What Can We Do?

It?s one of the most frequently asked questions we get from seniors and their families tired of the well-financed campaign to sell cuts in Social Security and Medicare for working Americans while at the same time keeping tax cuts for the wealthy.The Fiscal Commission chairmen?s (Bowles/Simpson) plan targets Social Security for large benefit cuts, lower COLA?s and a higher retirement age (even though the program hasn?t contributed a dime to our debt) while also, according to the Economic Policy Institute, costing 4 million jobs over three years and reducing economic growth by 0.7 percent in 2012, 1.4 percent in 2013 and 1.9 percent in 2014. EPI says,

A better path to fiscal responsibility would be investing in job creation and growth to broaden the revenue base in the near-term, raising revenue from new sources over the medium-term to stem the hemorrhaging caused by the Bush-era tax cuts for the very well-off, and reforming health care provision to generate long-run budgetary savings. In the present economic environment, the near-term austerity measures proposed by the Co-Chairs would be fiscally counterproductive and crippling to states, communities, and families, delaying a robust economic recovery for years.

In spite of all this, plans like Bowles/Simpson, are being pushed by fiscal hawks in the media and in television ad campaigns as the only way to fiscal solvency while ignoring other options, like Rep. Jan Schakowsky?s plan, which actually takes the economic realities facing working Americans into consideration.Thus, we come back to our headline?What can we (meaning non-Wall Street multi-billionaires) do to ensure our voices our heard? The answer is easy — Join the nationwide call-in day to Congress on Tuesday, November 30^th. That?s the day before the Fiscal Commission is expected to release its final report to Congress and the perfect opportunity to let your representatives in Washington know that cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits is a one-way ticket to economic and political ruin.Our National Committee Legislative Action Hotline will connect you with your members in one toll-free call. Save the number and Mark your Calendars for: