And the obtuse are loose in the Quad Cities. From an article on page A6 of today’s Dispatch – Argus:
Sixteen people representing “the Alliance for Retired Americans, Progressive Action for the Common Good, MoveOn,” and other groups including “organized labor unions” and “numerous” faith-based organizations protested in front of the building housing Senator Chuck Grassley’s district office yesterday. They were protesting “tax breaks and benefit cuts.”
Conservative strength in the community can’t be too bad by comparison to these leftist groups when from all those sponsors, including a Quad City Federation of Labor vice-president, they could not muster more than 16 people.
But we wonder if maybe a little too much egg nog, the adult kind, might have been imbibed in preparation for and during their festive little gathering. It is the only rational explanation for what they presented of themselves.
According to the report, attendees sang a quasi-Christmas carol entitled “Vote for Income Tax Equality.” Now most of our readers I am sure associate these organizations with progressive taxation . . . soooo now they believe in a flat tax??? Not likely. Oh we get it, they meant they want equal tax payments from everyone??? Hmmm? Nope, can’t be that. Well what do they want?! Research continues.
Moving on we see that they distributed a comic book (no doubt where they get their economic analysis) mimicking Batman comics. As suggested by the report the pamphlet has the iconic Batman cartoon captioning bubble “Wake Up SLAP!” The clever dialogue continues: “Social Security doesn’t contribute to the deficit you moron.” That, as indicated in the article, was “according to the flier.” OK fine, but everyone knows KAPOW! is the ultimate Batman cartoon bubble caption.
We surmise that the Cloward-Priven derived strategy points memo from the previously unidentified Democrat puppet master organization Bankrupt The Country Now! requires its minions to deny governmental fiscal and budgetary reality.
But the elitist liberal Washington Post is not so constrained * as it reports
“Social Security is sucking money out of the Treasury. This year, it will add a projected $46 billion to the nation’s budget problems, according to projections by system trustees.”
Not that the WaPo really cares, as it endorsed the Obamanation, but it just goes to confirm the Cloward- Priven strategy at work . . . sort of an acknowledgement and braggadocio that everything is on track.
But true morons need repetition, so we continue for the benefit of the sixteen.
Some senior Democrats are claiming that Social Security does not contribute “one penny” to the federal deficit. That’s not true. The fact is, the federal government had to borrow $37 billion last year to finance Social Security, and will need to borrow more this year. The red ink is projected to total well over half a trillion dollars in the coming decade.
And at least the New York Times acknowledges the issue * by providing in its pages for an article by Alicia Munnell, a member of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton, who wrote:
But in reality, scheduled Social Security benefits and current payroll taxes are included in long-term deficit projections by the Congressional Budget Office, the Office of Management and Budget and the Government Accountability Office. These projections matter: policymakers, investors and the bond markets use them to gauge the nation’s fiscal health. Since a shortfall in Social Security is embedded in these projections, eliminating that shortfall would substantially improve the long-term budget outlook and the nation’s creditworthiness.
Well there you have it sweet sixteen, KABOOM! R Mall
* links to articles were found here at Free Enterprise.com, a function of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.