Click here to access article by Jackie Calmes from The New York Times.
It is clear that we are in the final act, maybe the final scene, in this political stage play about government operations. The first scene, act one, was when Obama early in his first term decided to set up a Deficit Commission, headed by none other than billionaire and dedicated-to-the- destruction-of-Social Security Peter G. Peterson. The second act was called the "Sequester Fight" in which the evil Repubicans were adamant that severe social spending cuts were necessary. In the early scenes of this 2nd act we saw Obama championing and protecting the poor and the elderly against these bad guys led by Speaker John Boehner. Now what we are likely to see in this final Act as presented by mainstream media is that Obama is forced into making a compromise in an heroic effort to prevent various budgetary doomsday scenarios.
Okay, enough of the play-acting--what is really happening? Well, it seems that the ruling class has figured out a way to adjust, once again, how they figure the cost of living so that they can cut benefits to Social Security recipients. They have been raiding these funds for years to finance their wars and tax cuts for the rich. Now they are faced with either cutting the programs, cutting drastically the huge military-industrial parasite, or raising taxes on the rich in order to pay back into these programs what they have stolen.
Various analysts have been examining the details to see what the consequences might be for recipients. See this, this, this, and this.
