MCCAIN: "SOCIAL SECURITY A 'DISGRACE'?" (What an IDIOT!?!)

[BridgeTheGap]

reports: “Like many other politicians, McCain often questions the long-term viability of the government retirement program. But he raised eyebrows with an unusually harsh assessment Monday at a town-hall forum in Denver. Asked by a young woman if she is likely to receive Social Security benefits someday, McCain said it was unlikely ‘unless we fix it.’”

More: “‘Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today,’ he said. ‘And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace, and it's got to be fixed.’”

“Speaking to reporters on his campaign bus Wednesday in Ohio, McCain went into greater detail. Young workers, he said, ‘are paying into a system that they won't receive benefits from on the present track that it's on. That's the point. I don't think it's fair. I think it's terrible.’ ‘That's why we have to fix it,’ McCain said, pointing to a 1983 bipartisan agreement that bolstered Social Security for a while by cutting benefits and raising taxes.”

The Washington Post adds, "John McCain once said economics was not his strong suit. Well, today, Social Security became a problem for the presumptive Republican nominee, too… If that payment system is a disgrace, it has been one since Social Security was created during the Great Depression. For as long as the popular program has existed, today's workers have paid the benefits of today's retirees… Reaction to McCain's statement has been slow to burble, but it is beginning to burst."

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/10/1190761.aspx

[KansDem]

1. $3 trillion flushed down the Iraqi toilet and this bozo criticizes Social Security?

What did we get out of Bush's "Iraq Adventure?" Could $3 trillion "fix" the SS program?

I don't ever want to hear another Repub complain about a government program designed to help Americans costing too much...

[liberal N proud]

2. Social Security has been the one thing the republicons have hated

since it was created.
Only one Republican President has really supported Social Security: Eisenhower.


I would have thought the bu$h regimes attempt would have been enough lesson to know that it is off limits.

[Inuca]

3. So basically what he says

is that he wants to fix SS but he has no idea how it works!

[BeyondGeography]

4. Not to defend Gramps, but that's a bullshit headline

The "disgrace" is that people won't get back what they put in. No one will disagree with that.

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. Huh? The headline was the McCain called SS a disgrace.

The fact is that McCain called SS a disgrace.

How is that a bullshit headline?

And your point, that people won't get back what they put is, is bullshit. SS is not a personal retirement program - it is a national retirement program. Is has been funded by the personal contributions mandated by law for 70 years. If there is a shortfall, caused by the postwar population boom, the difference can be made up by general revenues.

It was designed as a program to keep our elderly from being an undue burden on society after their productive years. It has paid for itself (and a shitload of other things) for the past seven decades and is projected to continue to do so for the next 3 decades before we will have to even marginally touch general revenues.

Can you name ANY other government program that has cost the government NOTHING in the past century?

And think of the numbers - the boomers were born in the two decades from 1944 to 1964. So the bubble that has everyone panicking is supposed to peak in (by differing counts) 2041 to 2048, at which time SS will be "insolvent". Of course, insolvent here means it will be paying out more than it is taking in. So, 105 years after the creation of SS, the government will have to go into general revenues to pay for a portion of the program. What ELSE will be happening in those critical years '41 - '48? That LAST of the boomers will be dying off. The 'bubble' will be burst. In fact, I think it will be burst long before the '40s - the majority of any generation dies in their 80s, which means the boomer die off will begin in the '20s and run through the '30s, barely touching the '40s.

There is NO reason to fear that the current generation will not see SS, UNLESS we are panicked by the conservatives into privatizing it - which will reduce the available revenues, line the pockets of Wall Street brokers, and make a very few rich republicans richer at the expense of the people who actually NEED SS.

[BeyondGeography]

12. McCain stumbled, and that's all good

but the fact remains that the ROI on Social Security for current retirees, especially older ones, (what they're getting back relative to what they paid in) is tons better than what you or I will be receiving. On top of that, they were far more likely to qualify for defined-benefit pensions than present workers.

McCain is trying to tap into generational envy/insecurity and, you're right, that has been a way for the Pubs to sell their privatization spiel. That doesn't mean there aren't real (and rational) emotions about how badly the present system is looking for future retirees.

[BridgeTheGap]

14. It's time for "Soylent Green!?!" - We can't afford the old and infirmed any more. n.t

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. Moron can't get the concept that SS is NOT a pension plan.

You don't get out of it what you pay into it plus interest. That is a whole different deal.

[Overseas]

6. I do hope JSM III calling SSI a disgrace is on video.

We need a You Tube video to circulate with that clip.
John Sidney McCain III, husband of heiress with seven lovely homes, thinks SSI is a disgrace. But hey, the corporate media says he's just a regular funny old guy we can trust.

[fasttense]

7. Younger Workers Do NOT pay for present day retirees.

Does he know anything about Social Security? Does he know what his republican President Raygun did to Social Security? Does he know that Baby Boomers are the first generation to pay for both their parent's Social Security and their own?

His republican President Raygun Doubled Social Security Taxes (while cutting the uber wealthiest taxes) and started the Social Security Trust Fund. We paid in double to cover both the cost of our parent's Social Security and our own. Our Social Security money is what is in the Trust Fund. We don't need the younger workers to pay our way, we already paid it.

Oh wait, didn't Greenspan, and every president from Raygun on, borrow our Social Security Trust Fund? So where is our money? Where is our Trust Fund?

Even when I earned less than the poverty level, I paid my Social Security. I could have used that money but the government took it and said I would get it back in my old age. So where is that hard earned money McBush?

[CountAllVotes]

8. if it is such a "disgrace" McInsane

then why the hell are you collecting social security ALONG WITH your disability pension from the Veteran's Administration?

What a HYPOCRITE!

:kick:

[cavuto]

9. it might not be a disgrace

but it needs to be fixed and he's not an idiot for stating that.

[shraby]

11. The only thing that needs fixed are the fingers

that are dipping in to the fund and borrowing for pet projects.

[Bluerthanblue]

13. word-

:hi:

peace~

[rox63]

15. Why isn't McCain's "disgrace" comment on SS getting coverage on teevee news?

Most people would find the comment disgusting, and probably wouldn't vote for him. Which would piss off the corporate-owned MSM. Oh right, never mind...

[groovedaddy]

16. Yeah, they sure don't seem really interested in focusing on this, do they? n.t