William Greider

I’ve just returned from a wonderful, nostalgic visit to my favorite city in the whole world: Rome. And I’ve been trying to catch up with national news.

The latest issue of THE NATION has left me stunned, bewildered, unable to be incredulous. A column by William Greider, whose books, columns, and appearances on the Bill Moyers show have elicited my trust and respect, lays out the case that President Obama is, indeed, “whacking the old folks.” (I guess I should make that “us old folks.”)

This is his main contention: “The president intends to offer Social Security as a sacrificial lamb to entice conservative deficit hawks into a grand bipartisan compromise in which Democrats agree to cut Social Security benefits for future retirees while Republicans accede to significant tax increases to reduce government red ink.”

Greider offer particulars: “Obama is arm in arm with GOP conservatives like Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson, who for decades has demonized Social Security as a grave threat to the Republic and has spread some $12 million among economists, think tanks, foundations, and assorted front groups to sell his case.”

But the facts contradict such claims. “Social Security has accumulated a massive surplus — $2.5 trillion now, rising to $4.3 trillion by 2023.”

Therefore: “Despite conservative propaganda, cutting Social Security will have no impact on the deficit problem that so stirs public anxiety. The While House knows this. So why is the president targeting Social Security?”

Greider’s answer to this question sends shivers up the spine of many an Obama supporter, especially those who are moving close to retirement: “Targeting Social Security is a smokescreen designed to reassure foreign creditors and avoid confronting the true sources of US indebtedness.” Those true sources of our gigantic deficit are the two wars we are now fighting on borrowed money, tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations, and the deregulation that was a major cause of the recent financial crisis.

So why doesn’t Obama address the real causes of our deficit? Greider’s answer to that question is both sobering and shivering: “Those and other sources of deficits involve very powerful interests. Instead of taking them on, the thinking in Washington goes, let’s whack the old folks while they’re not watching.”

If this is the thinking in Washington, as it seems to be, both young and old folk better speak up before they get whacked.

Check out Greider’s full case.