80 CEOs have started a $60 million campaign called "Fix the Debt". They plan to convince people in the US that not only are cuts to vital programmes necessary, but that such cuts will strengthen them. The public are to be persuaded through a strategic propaganda campaign to make demands from Congress that go against their own interests. These CEOs are members of the Business Round Table that claims $7.3 trillion in annual revenues. That gives them a lot of political clout. They push to cut spending on programmes like Social Security and Medicare. They say Social Security and Medicare are running out of money and we must preserve and strengthen them. Social Security and Medicare were created as social contracts for a working population to provide for those who need help and for all to have access to income and health care when they retired. They push for corporate tax cuts comes although corporate profits have grown by 171 percent during the Obama presidency alone, the highest growth in profits since 1900. The 63 Fix the Debt companies that are publicly held stand to gain as much as $134 billion in windfalls if Congress approves one of their main proposals — a “territorial tax system.” Under this system, companies would not have to pay U.S. federal income taxes on foreign earnings when they bring the profits back to the United States.
Gary Loveman of Caesar's Entertainment Corporation declared "Medicare and Social Security were not designed to cope with America's new demographic realities. CEOs are calling for gradual changes that will modernise these programmes and preserve the safety net for future generations of retirees."
The Business Round Table makes it sound as if the Social Security trust funds will be drained by 2033. They call for raising the retirement age to 70, restricting the growth of benefits and converting the Cost of Living Adjustment to a lower index. Their purpose is to push more people into private insurance and further privatise Medicare while keeping those who need health care services in public programmes. They would do this by increasing the Medicare eligibility age to 70 and opening Medicare up to more private health insurance plans that can be sold across state lines (code for allowing insurers to locate in states with the weakest regulations). Increasing the Medicare age will cause more deaths, especially in minority and low-income communities. And while it would save the federal government some money, it would shift even greater cost onto individuals who are unable to handle that increase. This means seniors would face greater difficulty meeting their basic needs. They also recommend that people save more. Many American families are struggling to meet basic necessities, let alone put money into savings. What they don't say is that modest changes such as lifting the cap on the Social Security tax or treating investment income the same as income from wages would make Social Security solvent for many decades after that.
We mustn’t be fooled by this Wall Street agenda. As in Europe, austerity measures are harmful to people.
Gary Loveman of Caesar's Entertainment Corporation declared "Medicare and Social Security were not designed to cope with America's new demographic realities. CEOs are calling for gradual changes that will modernise these programmes and preserve the safety net for future generations of retirees."
The Business Round Table makes it sound as if the Social Security trust funds will be drained by 2033. They call for raising the retirement age to 70, restricting the growth of benefits and converting the Cost of Living Adjustment to a lower index. Their purpose is to push more people into private insurance and further privatise Medicare while keeping those who need health care services in public programmes. They would do this by increasing the Medicare eligibility age to 70 and opening Medicare up to more private health insurance plans that can be sold across state lines (code for allowing insurers to locate in states with the weakest regulations). Increasing the Medicare age will cause more deaths, especially in minority and low-income communities. And while it would save the federal government some money, it would shift even greater cost onto individuals who are unable to handle that increase. This means seniors would face greater difficulty meeting their basic needs. They also recommend that people save more. Many American families are struggling to meet basic necessities, let alone put money into savings. What they don't say is that modest changes such as lifting the cap on the Social Security tax or treating investment income the same as income from wages would make Social Security solvent for many decades after that.
We mustn’t be fooled by this Wall Street agenda. As in Europe, austerity measures are harmful to people.
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