If you're feeling frustrated by getting caught up in the austerity-deficit-obsession framing of the Right, Center, and Neo-Liberal-Left, don't feel bad.
You're the victim of a corporate scam, funded by the ill-gotten gains of private equity billionaire Pete Peterson, who has been generously investing in media and think tank generation of deficit hysteria, through his tax-exempt (!) foundation.
Meanwhile, the former CEO of Blackstone group pays the bargain-basement 15% tax rate on carried interest that is the relatively exclusive privilege of America's richest families and hedge fund managers. The guy ran around leaving a trail of smashed union jobs and corporate wreckage.
We were idiots to let him get away with this, but we are insane if we treat him as a source of authority for dealing with the severe unemployment crisis this country is facing. You know the old saying, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice....
Criticizing a "Fiscal Summit" that Peterson
organized,
Bob Kuttner
of the American Prospect pointed out the irony of involving
Peterson's hand-picked experts -- Alan Greenspan and Robert Rubin -- to
pontificate about how to fix the economy they wrecked.
If the orgy of financial deregulation that led to the crash
had two prime sponsors, the Democratic one was Rubin and the Republican one was
Greenspan. Inviting these characters to a fiscal summit to devise a way out of
the crisis is like inviting arsonists to design a seminar on fire prevention.
Peterson himself, who underwrites the work of the foundation
with a billion dollar gift, made his money as one of America’s private-equity
moguls. Private equity companies have been among main offenders in the world of
shadow banking that helped cause the collapse, and are now lobbying against
tough financial reform and regulation.
So, the next time you see Peterson, or David Walker, or one
of these "Fix the Debt CEOs" running around barking economic orders,
turn on your crap detector. You want to fix the Debt, Mr. Corporate CEO?
Shut up and pay your fair share, and quit gouging the public and gouging
workers with your lavish tax breaks, corporate welfare and union-smashing
schemes.
As Malcolm X said, "...Ya been had! Ya been
took! Ya been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run
amok!"
Cross-posted from the
Campaign for America's Future
What's Behind His Big-Money Campaign On The Federal Deficit
November 21st, 2012
RESOURCES YOU CAN USE
Peter G. Peterson is an American businessman who was CEO of
several prominent companies such as Bell & Howell and Lehman Brothers
before founding the private equity firm Blackstone Group. He is currently most
well-known for being the founder and principal financier of his Peter G.
Peterson Foundation, that claims their mission is to "increase public
awareness of the nature and urgency of key fiscal challenges threatening
America's future and to accelerate action on them." He also served as Secretary
of Commerce under President Richard Nixon.
He has been called the most influential billionaire in
politics due to his spreading of his wealth throughout the political spectrum
to reduce the debt.
Our Take on Peter G. Peterson
These "Fix the Debt" CEOs are the same CEOs that
crashed our economy, took their bonuses, and ran, leaving the rest of America
to clean up their mess. Although their calls for bipartisan cooperation hit all
the right notes to the American public, we believe that the push to get a lower
corporate tax rate from a bipartisan solution is the ulterior motive of these
CEOs. Peterson himself has contributed almost half a billion dollars to his
foundation that pushes for the reform of programs such as Social Security,
Medicare and Medicaid.
Peterson has not limited his donations to one party, but
rather built a coalition of Democrats and Republicans. His efforts are
complimented by his online news service, The Fiscal Times, which supports
the Peterson-funded groups in his vision.
