Fix the Debt joins the illustrious Club for Growth in trying to tamp down the repercussions of Republican Rep. Greg Walden's statement Tuesday on CNN that President Obama's proposal to adopt what's called the "chained CPI" was tantamount to trying to "balance the budget on the backs of seniors."
In a press release Thursday, Jon Romano, vice president of communications at the Campaign to
Fix the Debt wrote:
“Representative Walden’s comments were troubling, cynical and harmful to the process of reaching bipartisan consensus. The current debate on our national debt should not be about the next election cycle, but rather about what kind of future we want to have for our children. Changes to Social Security will have to be made to preserve the life of the system, and political demagoguery puts the system at risk.
“The Campaign is heartened by the House leadership’s comments clarifying that entitlement reform must be on the table. While the rhetoric in Washington is all about how far apart the parties are, the truth is that there is a great deal of consensus emerging around specific deficit-reduction policy ideas, and the Administration and Congress need to remain focused on these policies that can get support from both parties.
The American people don’t care about political grandstanding; they want to see sensible solutions to our country’s fiscal problems. Republicans attacking the President’s entitlement reform proposals from the left are not contributing to the deal whose outlines we are beginning to see.
http://www.fixthedebt.org/...
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Walden's statement is true no matter how creatively the communications department of Fix the Debt slices and dices it's K-Tel product.
It's a benefit cut. It's not merely a "technical" change. It's not a "more accurate" measure of inflation. In recent weeks a white paper endorsing the "chained CPI" has been landing on lawmakers' desks. "Measuring Up: The Case for the Chained CPI" was produced by an outfit linked to [the fixer} Peter G. Peterson, the hedge fund billionaire whose hostility to Social Security and Medicare is a byword in Washington.
The paper makes a lot of questionable claims. It's based on the assumption that the "chained CPI" is a "more accurate" measure of inflation, which is only fair. But there are no grounds for that claim. http://www.latimes.com/...
Earlier this week the fixers released a video (posted below) claiming that
under Chained-CPI Benefits would increase: which reminded me that if you buy one at $19.95 you not only get one free, you receive 10 more kitchen devices.
It's not credible for the fixers to proclaim that seniors taking a little '$19.95' monthly benefit cut in perpetuity will in return see their benefits grow and that such a 'reform' would save Social Security simultaneously.
The fixers propaganda reminds me of the turquoise kitchenettes advertised in the fifties, resplendent with toasters and an aproned June Lockhart look alike; no offense to June, I loved her.
Actually, I find the fixer's shallowly disguised marketing an affront to Edward Bernays "who invented Public Relations in the 1920s, being the first person to take Freud’s ideas to manipulate the masses."
BTW, if you missed The Century of Self, click here:http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/... "The documentary describes the impact of Freud’s theories on the perception of the human mind, and the ways public relations agencies and politicians have used this during the last 100 years for their engineering of consent."
Walden, "who recently took control of the House GOP campaign committee, is now in hot water with many of his fellow Republicans for -- ironically enough -- attacking President Obama."
Walden may have expected praise for fulfilling his Republican attack-dog role when he called Obama's proposal to trim Social Security cost-of-living increases part of a "shocking attack on seniors."
However, a new formula for cost of living increases is one of the few Obama budget ideas backed by Republicans. On Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he disagreed with Walden and indicated he had given him a stern talking-to.
In addition, the Club for Growth, a conservative Washington pressure group with a penchant for taking on Republicans it sees as too accepting of big government, announced it would try to drum up a primary opponent to run against the Republican congressman. http://www.oregonlive.com/...
Who would want to change places with Rep. Walden, he has the power of Wall Street, his fellow leaders of the Republican Party and the funkiest of fundies breathing down his back for speaking truth to the powerful?
Who purchases this crap, buys into this obvious dime-store logic that you can cut benefits that then magically increase? What's the hidden motive, lower corporate taxes and a territorial corporate tax system and more, much more? Lets ask the pushers 'Gang' of senators: Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) These lawmakers met last fall for a few days at George Washington’s historic Virginia estate with the fixers front men former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and ex-Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.). Are the Cherry Trees in bloom?
All Chained-CPI salesmen including those in the White House and members of the Democratic leadership should be ashamed of their superlative attempts to duck the truth about C-CPI as well.
All this obfuscationist 'dreck' is truly troubling, cynical and harmful.
What Americans really need fixers is a refund.