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The Congressional Supercommittee charged with outlining spending cuts as per a recently passed debt-ceiling bill has until November 23rd to finish its work. The group of 6 Democrats and 6 Republicans have been grappling with how to cut more than a trillion dollars in annual federal spending. Senator Charles Schumer, who is not part of the group, in an interview yesterday publicly predicted that they would fail to outline cuts because Republicans are adamant about not including any revenues through increased taxes on the wealthy and corporations. In October, Democrats proposed changes to the tax code that would save about a trillion dollars through a combination of tax increases and spending cuts. But GOP members preferred to cut billions of dollars of Medicare spending instead, which Democrats balked at. If the panel fails to come up with a proposal by November 23rd, a two percent cut in federal spending will take effect automatically, with Medicare and the Pentagon’s budgets coming under the axe. If just one of panel members crosses party lines, the committee’s recommendations will go to Congress for an up-or-down-vote, then move on for President Obama’s signature – or veto. Meanwhile, how much of the supercommittee’s decisions are driven by the mass economic discontent manifested in the growing Occupy movement is anyone’s guess. The group’s negotiations are not required to be public, however they have held a few public hearings. Meanwhile, Occupy Washington DC is organizing a hearing tomorrow morning on the economy and the federal budget. They say their “Occupied Super Committee Hearing for the 99%,” as they’re calling it, “will contrast with hearings on Capitol Hill which are designed to enrich the 1% and protect major donors.” The occupiers will then present policy proposals a week after the hearing on the economy in the interests of the vast majority of Americans. The movement is quick to assert that “these proposals should not be considered our demands as our demands are much more transformative than a short-term fix of the economy and budget.”

GUEST: Gar Alperovitz, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland, acclaimed author of numerous books, the most recent, Unjust Desserts, and America Beyond Capitalism; he is also the president of the National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives and is a founding principal of the University of Maryland-based Democracy Collaborative, a research institution developing practical, policy-focused, and systematic paths towards ecologically sustainable, community-oriented change and the democratization of wealth.

Visit Gar Alperovitz’s website at www.garalperovitz.com

A new edition of his book America Beyond Capitalism, can be ordered now at dollarsandsense.org/abc