GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
Green Party urges citizens to protest revived Simpson-Bowles plans to gut financial security for working people
• Bill Clinton, House Speaker Boehner, and other participants push for Simpson-Bowles austerity measures at summit in DC; Greens offer alternatives to recommendations by Obama's 'Catfood Commission'
• 2012 Green Presidential Nominating Convention, July 12-15 in Baltimore, Md. http://www.gpconvention2012.com/
Media Credentialing page http://www.gpconvention2012.com/p/media.html
• Video of Green Party presidential candidates' forum, May 12 in San Francisco with Jill Stein and Roseanne Barr: http://www.gp.org/video/display.php?ID=106
WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party candidates and leaders said today that bipartisan politicians supporting President Obama's Simpson-Bowles Commission are targeting working Americans' job security, wages, benefits, Social Security, Medicare, education, student loans, and other necessities.
The Simpson-Bowles Commission (National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, nicknamed 'Catfood Commission' because of its recommendations for scaling back Social Security) was established by President Obama to plan his administration's economic policies.
A bipartisan summit to promote the Simpson-Bowles recommendations was held in Washington, DC last week, sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, named for the co-founder of the private-equity firm Blackstone Group LP (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/05/16/bloomberg_articlesM42GOS07SXKX01-M44OI.DTL). Participating in the summit, which has received little media coverage, were former President Bill Clinton (D), Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R), and House Speaker John Boehner (R).
"President Obama's 'Catfood Commission' wants to impose the kind of austerity on middle-income and low-income families in the US that citizens in Iceland and Greece angrily rejected," said Colin Beavan, PhD, Green Party candidate for the US House in Central Brooklyn, New York's 8th Congressional District (http://www.votecolin.org/). "The focus of the commission is on solving the deficit by cutting services and job protections, rather than on creating jobs, which would stimulate the US economy and assist millions of Americans facing hardship. They also intend to reform the tax code, which means tax cuts for top corporations and the one percent, starving the economy even more."
The Green Party has urged Congress to reject the commission's recommenations and has promoted alternative plans to boost the economy and create millions of new jobs, with Green candidates endorsing the 'Green New Deal', first introduced in 2010 (http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2010/08/11/62-green-candidates-endorse-green-new-deal/).
Greens, including presidential candidates Roseanne Barr, Kent Mesplay, and Jill Stein, have participated in the Occupy Movement's protests against Wall Street power, privilege, and virtual impunity for criminal fraud. Greens said that the Obama Administration's alarming enlistment of the Homeland Security Department and military apparatus in civil police suppression of Occupy protests (http://www.nationofchange.org/white-house-dems-back-banks-over-protests-newly-discovered-homeland-security-files-show-feds-central) hints that the federal government anticipates more widespread unrest in reaction to austerity measures, if enacted.
"The participation of Bill Clinton in the summit signals that the Obama Administration has adopted much of the GOP economic agenda. The Clinton White House discarded the Democrats' traditional platform and signed on to NAFTA, Welfare Reform, and concentrated media ownership in the 1996 Telecommunications Act. When Clinton signed the Commodity Futures Modernization Act and repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999, he helped enable the Wall Street abuses that caused the severe 2008 recession," said Barry Hermanson, Green candidate for Congress in San Francisco (http://www.barryhermanson.org/).
"Obama is following in the footsteps of his Democratic predecessor. Social Security and Medicare are on the chopping block -- because of President Obama, a Democrat," said Mr. Hermanson.
Greens said that too many Americans are giving President Obama and other Democrats a pass during the 2012 election year for their capitulations and abandonment of working Americans. Anger continues against Republican Governor Scott Walker's attacks on public sector jobs, benefits, and organizing rights in Wisconsin, while Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo's similar attacks on New York's public employees have been mostly ignored (http://www.howiehawkins.com/2010/media-releases/476-green-party-says-cuomo-fiscal-plan-recycles-failed-policies.html).
See also:
"Bill Clinton Advises Obama to Talk More About Deficit Reduction"
ABC News, May 15, 2012
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/bill-clinton-advises-obama-to-talk-more-about-deficit-reduction/
"Bill Clinton, Boehner and Some Other Rich White Guys Had a 'Summit' and Agreed: It's Your Fault"
By Richard (RJ) Eskow, The Huffington Post, May 16, 2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/bill-clinton-boehner-and_b_1520025.html
"Simpson-Bowles Zombie Returns"
By Dave Johnson, The Huffington Post, April 18, 2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/simpson-bowles-zombie-ret_b_1435989.html
"Green Party urges rejection of proposal by Obama's Fiscal Responsibility Commission to scale back Social Security and Medicare"
Green Party press release, November 30, 2012
http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=370
Green Party urges citizens to protest revived Simpson-Bowles plans to gut financial security for working people
• Bill Clinton, House Speaker Boehner, and other participants push for Simpson-Bowles austerity measures at summit in DC; Greens offer alternatives to recommendations by Obama's 'Catfood Commission'
• 2012 Green Presidential Nominating Convention, July 12-15 in Baltimore, Md. http://www.gpconvention2012.com/
Media Credentialing page http://www.gpconvention2012.com/p/media.html
• Video of Green Party presidential candidates' forum, May 12 in San Francisco with Jill Stein and Roseanne Barr: http://www.gp.org/video/display.php?ID=106
WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party candidates and leaders said today that bipartisan politicians supporting President Obama's Simpson-Bowles Commission are targeting working Americans' job security, wages, benefits, Social Security, Medicare, education, student loans, and other necessities.
The Simpson-Bowles Commission (National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, nicknamed 'Catfood Commission' because of its recommendations for scaling back Social Security) was established by President Obama to plan his administration's economic policies.
A bipartisan summit to promote the Simpson-Bowles recommendations was held in Washington, DC last week, sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, named for the co-founder of the private-equity firm Blackstone Group LP (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/05/16/bloomberg_articlesM42GOS07SXKX01-M44OI.DTL). Participating in the summit, which has received little media coverage, were former President Bill Clinton (D), Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R), and House Speaker John Boehner (R).
"President Obama's 'Catfood Commission' wants to impose the kind of austerity on middle-income and low-income families in the US that citizens in Iceland and Greece angrily rejected," said Colin Beavan, PhD, Green Party candidate for the US House in Central Brooklyn, New York's 8th Congressional District (http://www.votecolin.org/). "The focus of the commission is on solving the deficit by cutting services and job protections, rather than on creating jobs, which would stimulate the US economy and assist millions of Americans facing hardship. They also intend to reform the tax code, which means tax cuts for top corporations and the one percent, starving the economy even more."
The Green Party has urged Congress to reject the commission's recommenations and has promoted alternative plans to boost the economy and create millions of new jobs, with Green candidates endorsing the 'Green New Deal', first introduced in 2010 (http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2010/08/11/62-green-candidates-endorse-green-new-deal/).
Greens, including presidential candidates Roseanne Barr, Kent Mesplay, and Jill Stein, have participated in the Occupy Movement's protests against Wall Street power, privilege, and virtual impunity for criminal fraud. Greens said that the Obama Administration's alarming enlistment of the Homeland Security Department and military apparatus in civil police suppression of Occupy protests (http://www.nationofchange.org/white-house-dems-back-banks-over-protests-newly-discovered-homeland-security-files-show-feds-central) hints that the federal government anticipates more widespread unrest in reaction to austerity measures, if enacted.
"The participation of Bill Clinton in the summit signals that the Obama Administration has adopted much of the GOP economic agenda. The Clinton White House discarded the Democrats' traditional platform and signed on to NAFTA, Welfare Reform, and concentrated media ownership in the 1996 Telecommunications Act. When Clinton signed the Commodity Futures Modernization Act and repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999, he helped enable the Wall Street abuses that caused the severe 2008 recession," said Barry Hermanson, Green candidate for Congress in San Francisco (http://www.barryhermanson.org/).
"Obama is following in the footsteps of his Democratic predecessor. Social Security and Medicare are on the chopping block -- because of President Obama, a Democrat," said Mr. Hermanson.
Greens said that too many Americans are giving President Obama and other Democrats a pass during the 2012 election year for their capitulations and abandonment of working Americans. Anger continues against Republican Governor Scott Walker's attacks on public sector jobs, benefits, and organizing rights in Wisconsin, while Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo's similar attacks on New York's public employees have been mostly ignored (http://www.howiehawkins.com/2010/media-releases/476-green-party-says-cuomo-fiscal-plan-recycles-failed-policies.html).
See also:
"Bill Clinton Advises Obama to Talk More About Deficit Reduction"
ABC News, May 15, 2012
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/bill-clinton-advises-obama-to-talk-more-about-deficit-reduction/
"Bill Clinton, Boehner and Some Other Rich White Guys Had a 'Summit' and Agreed: It's Your Fault"
By Richard (RJ) Eskow, The Huffington Post, May 16, 2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/bill-clinton-boehner-and_b_1520025.html
"Simpson-Bowles Zombie Returns"
By Dave Johnson, The Huffington Post, April 18, 2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/simpson-bowles-zombie-ret_b_1435989.html
"Green Party urges rejection of proposal by Obama's Fiscal Responsibility Commission to scale back Social Security and Medicare"
Green Party press release, November 30, 2012
http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=370
