277 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 26 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing Summarizing
OpEdNews Op Eds   

Would You Trust Henry Kissinger with Your Social Security?

By       (Page 1 of 3 pages)   No comments

Richard Eskow
Message Richard Eskow
Become a Fan
  (15 fans)

Reprinted from Campaign For America's Future

Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright
Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright
(Image by U.S. Department of Defense Current Photos)
  Details   DMCA
>

Years ago a political scientist said that the mass media can't influence what people think, but it can influence what people think about. Today it does both. If you're a billionaire who wants to manipulate public opinion, that means you'll keep feeding it stories that serve your ideology and self-interest.

Hedge fund billionaire Peter G. "Pete" Peterson is a master of the art. At a time when 47 million Americans (including one child in five) live in poverty, when our national infrastructure is collapsing and the middle class dream is dying before our eyes, he's managed to convince a few voters, a lot of politicians, and far too many major-media journalists that our most urgent problem is " federal deficit spending.

They don't just want you to be concerned about it. They want you to be afraid.

The front for this effort (one of many assembled by the Peterson Foundation) is called "The Coalition for Fiscal and National Security," and they've assembled a list of prominent figures to promote it. Let us consider the message, and the messengers.

**********

The group's mantra is a statement that retired Admiral Mike Mullen first made when he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

"The single biggest threat to our national security is our debt."

That's a surprisingly bold and naive proclamation, especially from someone of Mullen's stature. It takes a lot of imagination, and some highly implausible assumptions, to believe that our national security is really endangered by federal deficits.

The Peterson Foundation provides both, of course. Unfortunately its manipulated facts and figures fail to make their case, even when taken at face value.

What would a rational list of nonmilitary risks look like? Climate change would almost certainly top the list. Many military experts already consider it a grave national security threat. A bipartisan group of 48 defense leaders and experts -- including, perhaps paradoxically, some of the Peterson group's signatories -- signed a full-page ad last year entitled "Republicans and Democrats Agree: U.S. Security Demands Global Climate Action."

One defense expert called climate change "the mother of all risks."

It's easy to see why. Rising sea levels threaten many of our coastal towns and cities, including most of lower Manhattan. Millions of Americans are likely to become internal refugees in their own country, posing the risk of widespread lawlessness and instability.

Climate change is expected to trigger a number of future conflicts around the globe, as nations and peoples compete for increasingly scarce resources. Some scientists believe that climate change contributed to the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

Wealth inequality also belongs near the top of the list. Extreme inequality makes a society unstable. Today millions are trapped in poverty while the 20 richest Americans own more wealth than half the entire nation -- some 150 million people in 57 million households.

Persistent poverty plagues minority communities, while the 400 richest Americans own more than the nation's entire African-American population (plus one-third of this nation's Latinos). There are growing rates of suicide, opioid overdose, and deaths from alcoholism among lower-income whites. Economist Anne Case calls them "deaths of despair."

Next Page  1  |  2  |  3

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Must Read 1   Well Said 1  
Rate It | View Ratings

Richard Eskow Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Host of 'The Breakdown,' Writer, and Senior Fellow, Campaign for America's Future

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

How to Fix the Fed: Dismiss Dimon, Boot the Bankers, and Can the Corporations

The Top 12 Political Fallacies of 2012

Pawn: The Real George Zimmerman Story

What America Would Look Like If Libertarians Got Their Way

"His Own Man's" Man: Jeb Bush and the Return of Wolfowitz

"F" The Bureaucracy! The White House Can Help Homeowners Right Now

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend