Goldman Sachs Attacks Social Security

Lloyd Blankfein, the very rich CEO of Goldman Sachs, has no qualms about suggesting that the entitlements of those who are poorer than he is should be reduced or eliminated.  That is the kind of advice that should be ignored and reviled.   But now that the government appears to be run mainly by the financial system, we have to pay some attention to what the bankers are saying about the future for the country in order to refute them.

The banks successfully accomplished their financial coup d'état in 2008 and now they have only to tie up a few loose ends so that ALL the wealth, power and property will be theirs.  Their success depends on how little or how much abuse the people can stand from the banks.

Lloyd Blankfein is one the those sharks described in the article that is in a feeding frenzy against Social Security.  The piece lists five reasons why Social Security is "fiscally fit" in spite of its naysayers like Blankfein:

The Giant Lie Trotted Out by Fiscal Conservatives Trying to Shred Social Security
By Lynn Parramore - Naked Capitalism and Alternet
. . . .
In conclusion: cutting Social Security by raising the retirement age is nothing but a trick meant to fool us into thinking that there’s something wrong with a program that keeps millions of American retirees out of poverty. To even consider such a scheme in a time of widespread suffering is one of the most shameful outcomes of the Great Recession. Social Security is efficient, well-managed, and is not undergoing any crisis.

You will be hearing lots of convincing-sounding rhetoric on this topic in upcoming weeks –often from Democrats – including the notion that we should be means-testing Social Security for longevity among high-income earners. That plan plays into the mythology that the program is somehow broken and needs to be "fixed." It also plays into the game of fiscal conservatives who know full well that means testing will diminish support, which is why they have been ardently pushing it for 50 years. It's yet another red herring. Social Security is not contributing to the deficit, and if — and that's a big if — a tweak is needed down the road, we can easily accomplish that by raising the cap on payroll taxes, which stands just above $100K. In reality, there is absolutely no sound justification for doing anything now. The bottom line is that raising the retirement age and making changes based on longevity does not pass the test of morality, logic, or sound economics.

Read the whole article here