goldman sachs

Since the election, the PCCC has been telling Democrats to run on Elizabeth Warren’s bold agenda of big, popular ideas like Wall Street reform.

When rumors swirled around Washington D.C. last week that Nancy Pelosi might nominate former Goldman Sachs executive Jim Himes to chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — the PCCC got alarmed.

Like the PCCC, the DCCC recruits Democrats to run for Congress. Unlike the PCCC, they don’t always choose progressive candidates. Having the DCCC chaired by a banker who Businessweek called “Wall Street’s Favorite Democrat” would have been disastrous for progressives and hurt Democrats’ chances of winning back the majority in 2016.

That’s why PCCC members took immediate action to head off Jim Himes’ appointment — calling Nancy Pelosi’s office, sending her tweets and, in the process, making headlines in Time Magazine, The Hill, Politico, The Associated Press, and more.

PCCC members calls and tweets made a difference!

Here’s the statement PCCC co-founder Adam Green made when Pelosi announced that Rep. Ben Ray LujA?n of New Mexico will chair the DCCC:

We thank Leader Pelosi for not selecting Jim Himes to lead the DCCC — thereby rejecting the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party. In order to win key House races, Democrats must run on big, bold, populist ideas like those championed by Elizabeth Warren. This means recruiting economic populist candidates — especially in red and purple states — and working with them to integrate a populist vision into their campaign messaging. The PCCC will be doing this, and we hope to partner with Rep. Ben Ray LujA?n and others to achieve success in 2016.

To see the difference this will make, read the statement Rep. LujA?n made when the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill was signed into …

You’d think that Goldman Sachs — the mega-bank that took $10 billion of taxpayer money — would show a little bit of humility in the wake of the financial crisis. You’d be wrong.

In an interview with CBS News, Lloyd Blankfein, the Goldman CEO who famously said he was doing “God’s work,” said that Social Security benefits must be cut by raising the retirement age and Medicare and Medicaid must be “contained” as well:

PELLEY: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid?

BLANKFEIN: You can look at history of these things, and Social Security wasn’t devised to be a system that supported you for a 30-year retirement after a 25-year career. … So there will be things that, you know, the retirement age has to be changed, maybe some of the benefits have to be affected, maybe some of the inflation adjustments have to be revised. But in general, entitlements have to be slowed down and contained.

PELLEY: Because we can’t afford them going forward?

BLANKFEIN: Because we can’t afford them.

Let’s get something clear. Blankfein made these comments in the context of what should happen in budget negotiations related to the debt. Social Security does not add one penny to the deficit. And it’s fully solvent until 2033 — it would be fully solvent well into the 22nd century if we simply lifted the payroll tax cap.

Watch it:

Instead of letting banking tycoons guide our public policy,we should look instead to Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren (who Goldman Sachs spent big to try to defeat in the recent election).

Warren has an alternative, truly balanced approach to tackling the deficit. During a campaign debate last month, she laid out a popular, credible vision for dealing with the deficit: cut back on wasteful military and agriculture subsidy spending, and make …

Judd Gregg was once a U.S. Senator, but then decided to go work for Goldman Sachs.

Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson have launched a new campaign — called “Fix The Debt” — to get Members of Congress to support their austerity plan to cut Social Security and Medicare benefitsAi?? while lowering corporate tax rates. They’re even taking aim at bold progressive congressional candidates like Annie Kuster who oppose their plan.

They have a steep hill to climb, because their plan is very unpopular among the public and was already defeated in a 382-38 vote in Congress.

In an article published yesterday in Bloomberg News, former Senator Judd Gregg, who is campaigning with Bowles and Simpson, promised “financial support” to lawmakers who back their Social Security-cutting plan:

ai???Weai??i??re trying to develop a plan that can be used by members of Congress, called ai???Simpson-Bowles plus,ai??i?? if you will,ai??? Gregg said. ai???We want to combine that with grassroots help and financial support to be there for members of Congress who need political support when they make these tough decisions.ai???

First of all, there is no “grassroots” demand to cut Social Security and Medicare. As we revealed to you last week, Bowles and Simpson have enlisted funding from billionaires to try to create the impression of one by flooding town halls with questions about austerity. They’ve already raised $30 million.

But the second part of what Gregg said is more interesting. He is openly saying that his group will provide “financial support” for lawmakers who want to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits. That’s a monetary incentive to Members of Congress.

And who is Gregg, exactly? Bloomberg correctly identifies him as a former senator, but doesn’t note his day job. Gregg was named an “international advisor” to Goldman Sachs …