Obama, the Trojan Horse

[Cuchulain]

President Obama said in his press conference yesterday that he wanted to 'strengthen' Social Security. He clearly stated that he would not 'slash' it. Then he went on to blather about Reagan and Tipp O'Neill. Well, I've been listening to politicians talk for a lot of years, and my take on that is he IS willing to 'compromise' with repubs YET AGAIN by raising the retirement age. Maybe I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong. But I doubt it. He's caved on everything else.

SS has a 2.6 TRILLION dollar surplus. It won't run out for almost 30 years and in the worst case scenario, it will still be able to pay about 75% of current benefits. We now pay SS tax on only about the first $107k of wages. Change that so we pay SS tax on all income, including dividends and cap gains and SS is fine forever. Obama talked about raising the cap while he was running for Pres. Maybe he'll try for it now, but I'll bet he still gives in on raising retirement age.

Yeah, yeah, I know - the 'surplus' has already been spent. I don't give a damn. We paid into it in good faith all these years. We were promised our benefits.

Jesus, I'm sick of voting for Progressive-sounding candidates who turn out to be corporate whores.

Obama, the Trojan Horse.

[hippifried]

That's quite an ear, that lets you hear what isn't said.

If your ouija board is that good, why haven't you hit the lottery?

[Cuchulain]

If your ouija board is that good, why haven't you hit the lottery?

How do you know I haven't?

Silliness aside, I don't need a quija board to see through political doublespeak, and neither do you. Do you honestly think that Obama won't agree to raising the retirement age?
Hey, I hope I'm wrong - but I doubt it. It's also possible that even if Barry O is inclined to cave in to the repubs, the more Progressive members of his own Party or general public alarm will convince him that it's not the expedient thing to do. Time will tell, but I think we're about to get screwed.

[ed_jaxon]

Help me out.

People are living longer into their lifespans and what would kill them before now becomes chronic.

The cost of healthcare is going up because of this.

Fewer people are paying into the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.

More people are drawing out of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.

Four options here:

Cut benefits for all or some.

Raise the amount collected through FICA and Medicare tax

Raise the retirement age

Do Nothing

Choose Now

[onmyknees]

President Obama said in his press conference yesterday that he wanted to 'strengthen' Social Security. He clearly stated that he would not 'slash' it. Then he went on to blather about Reagan and Tipp O'Neill. Well, I've been listening to politicians talk for a lot of years, and my take on that is he IS willing to 'compromise' with repubs YET AGAIN by raising the retirement age. Maybe I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong. But I doubt it. He's caved on everything else.

SS has a 2.6 TRILLION dollar surplus. It won't run out for almost 30 years and in the worst case scenario, it will still be able to pay about 75% of current benefits. We now pay SS tax on only about the first $107k of wages. Change that so we pay SS tax on all income, including dividends and cap gains and SS is fine forever. Obama talked about raising the cap while he was running for Pres. Maybe he'll try for it now, but I'll bet he still gives in on raising retirement age.

Yeah, yeah, I know - the 'surplus' has already been spent. I don't give a damn. We paid into it in good faith all these years. We were promised our benefits.

Jesus, I'm sick of voting for Progressive-sounding candidates who turn out to be corporate whores.

Obama, the Trojan Horse.

That's Ironic. I'm actually OK with him raising the age, I'm also Ok with him means testing it. But it has to be done ASAP so the changes can be phased in over many years and people can plan accordingly. My historical reading of SSI is was never intended as an entitlement, but that's irrelevent now. He can raise the age on me, but I want someting in return, I want the ability to invest a portion of my SSI in what I want to invest it in, after all.........it is my money. I'm a knowledgeable enough investor to turn my money over far faster than the government's 1920's style interest rate.

[trish]

Help me out.

People are living longer into their lifespans and what would kill them before now becomes chronic.

The cost of healthcare is going up because of this.

Fewer people are paying into the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.

More people are drawing out of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.

Four options here:

Cut benefits for all or some.

Raise the amount collected through FICA and Medicare tax

Raise the retirement age

Do Nothing

Choose Now

Social Security was never and is not now a burden on the economy. There was a surplus at the end of the Clinton administration largely because of the payroll deductions collected for SS; but instead putting that money aside and investing it so that it can be withdrawn later by the clients of SS, it was spent on wars and tax gifts to the wealthy. We would've gone into debt a decade earlier if there wasn't FICA money to raid. Why would we cut a successful program that solvent for the next twenty odd years?

Raising the age limit on SS seems exceptionally unfair. Many jobs are way to laborious to be working at until one is sixty eight or seventy, yet quitting a job to find one that is less physically challenging (and probably pays less) is easier said than done in this economy. Moreover, diminishing the retirement rate will keep the job market saturated, making it more difficult for younger job seekers to find jobs.

By far the military takes the biggest piece of budget. Before the Wall Street induced banking crises, the two off budget wars in the Middle East the put us trillions into debt. Solutions: pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Hell pull out of Europe. There's no military threat there anymore. Trim the military complex. And tax each and every trade made on Wall Street. Such a tax will bring in revenue, but more importantly, it will curtail the practice of computer programed micro-trading. We still haven't outlawed the kind of debt bundling known as derivative trading. Do that too. Until these steps have been taken, no one's being serious about the so called "debt crisis." They're all just mowing political hay.

[Cuchulain]

Help me out.

People are living longer into their lifespans and what would kill them before now becomes chronic.

The cost of healthcare is going up because of this.

Fewer people are paying into the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.

More people are drawing out of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.

Four options here:

Cut benefits for all or some.

Raise the amount collected through FICA and Medicare tax

Raise the retirement age

Do Nothing

Choose Now

trish said it more eloquently than I can. Also, you're lumping SS in with Medicare. Regarding the funding of SS, please see the second paragraph of my original post. SS has not added one thin dime to the deficit, nor is it in any trouble atm.

[Cuchulain]

That's Ironic. I'm actually OK with him raising the age, I'm also Ok with him means testing it. But it has to be done ASAP so the changes can be phased in over many years and people can plan accordingly. My historical reading of SSI is was never intended as an entitlement, but that's irrelevent now. He can raise the age on me, but I want someting in return, I want the ability to invest a portion of my SSI in what I want to invest it in, after all.........it is my money. I'm a knowledgeable enough investor to turn my money over far faster than the government's 1920's style interest rate.

I don't recall any figures on what such semi-privatization would do to the funding of SS, but it stands to reason that removing money from the pool would make funding harder. Remember, SS is not a retirement plan. It's a social compact between the American people and those too old or sick or disabled to work. Fortunately, the Obama admin HAS said that they would not allow any type of privatization. I agree with you about means testing, although I'm not sure how much that would save.

trish already mentioned the unfairness of asking someone in their mid to late 60s to keep raking concrete or tossing around a 90lb. jackhammer.

[Stavros]

On the other hand you could describe Obama as a pragmatist who has to find modus operandi to make sure Congress doesnt grind to a halt -spending $7 billion a month in Afghanistan doesnt help your economic prospects either...

[hippifried]

Neither social security or medicare are insolvent. They have their own revenue streams. The big panic is a misread of the boomer phenomenon. There's going to be a 20 year bump in the number of retirees starting this year. It's not permanent. The idea that we need to come up with draconian changes in the system to make up for a temporary anomaly is just silly.

The problem is priorities. For the last 30 years, we've been going out of our way to cut revenues & increase spending at the same time. That hasn't worked out too well. We need to get out of the war biz. Maintaining an empire is ungodly expensive. The beneficiaries aren't footing the bill, & we're not reaping the benefit. We're in the process of trying to shrink the middle class. To what end? Where'd this idea come from that holding down wages boosts the overall economy, that's 70% consumer spending? This is still the world's largest market, but that'll go away a lot sooner than necessary or wanted if the working class goes broke. Derivatives have their place, but when there's more money in hedge bets than productive capital, something is definitely skewed. We've gotten so twisted up in crackpot theories that we've lost track of the realities that are right in front of us. None of this shit's workin'. We need a rethink.