What Capitalists Want for Christmas

Posted on Nov 22, 2012

kevin dooley (CC BY 2.0)

A group of CEOs led by Macy’s Terry Lundgren calling itself the Fix the Debt coalition is hoping for a deficit-busting austerity budget this holiday season—not a program to create American jobs.

Why? Because high unemployment “keeps their workers in check” by driving up competition for jobs, writes Lynn Stuart Parramore at AlterNet. To that end, the executives are holding town halls, lobbying members of Congress and “otherwise throwing their weight around.”

The 1 percenters involved in Fix the Debt include Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and CEO, Goldman, Sachs & Co.; James Gorman, chairman, president and CEO, Morgan Stanley; Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and CEO, General Electric Co.; Brian T. Moynihan, president and CEO, Bank of America Corp.; and Josh Bekenstein, managing director, Bain Capital.

—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

Lynn Stuart Parramore at AlterNet:

Lundgren and a coalition of other big-time CEOs are lobbying Congress to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits so that they can enjoy tax breaks. Obviously, Lundgren did not take Econ 101, which would have demonstrated to him that reaching into the pockets of people will leave them without enough dollars to buy your products. It’s very simple, Mr. Lundgren. Your job and your stores are supported by the spending power of the American consumer. Robbing that consumer by hacking away at hard-earned retirements and healthcare is not going to help your bottom line.

Jobs, not austerity, is the path to a healthier economy. Just ask Europe.

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