Social Security, Medicare, Fiscal Cliff: Myths / Realities

Social Security, Medicare, Fiscal Cliff: Myths / Realities
Michael Eisenscher and Jack Rasmus
Thursday, February 28, 7:00 PM
Unitarian Universalist Center
1187 Franklin Street, at Geary, #38 bus

SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE and the FISCAL CLIFF: MYTHS and REALITIES
How we got where we are and how to get the progressive change we want.

In his February 12 State of the Union address, President Obama singled out Medicare as the primary reason for “the nation’s long-term debt.” He also re-hashed several old, discredited solutions like a jobs bill, a vague infrastructure spending proposal, and education as a first step toward job retraining, but with no dollars attached. None of this speaks to the actual crisis facing the U.S. economy today or offers serious proposals for resolving it. What’s the real story? How do budget cuts affect us? And, most important, how can progressives respond?

Michael Eisenscher is National Coordinator of U.S. Labor Against the War. A veteran of more than 40 years in the labor movement as an organizer, negotiator, labor education and writer, he helped to found the New Priorities Network nationally and New Priorities Campaign in the Bay Area, as well as initiating the Jobs-Not-Wars campaign. Eisenscher’s articles about the labor movement have been published in three anthologies and numerous periodicals. He teaches a course in political economy in the Laney College Labor Studies Program.

Jack Rasmus, Ph.D is an author, journalist and playwright whose recent books include Obama’s Economy: Recovery for the Few; Epic Recession: Prelude to Global Depression; and The War at Home: The Corporate Offensive From Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush. Jack is the host of the weekly New York radio show, ‘Alternative Visions’, aired every Wednesday at 2 pm on the Progressive Radio Network at PRN.FM. He is also a freelance journalist writing widely on U.S. economic and domestic policy topics, and has authored several stage plays focusing on U.S. labor struggles.

The program may also include a third speaker from the disability rights community.

A free public forum sponsored by SF Progressive Democrats of America

Wheelchair accessible. • Snacks, tea and coffee will be served.