Time to toss this president under the bus?

[Days]

Really, ask yourself, how much of the national debt is going away by reducing the cost-of-living increases on Social Security? There is absolutely zero financial incentive for doing that... it is a political gesture purely and entirely... which is to say, it is puke in the American people's faces. When I see stuff like this, I go conspiracy theory... who wanted this? Neither party! Must have been put to our NWO president at the last secret meeting of the Illuminatti. You don't think so? Try to explain this, then... the guy has vehemently said over and over that Social Security should not be cut... then he proposes cutting into it... and not in the future, there are ways to do that, but this is a cut to the annual cost-of-living increases; my household will feel it come January.

 

[MaryAnne]

Not one penny of the National debt!

Just listened to Rachael ask Axelrod why they could not raise the wage limit on SS. Axelrod went all around,she called him on it. He then said ,"It would be a hard sell!" Hard sell for who? Isn't that what they get paid for?

They can' get a budget through,they can't get a decent gun bill passed,but they can get immigration.

Republicans are stupid,and now Obama has joined with them! Just my opinion on this one subject,.Obama is doing pretty well on trying to restore the economy,with no help at all from Republicans, so do not get me wrong.

 

[Days]

Social Security is in balance, it doesn't need tweaking and tweaking it, sure isn't doing anything to reduce the national debt, it isn't even reducing the deficit in any significant way. The government made a contract with the American worker, they taxed his/her wages - their whole life - in return for the tiniest of social security (It pays the rent on a two bedroom apartment)... we are talking bare survival here. Let me tell you about cost of living increases; these didn't come at all for 3 years, they only returned the last couple and they amount to about $40 per month... which kept up with rent increases, was all.

When Elizabeth Warren is ready to toss the president under the bus!!! ... oh, JackDallas, where are you, guy?

 

[MaryAnne]

Days, my bills have increased every year,including those when there was no increase.

For those who are at the bottom this will really hurt. And most are there from life's problems,not because they did not try. I am furious for them,not myself!

There is no reason,at all for the President to put SS,CPI on the table! I hope every one is signing the petitions against this!

 

[Days]

New World Order... when they put it on our dollar, you had to know it was a brave new world coming. This is Soylent Green politics.

 

[Friday13]

I am, MaryAnne, and several other things. Where did they spend the $2.5 TRILLION in the trust fund? They robbed the poor to benefit the rich...and they'll (the cons) keep doing it until somebody can stop them. The Prez is very wrong in this. The cap should be removed from SS/MC tax, and ALL income should be included, yes, investment income as well.

 

[MaryAnne]

Found this history of SS.


http://www.ssa.gov/history/briefhistory3.html

 

[MaryAnne]

I am, MaryAnne, and several other things. Where did they spend the $2.5 TRILLION in the trust fund? They robbed the poor to benefit the rich...and they'll (the cons) keep doing it until somebody can stop them. The Prez is very wrong in this. The cap should be removed from SS/MC tax, and ALL income should be included, yes, investment income as well.

At this point they were discussing raising the limit on income above $110,000, where it is now to solve the Baby Boomer problem.

All,who are on SS now had the limit raised numerous times over their working years. We had no problem with that! Now,they want to punish the least of us,to feed the gaping maw of the wealthy.

 

[NightSwimmer]

He knows that it won't happen. He's merely calling their bluff again. President Obama may not have the opportunity to do what needs to be done to right our economy with this intransigent Congress, but before he leaves office, he will have shattered the "fiscal responsibility" facade behind which the GOP has been hiding it's true intentions for the past several decades.

 

[MaryAnne]

He knows that it won't happen. He's merely calling their bluff again. President Obama may not have the opportunity to do what needs to be done to right our economy with this intransigent Congress, but before he leaves office, he will have shattered the "fiscal responsibility" facade behind which the GOP has been hiding it's true intentions for the past several decades.

This also might leave Obama as the first Democratic President to cut SS!

 

[OldGaffer]

The conservative advocacy group Club for Growth is calling on Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) to answer for his comments Wednesday, in which he attacked President Barack Obama for proposing cuts to entitlements -- a goal ordinarily sought by a majority of the Republican party.

“Greg Walden doesn’t seriously oppose even the most modest of reforms to social security, right?” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola in a statement. “With nearly $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities, the last thing Republicans should attack the Democrats for is for making the most minor reforms to our entitlement programs. If anything, President Obama nibbles around the edges of entitlement reform and doesn’t do anything to put entitlements on a permanently sustainable path.

“Greg Walden ought to think about clarifying his remarks on chained CPI, and think about clarifying soon. I’m sure his constituents would like to know his opinion,” he added.

Walden, who happens to chair the House GOP’s re-election committee, went on CNN earlier Wednesday to decry Obama's budget because it “lays out a shocking attack on seniors.”

“I’ll tell you when you’re going after seniors the way he’s already done on Obamacare, taken $700 billion out of Medicare to put into Obamacare and now coming back at seniors again, I think you’re crossing that line very quickly here in terms of denying access to seniors for health care in districts like mine certainly and around the country,” he said.

Wingers starting to show their true colors on SS.

 

[fairsheet]

Obama isn't going to "cut" Social Security. He threw the idea of a revised inflation schedule on the table, as a bargaining chip. He's done this sort of thing time and again, during his tenure. And..EVERY time, some aspect of the left rends its garments around how Obama is selling them out. And every time, his theoretical "sell out", eventually vanishes.

At first, it bugged me when lefters appeared to be missing the big picture, and would get all worked up around these exercises. But..I finally figured out that their angst is an essential element! When Obama appears to be offering the GOP something by way of compromise and his lefter base throws a fit, that actually multiplies the value of his offer and makes Obama out to be that much more the statesman. All people tend to remember, is the "offer". They tend to forget that the "offer" never comes to pass.

 

[Days]

it's a high stakes game... and our welfare is in the pot.

 

[jammer]

What is it with you rightwingers? Obama gives you part of your wish lists and you people still piss and moan about it.

 

[fairsheet]

For my part, I think it's kinda cool to see the whole, "New World Order" thing being dug up and paraded about.

 

[Joe Economist]

Really, ask yourself, how much of the national debt is going away by reducing the cost-of-living increases on Social Security? There is absolutely zero financial incentive for doing that... it is a political gesture purely and entirely... which is to say, it is puke in the American people's faces. When I see stuff like this, I go conspiracy theory... who wanted this? Neither party! Must have been put to our NWO president at the last secret meeting of the Illuminatti. You don't think so? Try to explain this, then... the guy has vehemently said over and over that Social Security should not be cut... then he proposes cutting into it... and not in the future, there are ways to do that, but this is a cut to the annual cost-of-living increases; my household will feel it come January.

Cutting benefits in Social Security isn't about the Federal budget deficit. It is about the SS shortfall. How much of the 75 year shortfall goes away? About 16% - that is if it is immediately put into place rather than watered-down with comfort payments to existing retirees. It fixes about 2% of the actual shortfall.

Whether it is Obama or the GOP that cuts Social Security is not relevant. Economic gravity is coming with a sickle.

 

[Days]

There is no 75 year shortfall. SS has Trillions of dollars of Treasury bonds in trust, it is not and never was "short" - the program collected enough taxes from everyone to fund its benefits.

 

[Days]

I'm not a wing nut, don't pigeon hole me with your sickness. (politics are a disease)

 

[Days]

I think its necessary... what's the point in discussing money while ignoring the money? Why dance around the subject? This nation has been taken over by central bankers from Europe... the same people we fought the revolution against. It's high time we woke up and realized what is going on in government. Politicians are puppets, if you want to discuss any of their actions, you have to look at who's pulling their strings.

 

[Joe Economist]

There is no 75 year shortfall. SS has Trillions of dollars of Treasury bonds in trust, it is not and never was "short" - the program collected enough taxes from everyone to fund its benefits.

Maybe you do not understand the concept of a shortfall. The Trustees say that SS has 2.7 trillion in assets, and has embedded 23.2 trillion of unfunded promises. You look at this like it is a left pocket and right pocket where you are very rich because your left pocket has cash. The problem is that left pocket has to pay the bills in the right pocket.

That is why there is a shortfall.

FYI the 75 year shortfall is 8.6 trillion. It is a joke number because it doesn't factor in the financing costs of the system.