You may have heard of President Obama’s deficit commission (AKA the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform ) to cut, er, the deficit, led by Republican Alan Simpson and Democrat (and be-speckled former UNC Prez) Erskine Bowles. You may have even heard that the commission’s early recommendations seek to scorch the proverbial pork (and more) Earth, wiping out nearly $4 trillion in red ink within a decade or so. Adoption of these recommendations will be considered tomorrow, December 3, 2010.
Short of specifics these early recommendations may not have phased you. After all, you had Black Friday to worry about.
I only know about it because, if implemented it will affect me directly: with part of the proposed plan being to cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) by 2015. “The current CPB funding level is the highest it has ever been,” the draft says, and cutting it would save nearly $500 million in 2015.
Great huh? Well, no. On average, CPB and its ilk are responsible for 15 percent of funding for the more than 1,100 public radio and television stations around the country. A flat-lining of CPB funding means death to many a public television and public radio station, and would seriously impact the services of UNC-TV and WUNC radio, which, it’s important to emphasize time and time again, are not the same thing. This means more than job. It even means more than the possibility of making it difficult to see Sesame Street or listen to Diane Rehm in our area. It really means zeroing out a yearly investment of $1.35/American that provides more than 150 million folks weekly in communities throughout the country with almost free, universally available, non-commercial, high-quality programming and services.
But forget about me, or the children, or the rabid Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me weekend warriors. You too should know about the commission recs because it will also affect you directly—pub media employer/consumer or not.
Here’s how the Institute for Southern Studies breaks it down for you (complete with facts, figures, and lowlights):
INSTITUTE FOR SOUTHERN STUDIES INDEX
The deficit commission’s curious plan to help those who need it least
Date on which President Obama’s deficit commission will meet to consider adopting a plan drawn up by its co-chairs, former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) and Erskine Bowles, former Clinton chief of staff and current University of North Carolina president: 12/3/2010
Age to which the plan would raise Social Security retirement by 2050 while decreasing cost-of-living adjustments: 68
Age to which the plan would raise Social Security retirement by 2075: 69
Percentage points by which the commission would lower tax rates for the wealthiest Americans and corporations, while putting an end to taxing profits that U.S.-based multinational corporations earn abroad: 7
Year in which the plan would have Americans begin paying taxes on employer-provided health benefits: 2038
Under the proposal, the projected size of the U.S. deficit in 2015: $421 billion
Amount by which the plan’s proposed tax cuts would reduce federal revenue: roughly 20 percent
Number of U.S. jobs that the plan would kill over three years, according to one analysis: 4 million
Date on which Simpson likened Social Security to a “milk cow with 310 million tits”: 8/24/2010
Average amount a Social Security beneficiary receives annually: $13,900
Amount that Erskine Bowles earns annually as a director for Morgan Stanley, the global financial firm: $335,000
Amount Bowles’ wife, Crandall, earns as a director at financial firm JP Morgan: $255,000
Approximate value of the JP Morgan stock owned by Crandall Bowles: $1.5 million
Month that the International Monetary Fund called for substantial increases in taxes on the financial industry: 6/2010
Number of taxes the deficit commission’s plan proposes for the financial industry: 0
Number of the 18 panel members who would have to approve the plan for a possible Senate vote in the current lame-duck session: 14
Number of members who have announced their support for the plan so far: 9
Number who have said they will vote against it: 2
(Click on figure to go to source. To comment on this index, click here.)
While this particularly “bold” plan – three-quarters spending cuts, one-quarter tax adjustments – may well win the support of a majority of the 18-member commission, it’s unlikely to gain the required supermajority of 14 votes needed to formally send the entire plan to Congress for consideration.
The back-up plan would then likely be for lawmakers, and Mr. Obama, to push forward the more palatable pieces of the old plan, based almost certainly on partisan party priorities.
So, which piece can you live with? Sacrificing Sesame Street forever or Social Security for a few years.
I thought so. [Sigh.]
Figures compiled by Facing South. Facing South is your weekly source for in-depth coverage and fresh perspectives on the South, published by the Institute for Southern Studies. Visit here to join or donate.
Posted on December 2, 2010
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