[Local_activists] The Shock Doctrine Push to Gut Social Security and Middle Class - ACT!

[Wanda Ballentine]

First I got this

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/50737801-79/quarter-profits-corporate-output.html.csp?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Corporate Profits Were the Highest on Record Last Quarter
The nation’s workers may be struggling, but 
American companies just had their best quarter ever.
American businesses earned profits at an annual 
rate of $1.659 trillion in the third quarter, 
according to a Commerce Department report 
released Tuesday. That is the highest figure 
recorded since the government began keeping track 
over 60 years ago, at least in nominal or noninflation-adjusted terms.

I doubt it's local businesses doing so well, and 
of course, the "Masters of the Universe" who 
cratered the economy are still raking in huge 
salaries and bonuses when they should be behind bars.

then this:

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/signs-of-swagger-wallets-out-wall-st-dares-to-celebrate/?emc=eta1
Wallets Out, Wall St. Dares to Indulge
Exuberance made a comeback this year at Josh 
Koplewicz’s annual Halloween party. More than 
1,000 people packed into a 6,000-square-foot 
space at the Good Units night club...The scene 
was more extravagant in September, at a 50th 
birthday party in Hong Kong for Brian Brille, the 
head of Bank of America Asia Pacific.... “Wall 
Street is back spending as much if not more than 
before,” said a New York dermatologic surgeon.... 
Christie’s auction house says investors are 
“pouring” back in.... Expensive restaurants 
report a pickup in bookings.... Wall Street 
executives are lining up rentals in the Hamptons 
... bidding  “hotter and heavier” than previous years.

And then this - the money-grubbers absolutely 
want it all - to force everyone back into serfdom

http://www.truth-out.org/the-shock-doctrine-push-to-gut-social-security-and-middle-class65383

The Shock Doctrine Push to Gut Social Security and Middle Class
Monday 22 November 2010
by: Dave Johnson  |  The Campaign for America's Future | Op-Ed

Today's Washington Post has punch two of a 
one-two punch. Punch one was the Simpson/Bowles 
"plan" to cut Social Security, cut middle-class 
tax breaks and programs (and dramatically cut 
taxes on the rich.) Punch two is pushing this 
plan hard with headlines claiming this solution 
is actually popular, while shutting out voices 
who explain why we shouldn't do this. This is 
full-on Shock Doctrine, wait for an emergency 
like the terrible recession so people are in 
shock and want solutions, and then change 
everything so fast they can’t respond while 
telling them how this is good for them.

This is how they do it, folks, demonstrated by 
this story in today's Washington Post: 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/21/AR2010112103919.html?wpisrc=nl_wonk>Consensus 
is forming on what steps to take in cutting the deficit,

After an election dominated by vague demands for 
less debt and smaller government, the sacrifices 
necessary to achieve those goals are coming into 
sharp focus. ... Smaller Social Security checks 
and higher Medicare premiums. [. . .] the plan 
unveiled this month by co-chairmen Erskine B. 
Bowles ... and Alan K. Simpson ... has been 
respectfully received with a few exceptions by 
both parties. Its major elements are also winning 
support from a striking line-up of commentators. 
[. . .] The strange bedfellows are a "testament 
to the moderate nature" of the ideas under discussion.

Consensus? Sharp focus? Here's your "sharp focus": The public hates this!

That headline is the manufactured reality. The 
real reality is that the public just hates this, 
and has voted against and will vote against politicians who push it.

Last month you saw campaign ad after ad hitting 
Democrats who "cut $500 billion from Medicare," 
and Democrats lost the senior vote and the midterms. The public hates this.

A recent 
<http://www.ourfuture.org/report/2010114404/election-2010-poll>Greenberg 
Quinlan Rosner Research report showed that an 
overwhelming 69% of voters agreed that 
"politicians should keep their hands off Social 
Security and Medicare" when they address the deficit. The public hates this.

<http://ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010114615/six-percenters>Only 
6% of the public says the government's priority 
should be deficits now. The public hates this.

<http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/social-security-and-younger-americans/>An 
AARP poll finds that 90% of people aged 18 to 29 
say Social Security is important. The public hates this.

An 
<http://www.pollingreport.com/social.htm>NBC/WSJ 
poll finds that 57% are against cutting Social 
Security no matter how bad the deficit is. The public hates this.

A <http://www.pollingreport.com/social.htm>USA 
Today poll finds that the public by 66/31 says 
don't cut benefits to fix the deficit. The public hates this.

I can continue citing poll after poll; there are 
no polls that show the public is in any way behind this.

It's Clear: The public hates this and will vote 
out any politician who does this. If you think 
the public didn’t like the bailouts and the 
politicians who voted for them, this "Deficit 
Commission" plan to cut Social Security is the 
other shoe dropping. Bailouts helped Wall Street 
and not Main Street and people certainly didn't 
like that. But this is paying for bailing out 
Wall Street by hitting Main Street in the gut. And the public understands this.

But here is today's reality: the public hates 
this, and the corporate media tells you how much 
you love it. This is how it's done. You have 
heard the stories of FDR and LBJ saying "make me 
do it," meaning create the public pressure that 
forces politicians to do act. This is a story of 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent:_The_Political_Economy_of_the_Mass_Media>manufacturing 
consent where the elites, 
<http://www.americanretiredseniors.com/senior-finances/peterson-foundation-assault-on-social-security-medicare/>the 
Peterson Foundation, the President and the 
corporate right are setting up an appearance of 
making them do it. (We have a jobs emergency, but 
we get deficit commissions instead of jobs commissions?)

The public hates it but the elites are pushing 
ahead with their campaign anyway. If you remember 
the "run up" to the Iraq War, opposing voices 
were simply shut out of the discussion. All the 
"serious people" were explaining why we had no 
choice but to invade Iraq. And all the headlines 
were about the terrible threat that Iraq posed to 
our very existence. Seriously, it wasn't just 
stories about how Iraq was going to drop a nuke 
on us any second now. 
<http://www.seeingtheforest.com/archives/2010/10/remember_the_bi.htm>Do 
you remember the smallpox scare?, where you 
couldn't listen to the radio, read a newspaper or 
watch TV without hearing about all the terrible 
ways Iraq was going to attack us?

The Simpson/Bowles plan is part of a 
<http://ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010114619/simpson-bowles-show-deficit-commission-cover-agenda>pre-arranged 
agenda to gut the middle class and further enrich 
the wealthy. The media machine is working to 
convince DC politicians that the public wants 
this done. They scare people with headlines about 
the terrifying things that will happen because of 
deficits. The only viewpoints you hear are the 
cutters and gutters. Those presenting the ideas 
the public favors - 
<http://schakowsky.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2777:schakowsky-alternative-to-simpson-bowles-deficit-reduction-plan&catid=21:2010-press-releases&Itemid=58>like 
the plan offered by Deficit Commission member 
Rep. Jan Schakowsky that cuts the deficit but 
<http://ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010114617/schakowsky-deficit-reduction-plan-proposal-actually-strengthens-social-securit>actually 
strengthens Social Security -- 
<http://ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010114618/ides-november>are 
not heard. And keep telling people how popular and necessary this is.

Result? If you are a politician in DC, you really 
have no way to know how the pubic feels because 
all you see are headlines like today's Washington 
Post, telling you a consensus is forming.

This is why YOU have to respond and let YOUR 
members of Congress and Senators know that you 
are NOT going to go along with this.

Take Action

There are things YOU can do! November 30 is a 
national call-in day to save Social Security.

Do this: 
<http://action.ourfuture.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=131>Click 
here and sign this petition: Tell President Obama 
to Reject Social Security Cuts:

"We must send an urgent message to President 
Obama – to tell him to reject the proposal to 
slash Social Security benefits coming from the 
co-chairs of his deficit commission. If President 
Obama tries to cut Social Security, it would spell political disaster in 2012."

Do this: 
<http://strengthensocialsecurity.org/media/blog/2010/nov-30th-national-call-congress-day-hands-off-social-security>November 
30 National Call Congress Day: Hands Off Social Security,

The Co-Chairs of the National Fiscal Commission 
have proposed carving up Social Security like a 
Thanksgiving turkey. They want to increase the 
retirement age to 69 – making us work longer, 
deeply cut benefits for middle-class workers and reduce annual Cost of

Living Adjustments. We need your help to stop them!

Join thousands of Americans in a National Call 
Congress Day on Tuesday, November 30­CAN
WE COUNT ON YOU?

We need your voice to be heard!

<http://strengthensocialsecurity.org/callcongress>Click 
here to make the “Count on Me” pledge to add your 
voice on Tuesday, November 30 and TELL CONGRESS – 
DON’T CUT OUR SOCIAL SECURITY!