Dave Lindorff: It's the Military, Stupid! Don't Blame America's Debt Crisis on Social Security and Medicare!

Who's a complainer? I'm a complainer, but New York Times Reporter Gretchen Morgenson has never been on my list! In my book, she has always stood out for the clarity of her analysis, and for her willingness to go after the guilty parties in the political and especially in the banking system, naming names and calling it as she sees it, so it was disappointing to read her latest article, on a new study by Peterson Institute for International Economics Senior Fellow Joseph Gagnon, warning about our nation's growing debt crisis! The Peterson Institute, founded by Wall Street tycoon Peter Peterson, has long been gunning for the Social Security and Medicare systems, which he, and the rest of the Wall Street gang, see as unfairly competing with Wall Street for the assets of the public, and destroys our "free market". Peterson has the odd notion that the two systems are going to bankrupt our country, since they pay out benefits which exceed what retirees pay into the system, and he feels that the proper solution is to cut back on those benefits, increase the taxes collected, or better yet, privatize the systems! Knowing Peterson's agenda to gut Social Security and Medicare, we understand that he would say the solution to the nation's growing debt is to either raise taxes, or cut those two, hugely successful, critically important and broadly popular social programs.