The Nine Lives of the Catfood Commission, Resurrection 1
A group of senators, both Republican and Democrat, are determined to turn the draconian recommendations of the infamous Catfood Commission into legislation. David Brooks, in a New York Times op-ed column, calls these senators “courageous … public heroes.” Brooks is so enamored of these “heroes” that he urges the public to “mobilize” behind them. The American people will back these belt-tightening efforts only if the senators can continue to fool them. There’s a good chance of that – because much of the public doesn’t know what would happen to them if the senators got away with their little “reform” movement. To wit,
According to Suzanne Mettler, writing in “Perspective on Politics,” a huge percentage of people who receive federal benefits don’t know what they’re getting. (You can read her figures here; you have to sign up to read the original pdf.) In the entitlements areas, 44 percent of Social Security beneficiaries and 40 percent of Medicare recipients claim they receive no government social assistance. The same goes for non-entitlement programs: 43 percent who get unemployment benefits, 27 percent who get some form of welfare or public assistance, 25 percent of people who get food stamps and 30 percent of people who get SSI disability say they’ve never received government assistance.
The tea party crowd may claim they want smaller government, but they want the government to keep its hands off their Medicare. Woe to those deficit-hawk politicians who think they would be smart to “reform” – i.e., cut – social programs upon which almost all Americans rely at some time in their lives – even if they don’t know it.