Saturday, June 25, 2011

Social Security In Danger

The Koch Brothers (notes on their astrology appear in archived post http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2011/03/brothers-koch.html) are now plotting and aiding the dismemberment of Social Security in the USA.



As someone who was able to retire at age 60 with a UK civil service pension and a state pension from the UK at age 65, I appreciate how fortunate I am. I realise how dreadfully unfair it would be, especially to people now in their late 40s to mid-fifties who have dutifully paid their taxes throughout working life, to now be confronted with this possibility on their horizons.

With every week that passes I become more disillusioned with this nation - a beautiful, beautiful land, kindly, friendly people, with evil, corrupt and greedy corporatist scoundrels in charge. The people have allowed it to descend as low as this though, over several decades. They need to wake up - and quickly!

In case non-US readers are unclear, Social Security in the US is a federal government programme, funded through dedicated payroll taxes, to provide retirement and disability insurance, unemployment benefits and other social programs.

Robert Greenwald this week at Common Dreams wrote that the Koch Brothers have spent millions funding opinion-forming propaganda to undermine this vital public service : See HERE
Documents and interviews unearthed in recent months by Brave New Foundation researchers illustrate a $28.4m Koch business that has manufactured 297 commentaries, 200 reports, 56 studies and six books distorting social security's effectiveness and purpose. Together, the publications reveal a vast cottage industry comprised of Koch brothers' spokespeople, front groups, thinktanks, academics and elected officials, which has built a self-sustaining echo chamber to transform fringe ideas into popular mainstream public policy arguments.

"The Koch brothers job is to do everything they can to dismember government in general," Senator Bernie Sanders says in this video. "If you can destroy social security, you will have gone a long way forward in that effort."






2 comments:

R J Adams said...

The US spends billions each year rooting out so-called 'terrorists'. It's time this nation came to realize just who are the real traitors of America.

Twilight said...

RJ Adam ~~~ Hear Hear!!!!!