If you fail disastrously at most jobs, you get sent packing. But, there are different rules for Washington policy wonks. The same crew who could not see the $8 trillion housing bubble that wrecked the economy are convening in Washington this week to hatch new schemes to take away people's Social Security and Medicare in the name of "fiscal responsibility."
You might think there would be a little bit of humility here. After all, it was the job of these policy wonks to prevent the sort of economic collapse that the country is now experiencing... But, no one lost their job for failing to prevent this debacle (the collapse of the bubble). Instead the policy wonks tell us not to play the "blame game" as they run around saying, "who could have known?"
This isn't just a question of holding to account those responsible for the Great Recession; the point is to stop them before they do even more harm to tens of millions of ordinary workers and their families. This crew is now devising schemes to cut Social Security and Medicare, arguing that the country cannot afford these core elements of the social safety net.
Of course, the budget deficit has exploded in the last two years, but this is a direct result of the economic collapse, not profligate spending as our policy wonks claim. Furthermore, this deficit is directly supporting the economy - it is creating jobs. The people who complain about current budget deficits want to throw people out of work and make it so that parents can't support their children. Those who care about the economy and care about our children should be pushing for larger deficits right now, not smaller ones.
Over the longer term it will be necessary to take steps to bring the budget in line...The huge deficits highlighted by the deficit hawks are almost entirely attributable to projections of exploding private sector health care costs...But the deficit hawks aren't interested in going after the pharmaceutical industry, the insurance industry, the highly paid medical specialists, and others responsible for out-of-control health care costs. They want to take away the Social Security benefits that workers have already paid for and cut their Medicare. Apparently, it was not enough to take away people's jobs and the equity they accumulated in their homes...Fortunately, we can turn this budget debate around....
http://www.truthout.org/the-folks-who-missed-bubble-want-your-social-security56930
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