He added that there were times that Obama “was talking about debt reduction and forgot about job creation,” but that “finally he realized that he was in [the GOP’s] backyard, playing their game on their rules and their turf.”
Posted on 06/09/2012 2:18:31 PM PDT by mdittmar
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — In the wake of Democrats’ loss in this week’s Wisconsin recall — and with a potentially decisive lame-duck session of Congress looming in five months — labor and liberal Democrats are digging in their heels on deficit reduction.
On a Saturday morning panel at the annual Netroots Nation conference, AFL-CIO Chairman Richard Trumka renewed his criticism of the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles debt reduction plan, arguing that labor and progressive activists must “give our friends a little bit of backbone” to oppose cuts to federal entitlement programs.
“If you notice, more and more Democrats have been trying to embrace Simpson-Bowles. ... Don’t let them digress into this deficit nonsense that says the only way that we can go forward is by cutting benefits,” Trumka told the crowd.
The Simpson-Bowles plan, which would achieve $4 trillion in deficit savings over the next decade through a combination of spending cuts and revenue increases, has been cited as a potential blueprint for a “grand bargain” on tackling the country’s $16.4 trillion debt.
But the proposal has long antagonized both parties’ bases. And even with the increased chatter on Capitol Hill about the need for a sweeping debt-reduction plan as across-the-board defense cuts and the next debt-ceiling fight loom early next year, Trumka’s remarks Friday were a reminder that opposition to the proposal remains strong.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
We are up against clueless morons.
Clueless morons with hundreds of millions of dollars to fight us, mind you, but clueless nonetheless. What an out of touch idiot. What planet does Trumka live on?
Clueless morons is too kind. They are more like greedy ba$tards who want theirs and the hell with the rest of the country.
trumka is no dummy,he is making about $300,000 a year plus benefits off the backs of his clueless morons.
All you have to do is stop the withholding of dues and these government unions will wither. Decades ago I worked for a gooberment outfit that was unionized and for the first few months after the initial ratification you had to pay the dues yourself. 50% of the yes voters did not pay their dues, and the loudest malcontents who were always talking crap were prominent on the no pay list.
The unions need to pay us reparations.
As UMWA President, Trumka led terrorist strikers in South west Virgina.
H is a bonefide terrorist......do not forget that fact
Trumka is a two bit punk. His @$$ should be in jail.
Richard “Dick” Trumpka is a self-avowed communist which goes a long way to explaining the terrorism. As such, he is anti-American, anti-liberty and ought to be in prison (or dead).
More union members need to know the truth about Dick. If they did, I doubt he would have that job earning $300,000 per year.
Rich Trumka makes me believe in reincarnation. He is the living, breathing embodiment of a Stalinist thug.
“AFSCME. We make America Happen”. ROTFL!!! Man, these are some sick, narcissistic puppies.
“Trumka is a two bit punk. His @$$ should be in jail.”
Nah, for what he’s done to this country, he should be swinging Mussolini style.
When the Dems get their back to the wall and are forced to make a deal of cuts with the Republicans, they will insist that all the cuts come out of social security and more out of medicare. They will do this because the elderly voters break for Republicans rather than radicals. The Dems flirt with the idealism and stupidity of young people.
If Republicans were smart, they would go for cutting out left wing operations within the government that are unpopular with the older people who understand the government’s constitutional role in the US. They would attack corporate welfare agencies to cut. Department of Energy, Department of Education (state and local responsibility) Department of Homeland inSecurity. Race and sex baiting branches and offices of government. Federal banking. The Fed. The National Arts programs and PBS (should be funded by rich people). Tax simplification to cut out corporate and special interest loopholes. Global warming research, propaganda and corporate welfare. Large sections of effort and control in the Department of Health and Human services that belong in private and State control.
They should learn from Dems and push through these changes - savings in a massive bill -at the edge of economic disaster in a rush, before anyone can read and debate the bill.
But the stupid party won’t do this. They will cut SS and Medicare right as their retirement accounts and property assets have been ravished by the Bush and Obama’s economies. They will put themselves in the minority forever more if they go along.
AFL-CIO Chairman Richard Trumka, recognizing a weak hand when he sees one. Thanks mdittmar.
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