April 27, 2011 San Francisco

California Senator Dianne Feinstein, speaking at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on a variety of topics, called the Ryan roadmap for Social Security and Medicare unfair and warned that unfairness can lead to class animosity.

Greg Dalton: “Paul Ryan is a republican from Wisconsin who’s put forward a roadmap for the upcoming budget battle that preserves medicare for people over fifty-five and preserves social security for people over fifty-five. what do you think of the Ryan roadmap?”

Senator Feinstein: “It’s basically unfair, that’s what I think of it. Because it makes the cuts, basically in programs that the poor and the lower income of our nation are dependent on. And it does this to avoid having to put taxes back up where they were for the very wealthy”

“I think everybody in this room has watched the recession, and we know who gained, and who did well, and who didn’t do well. I think that’s a huge mistake. I don’t think you can solve the problem without revenue increases, and it should be a fair share. When I was mayor [San Francisco] and I had to make some changes in the revenue structure, we did it in a fair way that everybody does their fair share. You can’t leave the very wealthy out of this problem”

Greg Dalton: “So is your basic position … is to let the Bush tax cuts expire which President Obama extended for a couple of years and basically go back to the Clinton era taxes?”

Senator Feinstein: “That’s correct. It’s about 3%. It’s about 40 Billion dollars over a period of 10 years. It’s important funding, and I think it’s necessary, because where we’re going to go, is into real class animosity if we don’t maintain fairness. It’s estimated – I think Martin Glinder wrote this in a column – that some 72% of his cuts are taken just so the wealthy can maintain the 36% instead of going up to 39%. And it’s just not right”