Sen. Orrin Hatch, sanctimonious prick
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), rarely a bastion of moderation, has determined to go full tea-bagger to fend of a serious primary challenge to his reelection this year. His latest target:
retired public employees, those older middle class citizens who have it just too damned easy in life.
Last year, Sen. Orrin
Hatch (R-UT) complained that poor people don't pay enough taxes, calling the fact that rich people pay more "perverse." (Revealingly, Hatch has offered no similar complaint about millionaires who pay no income tax.) Now Hatch has a new plan to redistribute wealth upwards: He wants to slash pensions for state and local public employees:
"The public pension crisis plaguing our nation demands a real solution," Hatch, 77, who represents Utah, said in a statement. "Over the coming weeks, I will be putting forward ideas to reform public pension programs in a meaningful way that doesn't leave taxpayers on the hook."
It's interesting what Hatch considers a "crisis plaguing our nation." It's not a growing gap between the ultra-rich and everyone else that leaves the vast majority of Americans struggling to overcome stagnant wages while a privileged few enjoy unimaginable wealth. No, to Orrin Hatch, the crisis is a pension system that helps senior citizens retire with dignity (not to mention food and shelter) after a lifetime of work.
Hatch is also the guy who thinks people receiving unemployment insurance or public benefits should be drug-tested, so he's just expanding his vindictiveness against poor people to less-poor people. It's the Republican way.