تائید توطئه سکوتNew York Times Acknowledges Conspiracy of Silence
Over “Fiscal Cliff” دو حزب آمریکائی در مورد "شکاف (دره) مالی" افشا شد
By Andre Damon:
With characteristic cynicism, the Times makes this point as a
virtual aside within an article providing details on the so-called “fiscal
cliff,” the set of scheduled tax hikes and spending cuts being utilized to push
through the unpopular cuts.
In the article, “Demystifying the Fiscal Impasse That Is Vexing
Washington,” the Times asks, rhetorically: “Many Americans must be
wondering: What is all this about a ‘fiscal cliff?’ And why did it receive so
little attention during the presidential campaign?”
The answer follows: “Well, it’s complicated—the so-called cliff, that is. And
most solutions are politically painful. In a rare show of bipartisanship, or
mutual protection, both parties ducked the debate until after the election.”
This claim amounts to an admission that both candidates conspired against the
American people to prevent any discussion of what Obama has called his “first
order of business.” This is because the plans are “politically painful”—i.e.,
overwhelmingly opposed by the population.
What does this say about American democracy and the political and media
establishment of which the Times is a part? The elections are
supposedly the one time in which the population has the ability to vote on the
future course of government policy. Yet not only do the two parties agree on all
essentials, but they deliberately seek to avoid any discussion on their actual
plans.
Moreover, it points to the bipartisan drive to give entitlement cuts, long
regarded as the “third rail” of American politics, an aura of inevitability.
After asserting that both parties “ducked” the issue of the austerity
measures in the election, the article outlines how, in the years before the
vote, the Democrats and Republicans set the stage for slashing social spending
by constructing the “fiscal cliff.”
“Since Ronald Reagan’s administration, with mixed results, presidents and
Congresses have occasionally mandated a self-imposed future crisis to force
themselves to agree on unpopular tax and spending actions. In that spirit, the
idea behind the August 2011 deal was that Republicans would so greatly fear the
military cuts, and Democrats the domestic spending cuts, that they would
negotiate a deficit-reduction alternative by the Jan. 1 deadline.”
The article goes on to note, “Such an agreement would set
specific targets for new tax revenue and spending cuts to reduce deficits by
about $4 trillion over a decade, giving Congress and the president more time to
work out the details. If they failed to do so, presumably other automatic
changes might be in store as an enforcement action — setting up yet another
looming deadline.”
These statements confirm entirely the warnings made by the World
Socialist Web Site and Socialist Equality Party candidates Jerry White and
Phyllis Scherrer. The WSWS and SEP repeatedly stressed in statements and
speeches that the candidates’ refusal to discuss the plans to slash trillions of
dollars in spending amounted to a “conspiracy of silence.”
A resolution first passed at the Socialist Equality
Party’s election conference in Los Angeles on October 27, characterized the
bipartisan plans as follows:
“The plans of the ruling class for after the elections are being concealed
from the American people. The next administration, whether led by a Democrat or
a Republican, is planning huge cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, food
stamps, public education and other social programs.”
The accuracy with which the WSWS characterized the post-election plans of the
ruling class is yet another demonstration that the political establishment,
including the media, has as its aim the suppression of the popular will and the
imposition of anti-democratic and socially regressive policies for the
enrichment of the wealthy few. All questions of consequence are decided behind
the backs of the people, then sold to the population by the media and imposed by
the politicians.
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