Goldman CEO insists on Social Security cuts

Goldman’s multi-billion dollar bailout queen CEO insists on Social Security, Medicare cuts
11/20/2012 by Chris in Paris
http://americablog.com/2012/11/multi-billion-dollar-bailout-queen-ceo-insists-social-security-cuts-are-necessary.html

Of course, another super rich white guy, who is set for life, wants to gut Social Security and Medicare because “we can’t afford it.”

Why is it that the people howling the most about ripping apart the social system, who complain the loudest about us being unable to afford Social Security and Medicare, are those who profited so heavily from the public’s largesse?

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein is an extreme example since his own firm (like the rest of Wall Street) required billions of taxpayer money to stay alive, but let’s not forget about the destructive duo, Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles.

Alan Simpson spent his life working as a politician, followed by going on the speaking circuit or whatever it is that he does when he talks about butchering Social Security and Medicare while promoting tax cuts. It must be nice knowing that he’s set for life with the best health care plan, and a retirement plan unknown to most working Americans. And our friend, fellow “Democrat” Erskine Bowles also did well working in finance followed by the White House, then a large state university followed by his own speaking circuit gigs.

One does wonder how much they intend to give up from their own fat government benefits, as part of our “common sacrifice.”

Many of us have completely had it with rich, white guys like this proudly speaking to the media about how much gutting and shredding they think is necessary to “save the system,” while refusing to budge on their own massive tax cuts. They’ve all lived high on the hog at our expense, and now we’re giving them an easy forum for promoting this rich-guy assault on the system.

When is enough enough for these people? Much like sending a bill to Texas as the cost of seceding, let’s send a bill to these pampered fat cats for everything we’ve given them, and tell them all to shove off. They’ve cost us enough — quite literally trillions — and now they want to cost us more, by ripping apart the social fabric of America.

No thanks.

CBS News:

BLANKFEIN: You’re going to have to undoubtedly do something to lower people’s expectations — the entitlements and what people think that they’re going to get, because it’s not going to — they’re not going to get it.

PELLEY: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid?

BLANKFEIN: You can look at history of these things, and Social Security wasn’t devised to be a system that supported you for a 30-year retirement after a 25-year career. … So there will be things that, you know, the retirement age has to be changed, maybe some of the benefits have to be affected, maybe some of the inflation adjustments have to be revised. But in general, entitlements have to be slowed down and contained.

PELLEY: Because we can’t afford them going forward?

BLANKFEIN: Because we can’t afford them.


Someone please help me refresh my memory, but how did we afford to give away trillions of dollars to Wall Street, to save their lifestyle, so they could continue giving themselves huge bonuses while the rest of us lost our business and our homes?

I don’t recall any complaints back in 2008 and 2009 about the middle class not being able to afford the bail out of people like Blankfein, do you?  Or any talk during the Bush years of the entire country not being able to afford his massive tax cuts that broke the budget?

Some thanks.