Tell the House Ways and Means Committee NO CHAINED CPI!

[eridani]

You can start out by telling them to stop talking about our EARNED BENEFITS as if this was some kind of welfare program.

[e-mail]

The House Ways and Means Committee is currently studying what they call “entitlement reform.” They have asked for public input on a series of ideas and provided the e mail address above so that people can send in their views directly to the Committee.

We ask that you use this opportunity to show your strong opposition to the Chained CPI and to any cuts in Medicare.. As you know, the Chained CPI recalculates the cost of living formula in a way that will make very harmful cuts in Social Security benefits. And, many proposals around Medicare such as raising the age for eligibility as well as means testing are bad policy and will hurt people on the program.

So, please use this opportunity to strongly state your opposition to the Chained CPI and cuts to Medicare by e mailing the address above. The deadline for sending in your views is August 9th.

Just FYI, see the Committee’s posting on their web site as follows about this process:

http://waysandmeans.house.gov/entitlementreform/default.aspx

Ernie Powell
National Grassroots Director
National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
10 "G" Street NE, Suite 600
Washington D.C. 20002
[phone]
[e-mail]

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, eridani.

[msongs]

2. surely no democrat could be so incompetent and stupid to endorse or propose chained CPI right? nt

[Dragonfli]

11. Yes, besides President Obama nearly all 3rd way, DLC, Centrist, "New" Democrats in the party are

Last edited Sat Aug 3, 2013, 07:35 AM - Edit history (1)

"incompetent enough"
In fact they are pushing very hard for it.

Third Way Memo sent to all Conservative Democratic politicians and talking heads:

ECONOMIC PROGRAM | MEMO
The Context and the Case for Chained CPI

by DAVID BROWN

When the president included a previously obscure inflation index in his 2014 budget proposal, he reignited the controversy over Chained CPI. The president argues Chained CPI is a reasonable way to reduce the deficit, if included in the right package. Some liberals counter that Chained CPI would cut benefits for seniors and veterans, so it must be avoided at all costs.

Chained CPI is not a radical change. It is a legitimate technical improvement...

They have a complete set of talking points prepared to get them all on message "Chained CPI good!" available at their site under the memo name

Progressive Policy Institute (Will Marshal's DLC policy mill) has this to say:

The problem with the traditional CPI is its dubious assumption that consumers continue to purchase the same basket of goods regardless of relative prices. That is where the so-called “Chained CPI” comes in. Many economists believe it more accurately measures inflation by taking into account something called “consumer substitution bias.” Simply, what this means is that when the price of food or some other good rises, people will look for a cheaper alternative.

According to a new paper by The Moment of Truth Project, a bipartisan effort focused on overcoming the nation’s debt problem, switching to the Chained CPI would save the government serious money — $12 billion in Social Security, $33 billion in other federal retirement plans and $23 billion in deficit reduction from other areas of the budget. Chained CPI will conserve another $87 billion in a ten-year period, because it slows the growth of tax bracket thresholds and other factors. All told, using Chained CPI to gauge inflation and index the federal budget would reduce the deficit by $300 billion total over the next decade.

No wonder the switch to the Chained CPI has been endorsed by both the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform’s and the Domenici-Rivlin deficit reduction plans.

The fiscal commission’s co-chairs, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, set up "Moment of Truth" to advocate for the Bowles-Simpson commission’s plan.

They think that cutting our earned benefits in such a dishonest way is the best way to reduce the deficit caused by:
corporate giveaways such as subsidies to billion doll profit banks and oil compnies, a lavish MIC budget focusing on a permanent world wide war on a word (terra is very, very lucrative) that also feeds it's lucrative cousin "The world wide hoover all media surveillance state", and let us not forget permanent tax breaks on capital gains and an all time low effective corporate tax rate.

At least what they take out of our hides will go to such worthy causes

Yep, the eighties Republicans...er...I mean "Centrist Democrats" Like Obama and so many others are doing a great job for us.

[Divernan]

3. 82 House Democrats REJECT Obama's chained CPI Formula!

Dems reject Obama's chained CPI formula for Social Security
By Pete Kasperowicz - 04/22/13 01:03 PM ET

Dozens of House Democrats on Monday introduced a resolution that rejected President Obama's proposal for calculating growth in Social Security benefits.

The resolution, H.Con.Res. 34, was sponsored by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), and co-sponsored by 81 other Democrats. It says it is the sense of Congress that "the Chained Consumer Price Index should not be used to calculate cost of living adjustments for Social Security benefits."

Obama used his 2014 budget plan to call for imposing a so-called chained CPI formula. That formula would reduce Social Security cost of living adjustments by taking into account alternative purchases people can make in order to avoid goods and services whose costs are rising quickly.

Since Obama's budget was released, Democrats have criticized it as a way to shrink Social Security payments to seniors and have repeatedly rejected it in speeches on the House floor.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/295297-dems-reject-obamas-chained-cpi-formula-for-social-security#ixzz2atKgqbcx
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook

[Enthusiast]

4. It should have been unanimous.

A pack of millionaires willing to cut our already meager benefits. At the same time they have a super retirement package. They should be ashamed of themselves. Of course they have no shame.

[Divernan]

6. It's vulnerable senior citizens vs. MIC war profits

[Enthusiast]

7. Exactly.........nt

[Divernan]

5. SOME Dem. House Members Unite to Oppose Obama's Chained CPI

113TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION
H. CON. RES.

Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Chained Consumer Price Index should not be used to calculate cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security benefits.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. CICILLINE submitted the following concurrent resolution

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Chained Consumer Price Index should not be used to calculate cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security benefits.

Whereas the Social Security program was established more than 77 years ago and has provided economic security to generations of Americans through benefits earned based on contributions made over a worker’s lifetime;

Whereas the Social Security program continues to provide modest benefits—averaging approximately $14,000 per year—to more than 53,000,000 individuals, including 37,000,000 retired workers in February 2013;

Whereas the Social Security program has no borrowing authority, has accumulated assets of $2,700,000,000,000, and, therefore, does not contribute to the Federal budget deficit;

Whereas the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund projects that such Trust Fund can pay full benefits through 2032;

Whereas the Social Security program is designed to ensure that benefits keep pace with inflation through cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) that are based upon the measured changes in prices of goods and services purchased by consumers, currently the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI–W) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics;

Whereas the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes a supplemental measure of inflation, the Chained Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (C–CPI–U), or ‘‘Chained CPI’’, which adjusts for projected changes in consumer behavior resulting from price fluctuations known as the ‘‘substitution effect’’, which occurs when consumers buy more goods and services whose prices are rising slower than average and less of those rising faster than average;

Whereas studies indicate typical Social Security beneficiaries spend significantly greater shares of their budget than consumers generally on health care, prices for which have increased at higher than average rates, and health care may not be easily substituted for by consumers such as seniors;

Whereas the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that using the Chained CPI to calculate Social Security COLAs would reduce Social Security benefits by 0.25 percent per year as compared to current policy, resulting in a reduction in outlays of $112,000,000,000 over the first decade;

Whereas reductions in Social Security benefits from using the Chained CPI to calculate Social Security COLAs would continue to compound over time, and the AARP Public Policy Institute estimates that such reductions would grow to 3 percent after 10 years and 8.5 percent after 30 years;

Whereas Social Security Works estimates that using the Chained CPI to calculate Social Security COLAs would reduce annual Social Security benefits of the average earner—who is making $43,518—by $658 at age 75, $1,147 at age 85, and $1,622 at age 95; and

Whereas reductions in Social Security benefits would harm some of our most vulnerable populations:

Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That it is the sense of the Congress that the Chained Consumer Price Index should not be used to cal-
culate cost of living adjustments for Social Security benefits.

http://thehill.com/images/stories/blogs/flooraction/jan20

[MADem]

8. Republicans control the House, their clowns are the chairs, ours are just "ranking."

The complaining is good from a PR/awareness/activism standpoint, but don't expect help from those guys.

[Divernan]

10. The "complaining" is against President Obama, who proposed Chained CPI!

No Democrat can defend or excuse Obama on this issue.

[MADem]

12. Democrats can't do anything about it. Appropriations begin in the House.

If the GOP goes along with it, it gets sent to the Senate.

You want to stop something, work on the Senate--the House will not help you. They can't.

[Divernan]

13. The DEMOCRATIC President remains a key part of the negotiating process.

Last edited Sat Aug 3, 2013, 06:16 AM - Edit history (1)

Good grief! Stop trying to distract from Obama's responsibility for putting chained CPA into the budget. I worked for the Democratic caucus of my state legislature for 10 years, including analyzing proposed state budgets from the governor. Do you actually believe that Obama has no role in the backroom negotiations at this point?

Of course, as a sentient being posting on DU, I know the GOP has control of the House. What bothers the hell out of us true Democrats is that a "Democratic" president put CPI on the table, and continues to push for it. His Catfood Commission certainly has staying power!

I would very much like to hear your view of Obama pushing CPI.

[forestpath]

9. knr

[Triana]

14. My letter

SUBJECT: "Entitlement" Reform
TO: [e-mail]

To Whom it May Concern,

It is no secret to the American People that certain wealthy factions are behind concerted efforts to cut Social Security and Medicare. These are the same factions that despised these programs since their inception because they dislike paying the taxes associated with maintaining them.

Pete Peterson, Alan Simpson, Erskine Bowles, for example are part of a campaign by wealthy individuals called "Fix the Debt", which seeks to balance the nation's budget not by forcing the wealthy and corporate interests to pay their fair share, but instead by taking money from seniors and the poor - these so-called "entitlements" that people paid into all their lives so as to have THEIR MONEY back later in life as they transitioned from work into retirement.

The fact is that Social Security doesn't need to be cut in order to make it solvent. In fact, the program needs to be expanded, not cut. That means two things: removing the 'cap' above which no taxes are paid into the system and increasing the rate of taxes (percentage) paid into the system, particularly for wealthier individuals and corporate entities. Cuts in the form of raising the retirement age or "Chained CPI" are unnecessary, unfair, and are yet another step towards privatizing (and thus destroying) this very successful publicly-funded retirement program - the most successful publicly-funded program in our nation that literally every senior relies upon for financial security. IT IS OUR MONEY. Not Wall Street's. Not Pete Peterson's. OURS. And we expect every dime of it to be there upon retirement.

In regards to what Americans know about those factions seeking to cut, gut, and privatize Social Security, you may reference these links, which to into great detail about the individuals and corporate entities behind the push to destroy the program, along with Medicare:

Pete Peterson's "Fix the Debt":

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Fix_the_Debt

About how the definition of "wealthy" when it comes to cutting Social Security is just above the poverty line (means testing, largely promoted by corporate interests, would consider families who bring in just $25 - $50k/year "wealthy" so their SS benefits would be cut):

http://www.fair.org/blog/2013/02/21/when-youre-cutting-social-security-wealthy-begins-at-25k/

Also, you might want to read this article from Forbes on why millionaire and billionaire CEOs in America are hellbent on destroying Social Security:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/11/28/the-great-american-retirement-scam-why-the-wealthiest-ceos-in-america-want-to-take-away-your-social-security/

For a good overview on what The American People largely think about and know about efforts to cut Social Security - allegedly to "save" it - you can read this article, which details American sentiment on the issue pretty well:

http://www.sevenbowie.com/2013/04/a-message-for-fix-the-debt-alan-simpson/

Suffice to say, Americans are onto the ruse to cut, gut and eliminate Social Security. We know who is behind these efforts and why. The wealthiest, biggest corporate entities, and the greediest people in the nation want their hands on our money - and they don't want to have to pay taxes into a system THEY don't need, but millions of others do need and depend on.

I hope that someone "up there", particularly Alan Simpson, Erskine Bowles, and President Obama, will read some of these comments, visit some of the links and articles and take notice of American sentiment about and knowledge of this issue.

Thanks,

[mick063]

15. While you are at it

It isn't hard to include in the same message.

Stop the big bank's effort to tax credit unions out of existence!

[eridani]

16. Actually, I think they prefer you to stick to a single topic

However, it is important to block the proposed credit union tax also.

[mick063]

17. Fair enough

Then I remind folks to send two messages.