The Great American Social Security/Medicare Chainsaw Massacre

McCamy Taylor

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Sat Jul-30-11 11:20 PM
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The Great American Social Security/Medicare Chainsaw Massacre

I. The Koch Brothers Decide to Emulate Lenin.

In 2004, W. ran on a campaign of “No gay marriage” in order to mobilize the base. In 2005, flush with the “mandate” provided by his stolen victory in Ohio, he attempted to privatize Social Security.

The Republican base was not amused by this game of Bait and Switch.

http://grandtheftelectionohio.com/050301.htm

Back in 2005, when Bush and the Cato Institute (i.e. the Koch Brothers) were trying to dismantle Social Security, the Washington Post wrote an article about the history of the privatization effort. No surprise that it was the Koch Brothers who first started marketing the notion.

In the fall of 1983, Cato made clear that it was preparing for a protracted fight. It published a paper by Heritage Foundation scholars Stuart M. Butler and Peter Germanis that called for "guerrilla warfare against both the current Social Security system and the coalition that supports it." They compared the drive to Nikolai Lenin's effort to undermine capitalism: "Lenin well knew to be a successful revolutionary one must also be patient and consistently plan for real reform."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42525-2005Feb21_2.html

Privatization as Soviet style communism. I guess the Koch Brothers would know. Their dad made his fortune drilling oil for Stalin.

II. House Republicans Take Aim at Their Own Feet and Take a Chainsaw to Medicare

Since 1980, the Kochs (Cato) and its pals have waged war against Social Security. No matter how many times they have failed, they never seem to get the message. Americans want their moms and dads to receive a guaranteed retirement and affordable health care. Social Security is as American as apple pie. Medicare is as deeply valued as right as the right to bear arms. In a recent poll,

Republicans might want to talk about revamping Medicare and Social Security, but most voters don’t want to hear it.

More than three-in-four Americans reject the idea of cutting Social Security benefits, according to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. The numbers are similar for cutting Medicare or K-12 education.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/03/02/wsjnbc-poll-hands-off-medicare-social-security/

Why are the Republicans still at it? Because Citizens United vs. the FEC made them the lackeys of the Koch Brothers. They can not bite the hand that is feeding them all those millions. And so, they do things like this…

John Boehner wants cuts to Social Security and Medicare in next year's fiscal budget, even if voters may not like it, he tells the Wall Street Journal in an interview. “Most Americans don't have a clue…”

http://www.newser.com/story/113367/house-speaker-john-boehner-lets-cut-social-security-medicare.html

Au contraire, John. Millions of Americans have more than a clue. They have a sneaking suspicion that you are seriously out of touch with mainstream voters.

The Ryan House Budget called for privatizing Medicare, which would mean increased out of pocket expenses for seniors.

According to the CBO, a typical 65-year-old with a private health-insurance plan covering standard Medicare benefits could be liable for 61% of his or her total health care costs in 2022 under Ryan’s plan. By 2030, the figure could be 68%.

http://swampland.time.com/2011/04/06/the-nitty-gritty-details-of-paul-ryan’s-medicare-plan/

Ouch! And all but four House Republicans voted to make grandma pay over half of her medical bills out of her own pocket. Do you know how much dialysis costs? I guess the House Republicans planned to use some of the money saved to buy ice flows on which the nation’s sick and dying elderly could be placed so that they would not spoil their picture perfect “prosperous” America.

Americans made it clear that they were not about to let dad waste away from lack of a coronary artery stent, and so the Ryan plan was hastily withdrawn. No doubt by next year, Republicans will pretend it was all a dream. But every single House Republican (except four) voted for it. That means in 235 House races, the Democrats will be able to say (truthfully) “My opponent wants your mom to pay over half of her medical expenses out of her own pocket.”

What were the GOP thinking? Or maybe I should ask, what were they smoking? Dixie Cups?

…the Republicans won't let the 70-plus percent opposition to cuts in Medicare and Social Security dissuade them. They've come up with a new plan that sugarcoats their attempts to eviscerate Social Security and Medicare. It's called a "mandatory global spending cap" and it's nothing more than the House Republican budget in disguise.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/gop-plans-to-demand-manda_b_857326.html

III. Obama , the Slasher

As the GOP began to feel the fire licking at their feet, they hastily sought to portray Social Security and Medicare cuts as Obama’s idea.. On July 6, the Washington Post declared as fact

In debt talks, Obama offers Social Security cuts

in a big, bold headline which was followed by a piece that claimed that (unnamed sources) swore that Obama was going to offer to slash the programs. Honestly. Their crystal balls told them so. Or (more likely) a wily Republican operative. Note that the article says sources from both parties. How did the GOP know what the president was planning? Maybe the GOP “source” didn’t know shit and was just trying to make up a headline.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/in-debt-talks-obama-offers-social-security-cuts/2011/07/06/gIQA2sFO1H_story.html

Like the infamous “Pelosi Knew” headline of years past, this one went viral. All of sudden the Ryan Plan was forgotten. Within three days, LaRouche was writing

Obama Demands that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid Be Slashed

http://www.larouchepac.com/node/18711

And the even more inflammatory (and misspelled)

Obama's Call To Destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicade

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?24688-Obama-s-Call-To-Destroy-Social-Security-Medicare-Medicade

On July 25, the slobbering, someone-else’s-face wearing, chainsaw wielding federal program slashing maniac who currently resides on the White House addressed the country:

Most Americans, regardless of political party, don’t understand how we can ask a senior citizen to pay more for her Medicare before we ask a corporate jet owner or the oil companies to give up tax breaks that other companies don’t get. How can we ask a student to pay more for college before we ask hedge fund managers to stop paying taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries? How can we slash funding for education and clean energy before we ask people like me to give up tax breaks we don’t need and didn’t ask for?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/07/25/address-president-nation

Did I miss something? Let me read that speech again. Ah yes, here is violence! Here is the rage. Here is the savage and wanton destruction of life as we know it for America’s seniors:

Let’s cut domestic spending to the lowest level it’s been since Dwight Eisenhower was President. Let’s cut defense spending at the Pentagon by hundreds of billions of dollars. Let’s cut out waste and fraud in health care programs like Medicare – and at the same time, let’s make modest adjustments so that Medicare is still there for future generations. Finally, let’s ask the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to give up some of their breaks in the tax code and special deductions.

The internet bloggers are right. Ryan and all (but four) of the House Republicans might have attempted to make seniors pay for over half of their medical care out of their own pockets, but that evil, heartless bastard Obama wants to make “modest adjustments.”

Oh, the shame!

IV. “Take a Chainsaw to the Budget.”

http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/blog/2011/07/29/take-chainsaw-budget-2

No, Obama did not say it---even though the corporate media and the GOP desperately want us to believe it. John Stossel at Fox said it---and he attributes his numbers to the Cato Institute (i.e the Kochs) meaning that the Koch Brothers are the chainsaw wielding maniacs. I just want to make that clear one more time before I close with a...

V. Take Home Message

The GOP picked the wrong fight. They attempted to gut Medicare and Medicaid. Now, their prospects in 2012 look dismal. The only way they will survive and maybe take more Congressional seats if they can get the mainstream media to portray the Great American Social Security/Medicare Chainsaw Massacre as Obama’s doing----the same way the GOP once portrayed their Savings and Loans scandal as a crime single handedly perpetrated by the Clintons.

I may not be an elephant (or belong to a party that has one as a mascot) but I don't forget. The Great American Social Security/Medicare Massacre was planned by the Kochs and it belongs to the GOP and they can damn well wear it like an albatross around their necks in the 2012 election.

As for Obama, his cool, intellectual image is partly to blame for our readiness to believe the media distortion. Might I suggest a few impassioned moments in front of the news cameras, defending Social Security and Medicare and vowing to resist anyone who tries to dismantle them? Which is worse? Being called a "dick" by an idiot pundit or losing in 2012?