WASHINGTON - November 11 -

NANCY ALTMAN
Altman is co-chair of the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, a coalition of over 215 national and state organizations representing more than 50 million Americans. She said today: "An angry electorate last week expressed its frustration with a Washington political class that does not appear to be listening. Now, the Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs' Social Security proposal totally ignores the will of the people. Poll after poll has shown that Democrats, Republicans and independents reject the punitive cuts in America’s economic security that the co-chairs have proposed. The chairmen say that Social Security does not and cannot contribute one penny to the deficit. We agree wholeheartedly. Why then are they, charged with reducing that deficit, ... proposing massive cuts to Social Security?" Altman wrote the book The Battle For Social Security: From FDR's Vision To Bush's Gamble.


JANE SLAUGHTER
Slaughter is with Labor Notes and just wrote a piece titled "Why does a billionaire want to take away your Social Security benefits?" which states: "Peter Peterson is 84 years old. He's old enough to relax and enjoy the fruits of the years he was well paid for managing other rich people's money. Why is he spending his fortune to convince politicians they should ruin the average guy's retirement?

"[Tuesday] Peterson announced the next facet in his long campaign to hack Social Security, including a joke presidential candidate named Hugh Jidette ('huge debt') and a website called Owe No. His aim is to convince Congress to raise the retirement age, cut Social Security's cost-of-living increases -- and raise the payroll taxes we pay for Social Security and Medicare.

"It wouldn't matter what one cranky octogenarian billionaire had to say if he weren't putting $6 million into ads, funding 'expert' commissions, and spreading lies designed to panic the populace."