Back in December 1982, former Lehman Brothers CEO Peter G. Peterson
and Nixon administration Secretary of Commerce, wrote an article in
the New York Review of Books warning about "Social Security: The
Coming Crash". It was one of the earliest calls to "reform" the
system, which basically meant either slashing benefits or privatizing
the system. It also introduced a theme that while being sounded on a
regular basis has had very little traction among the constituency in
whose name it was being advanced, namely the youth: "The only
alternative to reorganizing Social Security is to sit by while the
system collapses, either through an ugly revolt of young taxpaying
workers against their elders or through a catastrophic flood of deficits."
It should be mentioned that Peterson's appearance in the once
left-liberal N.Y. Review marked just one more notch in its downward
spiral. The journal also provided a platform for Felix Rohatyn, the
Lazard Frere CEO who also peddled his own deficit hawk solutions
designed to make the poor subsidize the rich.
Twenty-six years later, Peterson is still hammering away at Social
Security and other "entitlements". In today's N.Y. Times, there is a
2 page open letter that cost in excess of $50,000 paid for by the
Peter G. Peterson Foundation. You can read the ad here.
It contains all the usual alarmist nonsense about "Unsustainable
Entitlement Spending," including Medicare and Social Security that
account for $41 trillion out of a total $53 trillion liability. An
"out-of-control" health care system threatens American
competitiveness supposedly but the open letter fails to mention the
only sensible solution: single-payer. It also fails to hone in on
what the Pentagon costs the taxpayer, but this is what you might
expect from Peterson who wrote the following in a Sept./Oct. 2004
Foreign Affairs article:
"Whatever they may feel about Iraq, most Americans seem to agree with
the president's premise that in the war on terrorism, the best
defenses are a good offense and forward deployment. Along with
augmenting the capabilities of its armed forces, the United States is
sharing intelligence with friendly governments around the world and
training and equipping their antiterrorist forces as needed. Sea-and
land-based ballistic missile defenses, long under development, are
now being deployed at a growing cost ($10.3 billion in the fiscal
year 2005 budget)."
Yes, quite the ticket. Those ballistic missile defenses are just what
could have pre-empted civilian jetliners being flow into the WTC.
Peterson had tried to position himself as transcending party
politics. This would explain the inclusion of three Democrats in the
letter. Two of them are not much of a surprise. Bob Kerrey, the war
criminal who is president of the New School, is co-chairman of the
anti-"entitlement" Concord Coalition, along with Peterson, its
founder, and Republican Party hack Warren Rudman. The other is
Concord board member, the former Senator Sam Nunn who was mentioned
as a possible vice presidential candidate with Obama. That speaks
volumes about Obama's liberal pretensions, or perhaps more accurately
the liberal illusions of his supporters. Other Concord board members
of note are Robert Rubin, my old boss at Goldman-Sachs and one of
Obama's chief economic policy advisers. So is Obama supporter Steven
Rattner who succeeded Felix Rohatyn at Lazard Freres.
full:
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2008/09/07/bipartisan-threats-against-social-security/
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