Faking news to attack Social Security

As readers of The Retiree Advocate know, Wall Street billionaire Peter G. Peterson is bankrolling an attack on Social Security, disguised as an entitlement reform commission. We now learn that the Washington Post has sacrificed its journalistic integrity to assist him. In the January 4 issue of The Nation, William Greider tells us that Peterson has hired eight veteran reporters to run “The Fiscal Times,” a digital news agency that he has created to peddle his ideas.  Peterson and the Post agreed to “jointly produce content focusing on the budget and fiscal issues.”  That means that political propaganda from The Fiscal Times is printed in a major newspaper as though it were real news.

The first dispatch was headlined, “Support grows for tackling nation’s debit.” Not surprisingly, it calls for creation of an undemocratic commission, to be pushed through Congress with little if any debate. The real causes of the deficit, including two wars and the bailouts of Wall Street and the big banks, are not mentioned in this story. Nor is it pointed out that Social Security has large surpluses and is in good shape for decades to come.

Greider reminds us that workers have paid extra Social Security taxes since 1983 to fund their own future benefits, and that the federal government has borrowed from the Trust Funds to finance war, corporate welfare and tax cuts for the rich.  Peterson and his ilk simply don’t want to pay all of the money back, to be used for its intended purpose. To protect Social Security, we should demand that President Obama and our Congressional delegation oppose any entitlement reform commission.
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See also the CounterPunch article about the attack on Social Security.