Event attendees at Boston’s Symphony Hall were in for a different kind of entertainment this week, as more than 150 local seniors and unemployed workers staged a processed meat-themed demonstration outside the historic venue. Their target: self-proclaimed ‘deficit hawk’ Erskine Bowles and his baloney push to slash Social Security, Medicare and other vital programs in favor of new corporate tax breaks.

When Mr. Bowles made a Bay State stop on his speaking tour, affected residents braved below-freezing temperatures outside the venue, clad in baloney costumes and handing out “Stop the Baloney!” sandwiches – even singing a remixed “Oscar Mayer Balogna” song to drive their point home.

Check out video from the “Stop the Baloney!” protest (including the song, of course!) 

Despite their frequently-delivered platitudes on “shared sacrifice,” Erskine Bowles and his partner-in-crime, Alan Simpson, have used their Fix the Debt lobbying group to push hundreds of billions in corporate tax giveaways – all while balancing the budget on the backs of low-income workers and seniors. In short, the Simpson-Bowles/Fix the Debt blueprint demands $3.8 trillion (with a ‘T’) in cuts to the programs working families and retirees depend on…just so they can hand the proceeds over to major corporations like Bank of America, GE and Verizon.

 Sound like a raw deal? We certainly think so – and plenty of community advocates across the country feel the same way. Sign up to help stop the Simpson-Bowles/Fix the Debt baloney here.

Jason Stephany is the spokesman for MASSUNITING -- a grassroots coalition of community groups, neighborhoods, faith organizations and worker advocates. Learn more about our fight for good jobs, corporate accountability and stronger communities at www.MassUniting.org.