Salon.com > Fix the Debt

Meet the pro-austerity hypocrites

Thu, 02 May 2013 22:22:00 +0000

The major corporations backing a group founded by the pro-austerity icons Simpson and Bowles take advantage of a loophole to avoid paying taxes on some of what they pay their CEOs, according to a new report.

The report, from the liberal Institute for Policy Studies, finds that between 2009 and 2011, top executives at the 90 publicly held corporate members of the Fix the Debt coalition raked in at least $953 million -- and as much as $1.6 billion -- through the “performance pay” loophole, which counts some executive compensation as a tax-deductible business expense, instead of a salary. Fix the Debt, founded by Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, is one of the many groups tied to Wall Streeter cum policy entrepreneur Pete Peterson, who has spent the last 20 years trying to reduce the debt, in large part through cuts to programs like Social Security and Medicare. The group has attracted some of the largest corporations in the country as sponsors, as well as former lawmakers, giving it serious clout in Washington.

Moms to Congress: Don’t throw families over the “fiscal cliff”!

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 19:36:00 +0000

Today, as members of Congress negotiate a budget to address the so-called fiscal cliff, families are taking a stand. Women, mothers, and their families are descending on Capitol Hill to deliver teddy bears, petition signatures and personal stories to lawmakers to send the message that moms and kids can’t “bear” more than their fair share.

Wealthy CEOs have joined together in the much-maligned "Campaign to Fix the Debt" to argue for lower taxes on the rich and cuts to the social safety net, but they are being met by a counterforce of ordinary women trying to work and raise their families. MomsRising, a grassroots organization that advocates for family-friendly policies including paid family leave and an end to wage discrimination, is taking action to tell America about how the fiscal cliff will impact them. They are gathering in Washington, DC to deliver to congressional offices stories about the financial burdens facing families across the United States, as well as thousands of signatures calling on Congress to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Members will also be making over 190 deliveries of a short book of fiscal cliff stories to the in-district offices of their local representatives in 40 states.

Debt “fixers’” 6 biggest lies

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:40:00 +0000

New York magazine calls it a “Mass Movement for Millionaires.” The New York Times' Paul Krugman sums up the idea: “Hey, sacrifice is for the little people.”

The Campaign to Fix the Debt is a huge, and growing, coalition of powerful CEOs, politicians and policy makers on a mission to lower taxes for the rich and cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid under the cover of concern about the national debt. The group was spawned in July 2012 by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, architects of a misguided deficit reduction scheme in Washington back in 2010. By now, the "fixers" have collected a war chest of $43 million. Private equity billionaire Peter G. Peterson, longtime enemy of the social safety net, is a major supporter.

When did “Fix the Debt” become “protect Bush tax cuts”?

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:52:00 +0000

“Fix the Debt,” as you've probably noticed from the Internet ads that are now as ubiquitous as the old Netflix pop-ups, is the newest high-profile effort by Peter G. Peterson and allies to build a public movement for long-term deficit reduction. Fix the Debt appears to be an ambitious public relations and grassroots lobbying effort layered on top of the other major Peterson-funded anti-deficit groups, all of them pushing for a “grand bargain” on taxes and spending, ideally before the “fiscal cliff” (or what I prefer to call the “fiscal reset,” because it's a chance to start over and reconsider bad choices from the 2000s). These include the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the Concord Coalition, the Comeback America Initiative (former Peterson Foundation president David Walker's new project), as well as groups such as the Business-Industry Political Action Committee.