Obama Cuts Deal that Will Reduce Social Security, Medicare & all Entitlements

[FreakinDJ]

Its a "Hit Piece" against Obama folks - I saw the Press Conference

Obama mentioned the Committee to make recommendations to reduce the Budget Deficit and Obama was referring the WHOLE FEDERAL BUDGET, not just Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare.

Besides the Democrats fought long and Hard against Bush's proposed Privatization of Social Security and over and over again the Democrats recommended raising the CAP on Social Security to keep the fund fully solvent for decades to come

Now everyone Take a Deep Breath ande chill

This is just more RATpubliCON / TeaBagger tactics of spreading DISINFORMATION far and wide

Spread the Word - It's BullShit

[Hannah Bell]

1. social security isn't part of the "federal budget": it's not funded by income taxes, but by a

dedicated tax. it's a self-funded program with a 2.5 trillion surplus.

cutting back SS benefits to reduce the federal debt is like killing witches to stop a cholera epidemic.

that's how you know it's a hit-team.

[sendero]

27. LOL.....

.... there is no "surplus". There is no "trust fund". All of the money has been spent and all there really IS is the promise to tax workers in the future to pay benefits.

And no matter how you slice it benefits will have to be cut.

[Hannah Bell]

28. "all the money has been spent". So has all the money in your bank account, because the bank loans

it to other people.

So i guess it's ok if they just keep it.

It's been "spent," after all.


Word for word, you're mouthing the propaganda of the right.

[sendero]

29. This particular..

... "propaganda" is absolute FACT and if you did a modicum of research you'd know that.

Don't assume that every word out of your enemy's mouths is false. This is BASIC SHIT. AND IT IS EASILY PROVABLE FACT.

[Hannah Bell]

31. Uh, I've done more research on this particular issue than 98% of the population.

For example, this is me:

http://dissidentvoice.org/author/HannahB/


The five-part article has copious citations.

Your research has been done via the usual neo-liberal mouthpieces, apparently.

[sendero]

33. THERE IS NO MONEY..

.. and no amount of "research" you might do will change that FACT.

The SS trust fund has been spent as it has been collected, and now outlays are greater than income.

There is ZERO chance that SS will survive as it is today.

[Greenpeach]

2. Thank you for posting this

I didn't want to believe that and just wouldn't, but thanks for the reassurance.

[Hannah Bell]

4. better not get too cozy. the "debt reduction commission" is indeed a hit-team, & you can read

it from the lips of those pushing it.

you'd better start contacting your legislators now.

[FreakinDJ]

10. Hannah - Obama has been talking about this ever since the

Stimulus Bill was signed ...

Everyone knows America can not run deficits this high forever including Obama.

But given the fact ANY party attempting to Cut Social Security would be committing Political Suicide, AND the fact Democrats campaigned and proposed raising the CAP on SSI Tax as a means to ensure the fund would remain solvent, AND given the FUX Network - TeaBagger Alliance propensity to delude Low Information Voters into "Actually Believing Medicare was a PRIVATE Institution" this Hit Piece JUST WREAKS of MORE of the same DISINFORMATION Tactics.

Besides Hannah - I like you too much to see you taken in by this cheap chicanery

Anyone care to wager the number of hours before Obama holds a Press Conference to Disprove this ASSHOLE

I got $50 on less the 24 hrs

[Hannah Bell]

14. social security is a self-funding program. it has nothing to do with the federal debt. NOTHING.

I've done considerable research on this issue. The hit has been out since 1983, & the game plan has been followed to a t.

This is not some high-minded debt reduction commission, thanks for the compliments but sorry. It's not disinformation.

"Achieving a leninist strategy," cato institute 1983.

In 1983, in the Cato Journal published...their manifesto "Achieving a 'Leninist' Strategy."

Small-government conservatives, they argued, should learn from Lenin, who sought to shape history rather than wait patiently for the inevitable evolution of socialism: "Unlike many other socialists at the time, Lenin recognized that fundamental change is contingent both upon a movement's ability to create a focused political coalition and upon its success in isolating and weakening its opponents."

Our two Leninist libertarians went on to argue: "First, we must recognize that there is a firm coalition behind the present Social Security system, and that this coalition has been very effective in winning political concessions for many years. Before Social Security can be reformed , we must begin to divide this coalition and cast doubt on the picture of reality it presents to the general public."

Because the "political power of the elderly will only increase in the future," Butler and Germanis argued that any plan to phase out Social Security should assure the elderly and near-elderly that they would get their benefits: "By accepting this principle, we may succeed in neutralizing the most powerful element of the coalition that opposes structural reform."

While pursuing a divide-and-rule policy to "neutralize" the elderly and other supporters of Social Security, the authors of the Leninist strategy called for libertarians to build up a counter-alliance consisting of institutions that could profit from the privatization of Social Security:

"That coalition should consist of not only those who will reap benefit from the IRA-based private system ... but also the banks, insurance companies, and other institutions that will gain from providing such plans to the public ."

They continue: "The business community, and financial institutions in particular, would be an obvious element in this constituency. Not only does business have a great deal to gain from a reform effort designed to stimulate private savings, but it also has the power to be politically influential and to be instrumental in mounting a public education campaign."

In true cunning Leninist fashion, the opponents of Social Security would disguise their revolutionary goal by pretending to be interested only in modest, piecemeal reforms: "The first element consists of a campaign to achieve small legislative changes that embellish the private IRA system, making it in practice a small-scale Social Security system that can supplement the federal system."

Only when all of the pieces were in place -- when the concerns of the elderly had been "neutralized" by reassuring words, when banks and other businesses seeking to cash in on Social Security privatization were part of the libertarian alliance, and when business-funded campaigns of "education" had convinced most Americans that Social Security was untrustworthy, would the Leninist right reveal its true colors:

"If these objectives are achieved, we will meet the next financial crisis in Social Security with a private alternative ready in the wings -- an alternative with which the public is familiar and comfortable, and one that has the backing of a powerful political force."

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/lenin-test-by-digby-michael-lind-at.html
www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj3n2/cj3n2-11.pdf


Sorry, it's for real.

[spanone]

3. he cut a deal to set up a commission. not one damned thing more. that is all it is.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/19/AR2010011903310.html

[katandmoon]

5. And the purpose of the commission is -- ?

[drm604]

7. To reduce the debt. n/t

[Hannah Bell]

16. by doing what?

[drm604]

24. That's the point of the commission.

To determine what to do to reduce the debt.

Now you'll say something like "Ah ha, and they'll do that by cutting entitlements!" You'll have nothing to back up that claim, but I'm guessing that that is where you're going with this.

[Hannah Bell]

30. The commission is formed to find cuts to reduce the federal debt. They're made a point of

specifically including SS & Medicare as being under review. SS is entirely self-funded through dedicated taxes assessed only on workers. Medicare is funded mostly the same way. SS in particular has nothing whatsoever to do with the creation of the federal debt. In fact, 2.5 trillion is OWED to SS recipients.

You do the math, bright boy.

[drm604]

6. It's really dismaying to see the long threads on here of people

bemoaning the end of SS and Medicare. If someone tries to correct them they're either ignored or treated as if they're naive. It's sad to see so many DUers being taken in by RW disinformation. I guess it's always happened to some extent but it seems like people are falling for this stuff easier lately.

[bobbolink]

9. And, why do you suppose we are "taken in"?? WHAT shows us that

there is ANY hope of "progressives" fighting for us WHEN these cuts come down?

Where have YOU been in any of the fight against poverty?

You see, THAT is the consequence of you ignoring us.

[drm604]

12. You do not know me and you have no idea what I've done or what I've fought for.

I'm not sure where you got the idea that you do.

[bobbolink]

13. Your name has never shown up on a poverty post, now, has it?

You want to call poor people idiots, yet you never stop to look at your own neglect of our needs.

[drm604]

23. I don't know what a poverty post is.

And I never called poor people idiots so please stop putting words in my mouth.

[bobbolink]

32. Obviously.

[Zenlitened]

8. K&R

Edited to add: For the record, I'm not a fan of this commission approach. And, frankly, before any politician of any stripe breaths another word about cutting social programs of any sort, I think they damned well better trim the "defense" budget. It's out of proportion to what's needed.

[RC]

18. All of our medical needs can be funded from our 'defense' budget alone.

All we need to do is quit terrorizing the rest of the world and bring our troops home.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

11. Thank you.

At first, I thought this was the umpteenth link to that BS op-ed piece, but thank you for setting the record straight.

[scheming daemons]

15. Correct... all the threads saying this are LYING

...

[Hannah Bell]

17. You may believe that, but they're not. The purpose of the commission is to cut the people's

benefits & steal some part of the 2.5 trillion owed to social security taxees in favor of big holders of bondholders & other "important" holders of US debt.

There's no other reason to even *include* Social Security in any discussion of debt reduction. SS is ENTIRELY self-funding. It has NOTHING to do with the US debt.

[tonysam]

19. Yep. It isn't lying to point out there is NO reason for ANY

commission to exist having ANYTHING to do with SS or Medicare.

I just HATE neoliberals.

[Hansel]

21. Awe, labeling and expressing hate. Delightful. nt

[Hannah Bell]

25. lol.

[Hansel]

20. No other reason?

How about having people pay social security tax on incomes over $106,800 just like Obama has talked about in the past.

Or maybe not making social security available at all to people raking in millions of dollars a year?

Or making people who rake in millions of dollars a year pay 90% on their social security income?

Or making it illegal to use social security dollars to pay for other Federal programs?

There are many reasons for a committee to look at social security that do not involve cutting people's benefits and stealing part of the 2.5 trillion owed to social security taxes.

Social Security is the most regressive tax we have. Maybe Obama has decided it's about f*cking time to fix that.

[Generic Other]

22. Aned one by one your list will be whittled down until reform means ending the program

exactly as we have seen with HCR. You can't really blame us for being cynical. So far the change we were promised, has been mostly a series of changes of plan. Why should we think this will be any different? I demand proof before I crow these days.

[Hannah Bell]

26. None of those things have anything to do with the FEDERAL DEBT.

The reduction of which is the purported purpose of the committee's formation.

& ss isn't regressive when you include payout.