Third Rail, Sacred Cow, etc, etc….
Glenn Greenwald defends Alan Simpson — not for what he said about cow teats, but for being the only one on President Obama’s Deficit Reduction Commission to speak to the public. It’s a good, enraging read, but let me skip to the end (not counting Greenwald’s inevitable updates):
Leaving aside the fact that Social Security is not really a deficit issue, the true causes of America’s debt and deficits are absolutely sacrosanct and will never be attacked by this Commission. Does anyone believe it’s even remotely possible that meaningful cuts in America’s war and military spending, surveillance and intelligence networks, or even corporate-plundering of America’s health care system will be enacted as a result of this Commission process? Of course not. Those genuine debt-causing policies are “sacrosanct” because the people who profit from them own and control Washington (and share common socio-economic interests with the millionaire Commission members targeting social programs and the billionaires who are behind this). It’s the people who don’t control Washington — ordinary Americans who need Social Security — who are being targeted in order to feed even further the fattest, most piggish factions actually in control. That’s what makes this process so ugly and odious.
A-yup.
So if Obama succeeds where Bush failed in turning Social Security into a joke — whether through privatization (Bush’s preference, but not to be ruled out when “bipartisanship” seizes Obama’s brain) or gutting it to paltry levels — who but the most starry-eyed or self-interested will defend him?
Honestly, I can’t see Democrats allowing this to happen. Oh, wait — hahahahaha — whom am I kidding? Just because it’s suicidal doesn’t mean they won’t do it.
