President Obama’s “structural reforms” to Medicare did not sound rosy in the garden. Blueprinted in today’s paper, they consist of mandatory co-payments for bed-ridden people ($100 per visit), higher deductibles for new beneficiaries, and possibly an increase in the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67. What exactly is gained by this cocktail of cuts and fees? A few pennies – or fiscal savings no greater than 3% of what the American government intends to spend on Medicare as a whole over the next decade. The stats are unsurprising. Medicare has indubitably low administrative costs, lower than any private insurance company. Structural reforms to the program through cuts and fees are hardly going to offset $1.5 trillion. The real question to ask now is what might be lost in the president’s latest cocktail mix? (Our answer: The American health delivery system, where the beating heart of this problem lies.)
flick.com/denny_onasta
When Warren Buffet called on Washington to get “serious about shared sacrifice,” he invoked the central premise of the American experiment, that each citizen has an obligation to look beyond one’s own self-interest, to recognize the benefits that one has reaped from membership in these United States, and to understand that one is required, as a beneficiary, to give back. Throughout history, Great American Presidents have both sacrificed personally for the good of the country and inspired others to do the same. President Obama is not this kind of president. …
Read the rest of our Op-Ed here.
How is it possible that one of the top op-ed columnists in the country doesn’t know about all of the Patriotic Millionaires who are fighting like hell to get Congress to raise their taxes? How are we supposed to have a constructive public dialogue about our national priorities if one of the country’s best journalists can’t get his facts straight? Especially, in light of the fact that the country’s credit worthiness was just downgraded for the first time in history because – as the S&P report put it: ‘compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues.’
In his Times op-ed on Tuesday, columnist Joe Nocera said: “I keep waiting for one wealthy, well-known figure to stand up and say publicly that he or she is willing to pay more in taxes as part of the shared sacrifice necessary to gain control of the country’s deficit”.
Seriously??? Does Joe really not know about the hundreds of Patriotic Millionaires from both parties (and some from no party at all) fighting to raise taxes . . . on themselves??? The Patriotic Millionaires who have written letters, shut down the White House phone lines calling the President and leaders in the House and Senate, who have created video messages and testimonials to explain why raising taxes on millionaires and billionaires is a critical part of restoring our fiscal strength and our moral compass, who challenged the entire intellectual framework of supply-side economics in a major position paper to Congress, and who gave a slap down to Orrin Hatch when he belittled their efforts*. Seriously??
Good grief. No wonder this country is so screwed up. If top journalists from top publications don’t pay attention to the facts where does that put us?
For the good of the country, JOE SHOULD KNOW that millionaires from across the country want to pay higher taxes.
*Earlier we said Mitch McConnell. That was an accident but he deserves a slap down too.
What Do We Do Next?
Posted by (0 Comments)Pathetic.
That is the only word I can think of to describe the bungling political strategy that will conclude with half the Democrats in the House and most of the Democrats in the Senate voting for total capitulation. Otherwise known as ‘The Debt Ceiling Deal,’ Total Capitulation will be signed into law by the man who became President of the United States because millions of Americans believed he was tough enough to fight and smart enough to win.
Instead of ‘audacity,’ we got ‘better than the alternative.’
Is avoiding default a good thing? Sure. But ‘not as bad as it could have been’ IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR THIS COUNTRY.
And what Washington doesn’t want you to know is that it never should have gotten to this point.
We could have avoided this entire debacle – and reduced the deficit – and done it with our American values intact - TEN MONTHS AGO. Instead, in a stunning display of inept political strategy, the President led Democrats to a budget deal during the lame duck session that extended the Bush tax cuts – the SINGLE LARGEST CAUSE OF THE CURRENT FEDERAL DEFICIT – including those on millionaires and billionaires. That decision set the stage for the disastrous debt ceiling debate we are now engaged in. Ten months ago, Democrats held the majority in both Houses of Congress and the Bush tax cuts were set to expire ON SCHEDULE at the end of the year – given the make-up of the new Congress, that was the last moment that President Obama would have real political power. Knowing the debt ceiling was around the corner, and knowing he had more political power than he would have again, the President caved.
Now the White House claims they under-estimated the irrationality of the Tea-Party-controlled GOP. Kind of like under-estimating a drooling pit bull who has chewed through his leash, don’t you think?
We never under-estimate leash-less, drooling, pit bulls.
And we never under-estimate the power – and the money – of the other side.
More importantly, we know how to fight. As my grandmother used to say, ‘one thing you can count on with Southern women – they’ll pull the trigger.’ Damn right we will. We like to fight. And with the strength of our principles, we will keep on fighting – through death threats and hate mails from angry conservatives, through outrage from Democrats who don’t like being confronted for selling out their values to the highest bidder – until politicians in Washington start working for regular Americans instead of for their campaign contributors.
Ten months ago, Democrats held the majority in both Houses of Congress and the Bush tax cuts were set to expire ON SCHEDULE at the end of the year – given the make-up of the new Congress, that was the last moment that President Obama would have real political power. Knowing the debt ceiling was around the corner, and knowing he had more political power than he would have again, the President caved.
At the Agenda Project we are willing to Throw Granny Off the Cliff if that’s what it takes to show people what Paul Ryan’s terrible budget will do to Medicare. We are willing to shut down the White House phone lines if that’s what it takes to tell the President’s team we are serious about raising taxes on people who make more than a million dollars a year.
Please visit our website and make a gift.
We can’t do it without you.
PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES vs. ‘MILLIONAIRE POLITICIANS’
‘TAX CUTS FOR THEM – CATASTROPHE FOR U.S.’
‘Republican MILLIONAIRE POLITICIANS are choosing Themselves and Other Millionaires Over the Country. It’s time to ask WHY’
Washington, DC. – Today, the Patriotic Millionaires released a VIDEO aggressively challenging the motivations of Republican Millionaires in the House and Senate who refuse to raise taxes on THEMSELVES and millionaires LIKE THEM – even in the face of default on the U.S. debt and the likely economic disaster that would follow.
The VIDEO - It’s Time to Ask WHY – highlights more than a dozen examples of Republican ‘Millionaire Politicians’ including: Speaker Boehner, Rep. Eric Cantor, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Rep. Paul Ryan and others, who in a flagrant example of self-interest, have opposed raising taxes despite the crisis facing the country.
The video states: TAX CUTS FOR THEM – CATASTROPHE FOR U.S. It asks Americans to CALL MILLIONAIRE POLITICIANS AND DEMAND THEY PAY THEIR SHARE.
The Patriotic Millionaires are a group of 200+ millionaires who have repeatedly asked elected officials to “put our country ahead of politics” and increase taxes on incomes over $1 million. Their efforts are coordinated by the Agenda Project, a New York-based public policy organization and Wealth for the Common Good.
“More than half of the members of the House and Senate – including members of the Tea Party Caucus – are millionaires,” said Erica Payne, Founder of the Agenda Project and coordinator of the Patriotic Millionaires. “Patriotic citizens understand millionaires and billionaires need to pay more if we are going to get our fiscal house in order. Unfortunately many Republican Millionaire Politicians care more about giving themselves a tax cut than doing what is right for the country. Is patriotism really too much to ask from our politicians?”
According to Open Secrets.org more than HALF of the members of the TEA PARTY CAUCUS are millionaires. Of the congress at large, research shows that more than 250 members are millionaires - according to an analysis of 2009 data from the Center for Responsive Politics. Just 1 percent of Americans are millionaires. According to the study, congressional members’ personal wealth increased by more than 16 percent between 2008 and 2009. Figures show that the median wealth of a House member is $700,000+, while the median wealth for a senator was over $2 million. Note: Members of Congress are only required to report their wealth and liabilities in broad ranges, and federal financial disclosures don’t require members of Congress to report certain assets such as personal residences.
Patriotic Millionaires include: more than a dozen current and former Google employees, actress Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie); Susie Buell, Founder of Esprit; John Katzman, the founder of the Princeton Review; legendary philanthropist Michael Steinhardt; famed economist Nouriel Roubini; financial guru Andrew Tobias, top executives from Warburg, Pincus and other major financial firms, Dennis Mehiel, Chairman and Founder, U.S. Corrugated, Inc.; Ron Garret, Venture Capitalist – Former Google employee; Abigail Disney, Filmmaker, philanthropist; Peter Norvig, Computer Scientist; David Brown, Investor / Entrepreneur; Dal LaMagna, Co-Managing Partner IceStone; Leo Hindery, Managing Partner, InterMedia Partners; Frank Jernigan, Former Senior Software Engineer at Google; Michael Barr, Small Business Owner; Charlie Fink, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist; Daniel Berger, Attorney; Linda Gottlieb, Film / TV Producer; David Watson, Music Producer; Josh Kanter, Attorney; Garrett Gruener, Co-Founder / Director; and Dr. Robert Johnson, Executive Director – Institute for New Economic Thinking among others.
For more information about the Patriotic Millionaires, please visit www.patrioticmillionaires.org.
PRESS HIGHLIGHTS FOR PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES
CBS Sunday Morning, New York Magazine’s Intelligencer section, Yahoo News—shared 54,000 times with 11,000+ comments, MSNBC News Live, Freedom Watch, Fox Business News, Bull and Bears, The O’Reilly Factor, CBS Radio, ABC (400+comments), Salon.com (#2 Most Read and #3 Most Shared, “liked” 4,000 times on Facebook), The Washington Post blog, The Daily Caller, The National Journal, The Washington Independent, The Colorado Independent, The American Independent, Crooks and Liars, The Weekly Standard, Daily Kos, and United Press International, Salon, ABC, CNN, The Washington Post, Fox Business, MSNBC, Roll Call, American Public Media: Marketplace appearance by Katzman (transcript), Media Matters for America, America News Online.
TIMELINE of PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES CAMPAIGN (from Most Recent)
-July 21, 2011
Patriotic Millionaires release white paper on Tax Fairness, Economic Growth and the Truth About Taxes on Millionaires and Billionaires
-June 7th, 2011
Patriotic Millionaires release VIDEO message to Speaker Boehner and Members of Congress.
-June 6th, 2011
Patriotic Millionaires hold major press conference demanding Speaker Boehner increase taxes on Americans making over $1 million per year.
-April 25th, 2011
Patriotic Millionaires Respond to Hatch Letter. Read the full letter here.
-April 20th, 2011
Senator Hatch writes a letter to the Patriotic Millionaires asserting that they can make voluntary contributions to the IRS if they choose to do so. Furthermore, he states, “this debt crisis is not caused because we tax too little. It is because our nation spends too much.” Read the full letter here.
-April 15th, 2011
The Patriotic Millionaires respond to Senator Hatch’s comments on the Senate floor:
“A few of us voluntarily writing a check to the IRS will not fix the problem that Sen. Hatch and his colleagues created for our country with their fiscal irresponsibility. It will take the work of all Patriotic Americans to create a strong foundation for our continued prosperity. We are willing to do our part by paying higher taxes. It is clear Senator Hatch and many of his colleagues are not willing to do theirs. We challenge Senator Hatch and the other millionaire members of the Senate to put their country first and raise taxes on people like them – and us - who make more than a million dollars a year. In the meantime, if Senator Hatch would like to make a personal contribution to the IRS to help his country, we pledge to match his contribution.”
-April 13th, 2011
Senator Hatch mocks the Patriotic Millionaires campaign stating: “Well, as the Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee, I feel obligated to inform Mr. Plouffe that the President, and all of those rich liberal Democrats who are eager to pay higher taxes, can do just that. They can write a check to the IRS and make an extra payment on their tax returns to pay down the federal debt. The option is right there at the bottom of their tax return. America awaits these checks.”
-April 13th, 2011
The Patriotic Millionaires launch the second iteration of their campaign, urging President Obama to increase taxes on all millionaires in America, stating: “Please do the right thing for our country. Raise our taxes.”
-November 18th, 2010
The Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength launched their first campaign, bringing together over 100 individuals who make over $1 million a year and garnering extensive media coverage.
New York, NY-June 23 signified the launch of the ‘Rebuild The Dream’ campaign with over one thousand progressive individuals and activists congregating at Town Hall in midtown Manhattan. Not only were they entertained by music from The Roots but many people walked away with renewed hope and restored enthusiasm after chanting “America, help is on the way!’ to viewers across America watching the live stream online.
Van Jones began with a bold statement stating ”We are being lied to.” He is right, and over the course of the evening he detailed three major lies that have pervaded political and popular discourse.
Lie #1) America is broke.
Lie #2) Asking the super-rich to pay taxes hurts the economy.
Lie #3) Hating on America’s government – and wrecking America’s infrastructure – is patriotic
With the conviction of son who’s father served in the military, Jones spoke of these lies and why we should care about what we hear about our country.”America,” he said, is not broke – “Just look at our businesses, just look at our banks! Clearly there is abundant wealth; it’s just in the wrong place.” Which brought him to his next point – if you do well in America, you should do well by America. After all, the American government, the American people, have invested resources in the super-wealthy and American business. If they profit, they should be patriotic enough to pay back what they borrowed. After all, it isn’t their money – it belongs to the American people! It was at this point that he introduced the video message by the Patriotic Millionaires which was extremely well received by the audience with triumphant “Yeahs” coming from all directions of the Hall. While the campaign continues, we would to thank all those who have supported and continue to support the Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength!
Van also announced future steps for the Rebuild The Dream campaign which included a request to all of you out there to submit your ideas on how you would rebuild the American Dream and our economy.
It is about time that a movement counteracting malicious misinformation, personal attacks on progressive individuals and economic theories that beguile common sense take root and spread throughout our nation- giving every single American the opportunity to ‘Rebuild The Dream.’ Don’t you think?
Millionaires Send Video Message to Speaker Boehner on 10th Anniversary of Tax Cuts: Fix the Mistake You Made
Posted by (2 Comments)On 10th Anniversary of Bush Tax Cuts: FIX THE MISTAKE YOU MADE
Washington, DC. – Today, more than a dozen millionaires representing 200 millionaires sent a video message to Speaker John Boehner and Members of Congress demanding a tax hike on Americans (like them) who make $1 million or more in annual income.
The VIDEO MESSAGE – sent to Boehner on the 10-year anniversary of the Bush tax cuts – was issued in the wake of Boehner’s comments to Matt Lauer on the Today Show in which he said that tax cuts were ‘off the table.’ In the message, the millionaires tell Boehner that the Bush tax cuts hurt the country leaving “Less money for roads to transport our products for high speed internet to build our technology companies for universities and research to spark our innovation. Less money for everything America needs and more money for millionaires” (full script below).
The Patriotic Millionaires are a group of 200 millionaires who have signed a letter to President Obama, Hon. Harry Reid, and Hon. John Boehner urging them to “put our country ahead of politics” and increase taxes on incomes over $1 million. Their efforts are coordinated by the Agenda Project, a New York-based public policy organization and Wealth for the Common Good.
“The 2001 tax cuts were one of the worst decisions that members of both parties have made in the last 50 years,” stated Erica Payne, Founder of the Agenda Project. “Increasing taxes on millionaires has to be part of the solution for how we get our fiscal house in order.”
Patriotic Millionaires in the video include: Dennis Mehiel, Chairman and Founder, U.S. Corrugated, Inc.; Ron Garret, Venture Capitalist – Former Google employee; Abigail Disney, Filmmaker, philanthropist; Peter Norvig, Computer Scientist; David Brown, Investor / Entrepreneur; Dal LaMagna, Co-Managing Partner IceStone; Leo Hindery, Managing Partner, InterMedia Partners; Frank Jernigan, Former Senior Software Engineer at Google; Michael Barr, Small Business Owner; Charlie Fink, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist; Daniel Berger, Attorney; Linda Gottlieb, Film / TV Producer; David Watson, Music Producer; Josh Kanter, Attorney; Garrett Gruener, Co-Founder / Director; Dr. Robert Johnson, Executive Director – Institute for New Economic Thinking.
Other notable Patriotic Millionaires who have signed the petition include: Actress Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie); Susie Buell, Founder of Esprit; John Katzman, the founder of the Princeton Review; legendary philanthropist Michael Steinhardt; famed economist Nouriel Roubini; financial guru Andrew Tobias, and top executives from Warburg, Pincus and other major financial firms.
AD SCRIPT:
TO: Speaker Boehner and Members of Congress
FR: PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES
RE: Taxes
10 years ago you made a mistake
You gave tax cuts to millionaires like me,
And me,
And me.
You decided our country needed less money
and millionaires like me needed more.
Now millionaires like me
have more money;
and our country has less.
Less money for roads to transport our products,
high speed internet to build our technology companies,
Science research, education;
For universities and research to spark our innovation.
Less money for everything America needs,
And more money for millionaires.
10 years ago you gave me a tax cut I didn’t want and I didn’t need.
Fix the mistake you made
Tax me
Tax me
Tax me
Tax me
Tax me because, my country, our country, means more than my money.
TIMELINE of PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES CAMPAIGN (from Most Recent):
-June 7th, 2011
Patriotic Millionaires release ad addressed to the President and Congress.
-June 6th, 2011
Patriotic Millionaires hold major press conference demanding Speaker Boehner increase taxes on Americans making over $1 million per year.
-April 25th, 2011
Patriotic Millionaires Respond to Hatch Letter. Read the full letter here.
-April 20th, 2011
Senator Hatch writes a letter to the Patriotic Millionaires asserting that they can make voluntary contributions to the IRS if they choose to do so. Furthermore, he states, “this debt crisis is not caused because we tax too little. It is because our nation spends too much.” Read the full letter here.
-April 15th, 2011
The Patriotic Millionaires respond to Senator Hatch’s comments on the Senate floor:
“A few of us voluntarily writing a check to the IRS will not fix the problem that Sen. Hatch and his colleagues created for our country with their fiscal irresponsibility. It will take the work of all Patriotic Americans to create a strong foundation for our continued prosperity. We are willing to do our part by paying higher taxes. It is clear Senator Hatch and many of his colleagues are not willing to do theirs. We challenge Senator Hatch and the other millionaire members of the Senate to put their country first and raise taxes on people like them – and us - who make more than a million dollars a year. In the meantime, if Senator Hatch would like to make a personal contribution to the IRS to help his country, we pledge to match his contribution.”
-April 13th, 2011
Senator Hatch mocks the Patriotic Millionaires campaign stating: “Well, as the Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee, I feel obligated to inform Mr. Plouffe that the President, and all of those rich liberal Democrats who are eager to pay higher taxes, can do just that. They can write a check to the IRS and make an extra payment on their tax returns to pay down the federal debt. The option is right there at the bottom of their tax return. America awaits these checks.”
-April 13th, 2011
The Patriotic Millionaires launch the second iteration of their campaign, urging President Obama to increase taxes on all millionaires in America, stating: “Please do the right thing for our country. Raise our taxes.”
-November 18th, 2010
The Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength launched their first campaign, bringing together over 100 individuals who make over $1 million a year and garnering extensive media coverage.
PRESS HIGHLIGHTS FOR PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES
CBS Sunday Morning, New York Magazine’s Intelligencer section, Yahoo News—shared 54,000 times with 11,000+ comments, MSNBC News Live , Freedom Watch, Fox Business News, Bull and Bears, The O’Reilly Factor, CBS Radio, ABC (400+comments), Salon.com (#2 Most Read and #3 Most Shared, “liked” 4,000 times on Facebook), The Washington Post blog, The Daily Caller, The National Journal, The Washington Independent,The Colorado Independent, and The American Independent, Crooks and Liars, The Weekly Standard, New English Review, One Page News, Daily Kos, and United Press International, Salon, Forbes ABC, CNN, The Washington Post, Fox Business (twice), MSNBC, CBS, and Yahoo News, Alexis Levinson, Roll Call, American Public Media: Marketplace appearance by Katzman (transcript), Media Matters for America, America News Online.
Today, The Agenda Project released a shocking new video dramatizing Paul Ryan’s proposal to end Medicare. The video – which shows an elderly woman getting thrown off a cliff – asserts that the Ryan plan will hurt elderly Americans.
Under Paul Ryan’s Budget Plan, named “The Path to Prosperity” – a ludicrous proposal to slash funding for almost every domestic service provided by the federal government EXCEPT for defense spending, meanwhile LOWERING taxes even further than the Bush tax cuts for the rich. Does that sound like a “balanced” budget to you? But Ryan’s plan specifically targets Medicare. Right now, Medicare is a free-for-service program which itself pays for health care procedures for most beneficiaries. Under Ryan’s plan, this program would be changed into a series of subsidies – that is, you go and get your own insurance and then the government will “subsidize” (pay a little money) towards that privatized insurance. Now, that may not sound so bad if it weren’t for the fact that Ryan’s plan, consciously, DOES NOT take into account any sort of inflation whatsoever. Ever wonder why your healthcare exam increased in cost from the previous year? Thats right, its called inflation and it is rampant in the healthcare industry. What that means is that Ryan’s plan would eventually screw over the elderly by not keeping up with healthcare inflation – meaning it pays less and less over time. Does this amount to any less than pitching our elderly off a cliff?
More than half of America lives on less than $28k a year! These individuals are NOT at fault for our current fiscal state. It is the duty of the politicians of this country to fix their mistakes – a war that has cost trillions of dollars, billions spent on bailing out unregulated banks – not to slide that cost onto our senior citizens.
Republicans want to privatize Medicare – creating a potentially disastrous healthcare landscape, all while they continue to cut taxes for the rich and spend trillions of dollars in defense. That is not a “path to prosperity,” that is a path to the rich getting richer, the poor getting sicker, and the country going down the tube. If America truly is beautiful, then we won’t let Paul Ryan and the Republican House push our grandmothers over a cliff.
Patriotic Millionaires: “Raise Our Taxes For America!,” John Boehner Says: “Totally Off the Table!”
Posted by (1 Comments)The budget debate is quickly moving into high gear. This morning on the Today Show, House Speaker John Boehner told Matt Lauer he was unwilling to do what is necessary to make our country strong again. Even though HE KNOWS that we need every Patriotic American to work together to strengthen our country, Congressman Boehner refused to even consider raising taxes on incomes over $1,000,000 a year. He said it was ‘totally off the table’ – even raising taxes on incomes over A BILLION DOLLARS is ‘totally off the table’.
Doesn’t he know that only 375,00 people out of 307,000,000 make that money every year?
Doesn’t he know that incomes over $1 million a year are taxed less than they have been since the Great Depression?
Some AMAZING Patriotic Millionaires are fighting back. Take a look at a video about the Patriotic Millionaires Campaign for Fiscal Strength.
These amazing Americans are demanding that Cong. Boehner, Senator Reid and President Obama raise their taxes ‘For the fiscal health of our nation and the well-being of our fellow citizens.’
Public policy is like a tennis ball in the middle of a see saw. We have to make sure that ball rolls in a direction that is right for America – - -
If you want to get on the right side of the see saw – go to www.patrioticmillionaires.org and sign the petition! You can sign either as a person who makes over $1 million a year or as a friend of the campaign.
Next week, The Agenda Project will deliver the petition to the House, Senate, and White House!
@DailyAgenda
RT @NickHanauer: TED relents, posts my talk. @TEDchris is right however. Controversy bigger than quality of my talk. http://t.co/6yfaRHB2
10 hours ago TED censors Patriotic Millionaire -- check out the article and sign our petition -- http://t.co/Tahq5xlS
18 hours ago Throw out idea Supreme Court part of harmonious system of checks + balances. They are unelected, politicians in robes http://t.co/ljI0FOkI
2 days ago Can the culture be jammed? Or are we all doomed to wear tie-dyed @Gap Peace t-shirts as our only method of #resistance? http://t.co/JElahZOp
2 days agoFrom the Agenda Project
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