Obama pledges cuts in entitlement programs

Obama pledges cuts in entitlement programs
By Patrick Martin
16 February 2011

At a press conference the day after releasing his budget for the 2012 fiscal year, President Obama declared his intention to carry out major cuts in entitlement programs as part of a deficit reduction program to be negotiated with congressional Republicans.

The press conference was dominated by critical questions that reflected the right-wing consensus of the corporate-controlled media. Reporter after reporter suggested that the budget contained too little in the way of spending cuts and failed even to mention “entitlement reform”—the official Washington code words for cutting pensions and health care for the elderly and the poor.

Not a single question was asked about military spending, the largest single item in the budget—at least until 2016, when interest payments on the federal deficit are projected to exceed the Pentagon’s share of total spending. There was no suggestion that the gargantuan military budget, larger than the combined military spending of all other nations on earth, was unaffordable or “one of the real drivers of long-term debt,” as one reporter described Social Security and Medicare.

Obama was in his preferred political environment—defending right-wing policies against criticism from even more right-wing critics. He emphasized that his budget provided “tough choices” and inflicted “real pain” on working people who deserved better, as though these were positive features.

Read more...http://wsws.org/articles/2011/feb2011/budg-f16.shtml