America Speaks And The Corporate Agenda -

A Participants Account

By Mark Vorpahl

07 July, 2010

Countercurrents.org

On Saturday, June 26th, an organization called America Speaks held town halls entitled "Our Budget, Our Economy." These town halls took place in 19 different locations across the U.S., drawing out an estimated 3,500 participants. The ostensive purpose of all this was to discuss how to fix the federal deficit which, according to the calculations of America Speaks, will reach 114 percent of our GDP, or $1.2 trillion, by 2025. With billionaire groups such as the Peter G. Peterson, W.K. Kellogg, and the MacArthur Foundations funding these expensive proceedings, it was not difficult to anticipate what kind of "fixes" were being put on the table. Cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and social spending were some of the most notable topics of the seven-hour town hall meetings.

In several cities, including Portland Oregon, pickets were put up outside the town hall, calling for such things as "Hands Off Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid," "For Single Payer," "Jobs Funding to Fix the Debt," and "Make Wall Street Pay." This initiative was an important development. These protests demonstrated that there is an active voice that is putting forward solutions to the economic crisis that help working people rather than going along with attacks on the thin social safety net U.S. workers currently have. This is all the more important because those responsible for the America Speaks town halls are in direct consultation with the members of Obama's National Commission of Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. This board is scheduled to come out with a series of recommendations to deal with the deficit in December. These town hall events were an attempt to test the waters and develop public buy-in for the regressive and brutal recommendations the board is likely to propose.

Once the town hall gatherings started, no effort was spared to flaunt how supposedly representative they were in regard to their comparative composition of the U.S. population in general or how supposedly democratic the proceedings were. Attendees were broken down into small groups to encourage discussion and votes were made with electronic devices that allowed the national results to be almost immediately displayed on large screens.

However, given the false premises of the discussions that were expected to be accepted without question, as well as the choices that were to be voted on that arose from these false premises, informed discussion was off the table and consequently, democratic processes were distorted.

Stacking the Deck

What were some of the manipulative assumptions that America Speaks made to manufacture their deficit figures and guide the discussion towards making cuts? They assumed that the Bush tax cuts to the rich would continue to be extended beyond the end of this year, when they are scheduled to expire. The cumulative amount of extra national incoming revenue from letting these tax cuts expire would reach $1 trillion by 2025. This is almost enough to close what America Speaks has projected as a $1.2 trillion federal deficit by that year in itself.

By projecting the continuation of these tax cuts, not informing the participants of their importance in regards to the national deficit, and not allowing attendees to vote for letting them expire, the powers behind America Speaks were manipulating opinion away from issues that substantially affect the deficit but dig into Wall Street’s pockets. This is because they want to keep Bush’s tax cuts for the rich and are lobbying to make sure they continue. Given that these meetings have been funded by the rich, this should come as no surprise. Not addressing this issue at the town halls was a way of discouraging future protests just in case these wealthy funders succeed, in spite of the burden Bush’s tax cuts have on the deficit.

Participants were provided choices to either cut health care expenses or leave them as is. Any option to vote for Single Payer was left out as politically unrealistic, regardless of the massive savings this reform could provide for national health care. This glaring omission was made despite the fact that in numerous polls the majority of Americans favored some form of single payer. (For the results of numerous polls results check out http://www.wpasinglepayer.org/PollResults.html.)

If democracy is the practice of reflecting the will of the majority, then the American Speaks approach demonstrated a striking lack of democracy in how it attempted to build "common ground."

When it came to Social Security, it was never explained how Social Security has contributed to the Federal deficit. It was never explained because Social Security has nothing to do with the federal deficit. Social Security is entirely self-funded through payroll taxes and matching contributions from employers. Furthermore, by 2025, it is projected that this program will have $4.3 trillion saved up, hardly a debt-creating situation. Social Security has in fact generated a surplus for decades, and the government, whether headed by Democrats or Republicans, has used this surplus on other programs. Peter G. Peterson, one of the main funders of America Speaks, has invested some $12 million to create groups to promote cutting Social Security as a way to fix the debt. This agenda-driven history was never brought up at the town halls because it would reveal too much about the agenda of America Speaks.

Economics 101

The most fundamental premise that American Speaks participants were expected to accept was that the problem of balancing the budget is simply a question of comparing savings and incoming revenue. However, balancing a national budget is a far different challenge than balancing a household budget. Left out of the calculations was any question of reprioritizing spending to build an economy that will produce more jobs and real wealth for workers. That is, the health of the economy and who benefited from it was not considered when coming up with "fixes" for the deficit.

The basic problem with the economy is that workers do not have enough income to buy goods. They are suffering too much from unemployment, underemployment, low wages and benefits, and a high cost of living. Therefore, the problem with the economy is not a problem of too much government spending; it is a problem of too few good jobs. To fix the economy what is needed is a massive federal public works jobs program, to rebuild manufacturing and our decaying infrastructure. This would easily produce enough wealth in the economy to offset the initial spending to make it happen. Consequently, the federal deficit would be more easily contained.

Despite the fact that this is the approach advocated by numerous economists, as well as Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, any consideration of this was pushed off to the side at the America Speaks Town Halls. The reasons for this are not hard to ascertain. Such a government jobs program, as well as other needed reforms, would require increased taxes on Wall Street, whose greed as led to an historic amount of income inequality in the U.S. The opinion makers behind America Speaks are guided by the philosophy that the rich can't have too much and the poor can't have too little. Consequently, they framed the issues discussed at the Town Halls in a way that would corral participants away from measures that would strengthen working people economically, towards measures that would let the rich off the hook by gouging social programs working people benefit from.

Voting Results

Once the votes were in, it became apparent the attempts to manipulate opinion by framing the issues and goals of the group discussions produced mixed results for the agenda of America Speaks. When it came to cutting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, there was no clear mandate for doing so. Reflecting the enormous pressure of how discussions were manipulated, 52 percent did vote in favor of raising the age to receive full Social Security benefits to 69 years. However, there were clear cracks in how America Speaks tried to structure the outcome. For instance, it was reported that in numerous town halls there had been protests against the exclusion of Single Payer health care reform. When this was announced in Portland, the room erupted into applause.

There was overwhelming support to cut defense spending. This was not surprising since the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have contributed significantly to the current economic crisis and debt. Sixteen percent voted to reduce defense spending by 5 percent, 18 percent voted to reduce it 10 percent and 51 percent voted to reduce defense spending by 15 percent. In addition to this vote, it was announced that nationally "many" had said that defense spending should be reduced by more than 15 percent. When this was reported in Portland, the room applauded and cheered in support, indicating how popular this sentiment was.

One very clear pattern emerged from the voting results. For every proposal to raise taxes, reduce tax deductions and credits, and create new taxes that targeted the rich and corporations, there was overwhelming support. There was little support for raising taxes across the board. These results reflects the massive sentiment for making the likes of those funding America Speaks pay for what they have done to the economy.

A Labor Response

In its December report, it is possible that the National Board of Fiscal Responsibility and Reform will recommend some of the progressive tax measures that won support at the Town Halls. What is more certain is that there will also be more aggressive recommendations aimed at cutting away at needed social programs that have, up until now, been considered politically untouchable. Unsatisfied with having a record amount of wealth concentrated in their hands, the lowest income and corporate taxes in decades, as well as taxpayer funded bailouts that they are hoarding, the corporate elite is aiming to impoverish working people even more.

This wealthy elite has already put together their own town halls through America Speaks. They will use all the power at their disposal through the media and their political connections to promote their agenda. Meanwhile, workers will continue to suffer from the economic crisis with no end in sight.

The Labor Movement needs to take the lead in talking about the real causes of the economic crisis and the debt, as well as mobilizing to promote real solutions. If working families are fully informed on these issues, they will not take the government’s inaction in regards to providing relief lying down. They will also be better prepared to battle any proposed cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. It's time we build our own national labor/community town halls to prepare to build a movement to defend ourselves from the corporate elite’s attacks and win real relief that can rebuild the economy.

This article originally appeared at www.workerscompass.org

Mark Vorpahl is a union steward as well as an anti-war and Latin American Solidarity activist. He can be reached at Portland@workerscompass.org.





