Nov. 10, 2010 (Labor Notes) -- Peter Peterson is 84 years old. He's old enough to relax and enjoy the fruits of the years he was well paid for managing other rich people's money. Why is he spending his fortune to convince politicians they should ruin the average guy's retirement?
Today Peterson announced the next facet in his long campaign to hack Social Security, including a joke Presidential candidate named Hugh Jidette ("huge debt") and a website called Owe No. His aim is to convince Congress to raise the retirement age, cut Social Security's cost-of-living increases-and raise the payroll taxes we pay for Social Security and Medicare.
It wouldn't matter what one cranky octogenarian billionaire had to say if he weren't putting $6 million into ads, funding "expert" commissions, and spreading lies designed to panic the populace.
Maybe Peterson figures offense is better than defense-he's got a lot to defend. He made his fortune as a hedge fund manager-that is, moving money around-so he ought to be living in fear. Someone might get the idea he and his buddies would be good folks to tax. It's like Willie Sutton, the famous bank robber, once said. Asked why he robbed banks, Sutton replied, "Because that's where the money is."
