{"id":21535,"date":"2013-01-17T18:49:55","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T17:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/view\/2013\/01\/17-7"},"modified":"2013-01-17T20:52:50","modified_gmt":"2013-01-17T19:52:50","slug":"how-extreme-is-the-business-roundtable-check-out-its-attack-on-the-elderly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/latest-news\/how-extreme-is-the-business-roundtable-check-out-its-attack-on-the-elderly\/","title":{"rendered":"How Extreme Is the Business Roundtable? Check Out Its Attack On the Elderly"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Here\u2019s a thought experiment: \u00a0What if a group of Social Security and Medicare recipients wanted to increase their benefits by, say, 1,000 percent, and proposed seizing rich people\u2019s assets \u2014 houses, cars, boats, whatever \u2014 to pay for it? And whenever anybody suggested that was extreme, they rolled their eyes and said, \u201cWe\u2019re pragmatists.\u201d\"\"Gary Loveman, chairman, CEO and president of Caesar’s Entertainment, speaks in Boston. An influential group of business CEOs chaired by Loveman is pushing a plan to gradually increase the full retirement age to 70 for both Social Security and Medicare and to partially privatize the health insurance program for older Americans. (AP Photo\/Stephan Savoia, File)<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

But isn\u2019t it unfair to to just take other people\u2019s stuff? \u201cIdeologues like you are the reason Washington lacks the political will to adopt our practical solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now imagine the reverse: Rich CEOs have used every tax loophole in the book to add to their own wealth, have been bailed out directly or indirectly by the American taxpayer, and have rigged corporate governance so that they make far more than they\u2019re worth.<\/p>\n

Now, to make sure the milk and honey keeps flowing their way, they want to cut Medicare and Social Security benefits for the beleaguered American majority. Sounds crazy, right?<\/p>\n

Meet the CEOs of the Business Roundtable.<\/p>\n

They hate our freedoms<\/span> benefits.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Matt Yglesias<\/a> is\u00a0right: There\u2019s a special hatred for Social Security out there \u2014 and for Medicare, too. They\u2019re hated because, as Yglesias says, some people don\u2019t consider them \u201ceconomically valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an extremist right-wing point of view by any objective measure.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also well outside the mainstream of public opinion for Americans of all<\/em> political leanings, including Tea Party members, according to polling<\/a>. When it\u2019s espoused by rich corporate CEOs, it\u2019s also exceptionally greedy.<\/p>\n

Which gets us to the business at hand \u2026<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy if you have the will.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yesterday Gary Loveman, CEO of Caesars Entertainment Corporation and head of the Roundtable\u2019s \u201chealth and retirement committee,\u201d told Politico, \u201cAny effort to address the country\u2019s fiscal problems has to have as a centerpiece reform of its principal entitlement programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Loveman: \u201cNone of us [CEOs] \u2014 very few of us \u2014 are ideologically driven. We\u2019re pragmatists \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am encouraged by how relatively easy these remedies really are,\u201d said Loveman. \u201c\u2026 (and) they have a tremendously sanguine effect on the government\u2019s fiscal health.\u201d<\/p>\n

“The Business Roundtable was founded specifically to win political favors from the largest and most ruthless companies in America.”<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s true. It is<\/em>\u00a0pretty easy. Just kick in a few rich people\u2019s doors, seize their belongings \u2026 oh, wait. That\u2019s the other<\/em> extremist scenario. Loveman\u2019s is the one where people who have paid for Social Security and Medicare coverage throughout their working lives must give some of their benefits up \u2014 for him and his friends.<\/p>\n

Problem identified: There are just too many old people.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Loveman repeats the often-disproven canard that these programs are fiscally unsound because they \u201cwere put in place in a very different demographic reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Social Security\u2019s finances were successfully balanced in 1983, when the last Baby Boomer had already reached maturity. And longevity hasn\u2019t changed significantly or unexpectedly for people who reach retirement age.<\/p>\n

Social Security\u2019s\u00a0in much better fiscal shape than most corporate benefit plans, and any long-term problems it may have are driven by a) greater wealth inequity than even the most conservative economists could have imagined in 1983; and b) massive unemployment brought on by Wall Street greed.<\/p>\n

Medicare\u2019s Most Wanted<\/strong><\/p>\n

As for Medicare, its cost problems are caused by for-profit health companies inflating medical costs. Think the Business Roundtable will mention that? Its members include the CEOs of Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, Abbott Laboratories, the Tenet hospital system, Cardinal Health, ExpressScripts, CVS\/Caremark and \u00a0WellPoint.<\/p>\n

Like hell it will.<\/p>\n

Our long-term deficits are driven by America\u2019s runaway health care costs, which in turn are driven by our profit-driven system. It\u2019s barely an exaggeration to say that if some of these companies and their competitors didn\u2019t exist the Federal government might not have a deficit problem at all.<\/p>\n

The poor you will always have with you \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like the other anti-Social Security and anti-Medicare \u201cpragmatists,\u201d Loveman insists that cuts would be designed to protect people from falling into poverty. But 8.9 percent of American seniors already live in poverty, while 5.4 percent live in near poverty.<\/p>\n

“Our long-term deficits are driven by America\u2019s runaway health care costs, which in turn are driven by our profit-driven system. It\u2019s barely an exaggeration to say that if some of these companies and their competitors didn\u2019t exist the Federal government might not have a deficit problem at all.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The average Social Security recipient collects\u00a0$1,164 per month.<\/p>\n

Anyone who claims they can cut those benefits by 3 percent \u2014 and use those meager benefits to end elder poverty \u2014\u00a0is selling snake oil.<\/p>\n

But think of the children \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Loveman also said of the Roundtable\u2019s proposed benefit cuts: \u201cThese don\u2019t affect current beneficiaries much, if at all. They have a long time to take effect \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Okay, let\u2019s modify our hypothetical situation a little: The extremists don\u2019t want to confiscate rich people\u2019s property. They want to confiscate their kids\u2019<\/em>\u2018 property.\u00a0If that sounds a little Stalinist to you, that\u2019s because it is.<\/p>\n

And by \u201cnot affecting current beneficiaries much,\u201d he means it would<\/em> affect current beneficiaries \u2014 starting next year.<\/p>\n

A tune from the Peterson songbook \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Loveman expanded on the\u00a0Roundtable\u2019s anti-elderly agenda\u00a0in a \u00a0Wall Street Journal op-ed<\/a>. Not coincidentally, that agenda corresponds exactly with that of right-wing billionaire ideologue Pete Peterson, who has funded many such anti-\u201dentitlement\u201d initiatives<\/a>. They include:<\/p>\n