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Wednesday 23 November 2011
Why the Super Committee is Super Illegitimate

Let’s start with the premise of even having a deficit super committee in the first place. Basic macroeconomics tells us that trying to reduce the deficit before you have tackled the jobs crisis is great recipe for making things worse, largely because the lack of tax revenue that comes with high unemployment is a primary contributor to the deficit, and slashing government spending does not create jobs—quite the opposite. The idea that you can slash-and-grow the economy is an economic fairy tale that has been thoroughly debunked and has demonstrably failed in places like the U.K. Sensible approaches to the deficit from reality-based economists like Joseph Stiglitz (i.e. reduce unemployment and tax the top) have been around for some time, but they can’t seem to penetrate the bubble of economic delusion that is Washington, D.C.

What too few are wiling to say is that the fundamental goal of the super committee—that of deficit cutting in the face of a weak economy and jobs crisis – does not serve the welfare of the public (something our Constitution states clearly that our government is supposed to do, btw). The truth is that the super committee can’t properly devote itself to the general welfare because it has other constituencies to attend to, namely those who contribute big political money.

As a reminder, the members of the super committee are as follows:

From the Senate: Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio),Patty Murray (D-Wash.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), and Max Baucus (D-Mont.).

From the House: Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Dave Camp (R-Mich.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), and Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.).

Maplight, a non-profit, non-partisan group dedicated to exposing money in politics, has released information on where the members of the super committee got their money over the last decade. Here are the ten biggest organization contributors (including PACs and employees) to super committee members:

Club for Growth - $1,009,884
Microsoft - $822,350
University of California - $652,935
Goldman Sachs - $605,684
EMILY’s List - $594,883
Citigroup - $584,831
JPMorgan Chase - $533,128
UBS - $451,280
Akin Gump - $435,254
Morgan Stanley - $393,779

You will be unsurprised to learn that the Club for Growth, the number one contributor overall, is an extreme anti-tax and anti-government group comprising 9,000 members and dominated by Wall Street financiers and executives. Nor will you be surprised to find the big banks and financial houses well-represented on this list: Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and UBS.

Obviously, neither the Club for Growth nor Big Finance advocates increasing the share of taxes on the wealthy and the financial sector as a way of addressing the deficit, in contrast to the American public, which does. Are we really supposed to believe that it is a coincidence that the six Republicans on the committee swore to block any tax increases, even on the big banks that helped bring on the 2008 crash that caused the deficit in the first place?

34 notes

  1. xpo356 reblogged this from alyson-noele
  2. pavlovsstepson reblogged this from azspot
  3. viviano reblogged this from azspot and added:
    How the fuck does the University of California have money to give when it’s planning on raising tuition by 81% with the...
  4. itzlucas reblogged this from yantimestwo
  5. alyson-noele reblogged this from yantimestwo
  6. yantimestwo reblogged this from azspot and added:
    Why the fuck is the UC system paying so much? I’m at a CSU but tuition hikes are being felt in all higher education...
  7. splitsplat reblogged this from azspot
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  9. canisfamiliaris reblogged this from azspot and added:
    Let’s start with the premise of even having a deficit super committee in the first place. Basic macroeconomics tells us...
  10. vipers5 reblogged this from azspot
  11. mbidac reblogged this from azspot
  12. rafaelmarquez reblogged this from azspot and added:
    Perry did get one thing right yesterday. The super committee, was a super failure.
  13. terenceinmonochrome reblogged this from azspot
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