WASHINGTON -- New York mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Wednesday that he has joined Campaign to Fix the Debt, a controversial debt-reduction group funded by corporate CEOs and private equity billionaire Peter G. Peterson. Bloomberg, a political independent, will join former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) and former New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg (R) as a national co-chair of the group.
?The federal deficit poses a serious and eminent (sic) threat to the U.S. economy,? Bloomberg said in a statement. ?Congress and the White House have an obligation to work together to ? implement pro-growth policies that increase long-term policy certainty for business and investors."
The Campaign to Fix the Debt has emerged as an influential voice in the lobbying effort surrounding ongoing budget negotiations in Congress, in part because of a high-profile public relations blitz reported to have cost more than $30 million.
But as The Huffington Post reported, the group's bipartisan leadership masks politically conservative backing, and the group's leading council of CEOs is made up largely of Republican political donors. Bloomberg, a billionaire media mogul, was a registered Republican until 2007.
Fix the Debt's policy recommendations also tend to favor corporations and the very wealthy, including calls for lower corporate taxes on profits made overseas, steep cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and putting an end to tax breaks that benefit the middle-class, like the mortgage interest deduction. Members of the group are careful not to get too specific about policy during public appearances, instead focusing on the dangers to investors and corporations if Congress and the White House don't reach a deal.
Bloomberg adopted this position in an op-ed Wednesday in The Washington Post. "While the tax revenue and entitlement cuts being discussed are both less than what I and many others believe are necessary to maximize long-term growth, the specifics of the deal are to some extent less important than the act of getting one," he wrote.
Bloomberg is the second high-profile mayor to join Fix the Debt in recent weeks. Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) also signed on to the group earlier this month, citing his support for reforming Social Security and Medicare. Democrats in Los Angeles responded by circulating an online petition urging Villaraigosa to withdraw, which garnered by 20,000 signatures.
"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/michael-bloomberg-fix-the-debt_n_2286599.html
tax refund calculator huntington disease west memphis three taxes game of thrones season 2 trailer sag award winners girl scout cookies
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন