Why has DU been silent on the * pension bill?

[The Anti-Neo Con]

It's been all over the news, but no mention of it here.

I was hoping to find out more (the truth) about it here. :(

[antigop]

1. It's a bad bill -- I posted about it the other day--it's a Trojan horse

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1927402&mesg_id=1927704

[WilliamPitt]

2. Bush did a "signing statement" on this bill

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1938981

[antigop]

3. William -- I wish someone would have written about this pos bill

American workers have NO idea what is about to come their way.

[The Anti-Neo Con]

4. Ahh thanks for the links...I didn't see those.

I knew it had to be bad!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. I suspect many are like me - uneducated about details

but like every other step ever taken by this admalistration, if it is something they propose, it has to be bad. They are batting about 1,000 to date.

[The Anti-Neo Con]

6. That's why I'm here.

This seems pretty big, I'm surprised more people here are not talking about it. I guess most are too preoccupied with the Jon Benet Ramsey case.:eyes:

It seems like there is some sinister hidden part behind EVERY bill asshole signs. Of course the corporate media doesn't report the bad, so DU is the only place to find the truth.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. NOOOO, not johnBennaigh!

[brokensymmetry]

8. You want to know why?

Let's see now. We have been - figuratively speaking, of course -
beaten into a bloody pulp by the chimperor and his evil minions.
This has gone on for five and a half years.

Now Chimpy has just kicked us in the groin - again.

What do you want? Another low pitched moan?

He's got us in a hopeless mess in Iraq, he's sending good
American jobs overseas, destroying the value of the dollar,
ruining the economy, destroying our civil liberties, making
us a pariah among nations, and doing his best to loot the
entire economy for his friends.

Now he's ripping off workers again. Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Next he'll be after Social Security. In fact, he was at the time
of signing this bill.

Sorry, but that low pitched moan is about all I have left.

[antigop]

9. Yes, he will be after Social Security and Medicare

Here is the speech he gave when he signed the pension bill:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060817-1.html

>>
To ensure more secure retirement for all Americans we've got more work to do. We must also prepare for the impact of the baby boomer generation's retirement, and what that impact will have on federal entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. As more baby boomers stop contributing payroll taxes and start collecting benefits -- people like me -- it will create an enormous strain on our programs. Entitlement programs are projected to grow faster than the economy, faster than the population and faster than the rate of inflation. If we fail to act, spending on Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid will be almost 60 percent of the entire federal budget in the year 2030. And that's going to leave future generations with impossible choices: staggering tax increases, immense deficits or deep cuts in benefits.

We have an obligation to confront this problem now. The Secretary of Treasury understands what I'm telling the Congress: Now is the time to move; now is the time to do our duty. I'm going to continue to work with the Congress and call on the Congress to work with the administration to reform these programs so we can ensure a secure retirement for all Americans.

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[Solo_in_MD]

10. I want to recall about a half dozen threads on it, including some that

pointed it had some significant pro unmarried/single sex couples features.

[antigop]

11. Here is a good article by Marie Cocco on the pension bill

http://postwritersgroup.com/archives/cocc0803.htm

>>
The bill gives a few -- but not enough -- protections to workers, especially older workers, who've been short-changed when their corporations switched from traditional defined-benefit pensions to less generous ``cash-balance'' plans. It changes age-discrimination rules so that older workers who are hurt by conversions to cash-balance plans cannot sue. But the new age-discrimination rules may be so broad that some pension experts believe they could create fresh loopholes, allowing reduced benefits for older workers in other types of pensions as well. ``I don't think we'll know for years what comes out of it,'' says David Certner, federal affairs director of AARP.
>>