The corporate CEOs who have made a high-profile foray into deficit negotiations have themselves been substantially responsible for the size of the deficit they now want closed.
The companies represented by executives working with the Campaign To Fix The Debt have received trillions in federal war contracts, subsidies and bailouts, as well as specialized tax breaks and loopholes that virtually eliminate the companies' tax bills.
The CEOs are part of a campaign run by the Peter Peterson-backed Center for a Responsible Federal Budget, which plans to spend at least $30 million pushing for a deficit reduction deal in the lame-duck session and beyond.
During the past few days, CEOs belonging to what the campaign calls its CEO Fiscal Leadership Council -- most visibly, Goldman Sachs' Lloyd ["Doing God's Work"] Blankfein and Honeywell's David Cote -- have barnstormed the media, making the case that the only way to cut the deficit is to severely scale back social safety-net programs -- Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security -- which would disproportionately impact the poor and the elderly.
As part of their push, they are advocating a "territorial tax system" that would exempt their companies' foreign profits from taxation, netting them about $134 billion in tax savings, according to a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies titled "The CEO Campaign to ‘Fix’ the Debt: A Trojan Horse for Massive Corporate Tax Breaks" -- money that could help pay off the federal budget deficit.
Yet the CEOs are not offering to forgo federal money or pay a higher tax rate, on their personal income or corporate profits. Instead, council recommendations include cutting "entitlement" programs, as well as what they call "low-priority spending."This is what they mean by "expanding the tax base." Just say no, and tell your senators and the presidente to just say no, too.
The Huffington Post
CEO Council Demands Cuts To Poor, Elderly While Reaping Billions In Government Contracts, Tax Breaks
Christina Wilkie and Ryan Grim
2 comments:
This website seems to have extensive contact info. Includes local district offices if you click on the Representative's or Senator's name. I have read that snail mail to the local office is among the most effective ways to get your views seen.
http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
I have rarely promoted or participated in any kind of campaign like this, but I don't have any other ideas that seem useful. The PR campaign being waged by the CEO group, Peterson and other elites needs to be countered with some kind of effort. Unfortunately, they have the access to the major media to easily spread their propaganda with the help of the sycophantic hosts and interviewers.
I am writing a letter to all Alabama members of Congress. I will mail it to both the local district office and the DC office. I also intend to e-mail it to their main contact email. These will likely be seen by different staffers at first, and I'm hoping to have an effect on them, too.
I urge everyone to do likewise. This is not an MMT/Keynesian/Austrian left-right issue. This is ALL of us sinking in the same boat.
Thanks for providing the contact info, John.
The problem is that corporate lobbyists have an insider track as the people that directly provide the campaign contributions and CEO's have direct access to the highest levels, including the Oval Office. Any "grand bargain" is going to have to include their demands and the only thing we are waiting on now is just how much blood they want out of the stones.
But the one thing that politicians fear more than losing campaign "contributions" is voter wrath.
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