Co-Chair of Obama's debt commission says we are going to the "bow-wows"

madfloridian

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Sun May-23-10 05:35 PM
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Co-Chair of Obama's debt commission says we are going to the "bow-wows"

because of Social Security and Medicare. This is the guy who will be co-chair of the commission that will decide the fate of Social Security.

Here are some more of his words about the elderly.

�These old cats 70 and 80 years old who are not affected in one whiff. People who live in gated communities and drive their Lexus to the Perkins restaurant to get the AARP discount. This is madness.�

Here is more from the Unsilent Generation website.

It is a site formed for:

Information and commentary on the politics of aging for pissed-off progressive old folks (and future old folks). . . because we're not dead yet.

Thanks to DUer Hannah Bell for the link.

Alan Simpson denounces Fat Cat Geezers

First some words of concern and wonderment about how the commission was formed.

It�s a little hard to believe that the political professionals within the Whte House (meaning Rahm Emmanuel) knew what they were getting themselves into when they appointed former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson to co-chair the president�s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Yes, it�s obvious that the so-called Deficit Commission�s real purpose is to cut old-age entitlements, a move long favored by Simpson, as well as by the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street. But did they really want someone who would be quite so crude and blatant about these intentions�and so whacked out as well?

Hard to believe this commission will respect seniors, the elderly when they start "fixing" the deficit.

Simpson has already said that Social Security and Medicare are the reason �this country is gonna go to the bow-wows,� and he wouldn�t be dissuaded from cutting them by AARP or �the Gray Panthers, the Pink Panther, whatever.� But in an interview on Fox News last week, Simpson managed to outdo himself.

..."Simpson never makes boring copy, and so far he has been consistently quotable in his remarks. He and his co-chairman, Erskine Bowles, make quite a media pair.

But the press needs to pay attention to what they are saying, because their drive to cut the deficit will affect the financial well-being of every man, woman, and child in America. So far the direction of the media coverage has been driven by their mantra: everything is on the table; no more Mr. Nice Guy when it comes to Social Security and Medicare. The Erskine and Alan show is laying the groundwork for drastically changing Social Security and Medicare in ways that might not be so palatable with the public. It didn�t take Simpson long to climb on his hobbyhorse�that whatever the commission recommends will not hurt older folks. �Erskine and I are in this one for our grandchildren,� he said. �Somebody said they�re stalking horses for taxes. I�m not a stalking horse for taxes. I�m a stalking horse for my grandchildren.�

And more words of kindness toward us older folks from Alan Simpson in a recent Newsweek interview.

Q: It seems like distortion, on both sides, is standard practice now in Washington.

Simpson: And it's all BS. I don't have to take that nonsense. Look at my record. No one can say I want higher taxes. You're entitled to be called a fool, idiot, bonehead, slob, screwball. But an attack unanswered is an attack believed. I never lost an election because even though I was called everything, I never let them distort who I was. It's the same with this tax thing�I'm going to shove it right up their nostrils. Try this: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will use up all the taxes�revenue�the government takes in this year. And to do the rest of governing we'll have to borrow, including for massive things like defense, homeland security, education. Those will be paid for by shaking a tin cup in front of the world. And China will probably be throwing more chips in the tin cup than any other country, just waiting patiently for us to expire under the debt. The people who distort the commission and try to scare people into doing nothing, let's say they win the day, and we don't do anything to try to bring down this debt. Well, great. They've got grandchildren, too, and in 40 years they'll be sucking canal water and picking grit with the chickens.

Sucking canal water and picking grit with the chickens.

Heck of a job picking that commission.