Fix Gene Sperling

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The corporate-led group, Fix the Debt, is having its latest conference next Tuesday, December 4. Fix the Debt wants massive cuts in Social Security and Medicare, of the sort that the Obama administration has pledged to resist.

The usual suspects will be there-Michael Peterson who runs the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Maya MacGuineas who heads the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation, and several corporate CEOs.

But look at who is providing cover for this rightwing crusade.

Obama economic chief Gene Sperling is giving a major speech. Does one hand at the White House know what the other is doing?

And liberals John Podesta and Neera Tanden of the Center for American Progress are also getting star billing, as is former AARP policy chief John Rother.

Liberals should boycott this crowd and its austerity message, not lend it innocence by association.

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–David Dayen, Executive Editor