Fix the Debt is another group of deficit scolds made up of CEOs and other Very Serious People (it includes Simpson and Bowles, among others) who are advocating the destruction of the social safety net in order that America’s debt and deficits be balanced. Part of its “Core Principles” reads:
In order to develop a fiscal plan that can succeed both financially and politically, it must be bipartisan and reforms to all areas of the budget should be included. The plan should:
- Reform Medicare and Medicaid, improve efficiency in the overall health care system, and limit future cost growth;
- Strengthen Social Security, so that it is solvent and will be there for future beneficiaries; and
- Include comprehensive and pro-growth tax reform, which broadens the base, lowers rates, raises revenues, and reduces the deficit.
Note those items in bold: they are almost verbatim what Speaker John Boehner has been saying the Republicans want to do to solve the “fiscal cliff.”
Surprisingly, it’s also full of people with ties to the defense industry:
Fix the Debt’s eagerness to point the finger at social safety net spending while virtually ignoring defense spending makes more sense in light of its corporate backing. A review of the group’s corporate ties shows that many Fix the Debt leaders have lucrative connections to companies with billions of dollars in defense contracts:
38 Fix the Debt leaders have ties to 43 companies with defense contracts totaling $43.4 billion in 2012. Fix the Debt leaders profiting from defense spending include the group’s co-chairs, steering committee members, and CEO council members; they have ties to these companies as board members, executives and CEOs, and lobbyists.
[snip]
The 38 Fix the Debt leaders with ties to defense contractors drew at least $401 million in compensation from the 43 companies in 2011 – an average of $10.6 million each.
Gosh! I’m heartbroken! I thought these people were serious non-partisans out to SAVE AMERICA. It’s terribly disappointing to learn they’re just another group of fat cats trying to protect their own turf while destroying the middle and lower classes.
Full report (.pdf) here.
Pity the poor member of the “Fix The Debt” group. How are they going to make their next billion dollars if they are not allowed to build the next defense system that is 1) designed for an enemy that does not exist, 2) is vastly over cost, and 3) was never asked for by the brass but is being foisted upon them by a congress critter who wants the money (and trying to avoid being voted out of his cushy job). 😉
Well, you do have to give defense contractors credit for figuring out that they should position some of their plants and offices in nearly every Congressional district in the country in order to protect against cuts.