Texas- Perry On Board with Propagandizing Seniors Out of their money-the *Own Your Future* Tour

13 October 2006 at 2:22:43 PM

salon

The title of this article was "Texans Join Health-Care Planning Campaign"-I, naturally, wondered what it was and whether it was costing us money. Appears, however, to be repackaged swill under a different name.

Texas will be part of a promotional campaign aimed at getting middle age and elderly people to plan for long-term care.
Gov. Rick Perry announced Thursday Texas is one of six states chosen by the federal government for the "Own Your Future" campaign.
The goal is to get Texans between ages 45 and 65 to start thinking about such needs as retirement savings, long-term care insurance, living wills and physical fitness.
“It’s never too soon to prepare for long-term care,” Perry said.

Sounds innocuous, doesn't it. It's more than interesting that this is the SAME NAME as the Freedom Works campaign that seeks to privatize social security. Is this a back door propaganda campaign to get people to accept gutting social security since it's SO unpopular? A trojan horse, as it were? Seems the goals are about the same. From CSE

CSE’s Goals
While most Americans are probably aware that there is a problem with the Social Security system, they are being given conflicting information. Inherently, people don’t like change and want to trust the government to take care of them. We have to overcome 60 years of government indoctrination and make Americans WANT change!!

The solution to the Social Security problem is to allow Americans to retire with some level of ownership. It is not good enough for the government to merely pour more money into the problem or cut back on benefits to gain a dollar here or a dollar there. Fundamental reform, which gives people the ability to own and manage their own accounts, is the only way to save this dying dinosaur.

Would it be unusual for a government entity like "Health and Human Services" to appropriate the CSE Gut Social Security program? Nope. Look at the Social Security website hawking the CSE "Own your Future" dog-and-pony. Perhaps it's entirely coincidental that the same title was chosen for 2 different programs... but I doubt it.

Citizens for a Sound Economy’s “Own Your Future: Social Security Reform Tour” hits Florida on March 23, 24, and 25 with stops in or near Palm Beach, St. Lucie, and Ft. Lauderdale. Join CSE to discuss the Social Security crisis, how Personal Retirement Accounts can bring real retirement security, and the prospects for passing reform in the next 18 months. For more information, visit the CSE website or call John Hallman at (561) 392-4432.

Or perhaps it's propaganda designed to gut medicare/medicaid and benefit private insurance companies? This company seems to think so.

Pretty vague about where this came from.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) designed and implemented the Phase I Long-Term Care Pilot Awareness Campaign, called "Own Your Future," to promote increased awareness among recent retirees and near retirees about the importance of planning ahead for future long-term care needs. Specifically, in January 2005, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, the Administration on Aging and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), working closely with the National Governors Association (NGA) and the National Council of State Legislators launched the "Own Your Future" Pilot Long-Term Care Awareness Campaign in five states: Arkansas, Idaho, Nevada, New Jersey and Virginia. The states were selected in collaboration with the NGA.
The Campaign represents a unique partnership between the Federal Government and states to offer a consistent message about planning ahead for long-term care. Communications through the sponsorship of the Governor as a credible source of information was an important design element of the Campaign in order to address the "information clutter" directed at consumers; they are bombarded with information from the Internet, on television and in print ads about retirement planning and long-term care from private companies selling financial products. A central premise of the Campaign is that the information has more credibility both because it comes from a neutral and trusted source and because it is not attempting to endorse any specific action or product.

I dunno about you but that last part sure looks like it's a blind to get certain points of view out through official sponsorship by the government. I'd like to know just who pitched this idea both to HHS and to the NGA, wouldn't you?

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