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Jarliani» (Observer
M arch 26, 2014
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Without any Grassroots, Austerity Group Withers
Knowing a fake
when you see it
by
S arah A nderson
The auster­
ity mania that
plagued our
political system
for four years
is finally sub­
siding. The lat­
est sign is
President Barack O bam a’s
decision to nix the Social Secu­
rity cuts he had previously in­
cluded in his budget proposal.
This was a body blow to the
most powerful pro-austerity
force in Washington — the Fix
the Debt campaign. Starting in
2012, this fake grassroots —
or “astroturf’ — organization
had deployed more than 100
CEOs to try to persuade the
nation that our economic sur­
vival depended on expanding
tax breaks for big corporations
and slashing earned benefit
programs.
Fix the Debt once boasted a
budget of $40 million. Today,
it’s shedding staff and going debt to grow. We even showed PR campaign. Particularly as
into hibernation, having failed how taxpayers actually subsi­ the economy started a slight
to win any of their top priorities dize the pay of these pro-aus­ uptick, polls showed that an
Their demise proves that terity CEOs.
overw helm ing m ajority of
deep pockets don’t always pre-
And finally, we calculated Americans opposed any So­
vail in W ashington. that the corporate titans fight­ cial Security cuts.
Through creative jujitsu, ing to cut grandma’s Social
Fix the Debt and their allies
non-moneyed interests can Security had personal pensions won’t be laying low forever.
turn extreme wealth and 1,200 times larger than what But we now have a huge op­
privilege into an extreme typical U.S. workers can count portunity to shift the national
liability.
on. Honeywell CEO David focus from austerity to invest­
For the past two years, Cote, for example, had the gall ment in jobs, infrastructure, and
my organization, the Insti­ to lecture Americans about other programs that matter to
tute for Policy Studies, has tightening their belts while he all of us.
exposed the absurd hypocrisy was sitting on a $134 million
In the richest country in the
of the CEOs at the helm of Fix retirement nest egg.
world, we have the resources to
the Debt. First we pointed out
This research fed into cre­ make our economy work for
that many of them lead com­ ative actions by authentic everyone. We just need the po­
panies that have used tax ha­ grassroots groups, such as Na­ litical will to reallocate some of
vens to avoid paying their fair tional People’s Action, the Cen­ our abundant resources. Let’s
share to Uncle Sam. That’s a ter for Community Change, and get started by cutting wasteful
blatantly counterproductive Social Security Works. They Pentagon spending and subsi­
maneuver for anyone on a mis­ took the battle against auster­ dies for oil, gas, and coal.
sion to “fix the debt.”
ity to the streets and into the
And by making our tax sys­
Then we documented that district offices of congressional tem more fair.
Fix the Debt members stood to representatives. The Center
It won’t be easy. But re­
gain as much as $173 billion for Media and Democracy and member, big money doesn’t
from corporate tax breaks they other savvy bloggers blasted always win in Washington.
were advocating. All that the phony deficit crisis in so­
Sarah Anderson directs
money, of course, would be cial media.
the Global economy Project
redirected away from public
Our message overpowered at the Institute fo r Policy
coffers — thereby causing the Fix the Debt’s mega-million Studies.