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Showing Original Post only (View all)Pete Peterson bankrolled debunked austerity study, could make billions off safety net privatization [View all]
The dirty secret behind right-wing austerityhttp://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2013/04/dirty-secret-behind-right-wing-austerity
The motivation behind the world-wide economic con of austerity has been discovered. And, the source is none other than Pete Peterson the debt-obsessed billionaire who stands to make billions off the privatization of our social safety net. Just days ago we told you how a 28-year-old grad student debunked the Reinhart-Rogoff study used to push austerity throughout the world. Well, now we know why Republican fuzzy math was used in the first place. Pete Peterson's organizations bankrolled that study.
Kenneth Rogoff, one of the study's leading authors, is a member of the Advisory Board at the Peterson Institute, which published the pro-austerity study. And, Carmen Reinhart is a regular participant of Peterson Institute functions, along with the likes of Paul Ryan and Alan Simpson. While the now-debunked study's math might have been written off as a mere error by the authors, the link to Peterson indicates that ideology, rather than incompetence, is the cause.
The austerity-induced human suffering and economic destruction should have been evidence enough for democrats to stop believing in budget-cut myths. But, the link to Peterson proves that high debt causes slow growth theory is nothing more than right-wing manufactured hysteria. Peterson and the corporatist machine have created this problem, and the so-called solution, to perpetuate the myth that government spending not historically low tax revenue is the real problem. And they have even gotten democrats to believe it.
It's time for President Obama and Democratic leaders to see the writing on the wall and take a formal stand against austerity. No nation, in the history of the world, has ever cut it's way to prosperity, and no fabricated economic study can change that.
Kenneth Rogoff, one of the study's leading authors, is a member of the Advisory Board at the Peterson Institute, which published the pro-austerity study. And, Carmen Reinhart is a regular participant of Peterson Institute functions, along with the likes of Paul Ryan and Alan Simpson. While the now-debunked study's math might have been written off as a mere error by the authors, the link to Peterson indicates that ideology, rather than incompetence, is the cause.
The austerity-induced human suffering and economic destruction should have been evidence enough for democrats to stop believing in budget-cut myths. But, the link to Peterson proves that high debt causes slow growth theory is nothing more than right-wing manufactured hysteria. Peterson and the corporatist machine have created this problem, and the so-called solution, to perpetuate the myth that government spending not historically low tax revenue is the real problem. And they have even gotten democrats to believe it.
It's time for President Obama and Democratic leaders to see the writing on the wall and take a formal stand against austerity. No nation, in the history of the world, has ever cut it's way to prosperity, and no fabricated economic study can change that.
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Pete Peterson bankrolled debunked austerity study, could make billions off safety net privatization [View all]
HomerRamone
Apr 2013
OP
How so? THIS Blue Team has offered up and handed over unasked, that which...
TheMadMonk
Apr 2013
#51
That's just it, we are all supposed to treat our 2 parties like teams so we will get carried away
Dustlawyer
Apr 2013
#20
I agree to the extent that it will take a HUGE number of people marching and holding out
Dustlawyer
Apr 2013
#42
May I remind everyone that Pete Peterson headed the committee that picked Timothy
JDPriestly
Apr 2013
#22
Is this the same Blackstone Group which is buying up foreclosed single family homes? nt
avgjo
Apr 2013
#32
Some of these people had dreams of reversing ALL of FDR's New Deal under Ike...
Spitfire of ATJ
Apr 2013
#36
He's worse. He has the president of the United States and Congress wrapped around his finger. n/t
duffyduff
Apr 2013
#54
It doen't matter what "math" and "facts" say: this President stands firm.
MannyGoldstein
Apr 2013
#47
is there any idea too stupid or destructive that our politicians won't enact if the price is right?
yurbud
Apr 2013
#49
This story was posted early Sunday. I want to kick it again. It is huge to my mind.
JDPriestly
Apr 2013
#68