Medicare beneficiaries to benefit from changes implemented this year:
Drug makers will provide a 50% discount on brand-name drugs and the government will provide a 7% discount on generics for consumers in the gap (Donut Hole). Each year, the discounts will increase until the consumer's share of costs while in the gap is 25% for both name-brand and generic drugs.
The elimination of deductibles and coinsurance for preventative services, as recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
Coverage of annual wellness visit and personalized prevention plan at no charge.
Provides 10 % bonuses payments to primary care doctors working in areas with physician shortages.
Creates a CMS Innovation Center that will explore effective ways to create efficient payment systems that are patient-centered, and that preserve and provide incentive for high-quality care.
Reduces market basket updates for providers, beginning this year. This stabilizes payments to the various Medicare providers, reducing changes and uncertainty regarding their payments for services from Medicare.
Prohibits private "Medicare Advantage" plans from charging enrollees more than Original Medicare for certain medical services, including chemotherapy administration and skilled nursing care.
Freezes "Medicare Advantage" plans payment rates to 2010 levels. The intent is to reduce government subsidies to insurance companies by phasing in annual reforms intended to better match coverage costs in the private Medicare insurance market to those in the Original Medicare program.
Allows Medicare Advantage enrollees to switch to Original Medicare during the first 45 days of the new year.
Freezes inflation indexing for Medicare-related Part-B premiums for people with high incomes.
Raises drug plan premiums for individuals earning over $85, 000 and couples earning over $170,000.
Creates a new voluntary national insurance program for long-term care services (Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Program, financed through voluntary payroll deductions. After five years of contributions one would be invested in the plan with an average lifetime benefit of $50.00 a day, depending on the needs of the person.
Showing posts with label Deficit - Seniors - Social Security - Medicare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deficit - Seniors - Social Security - Medicare. Show all posts
03 January 2011
15 December 2010
Boomers, Xers, Millennials - Social Security is Yours: Fight to Save It!
Confused about Social Security? Think it's going bankrupt? Think it's driving up the deficit? Here's Ed Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, putting the lie to these misconceptions.
13 December 2010
Obama's Tax Deal, Social Security: Beginning Of The End
Proposed Tax Deal: Poison Pill for Social Security
President Obama announced a tentative deal with Congressional Republicans a week ago today to extend the Bush-era tax cuts at all income levels for two years. The package would reduce the 6.2% Social Security payroll tax on all wage earners by two percentage points, to 4.2%, for one year. However, the package would cost about $900 billion over the next two years, and would be financed entirely by adding to the national debt. The deal would also extend unemployment benefits at their current level for 13 months, through the end of 2011.
The Social Security payroll tax cut is estimated to cost $120 billion per year, and is a provision that Senate Democrats say could ultimately be the undoing of Social Security. Allowing the payroll tax to expire in a year will mean that workers will see a nearly 50% jump in payroll taxes as the rate reverts back -- an event that is likely to be described as a tax hike. According to The Huffington Post, reducing a person's responsibility to contribute to Social Security also deprives the program of the political and moral capital that has kept the program intact despite fierce opposition from a determined investor class. In arguing against the deal, Nancy Altman, head of the group Social Security Works, noted that such responsibility was put into place by FDR for just that purpose. To see more from FDR on the topic, Click Here
Altman said that dividing the stimulus evenly by simply sending an equal check to every worker would be far more desirable. Both the Senate and the House are expected to debate and vote on the proposal early this week.
Tax Cuts for the Rich, Republicans Kill $250 for Seniors
A proposal to provide seniors an emergency payment of $250 was blocked last Wednesday by Republican-led opposition in the House and Senate. The measure would have provided the one-time payment to 58 million Social Security recipients in lieu of an annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). This is the second consecutive year that Social Security beneficiaries did not receive a COLA. Senior advocates note that the Consumer Price Index in Social Security, which measures the rate of inflation, does not accurately reflect the rate of inflation faced by seniors who spend a huge amount of their income on health care. Alliance for Retired American members sent more than 5,400 e-mails letting their representative and senators know that they were counting on them to vote in favor of the payment. The bill, S. 3985, required 60 votes to shut off a filibuster in the Senate, but failed 53-45. No Senate Republicans voted for it. To see how your Senators voted, go HERE.
The proposal also failed in the House for passage under House Suspension Calendar rules. There, the measure came up short, 254-153, with 141 Republicans voting against it. Under those rules, two-thirds of members present and voting were necessary for the bill, H.R. 5987, to pass. To see how your representative voted, go HERE.
In arguing for the $250, Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) mentioned the Alliance for Retired American's support on the House floor. “This legislation is critical to retirees, but unfortunately, congressional Republicans overwhelmingly chose to oppose it,” said Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance.
06 December 2010
Deficit Commission Fail: Big Win For Seniors & Working Families
American baby boomers, seniors and retirees dodged a bullet last Friday when the National Commission on Fiscal Reform and Responsibility's members rejected their co-chair's (*Erskine Boles & Alan Simpson) proposal to drastically cut Social Security benefits and raise the retirement age.
On this rare occasion, sanity and reason trumped ideology, ignorance and venality. We must never again try to balance the federal budget on the backs of current and future retirees, especially when it is an incontrovertible fact that social security has not added a single cent to the current deficit crises. Indeed, members of the commission included in their report to President Obama words acknowledging that Social Security has not contributed to the deficit!
It is a brutal irony that those members of the commission most ready to chop apart Social Security are the same crew of right-wingers that are leading the fight to extend Bush's tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. When one protests this, their retort is that the protester is engaging in "class" warfare. As though socking it to working families and retirees to enrich the already wealthy is not class warfare. Somewhat akin to a mugger telling the judge that his victim, who fought back, assaulted him.
The defeat of these draconian cuts to Social Security did not come easy. Working families, retirees, and future retirees and their supporters mobilized and stood strong while letting commission members know there would be a heavy price if they pursued a course of attack on one of America's greatest success story. The week before the vote, progressive activists from many allied organizations joined with the Alliance for Retired Americans in a national call-in day which shut down the capitol switchboard--which is designed to process 7,000 calls at a single instant.
We can hope that this augers a new chapter in debating and solving the issues related to the preservation of Social Security for generations to come. Solutions must be sought, but, those solutions must strengthen--not weaken--the economic security and well-being of millions of older Americans, widows, orphans and disabled workers. Social Security has kept generations out of poverty and it must be protected and preserved for all future generations.
On this rare occasion, sanity and reason trumped ideology, ignorance and venality. We must never again try to balance the federal budget on the backs of current and future retirees, especially when it is an incontrovertible fact that social security has not added a single cent to the current deficit crises. Indeed, members of the commission included in their report to President Obama words acknowledging that Social Security has not contributed to the deficit!
It is a brutal irony that those members of the commission most ready to chop apart Social Security are the same crew of right-wingers that are leading the fight to extend Bush's tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. When one protests this, their retort is that the protester is engaging in "class" warfare. As though socking it to working families and retirees to enrich the already wealthy is not class warfare. Somewhat akin to a mugger telling the judge that his victim, who fought back, assaulted him.
The defeat of these draconian cuts to Social Security did not come easy. Working families, retirees, and future retirees and their supporters mobilized and stood strong while letting commission members know there would be a heavy price if they pursued a course of attack on one of America's greatest success story. The week before the vote, progressive activists from many allied organizations joined with the Alliance for Retired Americans in a national call-in day which shut down the capitol switchboard--which is designed to process 7,000 calls at a single instant.
We can hope that this augers a new chapter in debating and solving the issues related to the preservation of Social Security for generations to come. Solutions must be sought, but, those solutions must strengthen--not weaken--the economic security and well-being of millions of older Americans, widows, orphans and disabled workers. Social Security has kept generations out of poverty and it must be protected and preserved for all future generations.
04 October 2010
The Fight to Save Social Security Continues
Fiscal Commission Meets for the Fifth Time as NOW Confronts Alan Simpson
The President's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, looking for ways to balance the federal budget, met for the fifth time on Wednesday, but hard decisions are not expected until after the November 2 elections. Social Security is one of several areas being considered by the panel for changes, and picketers outside the meeting demanded the commission keep its hands off the program.
A top target of protesters was Alan Simpson, the former Republican senator and now a co-chairman of the commission, who this summer described Social Security as "a milk cow with 310 million tits."
The National Organization for Women (NOW) has a new slogan: "Tits for an Ass," and NOW members arrived on Capitol Hill on Wednesday with 1,500 rubber baby bottle tops (nipples) and presented them to the Fiscal Commission as part of its campaign calling for the removal of Simpson. According to The Washington Post, NOW President Terry O'Neill told Simpson that she was giving him the nipples "in hopes that you'll have the decency to resign from the commission." When Simpson said that cutting Social Security had historically never happened, O'Neill responded, "Well let's hope that your efforts to make it happen now fail."
Members of Congress Hold Press Call to Announce, "Hands off Social Security"
Last Thursday, Alliance for Retired Americans President, Barbara J. Easterling, joined Senators Bernard Sanders (I-VT) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), as well as Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), John Conyers (D-MI) and Dan Maffei (D-NY) and AFSCME International President Gerald McEntee, on a conference call with reporters.
Organized by the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, the call briefed members of the press on how the participants' efforts to protect Social Security against harmful benefit cuts are gaining momentum in Congress. Senators Sanders and Brown discussed the Sanders resolution, S. Res. 664, which opposes raising the retirement age, risky privatization schemes, or cutting Social Security benefits. This resolution now has 11 co-sponsors. The Giffords Resolution, a similar resolution in the House, is H. Res. 1670 and has 56 co-sponsors.
Reps. Grijalva, Conyers and Maffei also discussed the letter they are spearheading to President Obama against any form of Social Security benefit cuts, including raising the retirement age. The Grijalva-Conyers-Maffei letter has now been signed by over 100 of their colleagues in Congress. The current retirement age is 67, and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has raised the possibility of raising it to 70. "Thank you once again to our dedicated Alliance members, who have sent more than 2,300 letters to their House members urging them not to raise the retirement age," Ms. Easterling said on Thursday.
The House and Senate could face a proposal to cut Social Security benefits in the lame duck session, should it be recommended by the Fiscal Commission on Dec. 1.
The President's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, looking for ways to balance the federal budget, met for the fifth time on Wednesday, but hard decisions are not expected until after the November 2 elections. Social Security is one of several areas being considered by the panel for changes, and picketers outside the meeting demanded the commission keep its hands off the program.
A top target of protesters was Alan Simpson, the former Republican senator and now a co-chairman of the commission, who this summer described Social Security as "a milk cow with 310 million tits."
The National Organization for Women (NOW) has a new slogan: "Tits for an Ass," and NOW members arrived on Capitol Hill on Wednesday with 1,500 rubber baby bottle tops (nipples) and presented them to the Fiscal Commission as part of its campaign calling for the removal of Simpson. According to The Washington Post, NOW President Terry O'Neill told Simpson that she was giving him the nipples "in hopes that you'll have the decency to resign from the commission." When Simpson said that cutting Social Security had historically never happened, O'Neill responded, "Well let's hope that your efforts to make it happen now fail."
Members of Congress Hold Press Call to Announce, "Hands off Social Security"
Last Thursday, Alliance for Retired Americans President, Barbara J. Easterling, joined Senators Bernard Sanders (I-VT) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), as well as Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), John Conyers (D-MI) and Dan Maffei (D-NY) and AFSCME International President Gerald McEntee, on a conference call with reporters.
Organized by the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, the call briefed members of the press on how the participants' efforts to protect Social Security against harmful benefit cuts are gaining momentum in Congress. Senators Sanders and Brown discussed the Sanders resolution, S. Res. 664, which opposes raising the retirement age, risky privatization schemes, or cutting Social Security benefits. This resolution now has 11 co-sponsors. The Giffords Resolution, a similar resolution in the House, is H. Res. 1670 and has 56 co-sponsors.
Reps. Grijalva, Conyers and Maffei also discussed the letter they are spearheading to President Obama against any form of Social Security benefit cuts, including raising the retirement age. The Grijalva-Conyers-Maffei letter has now been signed by over 100 of their colleagues in Congress. The current retirement age is 67, and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has raised the possibility of raising it to 70. "Thank you once again to our dedicated Alliance members, who have sent more than 2,300 letters to their House members urging them not to raise the retirement age," Ms. Easterling said on Thursday.
The House and Senate could face a proposal to cut Social Security benefits in the lame duck session, should it be recommended by the Fiscal Commission on Dec. 1.
13 September 2010
House Progressive Caucus Joins Fight To Save Social Security
Democrats, led by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, are finding the courage to face down the White House's fiscal commission with a resounding NO! to Social Security cuts.
Leaks from the commission indicate that even some of its Democrats would support measures to extend the retirement age to 70, eliminate cost-of-living increases, employ some form of "means testing" in order to deny earned benefits to retirees of a certain income level, and to revisit "privatization". Earlier, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll returned numbers showing that a overwhelming majority (68%) of Americans are "uncomfortable" with candidates supporting such radical views.
Talking Points Memo Blog, reports that if the commission recommends cuts or other changes to Social Security, the caucus will say, "You will lose our support". Also, Democrats are preparing a letter to be sent to President Obama declaring that Democrats will pledge to vote against any legislation coming from the commission unless Social Security is taken off the table. The letter will include words stating firm opposition to any attempts at "privatization", cuts, or efforts to diminish Social Security in any way.
Earlier we reported on a sense of Congress letter initiated by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). Now that the Congressional Progressive Caucus has signed on and is taking a leadership role in opposing the commission indicates that opposition to this latest outrageous assault on Social Security by Republicans and some lick-spit Blue Dog Democrats is growing and gaining traction in efforts supported by many grassroots groups, including the Alliance for Retired Americans, to tie the hands of the commissions on its suspected ploy of undermining Social Security in the name of deficit reduction.
It is expected that the letter will be sent to the president once members of congress have returned later this month and the number of signers has climbed.
Leaks from the commission indicate that even some of its Democrats would support measures to extend the retirement age to 70, eliminate cost-of-living increases, employ some form of "means testing" in order to deny earned benefits to retirees of a certain income level, and to revisit "privatization". Earlier, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll returned numbers showing that a overwhelming majority (68%) of Americans are "uncomfortable" with candidates supporting such radical views.
Talking Points Memo Blog, reports that if the commission recommends cuts or other changes to Social Security, the caucus will say, "You will lose our support". Also, Democrats are preparing a letter to be sent to President Obama declaring that Democrats will pledge to vote against any legislation coming from the commission unless Social Security is taken off the table. The letter will include words stating firm opposition to any attempts at "privatization", cuts, or efforts to diminish Social Security in any way.
Earlier we reported on a sense of Congress letter initiated by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). Now that the Congressional Progressive Caucus has signed on and is taking a leadership role in opposing the commission indicates that opposition to this latest outrageous assault on Social Security by Republicans and some lick-spit Blue Dog Democrats is growing and gaining traction in efforts supported by many grassroots groups, including the Alliance for Retired Americans, to tie the hands of the commissions on its suspected ploy of undermining Social Security in the name of deficit reduction.
It is expected that the letter will be sent to the president once members of congress have returned later this month and the number of signers has climbed.
03 September 2010
Congresswoman Giffords Joins Fight to Save Social Security!
Tell Congress: Don't Raise Retirement Age!
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) plans to introduce a resolution expressing the sense of Congress against raising the retirement age when Congress reconvenes this month. "This resolution, especially with a large number of cosponsors, can be a good counterweight to proposals at the Fiscal Commission to raise the retirement age," said Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans.
In a "Dear Colleague" letter sent to members of the House recently, Giffords said that an increase in the retirement age is simply a cut in benefits. Current cosponsors include: Reps. Travis Childers (D-MS), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Laura Richardson (D-CA), Diane Watson (D-CA), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) and Joe Courtney (D-CT). To ask your Member of Congress to co-sponsor the resolution, go HERE
"For 75 years, Social Security has been a bedrock promise. Seniors have earned it with a lifetime of hard work and depend on it to live independently and with dignity in their retirement. That's why I unequivocally oppose proposals to cut Social Security benefits and balance the budget on the backs of seniors by raising the Social Security retirement age," Giffords wrote in her letter. Rep. Giffords listed several reasons for not raising the retirement age: the surplus within the Social Security trust fund is estimated to grow to more than $4 trillion by 2023; also, the normal retirement age, currently 66, was already increased by two months each year in 1983 until it reaches 67 in 2022.
In addition, she wrote that raising the retirement age will place a greater burden on older, blue-collar workers in physically demanding occupations, like nurses, auto workers and teachers, who may not be able to continue to work in their jobs into their mid-to-late 60s; that the burden of raising the retirement age will fall most heavily on older workers with limited employment opportunities; and that life expectancy numbers are skewed in favor of men, higher income earners, and the more educated.
30 August 2010
Mr. President: It Is Time to Fire Alan Simpson
I have written extensively of that damned fool Alan Simpson and his dismal attitude toward older Americans--perhaps he is driven by self-loathing, as he himself is older than dirt and obviously dumber than a gunny sack full of wet Brazos River sand!
But over the past week or so, he has gone way beyond his earlier snide sarcasms and ugly denigrations of seniors to display a level of hatred that borders on the psychotic. The man is in desperate need of an intervention and some geriatric counseling and treatment.
In an e-mail to the Executive Director of the Older Women's League, Simpson wrote that Social Security is like a "milk cow with 310 million tits". Furthermore, he also told her, "call when you get honest work". Gosh, Alan, has no one warned you that one sign of a deteriorating mind in the elderly is a careless disregard for self-control demonstrated by wildly inappropriate outbursts of rudeness and crudity. Alan, seek help!
Last Wednesday, on August 25th, Barbara Easterling (*President) and Edward Coyle, (*Executive Director) of the 4-million member Alliance for Retired Americans wrote to President Barack Obama demanding Simpson's resignation from the Co-Chair of the National Committee on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Obama appointed Simpson to that position when the commission was formed.
In their jointly signed letter they wrote:
"This is conduct unbecoming a person named to co-chair a presidential panel. Moreover, it is the latest in a series of divisive and inappropriate comments Mr. Simpson has made about our nation's seniors and the Social Security benefits they have earned and rely upon to make ends meet.
He has also said, according to multiple news sources:
Mr. President, the Alliance for Retired Americans fully supports your goal of lowering the federal budget deficit, but as you know Social Security has not added one cent to the debt. We do not want a large debt to be our legacy we leave behind to our children and grandchildren. But the growing series series of venomous comments by Mr. Simpson greatly compromises his ability to lea a panel that tackles these complex issues in a thorough and objective manner"
But over the past week or so, he has gone way beyond his earlier snide sarcasms and ugly denigrations of seniors to display a level of hatred that borders on the psychotic. The man is in desperate need of an intervention and some geriatric counseling and treatment.
In an e-mail to the Executive Director of the Older Women's League, Simpson wrote that Social Security is like a "milk cow with 310 million tits". Furthermore, he also told her, "call when you get honest work". Gosh, Alan, has no one warned you that one sign of a deteriorating mind in the elderly is a careless disregard for self-control demonstrated by wildly inappropriate outbursts of rudeness and crudity. Alan, seek help!
Last Wednesday, on August 25th, Barbara Easterling (*President) and Edward Coyle, (*Executive Director) of the 4-million member Alliance for Retired Americans wrote to President Barack Obama demanding Simpson's resignation from the Co-Chair of the National Committee on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Obama appointed Simpson to that position when the commission was formed.
In their jointly signed letter they wrote:
"This is conduct unbecoming a person named to co-chair a presidential panel. Moreover, it is the latest in a series of divisive and inappropriate comments Mr. Simpson has made about our nation's seniors and the Social Security benefits they have earned and rely upon to make ends meet.
He has also said, according to multiple news sources:
- "Where do I get my mail? From these old cats 70 and 80 years old who are not affected in one whiff. People who live in gated communities and drive their Lexus to Perkins restaurant to get the AARP discount"
- That older Americans are greedy geezers";
- That the economically-disadvantaged are the lesser-people in society."
Mr. President, the Alliance for Retired Americans fully supports your goal of lowering the federal budget deficit, but as you know Social Security has not added one cent to the debt. We do not want a large debt to be our legacy we leave behind to our children and grandchildren. But the growing series series of venomous comments by Mr. Simpson greatly compromises his ability to lea a panel that tackles these complex issues in a thorough and objective manner"
23 August 2010
Texas: Social Security Works For You!
Social Security brings nearly $39-billion to the Texas economy each year. Those dollars "turn over" several times after being spent for health care, lodging, food, transportation and other of life's necessities. They lift from poverty over 1.3-million Texans and provide income to nearly 1/2-million disabled workers, nearly 300-thousand children, 3.25-million widows & widowers and almost 2-million retired workers.
As that $39-billion (equivalent to 3% of the state's annual GDP) works its way through our economy; businesses, small and large, are able to grow and and provide employment to other Texas.
As these figures demonstrate, Social Security is an extremely effective and beneficial family insurance protection for Texans against lost wages due to old age, disability, or death. Simply put: It is impossible to overstate the importance of Social Security's earned protections. However, we find ourselves here in Texas with too many rabidly-radical, right-wing politicians of the type that would have us apologize to BP for its disastrous oil spill and hand Social Security over the the cut-purses, liars, thieves, and mendicants of Wall Street.
They ignore the truth that Social Security has not caused the federal deficit, and that the program enjoys a $2.6-trillion surplus today which is projected to become $4.3-trillion by 2023. Middle-aged and young workers will find that Social Security must be a mainstay against poverty as they become older after watching their housing equities, retirement savings and 401k investments being ravaged by what is now called "The Great Recession". The attempts to deprive them of FULL Social Security benefits by Republicans and Blue-Dog Democrats and their arch-conservative fellow travelors is both unbelievable and unconscionab
Social Security is not a welfare program breaking our financial backs and causing our fiscal deficit. Social Security is paid for through dedicated taxes contributed by workers and their employers into a trust fund. This makes Social Security a promise---a bond between generations that belongs to the people who have worked hard all their lives and their families!
As that $39-billion (equivalent to 3% of the state's annual GDP) works its way through our economy; businesses, small and large, are able to grow and and provide employment to other Texas.
As these figures demonstrate, Social Security is an extremely effective and beneficial family insurance protection for Texans against lost wages due to old age, disability, or death. Simply put: It is impossible to overstate the importance of Social Security's earned protections. However, we find ourselves here in Texas with too many rabidly-radical, right-wing politicians of the type that would have us apologize to BP for its disastrous oil spill and hand Social Security over the the cut-purses, liars, thieves, and mendicants of Wall Street.
They ignore the truth that Social Security has not caused the federal deficit, and that the program enjoys a $2.6-trillion surplus today which is projected to become $4.3-trillion by 2023. Middle-aged and young workers will find that Social Security must be a mainstay against poverty as they become older after watching their housing equities, retirement savings and 401k investments being ravaged by what is now called "The Great Recession". The attempts to deprive them of FULL Social Security benefits by Republicans and Blue-Dog Democrats and their arch-conservative fellow travelors is both unbelievable and unconscionab
Social Security is not a welfare program breaking our financial backs and causing our fiscal deficit. Social Security is paid for through dedicated taxes contributed by workers and their employers into a trust fund. This makes Social Security a promise---a bond between generations that belongs to the people who have worked hard all their lives and their families!
20 August 2010
Do These Things Today & Save Social Security
Known foes of Social Security and Medicare from the rabidly radical right-wing of American politics are waging an all out war against working families, retirees, the elderly, disabled workers and the survivor beneficiaries of Social Security. Over the past several days, we have exposed their lies and provided clear and easy remedies which insure Social Security's solvency for decades to come.
Today we're going to name the key protagonists in the assault on this vital social safety net which has helped keep Americans of all ages and from all walks of life out of poverty for 75 years.
Billionaire Peter G. (Pete) Peterson, one of that perfidious bastard Richard Nixon's advisers, is joined in a cabal with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers to pump millions into schemes and on-air advertising to contriving to take away Social Security and Medicare under the canard of "fiscal responsibility". Peterson, former CEO of the disgraced and bankrupt Lehman brothers, has revealed his true motives in the remark, "...Social Security would crowd out all forms of capital accumulations".
These reactionary right-wing politicians were appointed to the President's Fiscal Commission by House Minority Leader, John Boehner; Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Dave Camp of Michigan, and Jeb Hensarling of Texas.
Ryan has called for the "sun-setting" of Social Security while stating that "secure retirement is a myth". He is a key proponent of the wait to 70 to retire shell game.
Hensarling has called for the privatization of Social Security and reducing benefits for those already receiving it. (If Bush's 2005 privatization plot had passed, those "individual investment accounts" would have, by now, lost 20% of their worth!). He was a protege' of former Republican Senator Phil Gramm, the architect of the deregulation which contributed to the recent Wall Street catastrophe.
Camp has mastered the art of political double-speak from each side of his mouth, with a tongue that wags at both ends. On one hand he bully-pulpits about making Social Security strong while at the same time joining in with the privatization crowd. He has amassed a lifetime "0" rating from the Alliance for Retired Americans for his anti-senior voting record!
Those are some of the principals out to destroy Social Security. Now, take a few minutes and fight back and help preserve and protect it so it can be passed along to coming generations:
Contact your member of Congress today to let them know that you support Social Security and Medicare and that they request the Fiscal Commission to hold open field hearings that will encourage honest debate and input from constituents like you.
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper that urges the commission to fully examine ALL the tax and spending that created the deficit (2 wars, tax cuts, spiraling health costs, housing bubble), not just entitlement programs.
Talk to your friends and neighbors about the value of Social Security and Medicare. Shane the good word about the importance of making these vital programs remain strong for our children and grandchildren!
COMING MONDAY: Social Security Works for Texas
Today we're going to name the key protagonists in the assault on this vital social safety net which has helped keep Americans of all ages and from all walks of life out of poverty for 75 years.
Billionaire Peter G. (Pete) Peterson, one of that perfidious bastard Richard Nixon's advisers, is joined in a cabal with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers to pump millions into schemes and on-air advertising to contriving to take away Social Security and Medicare under the canard of "fiscal responsibility". Peterson, former CEO of the disgraced and bankrupt Lehman brothers, has revealed his true motives in the remark, "...Social Security would crowd out all forms of capital accumulations".
These reactionary right-wing politicians were appointed to the President's Fiscal Commission by House Minority Leader, John Boehner; Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Dave Camp of Michigan, and Jeb Hensarling of Texas.
Ryan has called for the "sun-setting" of Social Security while stating that "secure retirement is a myth". He is a key proponent of the wait to 70 to retire shell game.
Hensarling has called for the privatization of Social Security and reducing benefits for those already receiving it. (If Bush's 2005 privatization plot had passed, those "individual investment accounts" would have, by now, lost 20% of their worth!). He was a protege' of former Republican Senator Phil Gramm, the architect of the deregulation which contributed to the recent Wall Street catastrophe.
Camp has mastered the art of political double-speak from each side of his mouth, with a tongue that wags at both ends. On one hand he bully-pulpits about making Social Security strong while at the same time joining in with the privatization crowd. He has amassed a lifetime "0" rating from the Alliance for Retired Americans for his anti-senior voting record!
Those are some of the principals out to destroy Social Security. Now, take a few minutes and fight back and help preserve and protect it so it can be passed along to coming generations:
Contact your member of Congress today to let them know that you support Social Security and Medicare and that they request the Fiscal Commission to hold open field hearings that will encourage honest debate and input from constituents like you.
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper that urges the commission to fully examine ALL the tax and spending that created the deficit (2 wars, tax cuts, spiraling health costs, housing bubble), not just entitlement programs.
Talk to your friends and neighbors about the value of Social Security and Medicare. Shane the good word about the importance of making these vital programs remain strong for our children and grandchildren!
19 August 2010
How To Fix Social Security
For 75 years now, Social Security has provided benefits to individuals of all ages; retirees, disabled workers, widows & widowers, and surviving dependent children of deceased workers. Despite its success as a preeminent anti-poverty program it is once again under attack from the rabidly radical right wing of the American political spectrum. These attacks are taking form, from the vilification of seniors as "greedy geezers" to the false claims that Social security has contributed to the current deficit and that somehow Social Security will be a "burden" on coming generations of working Americans, of scare tactics similar to the "death panel" lies of the health car reform debate..
The facts are these: Social Security is sound, solvent, and secure with a surplus of $2.5-trillion which puts the program on schedule to pay full, guaranteed benefits until at least 2037. Even if no changes were made, Social Security could, after 2037, continue to pay benefits at 75% until around 2084. These figures and projections are readily verifiable through the Congressional Budget Office and Social Security websites.
However, we do need to act in order that we protect, preserve and pass along to future generations a cost effective, strong, and fully funded program as is now benefiting more than 53-million Americans. The ways to do this are really quiet simple and could be easily implemented were it not for the recalcitrance and pigheadedness of Republicans, Conservatives and Blue-Dog Democrats.
1. Congress should allow the Bush tax cuts expire for the wealthiest Americans--those with annual incomes of $350,000 or more--which would generate revenues that would keep Social Security fully funded for a full 75 years.
2. Raise the payroll tax cap on Social Security for the wealthiest Americans. The cap, which right now is at $106,800 means that millionaires and billionaires such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett pay no more into the Social Security trust fund than do their middle level managers.
3. Freeze the estate tax at 2009 levels and apply those revenues to the Social Security trust fund.
4. Establish a real and meaningful jobs program putting Americans back to work in good-paying, American jobs.
All it would take is for people to make their voices heard that they want a real fix to Social Security that does not penalize contributors and future recipients with outrageous means testing, or increases in the retirement age, or cuts in benefits or elimination of cost-of-living-adjustments.
COMING TOMORROW: How You Can Make A Difference.
The facts are these: Social Security is sound, solvent, and secure with a surplus of $2.5-trillion which puts the program on schedule to pay full, guaranteed benefits until at least 2037. Even if no changes were made, Social Security could, after 2037, continue to pay benefits at 75% until around 2084. These figures and projections are readily verifiable through the Congressional Budget Office and Social Security websites.
However, we do need to act in order that we protect, preserve and pass along to future generations a cost effective, strong, and fully funded program as is now benefiting more than 53-million Americans. The ways to do this are really quiet simple and could be easily implemented were it not for the recalcitrance and pigheadedness of Republicans, Conservatives and Blue-Dog Democrats.
1. Congress should allow the Bush tax cuts expire for the wealthiest Americans--those with annual incomes of $350,000 or more--which would generate revenues that would keep Social Security fully funded for a full 75 years.
2. Raise the payroll tax cap on Social Security for the wealthiest Americans. The cap, which right now is at $106,800 means that millionaires and billionaires such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett pay no more into the Social Security trust fund than do their middle level managers.
3. Freeze the estate tax at 2009 levels and apply those revenues to the Social Security trust fund.
4. Establish a real and meaningful jobs program putting Americans back to work in good-paying, American jobs.
All it would take is for people to make their voices heard that they want a real fix to Social Security that does not penalize contributors and future recipients with outrageous means testing, or increases in the retirement age, or cuts in benefits or elimination of cost-of-living-adjustments.
COMING TOMORROW: How You Can Make A Difference.
18 August 2010
Answering Republican Lies About Social Security
Please allow me to burden you with some facts regarding Social Security.
Did you know that with the current cap on contributions set at $106,800 billionaires such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and George Soros contribute no more to the trust fund than do their middle managers?
Republicans, knee-jerk conservatives, tea-baggers, Blue Dog Democrats and others who attempt to link Social Security to the deficit are not merely misrepresenting the facts, they are lying to you! Social Security is in the very strictest sense an insurance program protecting from poverty; retirees, disabled workers, widows and orphans and is funded by contributions from working Americans and their employers...its payouts come from a trust fund supported by those contributions not from the general treasury!
When you hear Sarah Palin, John Boehner, Alan Simpson and others of their ilk whimpering about IOUs and future generations you need to understand this---Congress has borrowed against the trust fund and now doesn't want to repay the loan...in effect they want to default on a "car title' loan and let the repo man come out and then claim they've "cleaned up an entitlement debt". Don't let them con you, they know this to be true and are engaging in name-calling, generational warfare, and outright lies to distract you from the truth.
They would have you believe that Social Security and "entitlements" are the cause of the deficit. This is more of their lies and fear-mongering. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), most of the currently projected budget deficit over the next ten years results from Bush's tax cuts for the rich, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq fought on the national credit card, spiraling health care costs, and the effects of the worst recession since the Great Depression.
The simple truth is this, Social Security has not contributed to the deficit and has a $2.5-trillion surplus that would see it to about 2040 with absolutely no revisions!
If anyone tries to tell you differently, they are lying to you!
Did you know that with the current cap on contributions set at $106,800 billionaires such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and George Soros contribute no more to the trust fund than do their middle managers?
Republicans, knee-jerk conservatives, tea-baggers, Blue Dog Democrats and others who attempt to link Social Security to the deficit are not merely misrepresenting the facts, they are lying to you! Social Security is in the very strictest sense an insurance program protecting from poverty; retirees, disabled workers, widows and orphans and is funded by contributions from working Americans and their employers...its payouts come from a trust fund supported by those contributions not from the general treasury!
When you hear Sarah Palin, John Boehner, Alan Simpson and others of their ilk whimpering about IOUs and future generations you need to understand this---Congress has borrowed against the trust fund and now doesn't want to repay the loan...in effect they want to default on a "car title' loan and let the repo man come out and then claim they've "cleaned up an entitlement debt". Don't let them con you, they know this to be true and are engaging in name-calling, generational warfare, and outright lies to distract you from the truth.
They would have you believe that Social Security and "entitlements" are the cause of the deficit. This is more of their lies and fear-mongering. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), most of the currently projected budget deficit over the next ten years results from Bush's tax cuts for the rich, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq fought on the national credit card, spiraling health care costs, and the effects of the worst recession since the Great Depression.
The simple truth is this, Social Security has not contributed to the deficit and has a $2.5-trillion surplus that would see it to about 2040 with absolutely no revisions!
If anyone tries to tell you differently, they are lying to you!
COMING TOMORROW: Practical Ways to Preserve, Protect and Pass Along Social Security.
16 August 2010
Social Security Birthday Parties & Rallies - A Great Success!
Last Saturday, August 14th, the 75th Anniversary of the day that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security program into law, the Alliance For Retired Americans put together over 100 birthday parties and other events to highlight both the occasion and the importance of the program. For a list of all the activities, go to http://bit.ly/aTIDaP.
Here in Texas we held Birthday rallies in Austin and Dallas. Over 55 people, young and old, attended the Dallas rally. Other events included those in Tucson, Arizona, where FDR's granddaughter is the special speaker at a lunch, and Rock Hill, South Carolina, where Alliance members will present Rep. John Spratt (D) with a special plaque to thank him for his service, along with a giant card signed by constituents asking him to continue protecting and preserving Social Security. Rep. Spratt will then cut a birthday cake and announce the winner of the raffle for whacking rights to a large "Fat Cat" piñata.
Alliance President Barbara J. Easterling called into the Social Security-Medicare party in Omaha, Nebraska to address those in attendance. "Retirees have much to be proud of as Social Security turns 75. It is a true American success story, one that has kept generations of seniors out of poverty, and allowed millions to retire with dignity and peace of mind. But this milestone anniversary is tainted by calls, in the name of deficit reduction, to cut Social Security benefits and raise the retirement age," said Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance.
Mr. Coyle was referring in part to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), who offered another signal a week ago Sunday that his party would favor raising the Social Security retirement age. Asked specifically on NBC's "Meet the Press" if he supports raising the retirement age to, say, 70, Boehner replied, "There are a lot of options on how you solve these (issues), but I don't want to put the cart before the horse." Later during the program, Boehner's deputy, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), said of raising the retirement age, "...for younger Americans, absolutely yes, we ought to bring real reform for the sake of future generations of Americans to get spending under control." For related information, including a link to state reports from the group Strengthen Social Security, with detailed information down to the congressional district level on the impact of Social Security, go to www.strengthensocialsecurity.org/reports.
Raising the Retirement Age, with People Filing for Early Social Security Benefits?
A striking trend is occurring: more people are filing early for their Social Security benefits in response to the weak economy. The Washington Post ( http://bit.ly/aHvTsz ) reported this week that more people filed for Social Security in 2009 (2.74 million) than in any year before. It's not just because of the baby boomers - there is a significant increase in individuals receiving reduced benefits because they filed in advance of their full retirement age.
Noting the trend and referring to the Republican efforts to raise the retirement age, Alliance Secretary-Treasurer Ruben Burks said, "Can you imagine working until 70? In physically demanding jobs like construction, manufacturing, and the service sector, I just don't see how you can. And in a tough job market, who would hire someone in their late 60s? Raising the retirement age is a benefit cut - plain and simple. We cannot allow it to be done."
Here in Texas we held Birthday rallies in Austin and Dallas. Over 55 people, young and old, attended the Dallas rally. Other events included those in Tucson, Arizona, where FDR's granddaughter is the special speaker at a lunch, and Rock Hill, South Carolina, where Alliance members will present Rep. John Spratt (D) with a special plaque to thank him for his service, along with a giant card signed by constituents asking him to continue protecting and preserving Social Security. Rep. Spratt will then cut a birthday cake and announce the winner of the raffle for whacking rights to a large "Fat Cat" piñata.
Alliance President Barbara J. Easterling called into the Social Security-Medicare party in Omaha, Nebraska to address those in attendance. "Retirees have much to be proud of as Social Security turns 75. It is a true American success story, one that has kept generations of seniors out of poverty, and allowed millions to retire with dignity and peace of mind. But this milestone anniversary is tainted by calls, in the name of deficit reduction, to cut Social Security benefits and raise the retirement age," said Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance.
Mr. Coyle was referring in part to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), who offered another signal a week ago Sunday that his party would favor raising the Social Security retirement age. Asked specifically on NBC's "Meet the Press" if he supports raising the retirement age to, say, 70, Boehner replied, "There are a lot of options on how you solve these (issues), but I don't want to put the cart before the horse." Later during the program, Boehner's deputy, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), said of raising the retirement age, "...for younger Americans, absolutely yes, we ought to bring real reform for the sake of future generations of Americans to get spending under control." For related information, including a link to state reports from the group Strengthen Social Security, with detailed information down to the congressional district level on the impact of Social Security, go to www.strengthensocialsecurity.org/reports.
Raising the Retirement Age, with People Filing for Early Social Security Benefits?
A striking trend is occurring: more people are filing early for their Social Security benefits in response to the weak economy. The Washington Post ( http://bit.ly/aHvTsz ) reported this week that more people filed for Social Security in 2009 (2.74 million) than in any year before. It's not just because of the baby boomers - there is a significant increase in individuals receiving reduced benefits because they filed in advance of their full retirement age.
Noting the trend and referring to the Republican efforts to raise the retirement age, Alliance Secretary-Treasurer Ruben Burks said, "Can you imagine working until 70? In physically demanding jobs like construction, manufacturing, and the service sector, I just don't see how you can. And in a tough job market, who would hire someone in their late 60s? Raising the retirement age is a benefit cut - plain and simple. We cannot allow it to be done."
04 August 2010
Social Security's 75th Birthday Festivities Begin
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Democratic Leaders, and House Democrats held a press event last week on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Social Security Act, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law on August 14, 1935. At the event, the Speaker blasted Republicans for trying to privatize Social Security, saying the change would have resulted in the trust fund incurring a massive loss due to the downturn in the stock market.
Earlier in Las Vegas, at the "Netroots Nation" convention, the Speaker said that she is opposed to raising the retirement age. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has said that he favors raising the Social Security retirement age to 70.
More than 60 groups, including the Alliance for Retired Americans, announced the creation of the coalition "Strengthen Social Security…Don't Cut It." The new group is launching a major mobilization to push back against Fiscal Commission assertions, backed by the Wall Street spin machine, that claim Social Security is a major component of the budget deficit and is teetering on the brink of disaster.
In a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., the group outlined plans to build support in Congress to fight benefits cuts and press candidates this election to push back against any move to raise the retirement age or privatize the program. "We are united by our concerns over the new Fiscal Commission, which operates in virtual secrecy and with a fundamentally flawed understanding of how Social Security is financed and operates. There is no government financial commitment at all. Every dime comes from workers and employers," Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, said at the event.
The new group's web site is HERE . For more information, go to the AFL-CIO blog Here. For photos of the press conference, go HERE. For a new Alliance document on Social Security Disability Insurance, go HERE.
Earlier in Las Vegas, at the "Netroots Nation" convention, the Speaker said that she is opposed to raising the retirement age. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has said that he favors raising the Social Security retirement age to 70.
More than 60 groups, including the Alliance for Retired Americans, announced the creation of the coalition "Strengthen Social Security…Don't Cut It." The new group is launching a major mobilization to push back against Fiscal Commission assertions, backed by the Wall Street spin machine, that claim Social Security is a major component of the budget deficit and is teetering on the brink of disaster.
In a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., the group outlined plans to build support in Congress to fight benefits cuts and press candidates this election to push back against any move to raise the retirement age or privatize the program. "We are united by our concerns over the new Fiscal Commission, which operates in virtual secrecy and with a fundamentally flawed understanding of how Social Security is financed and operates. There is no government financial commitment at all. Every dime comes from workers and employers," Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, said at the event.
The new group's web site is HERE . For more information, go to the AFL-CIO blog Here. For photos of the press conference, go HERE. For a new Alliance document on Social Security Disability Insurance, go HERE.
26 July 2010
Yet Another Deficit/Social Security Lie
Well, here we go again.
The war is on, as I warned everyone a couple of months ago. Those same people who brought you the housing bubble, bail-outs, failed banks and auto-manufacturing giants and 401k plans whose assets dropped faster than the mercury in the thermometer at Antarctica in January are going after the one program that is always on time, always in the correct amount and which keeps millions upon millions of seniors, retirees, widows, orphans and the disabled out of poverty--Social Security!
If you, after reading this, do not get up off your butt and do something, we will lose it.
Here's the latest foray from the rabid right and hucksters, lairs, thieves, cut-purses and mendicants of Wall Street. And, guess from whence it comes--did you guess Neel Kashkari? Oh c'mon, you remember Neel doncha? During the bail-out, he was in charge of administering the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) for the U. S. Treasury's Office of Financial Stability. Sounding familiar? Maybe the $700-billion of our tax dollars tossed out in the pig-sty that is today's world of as banking and finance will shake your recall a bit.
Actually, it is somewhat of an insult to swill sucking hogs the world over to compare them to our Wall Street bankers and financiers.
After this successful road-agent like looting of the national treasury on behalf of those "too-big-to-fail" and "troubled" financial institutions, Kashkari donned sackcloth and went into the woods for a period of self-appraisal and navel concentrating, but now has emerged as an expert on "entitlements", i.e. Social Security.
Writing on the op-ed pages of the Washington Post, Kashkari asserts, "The fiscal crisis in Europe has awoken Americans to the enormous challenge we face from entitlements. The promises our country has made over the past few decades, combined with changing demographics and rising costs, have put us on a path to national insolvency. Unless we control our deficits..." You can read the entire article HERE.
Allow me, please, to suggest this: Every time these right-wing stooges use entitlement, i.e. Social Security, in the same sentence as "deficit" understand that you are being lied to! And, as I said last week, there are lies and then there are god-damned lies. And, once again, I will leave it to you to decide what sort of liar is Kashkari.
And never mind the arrant hypocrisy hissed by Kashkari's forked tongue (after all he's done quite well for himself now working for a company that profited in the millions from holdings which were part of the Fed's buybacks) and just focus on this very simple, irrefutable fact which puts a lie to every "deficit based" attack on Social security: Social Security in no way contributes to the deficit. It is funded, with around a trillion dollars in reserves, from contributions of workers and employers into a trust fund
It is a lie to link the deficit and Social Security. Their obvious motive is this. The Republicans want to latch on to that trillion dollars in order to claim that they solved our deficit crises without raising taxes and to turn over to their wet-palmed masters in the counting houses of Wall Street all future contributions.
In the nasal words of that hill-billy financier, Ross Perot, "It is jest that simple"!
The war is on, as I warned everyone a couple of months ago. Those same people who brought you the housing bubble, bail-outs, failed banks and auto-manufacturing giants and 401k plans whose assets dropped faster than the mercury in the thermometer at Antarctica in January are going after the one program that is always on time, always in the correct amount and which keeps millions upon millions of seniors, retirees, widows, orphans and the disabled out of poverty--Social Security!
If you, after reading this, do not get up off your butt and do something, we will lose it.
Here's the latest foray from the rabid right and hucksters, lairs, thieves, cut-purses and mendicants of Wall Street. And, guess from whence it comes--did you guess Neel Kashkari? Oh c'mon, you remember Neel doncha? During the bail-out, he was in charge of administering the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) for the U. S. Treasury's Office of Financial Stability. Sounding familiar? Maybe the $700-billion of our tax dollars tossed out in the pig-sty that is today's world of as banking and finance will shake your recall a bit.
Actually, it is somewhat of an insult to swill sucking hogs the world over to compare them to our Wall Street bankers and financiers.
After this successful road-agent like looting of the national treasury on behalf of those "too-big-to-fail" and "troubled" financial institutions, Kashkari donned sackcloth and went into the woods for a period of self-appraisal and navel concentrating, but now has emerged as an expert on "entitlements", i.e. Social Security.
Writing on the op-ed pages of the Washington Post, Kashkari asserts, "The fiscal crisis in Europe has awoken Americans to the enormous challenge we face from entitlements. The promises our country has made over the past few decades, combined with changing demographics and rising costs, have put us on a path to national insolvency. Unless we control our deficits..." You can read the entire article HERE.
Allow me, please, to suggest this: Every time these right-wing stooges use entitlement, i.e. Social Security, in the same sentence as "deficit" understand that you are being lied to! And, as I said last week, there are lies and then there are god-damned lies. And, once again, I will leave it to you to decide what sort of liar is Kashkari.
And never mind the arrant hypocrisy hissed by Kashkari's forked tongue (after all he's done quite well for himself now working for a company that profited in the millions from holdings which were part of the Fed's buybacks) and just focus on this very simple, irrefutable fact which puts a lie to every "deficit based" attack on Social security: Social Security in no way contributes to the deficit. It is funded, with around a trillion dollars in reserves, from contributions of workers and employers into a trust fund
It is a lie to link the deficit and Social Security. Their obvious motive is this. The Republicans want to latch on to that trillion dollars in order to claim that they solved our deficit crises without raising taxes and to turn over to their wet-palmed masters in the counting houses of Wall Street all future contributions.
In the nasal words of that hill-billy financier, Ross Perot, "It is jest that simple"!
19 July 2010
Seniors Beware: You Did Not Cause The Deficit!
Fiscal Commissioners Demonize Senior Programs
Despite the obvious and readily verifiable proof that our current budgetary deficit is the direct result of George W. Bush's tax breaks for wealthy individuals and greedy, unregulated, international corporations; two wars of invasion and occupation fought on the national credit card; and a near bottomless chasm of recession and unemployment with diminished real earnings and property and 401k values, America's seniors, its disabled, its widows and its orphans are being targeted as helping cause the deficit.
Recently, the co-chairmen of President Obama's Fiscal Study Commission, while calling the current budget deficit a "cancer" that will destroy America from within, (damn, sounds almost McCarthyesque doesn't it--The Enemy Within) unless Washington takes tough action.
The two leaders of the fiscal commission issued their ominous forecast singled out Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as "consuming" more than their share of revenue. Well there are liars and god-damned liars, I'll leave it to you to decide which category fits Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles the two co-chairs of the commission. But, without any doubt, each is some sort of liar.
Social Security does not "consume" revenue! Each of these men know this. Social Security is funded by contributions from workers and their employers and has somewhere around a trillion dollars "in reserve". That is fact, and to suggest otherwise is a bald-faced lie and an attempt by both politicians to launch an inter-generational war by suggesting that Social Security is a tax burden for future generations. It is not! And that suggestion, is within itself another lie!
They are floating other "trial balloons", hinting that Social Security should be "privatized" and handed over to Wall Street thieves and mendicants. The very same hellish fiends that gave us the current recession, unemployment, bail-outs, derivatives, and the swap markets. Right! Just the very people we could trust to make things wonderful.
Another of their ploys is to suggest that increasing the retirement age to 70 would "save" Social Security and reduce the deficit----and watch their hands closely enough and you'll see which shell hides the pea! Or, and I like this one, phase out or end the Cost of Living Adjustments....there's the pea, there's the pea!
Alright, I will concede that unless something is done, in a decade or two, the Social Security Trust Fund will face some challenges. But, clearly, and oh so simply and so utterly fairly, the answer to that is raise the cap on earnings. Did you know that as it is right now billionaires such as Bill Gates pay no more into Social Security than some average Joe or Jane making around $120-thousand a year. Hardly seems right does it?
The Center for Economic and Political Research (CEPR) has released an in-depth analysis that shows that if the draconian measures suggest by Simpson and Bowles were adopted the effect on low and middle-income families would be devastating. You can find it HERE.
The truth is that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid have helped generations of deserving Americans to stay healthy and out of poverty and to attempt to balance the budget on the backs of older people, widows, orphans, and the disabled is heinous. And when that notion is based on lies, it rises to the level of a crime against humanity!
13 July 2010
Republicans Just Don't Get It About Social Security Privatization!
SOCIAL SECURITY PRIVATIZATION--A STUPID NOTION!
What the hell is it with these damned Republicans? To me they appear to be the sort that if they had brains they would take those brains out of their brain pans and roll them in the dust giggling and drooling at the fun of it all.
We are in what many are calling the "Great Recession"; trillions lost on wall street, housing values and equities dropping faster than Aunt Maggie's panties at the drive-in movie, 401K accounts mere shadows of the promise they once offered, five people chasing every available job, and long-term unemployment protection tossed under the bus for political expediency. Got it?
Well sure you do, unless you happen to be a Republican. If you're one of them, likely you're all for another run a privatizing Social Security...yeah, hand over to the mendicants, thieves, liars and cut-purses of wall street the most effective and best managed social safety net program in America. Just give the notion a moment's reflection, would you: Our Social Security Trust Fund in the hands of the very (nary a damned one of them is jail where they should be) people who gave us the worldwide economic crises we now are floundering about in.
Don't take my word for it. Here from the Alliance for Retired Americans weekly report to members.
"House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) stated this week that he is unsure whether the Republican Party will revive their 2005 movement to privatize Social Security. Recently, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), a member of the president's Fiscal Commission on addressing the national debt, released a budget blueprint that included dramatic cuts to Medicare and Social Security before effectively privatizing both systems.
Boehner has distanced himself from Ryan's blueprint without mentioning where he stands, leaving many advocates for seniors uneasy about the fate of these programs should Republicans return to power. "Representatives Ryan and Boehner must not have seen what I saw when we put unbridled faith in the markets and Wall Street," said Barbara J. Easterling, President of the Alliance. "We need to continue our work to protect Social Security. It is a valuable lifeline which has kept millions of retirees out of poverty."
At least, in this sole instance, bar-hopping Boehner recognizes a truly bad notion! But, all that proves is that a stopped clock gives the correct time twice a day.
08 July 2010
Retiree Leader Sets Deficit Commission Straight on Social Security
Testimony Transcript: Ed Coyle, Executive Director,
Alliance for Retired Americans
My name is Edward F. Coyle, and I am the Executive Director of the four million-member Alliance for Retired Americans. We are a grassroots organization of retirees from labor and community-based groups.
Retirees are deeply disturbed by talk coming out of this Commission about cutting Social Security benefits and raising the retirement age.
Social Security is one of America’s greatest success stories. It has kept generations of seniors out of poverty. It did not, I repeat did not, cause these deficits. The fact is that Social Security currently has a surplus of $2.6 trillion.
The federal government does not fund Social Security - it is a fiscally conservative, self-sufficient program with a dedicated source of revenue. It is an efficient, rock-solid program, with only one percent of funds going to administrative costs. I challenge the Commission to find a federal program run as efficiently and effectively as Social
Security, and one that is financially solvent for many years to come.
No one dislikes the federal debt more than today’s retirees. They do not want it to be the legacy they leave behind to their children and grandchildren. Is our federal budget deficit too large? Yes. Is it Social Security’s fault? No.
Earlier today you heard from America Speaks. Retirees are greatly disturbed that they are recommending increasing the retirement age to 69. Not only would this reduce benefits which, as I said, have nothing to do with the budget deficit, but it would be devastating to American workers, particularly those who work in physically demanding construction and service sector jobs.
Americans in their late 50s and 60s are already bearing the brunt of layoffs and benefit cuts from the recession. Raising the retirement age would inflict further hardship among a group of workers who are struggling to keep or find jobs. Many people this age face health
problems in these years. Simply put, many workers cannot continue in their jobs until they are nearly 70.
The Alliance for Retired Americans strongly rejects the gloom-and-doom, sky-is-falling predictions that Social Security is going bankrupt. Not only is this factually untrue, but it is a malicious scare tactic to divert attention away from the root causes of our deficit - unwise tax
and spending decisions by Washington over the past decade.
To further strengthen Social Security’s financial structure, the Alliance for Retired Americans supports raising the payroll tax cap - currently at $106,800 - for the wealthiest Americans. Right now, someone like Bill Gates is paying the same in Social Security taxes as a
$106,800 worker. Experts have said that raising the cap to 90 percent of all wages would fill one-third of a projected shortfall over the next 75 years in the Social Security Trust Fund. This change would only increase taxes on six percent of all workers, but would further
strengthen Social Security benefits for the remaining 94 percent of workers when they retire.
In conclusion, retirees care about more than just themselves. They worry about their children and grandchildren in these difficult times. Will they ever get to retire? And if so, what will be there for them? At a time of rising cynicism toward government, particularly among young people, it is more important than ever that our nation fully honors the
promise of Social Security.
Retirees are deeply disturbed by talk coming out of this Commission about cutting Social Security benefits and raising the retirement age.
Social Security is one of America’s greatest success stories. It has kept generations of seniors out of poverty. It did not, I repeat did not, cause these deficits. The fact is that Social Security currently has a surplus of $2.6 trillion.
The federal government does not fund Social Security - it is a fiscally conservative, self-sufficient program with a dedicated source of revenue. It is an efficient, rock-solid program, with only one percent of funds going to administrative costs. I challenge the Commission to find a federal program run as efficiently and effectively as Social
Security, and one that is financially solvent for many years to come.
No one dislikes the federal debt more than today’s retirees. They do not want it to be the legacy they leave behind to their children and grandchildren. Is our federal budget deficit too large? Yes. Is it Social Security’s fault? No.
Earlier today you heard from America Speaks. Retirees are greatly disturbed that they are recommending increasing the retirement age to 69. Not only would this reduce benefits which, as I said, have nothing to do with the budget deficit, but it would be devastating to American workers, particularly those who work in physically demanding construction and service sector jobs.
Americans in their late 50s and 60s are already bearing the brunt of layoffs and benefit cuts from the recession. Raising the retirement age would inflict further hardship among a group of workers who are struggling to keep or find jobs. Many people this age face health
problems in these years. Simply put, many workers cannot continue in their jobs until they are nearly 70.
The Alliance for Retired Americans strongly rejects the gloom-and-doom, sky-is-falling predictions that Social Security is going bankrupt. Not only is this factually untrue, but it is a malicious scare tactic to divert attention away from the root causes of our deficit - unwise tax
and spending decisions by Washington over the past decade.
To further strengthen Social Security’s financial structure, the Alliance for Retired Americans supports raising the payroll tax cap - currently at $106,800 - for the wealthiest Americans. Right now, someone like Bill Gates is paying the same in Social Security taxes as a
$106,800 worker. Experts have said that raising the cap to 90 percent of all wages would fill one-third of a projected shortfall over the next 75 years in the Social Security Trust Fund. This change would only increase taxes on six percent of all workers, but would further
strengthen Social Security benefits for the remaining 94 percent of workers when they retire.
In conclusion, retirees care about more than just themselves. They worry about their children and grandchildren in these difficult times. Will they ever get to retire? And if so, what will be there for them? At a time of rising cynicism toward government, particularly among young people, it is more important than ever that our nation fully honors the
promise of Social Security.
23 June 2010
The Lies About Social Security & How To Answer Them
You've Surely Heard These Lies - Fight Back With The Truth!
"Social Security is burying our children in mountains of debt!"
* Social Security has not added a single cent to the federal budget deficit. The federal government doesn't fund Social Security -- American workers do. Think about it. Social Security is funded directly by payroll contributions divided equally between workers and their employers. As such it has its own dedicated sources of revenue and it is fully financed for years to come. Today's youths are falling behind their parent's generation due to a decline in quality American jobs and a failure to adopt policies that help young families balance their roles as workers and parents.
"Social Security is a burden to our youth!"
* While the highly privileged and wealthy may be fortunate enough to already be setting reserves aside for their retirement, the fact remains that the vast majority of today's youth and their families are struggling as a result of high unemployment, stagnant wages and a shift from traditional pensions to 401K plans. These are the hard-working people who will likely need strong retirement, disability and survivor protections they grow and raise families of their own. Moreover, younger workers already have been handed a higher normal retirement age of 67. We ought to be talking more about preserving and strengthening the program for young and old alike, instead of pushing for cuts to the benefits of future generations.
"The baby boomers are going to bankrupt the program!"
* Social Security has run a surplus since the early 1980s in anticipation of the Baby Boomer retirement. Thus, the savings in the trust fund are already there to met this increased demand.
"The Fiscal Commission says that everything is on the table for consideration, including Social Security.!"
* So far, not everything has been on the Commission's table of consideration. In fact, many potential sources of revenue have been conveniently absent from the discussion: Where is the discussion about reducing the deficit by levying a financial transaction tax against Wall Street? Likewise, where is the discussion about closing tax loopholes and other tax advantages for wealthy corporations and individuals?
22 June 2010
The Truth About Social Security
DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know...that Social Security is the nation's largest disability program? It's true. Almost 8-million disabled workers receive monthly Social Security benefits. Included among those are thousands of wounded U.S. soldiers.
Did you know...that Social Security is the nation's most effective anti-poverty program? It's true! Without the safety net of Social Security, at least 44 percent of those age 65 and over would live below the poverty line.
Did you know...that social Security provides for children of those who have died in military service to our country? It's true! As of September 2006, an estimated 12,290 children were receiving payments as dependents of deceased service members who had been on active duty in the Gulf War period (extending from August 2, 1990 to date). These children are eligible to receive Social Security in addition to veterans' compensation.
Did you know...that Social Security was the first on the scene to provide benefits for the children and widowed spouses of people who were killed by terrorists on September 11, 2001. It's true! Social Security is paying monthly benefits to 2,377 children and 853 widowed spouses of people killed in the terrorist attack and to 642 individuals disabled during the attacks.
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