Why is it called the Cat Food Commission?

[Ichingcarpenter]

Is it because cat food is made up of left over body parts from animals and plants that are unfit
for human consumption?.......... I mean even though the can says tuna it doesn't smell or taste like it.

Anyone know the story on that? It just sounds so Orwellian to me.

[Raven]

1. Because we'll all be eating it when they get through with us?

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. The Soylent Green Commission?

OK...... I watch and read too much Sci fi... but Cat Food? WTF does it mean?

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

2. If I remembered correctly some right wing douche made a comment about old people

being able to survive eating cat food. Or something along those lines.

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. So the media pick up the term and use it synonymously?

To describe the 'reform'
What's the official term?


I see it in headlines in major news sources

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

9. I've only seen it used here and in liberal blogs so far. I thought it was supposed

to be a derogatory term for the so called Social Security commission. :shrug:

[slipslidingaway]

28. Is there another commission for Social Security by itself - Link? n/t

[Jim Lane]

22. Official name: National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform

Here's the about the creation of the commission. It's not officially a Social Security/Medicare commission. The name "Cat Food Commission" expresses the cynical view that its recommendations will disproportionately target those programs, as opposed to, say, military spending or the Bush tax cuts.

[SunsetDreams]

15. ahhh so it's a right wing talking point?

[Diamonique]

19. Not necessarily.

I've heard about old people who don't have enough money for food buying and eating cat food for years. I don't know if it's true or not, but I swear it's one of those things I even heard about when I was a child.

So somebody nicknamed it the cat food commission because they think they're going to cut the social security benefits, thereby not leaving old people with enough money to make it through the month.

[FBI_Un_Sub]

16. One of the R. Paul father&son team.

[csziggy]

25. Cat food comsumption by elderly/poor is far older than that right winger comment

Back in the 60s in St. Pete, canned cat food was sparse on the grocery store shelves the day after the old people's checks arrived. For many, it was the only meat/protein product they could afford.

[PBS Poll-435]

3. Natural Born Killers made a profit

That's why.

[Warpy]

5. It's what a lot of old people, especially women

were eating back in the bad old days when it really was a fixed income with few COLAs. Cat food tuna was half the price of regular canned tuna and comprised the protein in their diets.

It's not Orwellian. It's what they want for people who are too old or sick to be used by corporations any more.

[Canuckistanian]

18. Yup, I understood the reference immediately

The "senior citizens eating cat food" idea has been around since the '70s.

[Lifelong Protester]

6. I think Warpy is correct.

I also agree with several posts I have seen in the past few weeks that there is a not so subtle war on old folks going on, because, as Warpy opines, we will be of little use to corporations.

[sandnsea]

8. Before Meals on Wheels, tax deferrments,

and a whole host of programs to help seniors; some really were eating cat food. Back in the 70s and 80s.

It's disgusting that they're using this particular term to describe a commission designed to reduce the deficit so we aren't paying interest so WE CAN PAY SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS.

Dumb motherfuckers I swear to god.

[Ichingcarpenter]

11. It seems to me that once again

the right wing media is choosing the language...

Thom Hartman is right once again, when you have to go so low its hard to come back to what is normal.

In the Sci fi movie District 9, Cat food was a staple for the aliens in the Ghetto.

[sandnsea]

12. This is coming from Jane Hamsher n/t

[saracat]

17. Do you seriously think the members of that commission are trying to "preserve"

Social Security? Do you really KNOW who Alan Simpson is? If so, do you think he actually cares about the elderly on SS ? Really? And he is an alleged Democrat supposed to be representing us! Do that the majority of the others care? There are maybe two members of that commission that "might" care.

[girl gone mad]

29. Your post makes no sense to me.

What does reducing the deficit have to do with paying Social Security benefits?

You do know that many on this commission would like to see SS eliminated, right?

[RamboLiberal]

10. My understanding is rumors of elderly poverty

where seniors were eating pet food because they couldn't afford meat and food fit for humans and that cuts in social security will force more seniors (and others on SS) into poverty levels.

[dionysus]

13. cause mean 'ol omabitler is gonna leave the poor old folks eating catfood.

:sarcasm:

[Ichingcarpenter]

14. Prawns living in the new Ghetto in District 9?

in South Africa or America?

[eridani]

20. Because the Social Security slashers want seniors to live off of it

http://www.robertagregory.com/
Roberta will draw for progressives for $30/hr.

[tavalon]

21. Easy

Before Social Security, many elderly people were forced by poverty to eat the cheapest food - cat food.

[unkachuck]

23. we'll all be eating cat food....

....sooner or later, and loving it....because the more the Republicans and their allies make us suffer, the more we'll vote for them....it's one of the many paradoxes of the brain-dead U.S. voter....

[Jamastiene]

24. Because if Social Security is not protected,

people who rely on it to live will have no other choice but to live on cat food.

[thelordofhell]

26. Because they want to scare old people

Remember "Death Panels"

[slipslidingaway]

27. It's Baaaack: The Catfood Commission 11/13/2009 by Digby

Not sure who used the term first, but it does get people's attention.

:shrug:


http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009114613/its-baack-catfood-commission

"Not that it ever went away. The catfood commission is the Zombie that has been clawing at the door since Obama was elected..."

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/67293-sens-squeeze-speaker-over-commission

"Senators from both parties on Tuesday put new pressure on Speaker Nancy Pelosi to turn the power to trim entitlement benefits over to an independent commission..."


Hedge Fund Billionaire Pete Peterson Key Speaker At Obama “Fiscal Responsibility Summit,” Will Tell Us All Why Little Old Ladies Must Eat Cat Food

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/18/hedge-fund-billionaire-pete-peterson-key-speaker-at-obama-fiscal-responsibility-summit-will-tell-us-all-why-little-old-ladies-must-eat-cat-food-so-social-security-can-be-saved/

"After a report in the Wall Street Journal appeared indicating that Obama “met with 44 fiscally conservative ‘Blue Dog’ Democrats this week and gave a nod to legislation that would set up commissions to deal with long-term deficit strains,” noting that “the commissions would then present plans to Congress for an up-or-down vote,” it appears things moved rather swiftly.

House and Senate leadership sent word back to the White House, something subtle along the lines of “tha F*!K, are you CRAZY?”

The “fiscal responsibility” summit will still happen on February 23, but plans to empower a commission to make recommendations that are not subject to amendment by Congress have been scrapped. This will no doubt come as a blow to Wall Street robber baron Pete Peterson, who has pledged a billion dollars to loot “save” Social Security and Medicare.

The head of Peterson’s foundation is former Comptroller General David Walker. He recently responded to William Greider’s Social Security article in the Nation, saying:


We have sadly concluded that the “regular order” in Congress is broken and that achieving progress on multiple fronts within a short timeframe is not possible on a piecemeal basis.


These Blue Dog dreams of circumventing Congressional procedure were evidently crushed when “Reid and Pelosi sent back word that Congress doesn’t get bypassed just because Peter Orszag says it does,” said a source familiar with the communications. But Peterson can’t be too disappointed — after Obama and Biden speak at the Monday conference, it will be Peterson himself presenting to the group, and then Laura Tyson of the Obama economic advisory team. Then the guests, which include members of Congress and others, will split up into six groups. But for now, the plan for a specially empowered “panel” coming out of the summit has been scrapped.

Tyson has been a proponent of the “Diamond-Orszag” plan, which calls for the retirement age to be raised and for Social Security benefits to be cut for those 55 and under as a way to be “fiscally responsible.” ...."