"Entitlement, my ass"

[kpete]

"Entitlement" my ass, I PAID cash for my social security insurance! Our benefits aren't some kind of charity or handout. Congressional benefits -- free premium federal health care, enormous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, 3 weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days -- now THAT is welfare! And they have the nerve to call my retirement "entitlement"?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/23/997923/-Short-and-Succinct-on-MY-Social-Security?via=siderec

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. 67 Paid holidays?

Wut?

[aquart]

3. Congress treats itself well.

[lonestarnot]

4. The fuckers work only every other week.

[Ruby the Liberal]

5. But they are working in their home district offices.

I agree that it is egregious what they are given (lurking Tea Baggers - do remember that congress was a unpaid VOLUNTEER position under the Founding Fathers) but I don't count time in district offices outside of DC to be "holidays".

[handmade34]

yah work...

its called fund-raising... campaign finance reform should be top priority

[Ruby the Liberal]

10. True that. Running for reelection is their #1 priority

Just like unseating Obama is McConnell's #1

Jobs? Meh.

[TBF]

42. campaign finance reform -

they will just get money under the table and in other forms. getting rid of the capitalism, while a more difficult task, is really what we need to do.

[Hippo_Tron]

112. While I agree that they spend entirely too much time fundraising and we need finance reform

Their constituents, particularly in the "heartland", often complain that their representative spends way too much time "in DC". Of course those who actually understand government know that they have to be in DC to do their job, but their constituents don't get that. So I can't really fault them for allocating significant recess time to be in the district when that is what their constituents demand, even if their constituents are wrong.

[russspeakeasy]

61. Is counting your money called work ?

[Ruby the Liberal]

99. How much did we bail out the banks and Wall Street so they could keep "working"?

LOL!

[atreides1]

122. You have proof

I don't believe that they spend much time in their district offices, maybe once or twice when they're not in DC...so that doesn't really count as being on the job!

[Schema Thing]

6. It's an entitlement precisely because you are entitled to it.

funny how the phantom "feel" has been added to the word entitlement, ie: "he or she "*feels* entitled" , w/o it ever actually showing up in word or in print.

[SharonAnn]

11. I call them "earned benefits". I think it explains the situation better.

[Egalitariat]

33. How do you earn Medicaid?

[Horse with no Name]

36. No shit. Medicaid isn't "earned"

How the hell do you propose we put the sick kids and old people to work?

:puke:

[rucognizant]

94. Damned straight it is! Paid for that is.

When I turned 65 SS began taking $65. per month out of MY INCOME. Now it is up to $100. per month! Since I am below the poverty level, State of Maine's, Mainecare picked up the tab, and I was reimbursed in 2 months.
Now at 72, approx $6,000 has been paid in on my behalf, and I hardly use it at all. My genetic heritage is "HARDY". I can document 3 centuries of ancestors living into their 80' & 90's..................My Mother is an RN, nutrition, her field.
Now if I earn over $300. in a given month.I lose the whole works! Really rewarding to entrepreneurship!

[Qutzupalotl]

62. You pay into it.

Even just once. Then you've earned it and you're entitled to it.

As you can tell, I don't believe there's a great difference in semantics here, but as another poster pointed out, there is the connotation of "feeling entitled" to contend with.

[RebelOne]

69. You earn Medicare, not Medicaid. Medicare comes along with your SS benefits. n/t

[LaydeeBug]

101. by paying into it. nt

[Gormy Cuss]

52. But earned benefits are only a subset of entitlements.

Entitlement when applied to government programs has a specific meaning, that any person who meets eligibility criteria is entitled (as in, guaranteed) access to the benefit.
Even entitlements where payment is tied to contribution do not end when the individual's payouts exceed his or her contribution. Moreover, Social Security benefits are available to those who didn't pay into the system (survivors of those who did, for example.) As others have noted though, some entitlements like Medicaid aren't tied to contributions at all.

[nineteen50]

104. Right on

How did wall-street earn their 16 trillion bailout?

[Raster]

110. They earned it the old fashioned way: THEY STOLE IT!

[dana_b]

85. exactly. That is how it has been twisted

by the Repubs and free marketers. We are entitled to what we have earned however it is now being made out to be some sort of evil welfare program (side note:I do NOT think welfare is evil but many of them do)instead of an insurance program that we all put into

[emilyg]

7. Big K/R

[DirkGently]

8. Nothing wrong with the term. Folks actually are "entitled." Problem is the implication they're not.

[Hawkowl]

13. It is a Republican phrase

And Obama should not be using right wing phrasing or talking points. He loses before he starts this way.

[CleanGreenFuture]

16. it is NOT a fucking rethug phrase! It's an actual word that has a meaning that is

being morphed into an Orwellian Newspeak nightmare!

C'mon people!

PS: And why to you show those sick fucks any respect by capitalizing their party name when they so contemptuously demean ours?

[Hawkowl]

18. It is now.

That is my point.

[CleanGreenFuture]

19. You would let them win? Great!

[Hawkowl]

20. No.

Just use different language. You can't fight reality. You have to go on offense and DEFINE the issue in your own words FIRST. For example, Social Security and Medicare should be called old age insurance. Insurance should be hammered home at every opportunity.

[RaleighNCDUer]

22. The point is, they are taking the ENTITLEMENT of SS and equating it

with welfare. They start by re-definging 'entitlement', and then morph the two together. The only way to fight that is to re-re-define the word, make it true to its meaning, and make it clear that ENTITLEMENTS ARE NOT WELFARE.

[Randypiper]

70. Or define their's

The bush tax cuts should be called millionaire entitlements. They sure think they are entitled to them.

[RaleighNCDUer]

72. NO! NO! NO!

The Bush tax cuts are NOT entitlements - they are the exact OPPOSITE of entitlements. The word has a meaning - look it up.

The Bush cuts are welfare for the rich - and welfare is NOT an entitlement.

[Hawkowl]

96. LOL

No, I'm not mocking you. Simply that ten years ago LOL had no meaning, 20 years ago server had a different meaning. Meanings change as societal consensus dictate. I think you simply are refusing to concede the loss of this battle over the word "entitlement". It is even more gone than "liberal". How many people shun the word 'liberal', even though its meaning in the dictionary remain the same.

Ultimately, words are about communicating ideas. I argue that the word "entitlement" in the current political context, is not working to achieve a progressive/liberal/democratic outcome.

We need a new word.

[Randypiper]

109. Listen how rebublicans and fox say the word.

They aren't using the dictionary description of the word.
I'm saying we should turn it back on them.

[Plucketeer]

60. Yup!

Just like the technically correct "Global Warming" has been contorted by the Right into a laughable term - a less malleable "framing" would've been "Climate Change". It's too late to corral that horse tho, since he's out of the barn and down the road.

[road2000]

88. Exactly.

I preach that all the time. Occasionally, it works.

[StarsInHerHair]

119. the thing is we need to slang it, so people realize what the republiscum

actually mean & WE DO need TO USE A DIFFERENT WORD for Social Security. I like the earned phrase upthread

[JDPriestly]

91. As an aside, I think a lot of people in the Eastern US are

beginning to understand why it is also appropriate to call it "Global Warming." Gradually, record highs get higher. Average temperatures are rising slightly as the icebergs melt.

[MilesColtrane]

21. Look up the definition of "entitlement".

You'll see that it's usage is correct in respect to Social Security.

Ascribing an incorrect definition to the word so that it becomes a pejorative is exactly what the Republicans want.

They want you to think that it's a bad word, and you're falling for it.

[tomp]

32. wrong. no need to consult the dictionary.

the government uses the word "entitlement" in a very particular way. it may or may not be in the dictionary but the usage in government = "handout" or "welfare."

oppose it.

[Pacifist Patriot]

39. Indeed. Connotation and context are every bit as important as denotation.

I completely sympathize with the OP!

[MilesColtrane]

67. LOL

[tomp]

124. brilliant response. nt

[DirkGently]

48. Nope. It's a correct appellation that has been demonized.

[JDPriestly]

92. Let's look at the US Code for a minute

(a) Old-age insurance benefits
Every individual who—
(1) is a fully insured individual (as defined in section 414 (a) of this title),
(2) has attained age 62, and
(3) has filed application for old-age insurance benefits or was entitled to disability insurance benefits for the month preceding the month in which he attained retirement age (as defined in section 416 (l) of this title),
shall be entitled to an old-age insurance benefit for each month, beginning with—
(A) in the case of an individual who has attained retirement age (as defined in section 416 (l) of this title), the first month in which such individual meets the criteria specified in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), or
(B) in the case of an individual who has attained age 62, but has not attained retirement age (as defined in section 416 (l) of this title), the first month throughout which such individual meets the criteria specified in paragraphs (1) and (2) (if in that month he meets the criterion specified in paragraph (3)),
and ending with the month preceding the month in which he dies. Except as provided in subsection (q) and subsection (w) of this section, such individual’s old-age insurance benefit for any month shall be equal to his primary insurance amount (as defined in section 415 (a) of this title) for such month.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/42/usc_sec_42_00000402----000-.html

I don't find the word "entitlement" in that Code section. If it is used in the code, it is not the primary focus.

Social Security is most definitely insurance. I will post this separately to clear up the confusion.

[DirkGently]

102. Let's look at the English language for a minute

Point taken SS is insurance -- but it's insurance established by law. Which is the definition of "entitlement."

An entitlement is a guarantee of access to benefits based on established rights or by legislation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entitlement

Definition of ENTITLEMENT

1
a : the state or condition of being entitled : right
b : a right to benefits specified especially by law or contract

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/entitlement

"Entitlement" is neither derogatory nor inaccurate regarding SS, Medicare, et al. It is entirely appropriate and correct to refer to them as such. The problem is solely that Republicans / conservatives / conserva-Dems have demonized the word and equated it with "teat sucking" and "handouts."

[JDPriestly]

116. ERISA permits you to establish your 401(K).

Would you define the money in your 401(K) as an entitlement?

Your right to it is established by law. You put money into it just like you put money into Social Security.

Would you refer to the right to withdraw money from your 401(K) as an entitlement

In fact, you probably have a contractual agreement with some company that administers your 401(K) -- which would also, by your definition, make it appropriate to refer to 401(K) benefits as "entitlements."

What if the government just decided that in order to pay its debts it would tax the principal in your 401(K). Sooner or later you will pay taxes on it (you or your heirs). What if they just decided today that they would take a little chunk on the ground that the program and your right to the benefits was just an "entitlement."

[JDPriestly]

90. We pay Federal Insuance Compensation Act taxes.

People who pay in are entitled to Social Security benefits in the same sense that people who buy insurance are entitled to those benefits.

MEDICAID

Medicaid is the equivalent of a charitable program funded by taxpayers.

In New York state (not a low cost-of-living state like Louisiana or Alabama on average), a family of four not disabled or blind or over 65 qualifies if their annual income is $14,637 or less and their monthly income is $1,220 or less.

http://www.health.state.ny.us/health_care/medicaid/#qualify

If any DUers who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid would like the free medical insurance that Medicaid recipients get, I'm sure there is someone getting that "entitlement" who would be happy to trade your higher income for their lower one.

***

SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security benefits are earned. You have to build up work credits.

The number of work credits you need to get retirement benefits depends on your date of birth.

If you were born in 1929 or later, you need 40 credits (10 years of work). People born before 1929 need fewer than 40 credits (39 credits if born in 1928; 38 credits if born in 1927; etc.)

http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/credits2.htm

When you work and pay Social Security taxes, you earn up to a maximum of four "credits" for each year. The way you earn a credit has changed over the years.

Before 1978, employers reported your earnings every 3 months and we called credits "quarters of coverage," or QCs. Back then, you got a QC or credit if you earned at least $50 in a 3-month calendar quarter.

In 1978, employers started reporting your earnings just once a year. Credits are now based on your total wages and self-employment income during the year, no matter when you did the actual work. You might work all year to earn four credits, or you might earn enough for all four in a much shorter length of time.

The amount of earnings it takes to earn a credit has changed since 1978. In the year 2011, you must earn $1,120 in covered earnings to get one Social Security or Medicare work credit and $4,480 to get the maximum four credits for the year.

Note: You do not earn credits for pension payments or for interest or dividends on savings and investments. You do not pay Social Security tax on that kind of income.

During your lifetime, you probably will earn more credits than the minimum number you need to be eligible for benefits. These extra credits do not increase your benefit amount. Your average earnings over your working years determine how much your monthly payment will be.

http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/credits1.htm

The point is that Social Security and Medicare benefits are earned.

Here are some excerpts from an article by Dean Baker published in Alternet in 2007:

Fifteen years ago, Peter Peterson used some of the immense wealth he had accumulated as an investment banker to create and bankroll the Concord Coalition. The Concord Coalition was designed as a bipartisan organization promoting fiscal responsibility, with its primary targets being Social Security and Medicare. Peterson and his crew put out screeds, with titles like "Grey Dawn," that attacked these programs and warned that the growing wave of elderly would bankrupt the country.

Like most of the granny bashers, Peterson routinely played fast and loose with the facts. For example, while warning about the poverty facing future generations, he suggested cutting the annual Social Security cost of living adjustment because the official consumer price index (CPI), to which retirees benefits are indexed, overstates the true rate of inflation. However, if the CPI really overstates inflation, then incomes are rising much more rapidly than the official data show; and future generations will be far richer than we could possibly imagine. (If income rises by 4 percent and the inflation rate is 3 percent, then real income has risen by 1 percent. But if our measure of inflation is wrong, and the rate of inflation is just 2 percent, then real income has risen by 2 percent.)

. . . .

Of course, there is a Social Security trust fund that holds more than $2 trillion in government bonds. Under the law, these bonds are to be repaid from general revenue, which comes almost entirely from the personal and corporate income tax. In other words, the bonds held by the Social Security trust fund, which are supposed to pay the Social Security benefits of retired workers, are effectively tax obligations for wealthy people like Mr. Peterson. If the bonds held by the Social Security trust fund are never repaid, Mr. Peterson and/or his heirs could save tens of millions of dollars from their future taxes. It shouldn't be surprising he is trying to convince the public that the trust fund doesn't really exist.

More

http://www.alternet.org/economy/65341 /

People who speak of Social Security as an "entitlement" are followers of Pete Peterson and his ilk. Let's speak of it as "insurance" which is what the law that authorizes the tax calls it or an earned retirement benefit which is what it is.

The Bush tax cuts and Obama's acquiescence to the extension of those tax cuts are part of the grand strategy of a lot of wealthy people on Wall Street.

They think they are "entitled to steal" from the American working people.

After all, they were smart enough to get rich from gambling on Wall Street while we ignoramuses just worked at jobs that produced things or educated or cared for people. They (or their ancestors) were "successful" (and greedy) and we weren't.

If neither you nor your ancestors was greedy, then how can you claim to have earned the right to retire much less be "entitled" to the right to retire?

[tomp]

30. they are not "entitlements" ....

....in the governmental sense of the word. calling ss an entitlement is an attempt to make it seem like a hand out. the use of the word must be opposed.

or did you know that already and still seek to attach that word to ss?

[KittyWampus]

34. Complete bullshit. Our Constitution ENTITLES us to certain Rights.

[tomp]

125. complete bullshit.

it is our payment into social security that "entitles" us to it. it is an investment program.

all words with the root "entitle" can be used in many ways. in this case, paradoxically, we are entitled to ss but it is not an "entitlement".

[DirkGently]

47. They ARE entitlements. Entitlements are not handouts.

[Recursion]

71. Some entitlements are "handouts", some aren't

Medicaid, TANF, and SS payments after you've received more than you paid in are "handouts", I suppose.

[DirkGently]

103. Regardless, a right established by law is legitimate, & should not be permitted to be denigrated.

[w4rma]

115. tomp, you're wrong on this one. (nt)

[Pacifist Patriot]

40. That connotation and the frame created by the GOP are precisely what's wrong with the term.

The OP is clearly railing against the connotation of the word, not the denotation.

[dkf]

9. And you paid for grandma and grandpa.

Now the grandkids have to pay for you, but will you have obligated them to debt beyond what they can afford?

[fasttense]

25. Do you know anything about how Raygun changed Social Security?

The Baby Boomers have paid for BOTH their parents' and their own Social Security. Their parents' are still collecting what the Baby Boomers pay in AND the Baby Boomer's retirement is in the Social Security Trust Fund. The Trust Fund was initially simply a mechanism to hold Social Security money for a short while and then it was sent out in payments. BUT when Raygun came along, he changed it. He doubled our Social Security payments (while capping the withholding for the rich) and the extra moneys collected went into Treasury bills held in the Social Security Trust Fund. It is currently about $3 Trillion. That is the Baby Boomers Social Security. That is the money the GOP wants to give to the Koch Brothers and Wall Street banksters.

[dkf]

37. Their retirement money was used to buy b-1 bombers.

When Moynihan realized what they were doing he tried to have the extra SS taxes that he helped implement removed. But by that time the Government was dependent on those funds to balance the budget.

The theft was done years ago.

http://articles.latimes.com/1989-12-30/news/mn-974_1_social-security

Moynihan, who as chairman of the Senate Finance subcommittee on Social Security is in a crucial position to advance his plan, said that it would put the retirement system back on a pay-as-you-go basis instead of amassing trust fund surpluses exceeding $200 billion in the coming decade.

"The Administration is content to see the budget deficit gradually eliminated by the growing Social Security tax revenue," Moynihan said at a news conference. "This . . . perverts the original purpose for the surpluses--to provide for the retirement of the baby boom (generation) in the next century."

The trust fund concept was adopted in 1983 to accumulate reserves in advance of the huge demands expected on Social Security when members of the baby boom generation born after the end of World War II begin to retire in the early part of the next century. But Moynihan and others said that the huge surpluses have been used instead to mask the size of the federal deficit. Without the surpluses, Congress and the Administration would have to make more drastic spending cuts or generate new revenue to meet deficit reduction targets.

"We can no longer tolerate the use of Social Security surpluses to finance, say, B-2 bombers or a capital gains tax cut," he added.

[klook]

58. Great find -- "This . . . perverts the original purpose for the surpluses"

"--to provide for the retirement of the baby boom (generation) in the next century."

Thanks for the info.

[RaleighNCDUer]

76. So fucking what?

What that means is TODAY we assure that the trust fund is paid back by TAXING THE FUCKERS WHO STOLE IT.

We don't have to change ANYTHING. If the government is incapable of 'cashing in' the treasuries, then tax the thieves so the treasuries CAN be cashed in as we need them.

They ILLEGALLY took funds from Column A, and transfered them to Column B. So now, take funds from Column B and transfer them to Columa A.

It ain't fucking rocket science.

[dkf]

81. The point is where we were supposed to save these funds they used it to spend more.

[RaleighNCDUer]

82. So pay it back? Is that so hard?

Close a couple hundred overseas bases, cancel a few high-bucks military gizmos, and we will have more than enough to cover what was BORROWED from the SS trust fund.

If you borrow $300 from a friend, you work to pay that friend back - you don't escape the debt by shooting him in the head. And you don't just say, "well, it's gone now. Too bad."

[KoKo]

86. We bailed out Wall Street ...TARP/FED RESERVE and get no interest on what puny savings

some of us have and the elderly who used to buy treasuries or get good interest on their Savings Accounts in Banks rather than invest in the stock market are not getting enough interest to keep up with the inflation they and we all have.

We've taken enough from savers, the poor and young, middle and old of America...and yet they now can't pay back the money they've taken from the funds we paid into SS and Medicare?

Why can't people see what they are doing... :-(

[davidwparker]

113. +1

Yup.

[handmade34]

12. no argument from me that

tweaking is needed all 'round... Social Security benefits sometimes do go well over what someone has paid in... and we need to acknowledge that it is decades after SS was implemented and of necessity some things change. We need rational discussions about this, not last minute, middle of the night dealings...

"Entitlements" are merely programs where money has been allocated for those that meet the criteria

[tavalon]

14. Hey, you're not supposed to point out the obvious. It's so hyper partisan

[CleanGreenFuture]

15. How many times does the definition of "entitlement" have to be repeated here?

Jesus Christ!

Of all the Orwellian bullshit I've seen Newspeak seems to have taken a firm hold, despite the warnings. I'm just flabbergasted.

[pansypoo53219]

17. THE REPUBLKKKLANS ARE NOT ENTITLED TO TAX CUTS!

nt

[Art_from_Ark]

23. Happy to recommend

:kick:

[Vinca]

24. If they're going to start cutting "entitlements," start with Congress.

They do hardly any work for $174,000 a year and get to travel all around the world on their breaks on our dime. "Fact finding missions" my ass.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

26. Like Liberal, some have made entitlements a dirty word. I started a similar thread last week.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=1495702

[ThomWV]

27. Well, this is just nonsense. I got the same line of bullshit in an Email the other day.

Let's look at what was claimed: free premium federal health care, enormous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, 3 weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days -- now THAT is welfare! And they have the nerve to call my retirement "entitlement"

First, free premium Federal Health Care. Congress men and women have the same health care plan as all other Federal Employees. The Plan, called the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan (FEHP) is comparable to the health insurance offered to full time employees at any and all medium and large size firms of all types in this country. And it costs too. Although the employer pays a portion of the cost (unlike the private sector in which it is not unheard of for the employer to pay the full amount) there is still a hefty charge (typically $400 per month or so) charged to the employee.

Next, a premium retirement system: Once again, they are in the same system as any other Federal Employee, the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), this along with Social Security, another program that Federal Employees pay into, form one third of the total retirement package (Social Security and private savings are the other two thirds) and in fact it is relatively modest. As a personal example after working for the Federal Government for over 25 years my own retirement comes to a little less than $300 per month after my medical and life insurance is automatically taken out. Congress fares about the same.

Next, 3 weeks paid vacation. Not so. Once again, same as other Federal Employees, in which employees accrue vacation time on a per-pay-period system in which new employees earn less vacation time than longer term employees. And yes, after years and years of service it is possible to earn up to three weeks of vacation time per year, but its certainly not true of all employees or even the majority of them. There is also a cap on the total number of hours of vacation time that can be carried over into succeeding years, Use or lose it is called. You were right about one thing on this one though, it is paid vacation.

Unlimited paid sick days: Not true - sick time is earned on a per-pay-period basis and only those hours earned are paid. Any sick time taken in excess of those hours will either be charged to vacation time or it will be sick leave without pay.

And that is how it works. So please stop spreading this right wing bullshit.

[Somawas]

28. They do it because

they are lying motherfuckers.

[Hubert Flottz]

29. IT'S MY MONEY...AND I WANT IT NOW!

This is the thing that might spark the riots in our streets. I already got cheated out of half the VA bennies I was promised.

[MissDeeds]

31. K&R n/t

[cyberpj]

35. Plus self-granted pay raises. nt

[The Wizard]

38. Earned benefit

entitlement implies hand out.

[RaleighNCDUer]

78. NO, it does not.

Look up the goddam definition.

Entitlements are the OPPOSITE of hand outs.

[The Wizard]

95. The implication is handout

Earned benefit leaves no room for ambiguity.
How's this? I'm entitled to take your lunch money.

[StarsInHerHair]

120. popular culture disagress, change words to earned insurance/etc

[GOPBasher]

41. I don't know why everyone says this. It's an "entitlement" BECAUSE you're ENTITLED to it.

Since you paid into the system, you are therefore ENTITLED to receive those benefits. So, it's an ENTITLEMENT. This word distinguishes it from a "safety net" or "welfare" program, which are not programs you pay into but can still receive benefits from. I don't know why everyone thinks "entitlement" is a bad word. I think we just let Republicans turn that into a bad word when in fact it's not.

[JoePhilly]

44. +1 ... its sad when the left falls for the right wing's renaiming of things.

[DirkGently]

50. Tada. If the concern is adopting a Rep. POV, we push back against the connotation, not the word.

Edit: They're working hard to make "empathy" a dirty word too. Meaning "weakness, and cooperation with the 'enemy.' Shall we stop using that, too?

[Warren Stupidity]

43. Somebody needs to look up the definition of 'entitlement'

it means that you possess 'the title' - you own it - its yours.

[ProfessorGAC]

45. Actually, kpete, It's The Right Word

We ARE ENTITLED TO THOSE PAYMENTS! Somehow the radical right appropriated that word and polluted its meaning.

It's now used as if it means people THINK they're entitled to something that they really haven't earned. Sort of like when Silverspoon got elected. He thought he was entitled to that post, even though he did nothing to earn it.

Well, like you, i've earned those payments. I started paying into the system in 1971. The PROMISE was that i would get extra retirement income when i got to 65. Well, you know what? I am entitled to it. That was the deal. I pay payroll taxes and i don't complain about it.

But, the other side of the deal was that i would be ENTITLED to the payments that were promised to the american people.

So, it is an entitlement. As in, again, we're ENTITLED to it.
GAC

[blkmusclmachine]

46. Get in line with the rest of us mere mortals, the "Too Small To Matter" bunch:

The Masters of the Universe will steal everything lock, stock, and barrel.

[Imagevision]

49. Millionaires/Billionaires are the "entitled" ones yo-yo...

[W T F]

51. They're called "Entitlements" because you are entitled to them.

[Overseas]

54. I agree with you too. But there has been some powerful framing of the word "entitled"--

linking it with spoiled brats who feel they are entitled to get any toy they want.

And there are many human rights we were entitled to that were taken away. Even habeas corpus.

And too many healthy, wealthy, employed people somehow don't think their fellow citizens are entitled to national health security, even if large majorities of them want their taxes to go to that.

[ProfessorGAC]

55. Said The Same Thing

Just a few minutes earlier. Somehow it's been turned into a bad word.
GAC

[JHB]

66. No "somehow" about it...

...Back in the Reagan/Poppy Bush days, Republicans would rail about how much of the budget was spent on "entitlements" whenever they were attacking welfare programs. And while stirring up anger at a seeming army of (supposedly) able-bodied people laying about, livng it up on the dole while you work hard for what you have, the numbers they used included (as they were also entitlements) SS and Medicare. Polls at the time asking people to give their one estimates of how the Federal budget was spendtalways showed that most people consistently thought that welfare programs received a vastly larger portion than was true.

Similar polls at the same time showed low support for "welfare" but high support for "aid to poor families".

[ProfessorGAC]

74. How Did We Let That Happen?

I mean, is there a hamster driving our bus? This seems like simple PR stuff to me.
GAC

[JHB]

106. Where's the PR apparatus on the left?

There wasn't one, at least not with any significant reach. Pacifica Radio and some college stations?

Add to that the rise of television at the main venue for political advertising: politics was always a money game, but the need for bucks for TV put rocket boosters on that. That made it a lot mor efficient to cater to big donors than for a braod base.

So in a way, yes, we've been left with a hamster-driven bus.

[Overseas]

53. I agree. Call Social Security Insurance by its full name.

Social Security Insurance -- we paid our premiums. We even paid more when Clinton said we needed to prepare for the retirement of the Boomers.

SSI. I for Insurance.

[pansypoo53219]

59. or old age PENSION.

401k's are a RIPOFF for wall street.

[JHB]

73. Not Clinton: Reagan (and Greenspan) n/t

[dana_b]

87. don't forget the "D"!

Some folks need that "D" - I may be one of them soon.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

56. granting their own raises . . .

K&R

[florida08]

57. the 16 trillion dollar swindle

Bernie Sanders: The Fed Audit: "U.S. provided a whopping $16 trillion in secret loans to bail out US and foreign banks" http://tinyurl.com/3nw2jzo

[Bozita]

63. Perfect! ... Recommended bigtime!

[sarcasmo]

64. Kick!

[hack89]

65. An entitlement is a guarantee of access to benefits based on established rights or by legislation.

the dictionary is your friend.

[sabrina 1]

75. It is not used in that context when describing social programs

It is used to imply that lazy, no-good liberals have a 'sense of entitlement' to free money. And everyone knows exactly what they mean when they use the word.

[hack89]

77. That word is embedded in our laws - it is what is it.

it has legal meaning and significance.

I suggest you stop worrying about those mean old conservatives - there are more important battles to be fought.

[sabrina 1]

111. Nice defense of those 'mean old conservatives'.

An odd position to take, considering!

The word has been deliberately manipulated to falsely characterize what is earned as a hand-out, THAT is what it is!

And not just by 'those mean old conservatives' anymore, either.

[StarsInHerHair]

121. & theory instead of hypothesis? where do you stand with that?

[RaleighNCDUer]

80. Apparently, about half the people on this thread do not.

Context, schmontext. It is what it is. 'Entitlement' is MISused by the right to attack legitimate entitlements.

[reformist2]

100. The phrase 'false sense of entitlement' has stigmatized the word.

It's as if people can't think of the word in any other way than "not deserved" - it's bizarre.

[Michigan-Arizona]

68. K&R n/t

[Jim_Shorts]

79. Good point

Why is it if you give the government $ for a treasury bond you are entitled to get paid back with interest but if you give the government $ for the SS fund, your hoped for payback is an entitlement?

[Mosaic]

83. Strongly Recommended

Democrats must win the word war. No fear.

[Kaleva]

84. Congress can do away with it anytime it wants.

An excerpt from the Social Security Act passed into law back in 1935.


"RESERVATION OF POWER

SEC. 1104. The right to alter, amend, or repeal any provision of this Act is hereby reserved to the Congress"

http://www.ssa.gov/history/35act.html

[orbitalman]

89. K & R

[customerserviceguy]

93. You paid cash for your income taxes, too

And most of what that bought is already gone, as well.

Here's a better analogy: You paid money for your life, fire, and auto insurance policies, too, and if you didn't have an accident, a fire, or die, you sacrificed those premiums, as well. The money you paid for FICA taxes only entitled you to collect SS benefits, if and when you qualify for them, and if they still have any money by the time you do qualify.

[NICO9000]

97. And Obama uses that bogus term also

Which is disgusting. Not "entitlements" assholes - it says "insurance" right in the names of these programs.

[RaleighNCDUer]

126. It IS an entitlement - in the FORM of insurance.

You're monthly salary is an entitlement in the form of a paycheck.

What's so hard to understand about that?

[reformist2]

98. We shoot ourselves in the foot for making fun of the word "entitlement."

There is nothing wrong with the word. At all.

I suspect many don't like the word because it is often used in a negative sense nowadays, as in "He has a false sense of entitlement," or "She feels entitled to receive money from her parents even though she's an adult."

As another person wrote, confusing the word with its opposite is Orwellian doublespeak.

[BEZERKO]

105. They aren't entitlements.

Take that word out of your vocabulary, they are earnings. They should call it earnings reform.

[christx30]

107. I like the idea

of making running for and holding office as miserable affair as possible. Pay it minimum wage. No health care. Congress critters should be treated with the same level of respect as your average McDonalds manager. No more calling them Congressman Smith or Senator Wizenhoffer (the honorable reps from the great state of Lumpaland). Rather, they should be called by their first names. This wouldn't be something that they would volunteer to do. It would be imposed on them. They have no choice in the matter. Pay raises are on the same ballot as the one for President. "Do you believe congress deserves a 6% pay raise?" Yes or No, up or down.

[lib2DaBone]

108. I'm ENTITLED to every penny I put in from my paychecks...

40 M-F years worth...

Hey Boehner.. you just cut me a check for all I have put in.. and I'll walk away.... but I want every penny back.

[Name removed]

114. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[democrank]

117. K & R K & R K & R K & R K & R K & R K & R K & R K & R K & R

[Lex]

118. It's an entitlement because you have paid for so you are entitled to it.

[OwnedByFerrets]

123. Huge K and R Too bad they couldnt care less about us