeftHandedMan
Hell No! I Am A Loco-Foco by Unitary Moonbat
Hell No! to Chained CPI: Defending the People’s Pension by cosmic debris
A Military Wife's Honest To God Opinion on the Grand Bargain. by angelajean
Friday:
Hell No! Joe Biden in Iowa 2015 by 2laneIA
Hell No! Lieberman told us why Social Security must be cut by joanneleon
Hell No ! Chained CPI cuts Head Start, CHIPS, WIC, SNAP by Roger Fox
Hell No! to 'Fix the Debt' Corporate Re-Patriots by jamess
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