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Republicans say that tax increases inhibit job growth. (Like all the jobs haven't been outsourced during the last ten years.)
This sounds like a job for "continuing resolutions".
In other words, just stall. This has been the tactic that has been used since the President was elected four years ago.
Some people were deeply disappointed by "The Grand Bargain" the President made last year, that would have changed what we know as Social Security and Medicare.
Paul Ryan essentially wants Social Security to be turned into private accounts. Which would leave the poor and the orphaned in poverty. This is where we are heading if the Republicans get their way.
I have a question. Where did the 2.7 trillion dollars in the self-funded Social Security fund go? Apparently someone writing for Forbes wondered the same thing.
I want to go a step further. The Republicans like to say that Social Security is "broke", but no one really explains how it got that way. In 1983 Reagan started the looting of Social Security. By 2005 Bush was pushing to privatize Social Security and told Americans there were no funds in the Social Security Trust Fund. "Just a bunch of IOU's".
Congress decided to start "borrowing" the Social Security money, trading it for special Treasury bonds.
Remember, this happened under the sainted Reagan Administration.You didn't hear any Republicans crying about deficits back then. But apparently Reagan was spending so much money, they had to borrow it from Social Security. Make sense? Hell no.
Now that we don't have a surplus in Social Security like we used to, we have to use these bonds, in order to borrow money from China or elsewhere to keep our government running.
That is just part of the "Fiscal Cliff". The other part being our Department of Defense, endless wars, that have cost us over a trillion dollars.You don't hear McConnell or Boehner crying about that. However, they do cry that we're broke and poor people, old people, disabled people and our veterans can just suck it. Remember this, when the President wants the bill that passed the Senate last July, to get pushed through Congress. This will extend the tax cuts for families making under $250,000 and let the tax cuts expire for the wealthy. “If we get that in place, we are actually removing half of the fiscal cliff,” Obama said this week. “Half of the danger to our economy is removed by that single step.” I am betting they won't do it. With the stupid Grover Norquist pledge, the Republicans won't pass anything and we will go right over this "cliff". That means over $55 billion will be cut from the Defense budget every year till 2022. Meaning all those lobbies and their corporate interests can just suck it. Both Boehner and our President get political contributions from corporations like Raytheon .
So I say let's jump. I have had enough of spending money on useless wars. I'm tired of the lies about Social Security. The moral of this story is greed. The theft of the funds from Social Security. The profit driven war machine that squanders lives and is bankrupting this country. It needs to stop and so does all the crying that John Boehner is famous for.
Reagan was evil.
ReplyDeleteAs I'm sure you aware Any income over $110,000 is not subject to Social Security taxes.
And Social Security is not involved in the Deficit or Debt problems. Anyone who tells you differnetly is lying or uninformed.
What President Obama needs to is propose lifting the cap and taxing all income. Bernie Sanders is leading the charge to protect Social Security because what the Republicans and their Rich Masters want is for Social Security monies to be put into Wall Street where it can be quietly funneled to Cayman Islands Bank accounts.
Nice aliteration BTW!
I have done a lot of research regarding Social Security. I did wonder why income over $110,000 isn't taxed, it isn't capped for Medicare.
ReplyDeleteBeing that S.S. is self funded, I know it doesn't count towards the deficit so why then is it being trotted out, like it is up for grabs? All I can think of is like you say, Wall Street. To think a Democratic President would put Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid on the table doesn't make any sense. I get my newsletter from Bernie every week, he is a personal hero of mine. I hope that pressure from him will make these thieves think twice. But who knows?
Social Security is being trotted out, like it's up for grabs, for a very simple reason. It's evidence that egalitarian government--what most people call "big government"--works, and the Right can't stand that.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, of course, Kirk. I just hope that the President will not let any thing happen to those programs. Under the Bowles-Simpson Plan, Social Security would be cut 3%. It would also gradually increase the full retirement age to 69. If we are lucky enough to make it to that age. Since now I guess we just live forever. Joe Biden during the campaign said there would be no cuts to Social Security. I wonder if the President knows that?
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