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Senator Obama, Please Stop Echoing Right-Wing Lies About Social Security!
Barack Obama is echoing the right's destructive narrative about Social Security being in crisis. The crisis is that Reagan and then Bush took all the money from the Social Security Trust Fund to use for tax cuts for the rich. (Clinton's surpluses were paying it back, Bush reversed that.) And now the Trust Fund is going to need some of that money back .
The right's line is that this means Social Security is in crisis, is "not going to be there" for the next generation, and "tough choices" are required. The audacity -- they took the money, and now they say this is Social Security's problem, and that we have to fix Social Security! They say this to distract the public from asking for the money back, and to get them to support efforts to privatize the program.
And Barack Obama has joined them in this! Recently an Obama ad reinforced the right's bamboozlement that Social Security is running out of money. speaking on Meet the Press:
Now, we've got 78 million baby boomers that are going to be retiring, and every expert that looks at this problem says "There's going to be a gap, and we're going to have more money going out than we have coming in unless we make some adjustments now." ... I want to make sure that it's there not just for this generation, but for next generations. So that means that we're going to have to make some decisions...
Paul Krugman pleads with him to stop. A few years ago the right tried to go after Social Security and there was:
... a determined defense by progressives in the media, on the blogs, and in Congress beat back one spurious argument after another, while the American people made it clear that they really want a program that guarantees a basic retirement income that doesn't depend on the Dow. And Social Security survived.
All of which makes it just incredible that Barack Obama would make obeisance to fashionable but misguided Social Security crisis-mongering a centerpiece of his campaign.
Barack Obama, please realize that you are assisting the right's efforts to get rid of Social Security. Their strategy is to make the public think that the program is in trouble and then sweep in with their "solution." (This is called "disaster capitalism.") The other day I wrote,
I know that Senator Obama's heart is in the right place and he has no intention of harming Social Security. But this ad is a mistake that could backfire. Please stop running this ad and please change the language. Instead of reinforcing the right's lie that Social Security has a problem, let people know that the conservatives took their money from Social Security and gave it out as tax cuts to the rich and THAT is the problem!
Is your heart in the right place? Social Security is not in trouble. Stop saying it is.
Follow Dave Johnson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dcjohnson
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I love these post about saving SS. If we had listen to Bush we would have money in the stock market that right it is going down the tube he is a fool. Then some of you talk about taxes look around fool the Rupblicans have altrady raised your taxes you are just to stupid to see it. You pay more for Gas, Food, Clothing, Property Tax, shopuld I go on or can you figure it out ?? I douth it?
A Retired Marine
I will make a couple points now.SS is in looming trouble.If anyone wishes to seriously contest this,I will talk to a few dept.chairs and ask them to post.Most will probably roll their eyes at being asked to do this.In simple terms,in about 10 years,money wil have to be taken from gen'l tax revenus to help pay benefits.That means people will pay taxes to help cover SS benefits.OK,you go;people have been paying money into the gen'l revenue fro decades.Yes,that's accurate.But let's wait and see what happens when people get less (pick one) fed roads,Pell grants,entitlements,farm subsidies,student loans etc-because some of the money is going to retirees.
We will then have a majority paying more to benefit a relatively affleunt minority(seniors).
You may argue,"It's an agreement.",but;a)it's not an agreememnt these peopls entered
and b)politicians want to get re elected.They'll cut benefits.See?it's not hard.
Give credit to Sen Obama for acknowledging the problem.Unlike Sen Clinton-"I know it's not in the shape the Republicans say it is."
And HuffPo is widely ridiculed as an echo chamber.Look at some of the above:Krugman says this because he doesn't want to pay more FICA,,SS is a "trust fund" a crisis is a right wing lie.This is denialism of the first order.
Planning is meant to avoid problems.That's why people get vaccinated.And guys,I'm not making over the max now.(I was and will be in another year or so.Switched jobs.)But if you expect the super rich-entertainers,Wall Streeters,etc to pay ss on every dollar,expect to be disillusioned.They will flee (take citizenship elsewhere)rather than pay 7-14 % of every dollar earned into FICA.
And they may have a moral point.Hillary Duff supposedly earns 12M/year.(Source Forbes)Depending on whether self or emplyed by others that's .84 to 1.68M she's paying into SS funds.So,in a year she'll be forced to pay more than she can collect in 60 years.
Just for a little thought.
Alright.
It's all "their fault" and now we have to raise taxes.
Now there's a plan...
Oh I get it. We're not going to raise our taxes, we're going to raise "their" taxes. Ha-ha. Isn't that how the AMT was sold? Do you know what you owe under the AMT? How about the time and money spent to figure it both ways?
I agree wholeheartedly. They have been running social security as a ponzi fund and spending the money on everything else. There was no surplus but social security and they gave it to the already wealthy as a tax cut. Now they have the nerve to say social security is in trouble. Repeal Bushes tax cuts and raise the taxes in the same rate they were given away and get the money back.
Kudos to you Dave Johnson for patiently trying to confront the flat-earthers with those annoying little things--facts.
The smart way to approach Social Security reform would be to pitch it as a tax cut and pledge to reduce the current rate of 7.65% (15.3% for the self-employed / combined personal and business effective tax rate) but at the same time remove the Maximum Taxable Earnings limit.
The only truly fair tax is an equal percentage for everyone. It is ridiculous to exempt high earners from paying Social Security taxes on all but the first $100-odd-k. The end result contributes to the lower overall tax burden (as a percentage of gross income) on the rich that the Bush administration and Republicans in general have fostered.
Obama's "donut hole" is a pandering Hilary-esque idea that is unfair to those who make less or more than those who happen to benefit from it. The more I see of Obama, the less I like him. His Meet The Press interview was bullshit politics as usual: a real disappointment.
As Keynes said about the government printing money, "in the end we'll all be dead".
Saving the excess Social Security taxes now collected into a so-called "trust fund" which consists of US Treasury bills earning an interest at or below the rate of inflation doesn't inspire the confidence that the old and the infirm will one day be able to buy even a loaf of bread with it.
If you think inflation is not going to be a problem, remember the late 1970's, the 1920's Weimar republic that led to Hitler, and our own Continental, as in "it's not worth a Continental".
The average person's taxes will have to go up unless we take heed to Ron Paul.
It doesn't matter it the conservatives are to blame for the shortfall. Do the math. There will be more going out than coming in...that is a crisis, no matter whose fault it is. Our household earns more than the $97,500 that is now taxed for social security. We would barely notice if that cap was raised to inlcude more of our income and would gladly pay a little more to help our fellow Americans. Obama is right (as usual)on this one.
GO OBAMA GO!!!!
First of all, the Social Security Trust fund is a trust fund not a U.S. bank account for the repiglecan party. Embezzlement is against the law. I don't care what others want to call it. A loan, t-bill, or bond it's still embezzlement.
Unfortunately, the S.S. weasels are guarding the hen house. Voted into power by the mindless chickens inside the house. You get what you deserve.
Will the new attorney general do anything about the embezzlement of the SSA trust. His plea to the court will be, "I vas just following
orders Mien Herr." It's coming to the point
that it wouldn't be a surprise if some of our allies knocked over a few tower in NY.It pales beyond sickening.
According to the last Trustees [Social Security] report in 2017 the fund will take in less then is needed and will have to case in the "special issue" bonds to get money. The money will have to come from the US Treasury [the only place that can redeem the bonds].
No one is "stealing" money from the fund. By law the money not needed goes to the general fund, as happens with any excess cash in any fund. And these bogus "special issue" bonds are given to the "trust fund."
Those that comment about Social Security and problems should do some background reading and see that there really is a big problem.
Raising [or eliminate] the "cap" will not solve the problem. Next year it goes to $102,000.00. To eliminate the cap will allow those persons to get more whaen their time comes, making a bigger problem.
We have at least one commentator who sees thro'Obama's veneer. Let us be candid, he is not qualified to be President. Plain and simple. The US is playing catch up with the rest of the world, sees Obama as an opportunity to elect a Black man President. When you get the talking heads dismissing Gov. Richardson's credentials as "whats that all about", we know it is part of the grand scheme of things to shut out the best qualified, from both parties. It is sad to listen to the media fawn and salivate over a guy who is paper thin in experience, ideas and knowledge. His claim to fame...being black.
You and Krugman seem to be among the few who are overreacting to this ad.
IS Social Security in crisis? Not right now.
But you fail to ask, WILL it be? And the answer seems to be yes, that unless changes are made to the system, there will be a shortfall (not nearly as big a shortfall as Bush and Cheney like to claim, but still a significant shortfall).
The baby boomers will get their money, but what about those of us who aren't baby boomers? We see a system that's destined to break down unless something is done.
Also, it wasn't just conservatives that took money from Social Security.
http://www.factcheck.org/article302.html
"Fixing" Social Security is simple, remove the cap and let the wealthy pay into the system AND pay back the money that was *borrowed* from the fund. Oh!, what was I thinking, Cons don't pay back *borrowed* money. Silly me!
Just like the Right Wing commentator calling S-Chip a middle class entitlement, etc. Hasn't this administration helped redistribute income upwards? It is evident that Bush likes to subsidize the already rich and very rich folks and corporate interests. With all sorts of unnecessary perpetual war spending - borrowing, he is helping destroy America and the middle class. The lower and middle classes actually buy things with their tax breaks rather (money in retail motion) than invest per se.
Sen. Obama speaking of bringing us all together, seems to ignore the Republican war against the middle classes and against the poor. His campaign may resort to this right wing rhetoric because any bipartisan solution to social security's problems, and to other problems, is an implicit capitulation to the Republican agenda.
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