CEPR's analyses of the discussion materials for the meetings show that they were aimed at persuading participants to opt for big cuts to Social Security and Medicare:
America Speaks Back: The Effort to Gut Social Security and Medicare Takes a Hit But it seems that events didn't quite go as planned. The participants rose up in revolt. They demanded the option to vote on a single-payer type health care system and also voted overwhelmingly for defense cuts and progressive tax options.
The CEPR Deficit Calculator This interactive calculator allows users to pick various items, including many of the progressive options not offered at the AmericaSpeaks meetings, and see how they'll shrink (or grow) the national debt in 2020.
America Speaks Without Knowing A CEPR poll conducted after the 6.5-hour discussion found that while participants were well-informed on the problem of health care, they didn't fare so well on topics such as Social Security or the budget deficit.
AmericaSpeaks' town meetings' were largely funded by the billionaire Pete Peterson, who also supported the film IOUSA:
* IOUSA Budget Deficit Calculator The film IOUSA fails to explain that deficits are driven almost entirely by projections of exploding private sector health care costs. This interactive calculator allows users to see what the U.S. budget deficit would be if the U.S. had the same per person health care costs as various other countries.
* Discussion of the Film: A video of Dean Baker's discussion with Diane Rogers, Chief Economist of the Concord Coalition, after a screening at Bus Boys & Poets in D.C. on November 23, 2008.
Issues
