From
Huffington Post (with one interjection from me):
Two separate campaigns have been launched to pressure AARP to stand firm against cuts in Social Security and Medicare benefits. The campaigns follow a report by HuffPost that the influential senior citizens lobby will soon be holding a private, principals-only "salon-style conversation" ["Salon-style conversation"? What is this -- 18th century Paris?] with a host of advocates of entitlement cuts. ...
AARP's listening tour officially launches on Monday and is dubbed "You've Earned a Say and We're Listening."
One AARP volunteer who attended a two-day training last week wrote HuffPost to say that the listening tour appeared to be aimed at shifting AARP policy in favor of cuts to benefits....
AARP has expressed an openness to benefit cuts in the past, only to backtrack under pressure from its membership. The organization, in recent years, has become increasingly entangled with its growing insurance operation.
Salon-style, or a la carte, is a sly way of saying "privatize." You'll have more options! More flexibility! More risk! More confusion! More money for us! Oh wait...
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine why AARP would want to jump on this particular bandwagon at this particular time. There is zero chance of any productive conversation on this issue until after the elections.
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt that if there were serious bi-partisan talks on SS funding, AARP might be amenable to supporting some cuts. But since there are not going to be any discussions until 2013 at the earliest, there is no advantage to AARP to suggest cuts at this point.
Remember, these were the same folks who were just over 30 the we couldn't trust back in the 70s ...
ReplyDeleteAARP is basically an insurance company anymore. They sided with the Administration in the health care reform debate, but only because it would force people to enroll in private insurance, in which they are a major player. Anyone who thinks AARP is an unbiased advocate for seniors has his head in the sand. I'll never join that outfit, no matter how many more appeals I get from them.
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