RED ALERT - Republicans are threatening to DEFUND SOCIAL SECURITY

[CousinIT]

RED ALERT - Republicans are threatening to DEFUND SOCIAL SECURITY while calling it a "middle class tax cut"

President Trump’s tax reform agenda is in trouble. That’s not news, but one proposal that his team has floated as a way, ostensibly, to cut taxes on the middle class is. According to the Associated Press, they’re toying with the idea of eliminating the payroll tax, which funds Social Security and part of Medicare, or cutting it drastically.

This is an absolutely terrible idea, partially because it smells like a back-door way of cutting Social Security benefits. It needs to be nipped in the bud.

“This proposal is a Trojan horse,” the veteran Social Security advocate Nancy J. Altman told me. “It appears to be a gift in the form of middle-class tax relief, but would, if enacted, lead to the destruction of working Americans' fundamental economic security.”

To understand why, one needs to examine the history and mechanics of Social Security, something the Trump team hasn’t tried or doesn’t care to do. But we can.. . .

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-social-security-tax-20170410-story.html

[LenaBaby61]

1. RED ALERT - Republicans are threatening to DEFUND SOCIAL SECURITY!!

Here we go.

We have to get out there on this ASAP!

[BlueCaliDem]

2. Democrats running in competative races this year need to use this AGAINST their R-opponent.

eom

[sharedvalues]

3. GOP trying this for 40 yrs. Diff now: Americans are woke

Americans are FINALLY wising up to want the GOP really stands for: giveaways to the very wealthy at the expense of the average American.

[sarcasmo]

4. GOP hate the populace and love the corporation.

[democratisphere]

5. The redumbliCONs underestimate the resolve of the Senior population.

F'ck with Social Security and watch the earth move below your obscenely greedy feet.

[CousinIT]

6. The DIRTBAGS are on recess now and in their local offices. If you can get there..

....GET THERE. Or call them at least. Get a group. Get together some talking points. Have a camera or a way to take video and then share it w/ the media & reps themselves on social media. CORNER the rats!

[PearliePoo2]

7. This

[mopinko]

8. doesnt even fucking make sense. this is a middle class tax

period. the cap means that most high earners pay it off in march. or after bonuses are paid out at the latest.
and doesnt affect unearned income, anyway.

[Trekologer]

9. It is paid 50/50 by employers/employees

Don't be fooled that this proposal is a tax cut for the middle class. It is a tax cut for businesses that haven't been able to successfully play the 1099 game with their employees.

[mopinko]

10. its still chump change.

but yeah, the 1099 dance is a thing.

[Amaryllis]

47. Making sense is unrelated to R policy making.

[mopinko]

49. file under

sad but true.

[AllaN01Bear]

11. there goes half of the rs base.

[spanone]

12. K&R...

[klook]

13. By calling it "payroll tax relief," they'll be able to deceive many Americans.

From Why Do They Hate Social Security? - by Joe Conason:

The foes of Social Security insist that they have no desire to force the elderly to eat cat food or go homeless—as they did in the years before the program existed. But we must cut drastically, they cry, because we can simply no longer afford the “entitlements” that we have bestowed so lavishly upon the old and the poor.

Whenever someone starts to talk about “entitlements,” keep in mind that they are either trying to bamboozle or they’ve been bamboozled themselves. Under that category, most commentators mix up Medicaid and Medicare—two programs that are indeed endangered by rising health care costs—with Social Security, which will be solvent until at least 2037 and can easily be made solvent for decades to come with minor changes. This is a rhetorical deception perpetrated countless times every day in nearly every media outlet.

The article is well worth the read.

[BSdetect]

17. They specialize in deceptive naming such as Obamacare instead of the ACA

Simply despicable practice.

You can bet they have their thinktanks working on the talking points right now.

The msm are so easily sucked in with this crap.

[marlakay]

28. Dems will have to buy ads

Throughout the country to inform people, ARP should be on top of it.

And we should all call congress and demand they inform people of the truth.

[Amaryllis]

48. AARP is all over it. I am on their emial list. THey even sent a snail mail about it today. Get the

idea they are definitely concerned.

[C Moon]

14. I believe the GOP is drooling for another Great Depression, so they can take us back to the

industrial age way of life. Because this time we won't have Roosevelt to watch over us.

[KingCharlemagne]

36. "Capitalists will sell us the rope with which to hang them." Lenin - nt

[ancianita]

15. Every. Godamn. Day. We have to stay vigilant. nt

[napi21]

16. They CAN'T! SS is not funded by the gov't. t's funded by witholdings from your earnings.

IF some actually said they were going to defund SS, for sure they are just trying to scare the people who don't pay enough attention to understand how things work.

[radical noodle]

29. The article said no more payroll SS taxes

So it seems the plan is to tell people they're getting a tax break, while actually doing it by taking away social security. Don't think it will happen, though.

[Mariana]

40. They can.

They have the power to repeal the OASDI tax, just as they have the power to repeal any other tax. They can also cut off benefits to anyone, or everyone at any time for any reason or no reason. The only thing to prevent them from doing it is the fear that they'll lose their seats next election.

[napi21]

56. I'm sorry, but something's wrong with your statement. If it were that easy, they would have

done that years ago. The Pubs were against "The New Deal" when it was put into effect during FDR'ps term, and they've hated it ever since. If it could have been eliminated by a congressional vote, it would be gone.

[Mariana]

57. It has been politically impossible.

There's a reason it's been called "the Third Rail of politics" since forever. There's nothing else about SS that makes it immune to repeal. They CAN eliminate it by passing a law - both houses vote in favor and president signs it - just like any other law. They DON'T because such a law would be tremendously unpopular.

[PoliticalPie]

18. The worst is there is no way to stop what will be a disaster to all of us not firmly 1%ers. nt

Last edited Tue Apr 11, 2017, 10:52 PM - Edit history (1)

[davsand]

19. If they were uncomfortable with the ACA response, just wait.

The stuff is really going to hit the fan if they go after Social Security. That may actually be in the realm of pitchforks and torches.




Laura

[montana_hazeleyes]

22. Hi davsand.

You wrote exactly what I was going to say, including pitchforks and torches!

[sheshe2]

26. Look out boys!

We're Heeere

[whathehell]

30. My thoughts exactly..

Wait til they see the army of old people come after them on that...They'll remember why Social Security has historically been known as the "Third Rail of politics".

[Gore1FL]

20. If they make up for it out of the general fund like the stimulus did, I am OK with it.

I'm guessing they have no plans to do so, however.

[CousinIT]

21. soc security should NOT be part of the general fund

That's easily cut also. NO.

[Gore1FL]

25. I doubt it would be considering the source of the legislation.

But nonetheless, it was a good deal for the middle class when it did under Obama's stimulus package.

[sprinkleeninow]

32. The general fund is vulnerable to 'pilfering', is it not? n/t

[BadgerMom]

24. Nope

[miyazaki]

23. If they want an American version of Bastille Day and its aftermath then go for it.

[whathehell]

31. Lol..

Good one.

[warmfeet]

51. Exactly. NT.

[radical noodle]

27. I can't wait for them to try it

At least half their voters are on SS. AARP will stir up a hornets' nest and republicans will pay with their jobs.

[CousinIT]

35. If the level of obstruction, criminality, self-dealing and constitution-shredding they've done...

...so far (especially with CON-man in Chief TRUMP at the helm and their SHIT with the USSC nominees) hasn't cost them their jobs, maybe they figure gutting social security won't either.

I have to wonder.

[radical noodle]

38. Taking away their income

is a different story unless they manage to find a way to continue benefits to them until they die.

[CousinIT]

39. True. When it's about taking away people's MONEY, that could be the line in the sand.

Or, at least I hope so!

[radical noodle]

44. No doubt in my mind

They may not care about others living without any money, but they'll sure care about being in that position themselves.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

53. Three was a lady who was upset she voted her benefits away ...

... when she voted for Trump. She said she will probably die at home now without the assistance. She was asked if she would vote for him again. She said she probably would because she likes his stance on immigration.

You can't reason with Trump voters. Even senior ones. They hate immigrants more than they love living.

[radical noodle]

54. They aren't all that crazy

What benefits did she lose?

[Fantastic Anarchist]

55. I can't recall right now, even though I read the thread yesterday.

I may have commented, so, I'll check for a link.

[workinclasszero]

33. Here we go folks

The wet dream of all fucking republicans since FDR invented it. They long to destroy SS and Medicare. They will kill us ALL!

We will all be living under overpasses, dying of disease, starvation and exposure if these pigs have their way with SS and Medicare!

[Samantha]

34. Certainly if they pull that lever, Uncle Sam will have to pay back the 2.8 Trillion Dollars it

"borrowed" against our Trust Fund. That is the money babyboomers put into the fund from the middle 80s as a result of the reform agreed upon at that time. Because there were so many Boomers, people said when we reached retirement, we would crash the systems because of our sheer numbers. So our FICA tax was doubled, and for decades we paid not only for the retirement of the generation ahead of ours, but for our own as well. For players in the Republican party to fail to pay our benefits is simply to defraud. Yes, that is the word: defraud. No one is going to roll over and take this.

Sam

[CousinIT]

37. Another article on this from TPM. NO WAY would HRC E V E R have considered such a thing...

Social Security Advocates Sound The Alarm About The Latest Trump Tax Plan

Following reports that President Donald Trump is dumping the tax plan he campaigned on and exploring a host of other options, advocates for Social Security are sounding the alarm, pointing to a proposal to eliminate the program's primary source of funding: payroll taxes.

Though it is not yet known how far along the White House proposal has progressed, those who want to protect Social Security say they are taking the news "extremely seriously."

"Even if this is just a trial balloon, we want to puncture it as quickly as we can,” said Nancy Altman, the president of the advocacy group Social Security Works.

According to the Associated Press, lobbyists aligned with the Trump administration are pushing for the elimination of the 12.4 percent payroll tax, which is the overwhelming source of revenue for the Social Security trust funds, which provide benefits to the elderly and the disabled. The report published Monday details how they plan to sell the idea to lawmakers and the public:

This approach would give a worker earning $60,000 a year an additional $3,720 in take-home pay, a possible win that lawmakers could highlight back in their districts even though it would involve changing the funding mechanism for Social Security, according to the lobbyist, who asked for anonymity to discuss the proposal without disrupting early negotiations.

Altman, who told TPM that she only found out about this plan from press reports, called it a Trojan Horse.

"They will sell it as a tax cut for the middle class, but really this is undermining middle class economic security, and the ability to retire," she said. "They’ll say they're 'saving' Social Security, but basically they want to scale back or get rid of the program."

No other dedicated funding source has yet been floated to replace the payroll tax as a funding mechanism for Social Security, and the odds of Republicans supporting a new tax are slim.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/social-security-tax-program-cuts

[Seedersandleechers]

41. Per Bill Mahr

What would a Dick do?

[rtracey]

42. that

That would be the death blow to any politician's career if they would support that.

[0rganism]

43. naturally, since they're planning to burn it ALL down

and SocSec is a big part of that ALL

clearance sale, everything must go

we will have to start over from scratch when this is done, let's hope we have a strong progressive majority by 2020 capable of handling the rebuild responsibly.

[kentuck]

45. Some people raised hell when Obama cut it just a small percentage.

Others said it didn't matter?

[lark]

46. Repug BS wish to stop any program that does anything at all financially for the working class.

Their plan, let's cut the savings mechanism, so there's no really safe place to put your $. They want all our savings to go to Wall St. or banks so those institutions can steal it all back at any time, especially with the new rules Drumpf is implementing letting them lie and cheat their customers with impunity. Of course, this has no effect on rich people because their participation in SS is so small, compared to their net worth, that it's totally insignificant. People keep saying Drumpf is a populist, that's a total lie. He's a rich greedy asshole, so he implements policies that help the other rich and greedy assholes steal all our $$.

Other than the 4 main DINOs who voted for Gorsuch, think no true Dem would vote for this and the filibuster is still on for legislation. At least it's there as of now. If Repugs do this, I really think even the Russians couldn't put them in office next time without a voiding of the constitution. If Drumpf declares martial law, my worst fears will be realized.

[IronLionZion]

50. Are they hoping to exhaust our efforts opposing this

to divert our attention from something much worse?

The GOP needs to lose big in the next election. So big that they cease any relevance as a viable political movement anymore.

[beachbum bob]

52. Piss of seniors...They vote