[lbo-talk] Debt Commission Targets Social Security, Medicare

[rob at riseup.net]

> Debt Commission Targets Social Security, Medicare
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/10/debt-commission-report- 
> social-security-medicare-_n_781606.html
> Today's upcoming report by the White House's fiscal commission is  
> expected to include recommendations to raise the retirement age for  
> Social Security and cut Medicare benefits -- two policy  
> prescriptions that will be met with deep opposition from Democrats  
> and some Republicans -- according to a source who has been briefed  
> on the proposal.
>
> The chairmen of the commission will unveil their overarching  
> recommendations for debt and deficit reduction on Wednesday  
> afternoon, weeks before the official unveiling is expected.
>
> The findings are not the final report of the commission, officially  
> known as the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and  
> Reform. Rather they are the specific suggestions of its two chairs,  
> former Sen. Alan Simpson and former White House Chief of Staff  
> Erskine Bowles. The ultimate findings will require the support of  
> 14 members of the 18-member commission. And at this juncture it is  
> unclear if the votes are there, sources familiar with deliberation  
> say.
>
> In the process of pursuing their reforms for Social Security and  
> Medicare, the commission chairs are expected to suggest that the  
> end result will be a 70 percent cut in benefits and 30 percent  
> increase in revenues, according to the source familiar with the  
> upcoming announcement.
>
> "What a crazy proposal, what a crazy proposal," said a Democratic  
> source briefed on the findings. "I expect that the White House is  
> going to distance itself big-time from this, saying this is just  
> the chairman not the commission."