KLRU
They're At It Again
RECEIVED Sat., Aug. 14, 2010
Dear Editor,
They're at it again. Virtually all President Obama's misguided attempts at bipartisanship have only resulted in giving a platform to right-wing evangelical conservatives/Republicans to again promote ideas long ago discredited. In this case the platform is the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform – www.fiscalcommission.gov – and the discredited idea is cutting Social Security and Medicare “spending.” The mandate of this commission is (supposedly) to identify for the president policies to improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long run. What it has become is a platform advocating the cutting of Social Security and Medicare benefits and imposing austerity measures that have little to do with deficit reduction and more to do with stalling the economic recovery, thus hurting the chances of an Obama re-election – notice that the commission doesn't report until Dec. 1, conveniently after the midterm elections. Noted economist James Galbraith gave scathing testimony to the commission this past June 30 – his complete statement is available at www.newdeal20.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/deficitcommissionrv.pdf. While taking the commission to task for several failures, Galbraith offered the following comments regarding government spending and Social Security: “Government spending – as any textbook will verify – is a component of GDP only insofar as the spending is directly on purchases of goods and services. … Social Security is a transfer program. … A dollar 'spent' on Social Security does not directly increase GDP. It merely reallocates a dollar from one potential final consumer (a taxpayer) to another (a retiree, a disabled person, or a survivor). It also reallocates resources within both communities (taxpayers and beneficiaries). Specifically, benefits flow to the elderly and to survivors who do not have families that might otherwise support them, and costs are imposed on working people and other taxpayers who do not have dependents in their own families. Both types of transfer are fair and effective, greatly increasing security and reducing poverty – which is why Social Security and Medicare are such successful programs.” Of course, Galbraith is a flaming liberal academic, so what could he possibly know?
They're at it again. Virtually all President Obama's misguided attempts at bipartisanship have only resulted in giving a platform to right-wing evangelical conservatives/Republicans to again promote ideas long ago discredited. In this case the platform is the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform – www.fiscalcommission.gov – and the discredited idea is cutting Social Security and Medicare “spending.” The mandate of this commission is (supposedly) to identify for the president policies to improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long run. What it has become is a platform advocating the cutting of Social Security and Medicare benefits and imposing austerity measures that have little to do with deficit reduction and more to do with stalling the economic recovery, thus hurting the chances of an Obama re-election – notice that the commission doesn't report until Dec. 1, conveniently after the midterm elections. Noted economist James Galbraith gave scathing testimony to the commission this past June 30 – his complete statement is available at www.newdeal20.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/deficitcommissionrv.pdf. While taking the commission to task for several failures, Galbraith offered the following comments regarding government spending and Social Security: “Government spending – as any textbook will verify – is a component of GDP only insofar as the spending is directly on purchases of goods and services. … Social Security is a transfer program. … A dollar 'spent' on Social Security does not directly increase GDP. It merely reallocates a dollar from one potential final consumer (a taxpayer) to another (a retiree, a disabled person, or a survivor). It also reallocates resources within both communities (taxpayers and beneficiaries). Specifically, benefits flow to the elderly and to survivors who do not have families that might otherwise support them, and costs are imposed on working people and other taxpayers who do not have dependents in their own families. Both types of transfer are fair and effective, greatly increasing security and reducing poverty – which is why Social Security and Medicare are such successful programs.” Of course, Galbraith is a flaming liberal academic, so what could he possibly know?
Daniel Lea
