Wall Street's Third Way Absurdly Wrong About Sanders' Social Security Plan

Wall Street's Third Way Absurdly Wrong About Sanders' Social Security Plan
by Nancy Altman Founding Co-director, Social Security Works * 1/31/2016 * HuffPo

Third Way is reaching the point of desperation in its quest to cut Social Security and protect its Wall Street, K Street lobbyist, and GOP donors from paying their fair share. As Third Way has become more and more marginalized, its public outpourings have become more and more extreme and, quite frankly, head-scratching.

In a 2011 Politico column, "Progressives: Wise Up," Third Way's president and vice president for policy lectured advocates for Social Security to stop fighting a Grand Bargain that would have cut Social Security's modest benefits - cuts that are opposed by 93.8 percent of Americans.

In 2013, the duo took to the Wall Street Journal where they attacked Senator Elizabeth Warren for proposing to expand Social Security as a solution to the nation's looming retirement income crisis. This time, they lectured not just progressives; they warned the entire Democratic Party not to "follow Sen. Warren...over the populist cliff." Since Senator Warren was standing with the 90 percent of Democrats (and 73 percent of Republicans) who want to increase Social Security benefits, it was no surprise that Third Way admitted that they represented, "no people," beholden only to their wealthy paymasters.

Now, as Senator Bernie Sanders is running strong for the Democratic nomination for president on a platform that includes the incredibly sound and popular idea of expanding Social Security, Third Way is at it again. In a new report, "How the Sanders Social Security Plan is Not Progressive," Third Way is warning the electorate that Sanders is coddling the rich. (In the report's words, the Sanders plan is "substantially tilted toward the wealthy.&quot

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-altman/wall-streets-third-way-ab_b_9125786.html