Cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid just so that millionaires and billionaires can continue to receive tax breaks and other giveaways? "We could not disagree more," says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in an Op-Ed in today's Politico, "Americans Don't Want 'Grand Bargain.'"

What is the grand bargain? It boils down to lower tax rates for rich people—paid for by benefit cuts for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. These are precisely the issues that are being debated so vigorously in the campaign, and voters do not want anything to do with such a deal.

The pundits will tell you that Democrats have no choice but to accept Social Security and Medicare benefit cuts—because this is the only way Republicans will agree to more tax revenue. This is the grand bargain.

The grand bargain crowd says we need to cut benefits that help the working class to reduce the deficit. 

Trumka says:

But if they were serious about reducing the deficit, they would not propose to lower the top tax rate for the richest Americans, which wastes trillions of dollars. If you want to cut benefits for working Americans while cutting the top tax rate for the richest Americans, it is abundantly clear which side you’re on.

Read the Op-Ed: "Americans Don't Want 'Grand Bargain.'"