50,000,000 senior citizens in America today...

[Hubert Flottz]

It's not very smart for a politician to play with Social Security and Medicare. Here are some real numbers.

Obama received 365 electoral votes, and McCain 173. The popular vote was 69,456,897 to 59,934,814, respectively.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2008

I rest my case.

[NYC_SKP]

1. Boner, McConnell, et al, should remember that...

And our team can use it against them in our rhetoric, as well.

:patriot:

[Hubert Flottz]

2. Everyone in Washington and on Wall Street had better think...

about that.

[Bluenorthwest]

3. In my family the oldest Obama voter was 90 in 08

Just for example...

[iamjoy]

4. Just Don't Cut Today's Medicare

I mean, if you leave Social Security and Medicare okay for today's seniors and those over 55, you are good. It's okay to screw everyone else. Ironically, the excuse is they don't want to pass debt on to our children and grandchildren.

[MineralMan]

7. You know, you're incorrect, if you think that is the norm.

Talking to my 82-year-old mother-in-law, I discovered that she is very, very concerned that younger people won't have the same benefits she has. Normally a Republican voter, she said that she will be voting for Democrats from now on.

You forget that most seniors have children of their own who will be affected by any such cuts. Many of those seniors are very upset about proposed changes in SS and Medicare.

It's wrong to apply the same label to an entire group, just based on their age. There's a name for that: Ageism. It's no less offensive than racism or homophobia.

[iamjoy]

8. Didn't Mean To Imply That Was The Norm

Although, I can see how one could infer that from my statement.

My statement was a cynical commentary on the rhetoric of many politicians and that 50 plus group who claim we need to cut Medicare and Social Security, but not for those close to retirement. They act like that makes it okay and they are still taking care of seniors. Then they claim the reason we need to cut it is so we don't pass on debt to our grandchildren.

Somehow, they don't see the disconnect on it.

But I certainly realize not all seniors feel that way.

[Hubert Flottz]

9. If you pay into these things you should get something back.

They don't means test when they payroll deduct. Working people have no choice in the matter. And now you don't wait until you're 16 to be given your SS number.("the mark of the beast," I've heard the radical righties call the SS number)

[HockeyMom]

5. Add children and grandchildren

what would the numbers be then?

[Hubert Flottz]

6. More numbing numbers...

The Bush Tax Cuts: Ten Years Later

Mother Jones

Snip...

Big debt: Between 2001 and 2010, the Bush tax cuts added $2.6 trillion to the public debt, 50 percent of the total debt accrued during that time. Over the past 10 years, the country has spent more than $400 billion just servicing the debt created by the cuts.

Supply-side failure: Far from paying for themselves with increased economic activity as promised, the tax cuts have depleted the public treasury. Tax collections have plunged to their lowest share of the economy in 60 years.

No jobs: Between 2002 and 2007, employment increased by less than 1 percent when the economy was supposed to be expanding. Employment growth barely kept pace with population growth. Between the end of 2001, when the country was in a recession, and the peak of the real estate bubble, er, economic expansion in 2007, the US economy performed worse than at any time since the end of World War II.

Rich people benefit: The best-known result of the Bush tax cuts is that virtually all the benefits were conferred upon people who didn't need them at all and who didn't use the money to, say, create more jobs or pay their workers better. Median weekly earnings fell more than 2 percent between 2001 and 2007. Meanwhile, people making over $3 million a year, who account for just 0.1 percent of taxpayers, got an average tax cut of $520,000, more than 450 times what the average middle-income family received. Read More...

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/06/10th-anniversary-bush-tax-cuts

" 0.01 percent of taxpayers, got an average tax cut of $520,000, more than 450 times what the average middle-income family received."

0.01% of 300,000,000 people in America got the biggest benefit from the combination of bush tax cuts. That 0.01% would represent 300,000 votes. Cuts to medicare and social security would hurt 50,000,000's income. That social Security and Medicare is paid for by federal deductions from 50,000,000 lifetimes of pay checks. Where did the money come from that the 0.1% raked in for the past ten years? The Bush tax cuts were "entitlements" that a nation fighting two wars could NEVER afford in the first place. It's not the seniors that have broken the country it's the neocons/GOP that did that.

[JDPriestly]

10. Thank you for putting this in perspective.

I cannot believe that Obama is trying to sell Congress on still more of these suicidal trade agreements (with Colombia and South Korea I believe) while proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Horrors.

The debt just represents the cost to us of "free" trade when we are the only party that actually allows imports "free" of taxes into the country.

It's our trade debt that is the real problem. We buy everything from Mexico or China or India. We don't produce much here. Therefore Americans' wages are low. Tax revenues compared to the cost of keeping up our military machine and infrastructure are low. Naturally, we have a lot of debt.

We are living way over our means. But cutting Social Security and Medicare will not solve the fundamental problem.

Ending the free trade feast will.

[Hubert Flottz]

11. The Globalists want to lower our standard of living to match that

standard of living in places where people are lucky to have a roof over their heads and food to eat. The super bankers and super corporatist only want two classes of people left on the planet. The super wealthy masters and the dirt poor slaves. The upper or Master Class, the super wealthy 0.01%, wants to totally dominate and own the rest of the world's population. The plan has been in the works for over a hundred years. FDR threw a wrench into the works when he created the social programs that he created and when he helped the unions gain power but the new age globalists have all but wiped out every gain that working people around the world have ever gained. People who don't believe in the global conspiracy are the real nut cases. The meek shall inherit slavery for generations to come if the globalist/international banksters win.

[leftstreet]

12. Over the next 20 yrs, 170+ million Americans will start drawing benefits

...or not, if the ruling class fuckers get their way

K&R

[WCGreen]

13. Throw in a couple of million people on disability...

just to add a little spice to the stew.

[SteveG]

14. Remember this

The Senate and the House have to vote on this in order to pass, the President does not have to sign it for it to become law. All he has to do is not veto it. It becomes law after 10 days if he neither signs it or veto's it.

Once it becomes law without his signature, he can campaign against the cuts, putting the full blame on the Republicans. The trick will be to set things up so that that majority who vote for it are Republicans (let a few dems in the Senate vote for it if they are retiring or need to to keep their seat).