Repost: "Social Security Reform: Achieving a Leninist Strategy" (Cato 1983, template for today)

[magellan]

This was originally shared by HiPointDem in Dec last year. I'm surprised by how little attention it got at the time; it shows clear evidence of a long range plan to undermine SS by sowing lies and division in public opinion over its condition, in order to eventually privatize it. This plan is coming to fruition now.

Do not ever underestimate how evil these players are, or the extent of their reach into both parties.

HiPointDem's OP follows.
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Cato organized a conference of the enemies of Social Security in June (1983) and then published the papers in the Fall 1983 issue of the Cato Journal...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/15/945309/--Social-Security-Reform-Achieving-a-Leninist-Strategy-1983

The broad conclusion of the participants was that 'reform' meant 'privatization' on the model of the Ferrara Plan. But how to get there given the popularity of a program that had become known as the 'Third Rail of American Politics'? Well the game plan was laid (out) in a paper (by) authors Stuart Butler and Peter Germanis... "Achieving a 'Leninist' Strategy..."

It laid out a battle plan that the Right has followed to the letter ever since.

Pretty much to the point that you could cut and paste any Republican speech on Social Security from it. Ever wonder why so many younger workers think Social Security just won't be there for them? Why every Republican plan ever proposed would exempt those in or approaching retirement from benefit cuts? And why all the blame has come to be heaped on Simpson's 'Greedy Geezers' aka as 'Selfish Boomers?

Well it is because Butler and Germanis may have been the most successful marketing plan in history, particularly in selling their product to Gen-X. They may be evil bastards but you have to take your hat off when evaluating them as strategists....What follows in Extended are fairly lengthy extracts, but you have to read the whole thing to get the full flavor.

Here's a link to that original paper:

http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/1983/11/cj3n2-11.pdf

ACHIEVING A “LENINIST” STRATEGY
Stuart Butler and Peter Germanis (1983)

Introduction

Marx believed that capitalism was doomed by its inherent contradictions, and that it would inevitably collapse—to he replaced by the next stage on the ladder leading to the socialist Utopia.

Lenin also believed that capitalism was doomed by its inherent contradictions, and would inevitably collapse. But just to be on the safe side, he sought to mobilize the working class, in alliance with other key elements in political society, both to hasten the collapse and to ensimre that the result conformed with his interpretation of the proletarian state. Unlike many other socialists at the time, Lenin recognized that fundamental change is contingent both upon a movement’s ability to create a focused political coalition and upon its success in isolating and weakening its opponents.

As we contemplate basic reform of the Social Security system, we would do well to draw a few lessons from the Leninist strategy...if we are to achieve basic changes in the system, we must first prepare the political ground so that the fiasco of the last 18 months is not repeated.

First, we must recognize that there is a firm coalition behind the present Social Security system, and that this coalition has been very effective in winning political concessions for many years. Before Social Security can be reformed, we must begin to divide this coalition and cast doubt on the picture of reality it presents to the general public.

What we must do is construct a coalition around the Ferrara plan, a coalition that will gain directly from its implementation. That coalition should consist of not only those who will reap benefits from the IRA-based private system Ferrara has proposed but also the banks, insurance companies, and other institutions that will gain from providing such plans to the public...

[Benton D Struckcheon]

1. I'll go back & read those links (promise!)

...but my first reaction is of course! The projections they use, first of all, don't take into account normal gains from productivity that boost wages over the very long term, and the very long term is the horizon SS operates at. I remember having studied, just for my own curiosity, SS in detail, and comparing what I learned to all the distortions that get pinned on it by these kinds of people. The difference between SS in reality and the SS they paint is huge.

[magellan]

2. Kick

[forestpath]

3. K&R