They’re getting bolder. Aren’t they?

President Obama appointed his deficit commission, the “National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform,” to take a fresh look at long range plans to resolve the Federal budget deficit. The commission was supposed to be a bipartisan and objective group, empowered to think outside the box.

As it turns out, the commission was infested from the beginning by right-wing ideologues financed by corporations and the ultra wealthy who served a “volunteer staff.” What a terrific idea, saving the government all that money by volunteering you time and expertise.

It’s difficult to say which is more troubling:

• the fact that a number of commission staffers are paid by Peter Peterson the billionaire hedge fund manager who brought us the Blackstone Investment Group debacle a couple of years ago and is now financing “Fiscal Times” (Peterson’s lackeys are saying that his organization is misunderstood and that, besides, they’ve recused themselves of any connections for the time being.); or that
• last summer commission co-chair Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.), complained that that the government is "like a milk cow with 310 million tits!" (He later apologized for the remark but refused demands for his resignation.).

Nevertheless, the week the commission released the draft of the outline of their report which is due out in December. The outline relies heavily on cuts to government programs like Social Security and reductions or eliminations of many middle class tax breaks like the mortgage interest deduction. And -- Surprise! -- there’s only passing mention of the possibility of increasing revenue through tax hikes on the wealthy!

Washington Post, 11/11/10: Many deficit commission staffers paid by outside groups