AARP Sells Out Seniors

AARP Sells Out And Caves, Calls for Benefit Cuts

By  zenbassoon   Fri Jun 17, 2011      Original Article

File this under:  Don't Blame The President This Time

I'm surprised this hasn't made the FP yet.  It seems that AARP, the organization that successfully beat back the Bush administration's attempt to privatize Social Security, is now positioning itself to call for Social Security Benefit cuts.

That's right.   Benefit cuts.

The Wall Street Journal had the story yesterday.

Evidently, instead of mobilizing its millions of members, the AARP is now frightened of what may happen.  It seems the GOP and their masters have got to them.

The decision, which AARP hasn't discussed publicly, came after a wrenching debate inside the organization. In 2005, the last time Social Security was debated, AARP led the effort to kill President George W. Bush's plan for partial privatization. AARP now has concluded that change is inevitable, and it wants to be at the table to try to minimize the pain.

That's the new paradigm.

"Minimize the pain".

Now you will see a media blitz with town halls with the AARP explaining the decision.

But, and take this for what it's worth,

There are limits to how far AARP is willing to go. The group will accept cuts, but won't champion them, and it is particularly leery of certain concepts such as eliminating benefits for wealthier recipients. It wants tax increases to fill most of the program's financial hole, and it insists that a deal must be crafted apart from broader deficit-reduction negotiations.

The architect of this position is the policy chief of the AARP, John Rother

AARP's move was engineered by Mr. Rother, 64 years old, who has been at the center of every Social Security debate in the past three decades. He cut his teeth on the issue as the staff director of the Senate Aging Committee, working for a liberal Republican during negotiations in 1983 over the last bipartisan deal to rescue the program. He is registered as an independent.

He took a job with AARP in 1984. In 2005, he helped lead the opposition to Mr. Bush's plan to let younger workers divert some of their taxes into private accounts to be invested in the stock market. He thought the market plan was too risky, but he also objected because it would have resulted in lower benefits for seniors.
Journal Community

In 2007, the group took what Mr. Rother calls a "baby step" toward the current position, telling Congress it wanted a bipartisan, balanced deal on Social Security. Then, in 2009, Mr. Rother concluded that the state of the nation's finances required him to get ahead of the coming ax.

I just read a tweet from Dave Weigel that had Jane Hamsher telling the folks at Netroots Nation to "burn their AARP cards".  That may be a little extreme, but AARP will have a big job on its hands selling this position to its 37 million members.

And the Right Wing is jubilant.  One headline read:  "President Bush Was Right".

Now it's up to us.  WE have to make sure that our benefits remain and won't get hurt.  WE must make sure that the prime and main fix is the elimination of the income cap.

Because if they can make the AARP cave, what does that mean for the rest of the country?

UPDATE:  There is an article from Barrons talking about the upcoming ad against cuts in benefits:

"While some members of Congress are considering making changes to Medicare's structure, what few people realize is that some proposals being discussed behind closed doors include harmful cuts to the critical Medicare and Social Security benefits that are lifelines for today's seniors in Illinois," said Bob Gallo, AARP Illinois State Director. "Instead of harmful cuts to Medicare and Social Security, Congress should cut wasteful spending, close tax loopholes and work to rein in costs throughout the health care system."

Notice the key phrase "Harmful cuts"--do we take this to mean no cuts at all?  Or do we nuance the language like we did for the President's promise not to "slash benefits"?

Personally I expect some "tweaks" to the system.  But hopefully we get the emphasis on eliminating the income cap.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE:  It seems there already is HUGE blowback from this article.  AARP is denying the thrust of the WSJ article, saying their stance was "misinterpreted".  From Twitter:

AARP Official AARP Tweets
STATEMENT: "Contrary to the misleading characterization in a recent media story, AARP has not changed its position on Social Security."
16 seconds ago

Technorati Tags: AARP,Benefits Cuts,Social Security,Medicare,Seniors,Current Events