Fix The Debt

There are those on the right that are raising the call to “fix the debt”.  For the most part, the loudest cries for this come from those who have nothing to lose from cuts in Social Security and Medicare.  Most of the voters think differently, however.  An election night survey found that by a 73 to 18 margin protecting Social security benefits and Medicare from any cuts was more important than reducing the deficit.  84% opposed reducing Social Security benefits ; 68% were against raising the age to receive Medicare benefits; 69% opposed reductions in Medicare benefits.  72% of those surveyed said corporations and wealthy individuals have too much influence and have rigged the system to their benefit.  The Fix the Debt project is financed by corporations and billionaires and is a scam led by Peter G. Peterson, who does not wish to pay either his fair share of federal income tax nor help those less fortunate than himself.  Peterson, by the way, got very rich by piling on debt to companies his firm purchased.  Peterson also benefited from the “carried interest” loophole which maximized his taxes at 15% as opposed to others making his level of income who pay 39.5% marginal rates.  Another voice in the Fix the Deby chorus is David Cote, CEO of Honeywell which has a negative average tax rate of –0.7% and has underfunded Honeywell employee pensions by $2,8 billion dollars making these employees even more dependent upon Social Security.  The real problem lies in a tax code that collects less money when the economy shrinks.  The solution to Fix the Debt is not cuts in so-called entitlements, but eliminating the need for the government to have to borrow money collected by the entitlement programs to cover deficiencies in income tax revenues.  The best way to do that is to have both the government and private sector begin to create jobs.  The Peter Principal refers to people reaching their level of incompetence in industry.  The Peter Peterson Principle should refer to people who lie and mislead in order to enrich themselves at the expense of others.