It is not Obama's place to accept Simpson's apology. WE are the ones who were belittled & insulted,

[scarletwoman]

and I, for one, do NOT accept Simpson's apology. For the sake of my own self-respect, I do not and will not tolerate being spoken to in such a dismissive, rude, and condescending manner.

YOU, President Obama have no right to accept Simpson's apology, you are not the wronged party here, you have no standing in this case.

sw

[Hannah Bell]

1. +100. fire the cow.

[glitch]

34. Keep the cow. Hang the rustlers. nt

[suffragette]

2. I know BS when I hear it

and Simpson put out quite the load.


And I do not accept his weak and contemptuous apology.

[scarletwoman]

5. Simpson holds us in contempt - he's made it perfectly clear.

I'm not interested in his back-pedaling to cover his nasty elitist ass.

[suffragette]

6. It's not acceptable

It's really as simple as that.

What he said is not acceptable and him being allowed to retain that position is not acceptable.

[scarletwoman]

9. Of course the problem is, he was only saying what the Elites already think.

So it's no doubt extremely difficult for members of his Class to see his remarks as anything more than a mildly regrettable moment of candor.

[suffragette]

11. That's the cold truth

It's his Barbara Bush moment.

[Mimosa]

13. Truer words were never posted.

Simpson hated the New Deal.

The Republican Party wants to destroy those gains which led to the establishment of America's middle class and had brought many millions out of poverty.

[suffragette]

20. FDR's grandson laid it out recently

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/fdrs-grandson-debunks-mythology-fear-about


Alan Simpson says "There's no surplus in there; it's just a bunch of IOUs." The reality is those IOUs are US Treasury bonds, which have the backing of the full faith and credit of the United States government. Investors all over the world continue to invest in US Treasury bonds. There is simply no more secure asset on the face of the planet.

~~~

Mr. Simpson would also have us believe that there is more going out than is coming in to the Social Security trust fund. Again, the reality is that the trust fund has a surplus of $2.4 trillion. That surplus is projected to grow for the next 13 years despite all those baby boomers starting to receive monthly checks.

As Paul Krugman recently pointed out on his blog, the deficit hawks want to have it both ways when it comes to Social Security. They want to treat Social Security as just another program in the federal budget so they don't need to credit it for the quarter century and billions of dollars worth of surpluses it has accumulated. Surpluses which of course, are denominated in those worthless IOUs anyway.

But they want to view Social Security as a program unto itself when the times come that its payments exceed its annual revenues, which we said before is projected to occur in 2017 so they can claim it is going broke.

It is completely nonsensical and deceitful to try to have it both ways.


It's not only nonsensical, it's criminal.

It's embezzlement and theft done on the grandest scale imaginable.

[ljm2002]

49. "those IOUs are US Treasury bonds"...

...yes, and if we had only hammered that home every time one of them brought up the canard that SS is funded only with "IOUs", then maybe we could make some headway with the message.

Alas, the rabid right has once again won the messaging war in this debate. People hear IOUs and they think they understand that. What if once, just once, an interviewer were to follow up on such a statement with this question: "You say it is being funded only with IOUs and you imply that the IOUs are worthless. Yet what you are calling IOUs are in fact US Treasure Bonds, backed by the full faith and credit of the United States of America. So are you claiming that US Treasury Bonds are worthless? Because I'm sure there are a lot of folks out there who would be interested to know if that is the case."?

[customerserviceguy]

57. For starters

they're not in the same class as fully tradable Treasury notes or bonds. They exist for only one specific purpose, to give an IOU to the Social Security Trust Fund for the money that's been stolen to hide some of the deficit. If they were negotiable securities, Al Gore would not have had to talk about a 'lockbox'.

There are only three things that can be done to redeem them, cut government spending, raise taxes, or inflate the currency. Since I doubt there will be any political leadership able to accomplish the first two things, that leaves the last one as the default. We'll turn into Weimar Germany, or Argentina during their crisis period.

The only way around that is to fiddle with Social Security, to keep doing what's been done for seventy-five years, to push receipts up over outflows. Being as the baby boom generation is set to crash into the system starting in just a shade over four months, that's going to take an orchestra full of fiddles.

[ljm2002]

60. Thank you for that...

...it does explain why the responses have been so muted.

On the other hand, easing the projected Social Security shortfall would be the easiest thing in the world: raise the cap. Just make the calculations, figure out what the income cap will be to cover the claims, and problem solved.

Instead they will recommend increasing retirement age to be above the already-scheduled 67 years of age, and reduce benefits, and privatize bits of it if they can.

Meanwhile the wars suck up the very life out of the country, the unemployed aren't paying into Social Security anyway, and basically the empire continues to fold in upon itself.

[suffragette]

104. Note that FDR's grandson was quoting Krugman

Here's more from Krugman in the article that was quoted. Well worth reading the whole piece:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/about-the-social-security-trust-fund/


Me, I'll believe Krugman over Simpson any day.

Something else of note in that article, which is from 2008, is the yoyoing of the predicted years when Social Security "will" run out.
Given the huge fluctuation depending on current and forecasted economic variables, it seems to bounce around quite a bit.

"The date at which the trust fund will run out, according to Social Security Administration projections, has receded steadily into the future: 10 years ago it was 2029, now it’s 2042."

The newest year pinpointed for reserves to be depleted (given that language has impact, I think what people understand from that is very different than "run out" though in addressing what's going on Krugman was right in using the same terms being bandied about) is 2037.

http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/index.html
Social Security expenditures are expected to exceed tax receipts this year for the first time since 1983. The projected deficit of $41 billion this year (excluding interest income) is attributable to the recession and to an expected $25 billion downward adjustment to 2010 income that corrects for excess payroll tax revenue credited to the trust funds in earlier years. This deficit is expected to shrink substantially for 2011 and to return to small surpluses for years 2012-2014 due to the improving economy. After 2014 deficits are expected to grow rapidly as the baby boom generation’s retirement causes the number of beneficiaries to grow substantially more rapidly than the number of covered workers. The annual deficits will be made up by redeeming trust fund assets in amounts less than interest earnings through 2024, and then by redeeming trust fund assets until reserves are exhausted in 2037, at which point tax income would be sufficient to pay about 75 percent of scheduled benefits through 2084. The projected exhaustion date for the combined OASI and DI Trust Funds is unchanged from last year’s report.



Note: I added the bolding to emphasize the years.


So within 2 years, the estimate had changed by 5 years.

While important to take this seriously, shouldn't shifts also be noted and why should draconian measures ( and I certainly regard any of the cuts and age increases as that no matter how they've spun as small changes by those promoting them) be suddenly necessary to change what might, could, maybe occur?

[ooglymoogly]

98. What a bunch of blatant unmitigated bullcrap

The securities are indeed backed by full faith and security of the US Government;

The Social Security Trust Fund is the means by which the federal government of the United States accounts for excess paid-in contributions from workers and employers to the Social Security system that are not required to fund current benefit payments to retirees, survivors, and the disabled or to pay administrative expenses.

The trust fund contains the securities that will be redeemed to make benefit payments in the future when contributions derived from payroll taxes and self-employment contributions no longer are sufficient to fully fund then-current benefit payments. (The controversy over its meaningfulness is a topic of the sustainability of the unified Federal budget.)

Paid-in contributions that exceed the amount required to fully fund current payments to beneficiaries are invested in securities issued by the federal government. The securities issued under this scheme constitute the assets of the Social Security Trust Fund. Because under current federal law these securities represent future obligations that must be repaid, the federal government includes these securities within the overall national debt.<1> The portion of the national debt that is not considered "publicly held" represents the obligations incurred by the government to itself, the bulk of which consists of the government's obligations to the Social Security Trust Fund.

[daleanime]

24. And they are succeeding...

a true 'middle' class American is a disappearing breed, mostly just the poor and the working class left.
:banghead:

[global1]

55. And It Appears That The President Will Go Along With Them.....nt

[Me.]

3. K & R

[RandomThoughts]

4. Great question on who a person should respect.

I don't worry about it.

Since I went through the years of procedures to make sure it all makes sense. And anyone can choose to respect who they want to.

And if they do not hear my posts, then they would not be disrespected by only my comment, and if they do, they should have corrected things.

[scarletwoman]

7. There was no such question. I was speaking of self-respect.

Respect for oneself.

[RandomThoughts]

8. I was on a parrallel topic.

[Lugnut]

10. I don't accept his apology.

And he can still bite me!

[scarletwoman]

16. He can bite a cow.

;)

[Lilith Velkor]

12. Fuckin' A.

[scarletwoman]

17. Thank you. Nice to see you, btw.

:hi:

[Lilith Velkor]

42. Aww

Thank you, that means so much to me. :loveya:

[scarletwoman]

86. Oh gosh! You're one of the grand woman warriors of DU!

I'm honored to have your friendship. :loveya:

[leftstreet]

14. K&R

[scarletwoman]

18. Thanks, appreciated!

[BurtWorm]

15. I feel the same way exacttly.

:applause:

[scarletwoman]

19. Yup - love your "Chill out" thread!

:yourock:

[katandmoon]

21. So true. The wronged party is truly invisible to Obama.

[scarletwoman]

23. Exactly. Maddening, isn't it?

[laughingliberal]

22. K & R nt

[scarletwoman]

25. Morning kick.

[sendero]

26. Just when you think..

... Obama could NOT have a more tin ear, he proves he does.

He is completely out of touch. As is ANY POLITICIAN that touches SS. They better not leave a fingerprint unless they were planning to retire anyway, because SS is STILL the third rail of politics.

[scarletwoman]

27. Amazing, isn't it? But as someone said above, we're invisible to him. nt

[glitch]

35. And if they're planning to retire, it had better be in Dubai. nt

[myrna minx]

28. K&R n/t

[Poboy]

29. He insulted every single American citizen. All 310 million of us. K&R. -nt

[golddigger]

30. K&R...n/t

[Raineyb]

31. +1000000 Well said and aptly put!

Apology not accepted you rancid motherfucker!

So easy for these assholes to sit on their well padded asses and talk about raising the retirement age (not like they haven't already. My statement says I'm eligible at sixty fucking seven) but to expect people who do a lot of manual labor to work even longer? I'd say that they are out of their fucking minds but that wouldn't be accurate. These rat bastards (and that's an insult to rats and bastards) know exactly what they are doing. They just don't give a flying fairy fuck and now they've even stopped pretending to give a flying fuck. This is why I am disgusted with the party. It's always a Democrat passing shit that have been Republican wet dreams for years. If we have Democrats passing shit Republicans have been coming in their pants to get what exactly is the difference between the two parties and why shouldn't one consider an alternative? If Democrats want to win they have to differentiate themselves from Republicans and shit like this doesn't do it.

[H2O Man]

32. Recommended.

I agree.

[scarletwoman]

65. Thanks, Waterman. I always appreciate a rec from you!

[CanonRay]

33. Question: Is Simpson on Social Security

My bet is 100% yes, he's sure old enough. What an asshole.

[Poboy]

37. Not only is he on SS, but reaps very generous benefits

that only those ticks and leeches in Congress can suck out of us.

[area51]

36. +1 n/t

[guitar man]

38. That's right

Simpson needs to go!! :grr:

[G_j]

39. I just posted a quick poll on this

then I saw your post.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9019901

[amborin]

40. knr

[slipslidingaway]

41. knr n/t

[walldude]

43. Not only that but Obama isn't paying Simpsons salary and benefits

those are tax dollars. Our tax dollars. I have been self-employed for awhile now but if I recall correctly, when I worked for someone else, had I told the person who was signing my check that they were a leech sucking off a 310 million tit cow.. well, the words PINK SLIP come to mind..

[scarletwoman]

66. It's absolutely infuriating, isn't it? Who's the real leech here?

WE paid in to Social Security, it's OUR money.

[Faryn Balyncd]

44. K & R

:hi:



:kick:

[Axle_techie]

45. Speaking of which

is Gibbs still working there?

[scarletwoman]

68. I assume that's rhetorical question... nt

[Axle_techie]

80. it is

[TBF]

46. K&R nt

[Ignis]

47. K&R. Apology not accepted, because he doesn't mean it.

Anyone who thinks this disingenuous asshole has suddenly and magically "seen the light" is naive at best.

[scarletwoman]

69. Of course not. "Apologizing" was just an attempt to get everyone to shut up.

[pezDispenser]

48. very excellent point n/t

[Jakes Progress]

50. He does have the right

to listen to the people who elected him, who campaigned for him. But instead he ignores the pleas of Democrats and liberals to kow-tow to republicans and right wing nuts.

Now if beck suggested that simpson be fired, alan would need to start worrying.

[orleans]

51. did the shit apologize and did obama accept it?

never mind -- i just saw this:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9016527

i think you're right.
ugh.

[JDPriestly]

52. I called my liberal congressman's office this morning.

This Commission is so seriously compromised that it should be disbanded.

Shame on Obama for using this underhanded method to hide his agenda from the American people. For shame.

[scarletwoman]

70. Shame indeed. If Obama wants a deficit commission, leave SS out of it. nt

[Enthusiast]

53. It's all part of the smoke screen.

Look past the Simpson remarks.

They did the same thing when Clinton was in office. The right wing raised holy hell about Clinton. In the media it was 24/7 attack Clinton. In the meantime Clinton signed NAFTA, The Telecommunications Act and the Graham-Leach-Bliley Act. In other words, Clinton betrayed the left and the American working people in several fundamental ways and all the while we defended him. Starting to sound familiar?

The Tea Party is a intentional distraction. Their loud rants at the town hall meetings were an excuse to water down HCR. Hell, the town hall meetings were created for that very purpose.

Now they want us to focus our anger at Alan Simpson. I ain't buying it.

[scarletwoman]

71. My anger is focused on the entire existence of the commission. I want to kill it.

Simpson is just the first point of attack.

[Enthusiast]

105. That's what I told Obama:

"Kill it!"

[russspeakeasy]

54. Damn straight....Thanks.....

[beforeyoureyes]

56. Excellent point. but I doubt it will happen

Gibbs calls the progressive base crazies who needs to be drug tested.

Rahm tells us to fuck off

And, Simpson just exposes the truth of how this administration REALLY feels. Sacrifice the poor for the rich. The leeches at the top will take everything. And, their political employees will tow the line.

[scarletwoman]

72. That's no reason not to put up a fight. nt

[HCE SuiGeneris]

58. Net recommendation: +100 votes (Your vote: +1)

[scarletwoman]

73. Thank you! nt

[diane in sf]

59. my letter to whitehouse.gov today

Please eliminate the "catfood commission." The fact it exists at all is highly offensive to me.

Alan Simpson is only a nasty old man, but the commission obviously exists to end run congress and damage social security under the guise of budget balancing.

Let's take the cap off payroll taxes which will provide adequate social security funding forever. And let people who are long term unemployed retire with full benefits at 55. This will provide more jobs for young people.

I donated my time and money to elect Mr. Obama, not people who are going to further the agenda of the right wing in trying to cut social security and other social programs.

I have switched to funding candidates directly and through Act Blue--I'm not paying to put DINOs in office. You may call me a professional leftist or progressive if you wish.

I will likely be relying on social security to provide most of my retirement income. It is only in the last three years that I have even had an employer offer me substantial retirement benefits. I had to cash in my IRA to live when the Bush recession cost me about 60% of my income for 5 years.

I am not the only person in this boat. So many of my friends are in their 50s and 60s, under- or unemployed. What's going to happen to them if the catfood commission succeeds in its evil goals? I can't keep all of my friends afloat. Do I turn my back on the homeless and desperate?

We should follow the example of Europe and provide social funding--it creates a better, more robust economy. I don't want to grow old in a third world country.

[scarletwoman]

74. Great letter! Way to go! I hope lots of us keeping writing - keep up the pressure. nt

[femrap]

61. Thank you, sw

I have phoned the WH yesterday and today....and I'll do it again tomorrow.

I'm sick of looking at the under belly of this fucking bus!

[scarletwoman]

75. The underside of the bus is getting damn crowded, now that they've added

every working person in the whole country!

[femrap]

62. Thank you, sw

I have phoned the WH yesterday and today....and I'll do it again tomorrow.

I'm sick of looking at the under belly of this fucking bus!

And did you notice that the WH sent out a female Communications Deputy?? Gibbs probably couldn't have kept the smirk off his fact.

[scarletwoman]

83. Thank YOU, femrap, for all you're doing to keep this issue front and center!

Gibbs probably couldn't have kept the smirk off his face.

So right on! :applause:

[Sienna86]

63. I called the WH and said the same thing

yesterday. No kidding. The President cannot accept an apology on my behalf!

[scarletwoman]

76. Thanks for doing that! nt

[Usrename]

64. Who cares about the insult, he's factually wrong about what SS is.

It isn't a handout like he wants to claim,

IT'S OUR INVESTMENT.

[scarletwoman]

67. Yes, you're absolutely correct, of course.

I just don't think we should put up with being insulted ON TOP of being lied to.

People are so used to being lied to, they can barely figure out the truth anymore. But an insult is direct and obvious, and I'm hoping it could serve as the tip of the spear with which to attack this entire odious enterprise.

sw

[Politicub]

77. +1 right on!!

[davidwparker]

78. K&R

... on the title alone.

[Aleric]

79. How much more do we have to take?

Emanuel, Gibbs and now Simpson. If I wanted to feel contempt FROM the whitehouse I would have suggested we stick with Bush.

[scarletwoman]

81. Yes, but contempt from a Democratic White House IS change!

At least Bill Clinton could put on a convincing show of "feeling our pain".

Obama's got a whole new bag!

[Lorien]

82. For how much longer will Obama coddle the most corrupt, greedy, willfully ignorant

divisive members of the GOP while simultaneously spitting in the faces of those of us who helped to put him in office? ENOUGH! FIRE the livestock lover now!

[scarletwoman]

84. It's really unbelievable, isn't it? What the hell is he thinking? nt

[ooglymoogly]

85. Note to simpson et al. Keep your thieving grubby hands off our money.

You haven't got the remotest right to drool over it. It is money we have put there for our retirement. So go find someone else to rob. Instead of robbing the poor; Try robbing the rich for a change and see where that gets you.

'O' will fire your ass in a heartbeat.

[scarletwoman]

87. Uh, sorry, 'O' has no intention of firing his ass. nt

[ooglymoogly]

93. The meaning; If he tries to rob the rich instead of the commissions purpose

to rob the poor will he be fired.

Guess I should have used the sarcasm button

[tiny elvis]

88. simpson sounds confident

i think he sees a green light ahead

[scarletwoman]

90. Oh yeah, he sees a green light alright. Aren't we lucky we have a Dem president? nt

[ooglymoogly]

89. KR....This whole commission is a farce; This apology is a farce

O's acceptance, as if he is even a part of the aggrieved is an even bigger farce. Simpson and the rest were chosen for this very reason; They were however, not supposed to let the cat out of the bag or even hint at the treachery unfolding.

It is O who should be on his knees; Apologizing for the treachery of this fucking commission that is drooling all over our retirement; As if they have a claim on it by some twisted flim flam logic.

[scarletwoman]

94. Obama floats above all us mere mortals. Mysterious are His ways...

And I am damn well going to fight him with everything I've got.

[ooglymoogly]

102. I feel that statement is something I have agreed with for the longest time. nt

[FlyByNight]

91. I can't help but think...

...that the "fix" is in regarding Social Security, whether it's privatization, raising the retirement age or reducing payments.

The WH debt commission is a fucking sham and Simpson's a goddamn cancer. He hates the working class and views the overwhelming majority of the American people with contempt (and I'm starting to think that the Obama/DLC White House does too).

[scarletwoman]

95. "and I'm starting to think that the Obama/DLC White House does too." This episode has erased

all my doubts.

Thank you for your post. I am in total agreement, of course -- this commission is a fucking sham.

They're going to steal our money, and they have every confidence that we can't do a damn thing about it.

From here on out, I'm dedicating all my energy to proving them wrong.

Thank you again,
sw

[AuntPatsy]

92. K & R

[scarletwoman]

96. Thank you. nt

[donheld]

97. We aren't the ones who can fire his ass!

[defendandprotect]

101. Neither are we the ones who put Cat Commission/Simpson in place... Obama is ...!!

And it's starting to look like when Bush couldn't move the nation to destroy Social

Security, they decided to send in someone closer to us all to do it -- a Democrat!!

That also has worked well for moving universal health care off the agenda and keeping

the world safe for the for profit health care industry!! Saved by the bell!!

Or should I say . . . "Saved by the Democrat"?

[rhett o rick]

99. This is our President speaking. This shows what our president think about us.

Fuck Simpson. Fuck Vilsack, Fuck Salizar and Bernanke and Summers and Geitner. Fuck Rahmbo and the DL fucking C.

I am ready to rumble

[defendandprotect]

100. Exactly--!! And, in fact, we need an apology from Obama and a turn around . . .!!

A turn around from a pro-elite/pro-Repug style of governing to something

more like a Democratic president -- !!

[ooglymoogly]

103. Accepting an apology from one of his own expounding on his

own policy, while in the act of shafting the people of this country, is the height of unmitigated Hubris and akin to blowing smoke up ones own ass.