"no cuts for current retirees" = the rest of us are screwed on Social Security...

[ddeclue]

thanks a lot Mr. President..

:eyes:

[leftstreet]

1. Without healthcare coverage, you probably won't live that long anyway

:o

:sarcasm: Just makin lemonade here

[RagAss]

They need to sacrifice a generation...we're it !

[Brickbat]

2. Is that what he said today? I didn't see the speech.

If so, we're fucked.

[Tx4obama]

8. No he didn't. Here's the truth below

Video of the FULL speech: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x573091

and from the White House...

FACT SHEET: The President's Framework for Shared Prosperity and Shared Fiscal Responsibility
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/04/13/fact-sheet-presidents-framework-shared-prosperity-and-shared-fiscal-resp

[ddeclue]

11. Yes he DID. No CURRENT beneficiary should see the basic benefit reduced; nor will we accept an appro

What part of CURRENT do you not understand?

[ProSense]

3. Are you interested

in what the President actually proposed?

Fact Sheet:

7. Social Security

The President does not believe that Social Security is a driver of our near-term deficit problems or is currently in crisis. But he supports bipartisan efforts to strengthen Social Security for the long haul, because its long-term challenges are better addressed sooner than later to ensure that it remains the rock-solid benefit for older Americans that it has been for past generations. The President in the State of the Union laid out his principles for Social Security reform which he believes should form the basis for bipartisan negotiations that could proceed in parallel to deficit negotiations:

• Strengthen retirement security for the low-income and vulnerable; maintain robust disability and survivors’ benefits.
  
  
• No privatization or weakening of the Social Security system; reform must strengthen Social Security and restore long-term solvency.
  
  
• No current beneficiary should see the basic benefit reduced; nor will we accept an approach that slashes benefits for future generations.

[Brickbat]

4. "Should" and "slashes" are loopholes.

[ddeclue]

7. CURRENT is also a loophole.. in fact this "spin" sheet CONFIRMS my point.

:rofl:

[ProSense]

10. Tell it to

Bernie Sanders

[ddeclue]

13. Not sure what your point is.. Bernie doesn't talk about SS in that post..

:shrug:

[ProSense]

20. "Not sure what your point is.. " Here's the point

You apparently heard what you wanted to. The President was clear

Clear!

That includes, by the way, our commitment to Social Security. While Social Security is not the cause of our deficit, it faces real long-term challenges in a country that’s growing older. As I said in the State of the Union, both parties should work together now to strengthen Social Security for future generations. But we have to do it without putting at risk current retirees, or the most vulnerable, or people with disabilities; without slashing benefits for future generations; and without subjecting Americans’ guaranteed retirement income to the whims of the stock market. And it can be done.

[ddeclue]

21. NOT CLEAR AT ALL... "current" retirees excludes the rest of us to me..

I understand how to diagram a sentence and what the purpose of an adjective is - the purpose is to exclude other categories of retirees.. to narrow the scope to just THOSE retirees and to hell with people my age..

:eyes:

[Arkana]

26. What does the phrase "without slashing benefits for future retirees"

mean to you?

Oh, wait, you think he purposely chose an extreme adjective so he can enact an elaborate plan to merely "cut" Social Security benefits for future retirees, and then when called on he'll say "I said 'slashing', not 'cutting', was out of the question."

You people and your paranoia would be entertaining if it wasn't so fucking sad.

[ddeclue]

29. sorry but that sentence does NOT negate the previous one.

The basic benefit for future retirees is clearly up for grabs.

[ProSense]

36. .

That's pathetic!

:rofl:

[ddeclue]

38. no that's realistic...

If you want to say no cuts for anybody just SAY IT.. you don't need two sentences filled with weasel words to give you an out later when you roll over for the Republicans - which is actually what is pathetic...

[Brickbat]

23. There's that "current" and "slashing" again.

Us "later" and "future" beneficiaries have no guarantee that our benefits won't be "trimmed," "reduced," "refigured," or, you know, "recalculated."

[Brickbat]

16. Yup!

[RKP5637]

35. Yep, those were the operative words allowing lots of wiggle room. n/t

[ddeclue]

6. SPIN, RINSE... REPEAT..

sorry not interested in your spin just in what he said and what his history of rolling over indicates.

[ddeclue]

9. YES HE DID: No CURRENT beneficiary should see the basic benefit reduced; nor will we accept an appro

No current beneficiary should see the basic benefit reduced; nor will we accept an approach that slashes benefits for future generations.

What part of CURRENT do you not understand?

:eyes:

[Windy]

19. He's not. Don't bother trying. nt

[notesdev]

5. Well, we knew that already

at least if you are paying attention and aren't a functional illiterate in mathematics

but of course the education system in this country has been so bad for so long, the functional illiterates outnumber those who can actually make sense of what's going on

[inna]

12. yep. good catch, btw; most people seem to have missed that part altogether. nt

[Tx4obama]

15. Most people have not taken the time to read the whole framework. See the truth below

from the White House...

FACT SHEET: The President's Framework for Shared Prosperity and Shared Fiscal Responsibility
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/04/13/fact-sheet-presidents-framework-shared-prosperity-and-shared-fiscal-resp

[ddeclue]

17. The truth is that SS and Medicare are up for grabs.. Obama doesn't need spin sheets to just say NO.

NO to cuts in SS and Medicare is a simple one word answer.. VETO is a simple answer... the longer the speechifying and spinning the less likely there is to be any real defending of either program.. if it needs to be explained on a website the simple truth is that he isn't going to defend it.

Doug D.
Orlando, FL

[Tx4obama]

24. That is bull. SS and Medicare is NOT up for grabs.

You expected him to stand there and put every detail in his speech? LOL
Please go read the whole statement from the White House, instead of trying to debate something you're not fully informed about.

FACT SHEET: The President's Framework for Shared Prosperity and Shared Fiscal Responsibility
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/04/13/fact-sheet-presidents-framework-shared-prosperity-and-shared-fiscal-resp

p.s. I am going to guess that you haven't listened to Maddow's or Ed's show tonight.
They have explained everything in 'simple terms' that every one can understand.

[ddeclue]

27. I guess you can't read your own spin sheet.. The word CURRENT is a deal breaker.

No CURRENT beneficiary should see the basic benefit reduced; nor will we accept an approach that slashes benefits for future generations.


What part of CURRENT do you NOT understand?

Also "should" is another weasel word..

Give it up you are wrong on this one...

[Tx4obama]

31. You are trying to spin the sentence into something that it is not. n/t

[ddeclue]

32. Nope.. just reading what it says...n/t

[Exilednight]

18. Yeah, it's not like Obama has ever put up one thing, and then did something else. n/t

[eShirl]

14. wondering what will happen with current SSD (disability) recipients

[Windy]

22. Give up on ddclue, et al. They aren't interested in facts, just their own version

I am so disgusted that many on the left also act like the right.... sad sad sad
An adult is in charge and some on the left and the right can't deal with it. The very far on each side are the very persons that prevent reform from occurring. Nothing comes immediately. It takes one step followed by the next.

[ddeclue]

25. Obama is hardly an adult...adults stand up for what they believe in..

and enough already with the excuse making and apologizing about how Rome wasn't built in a day.. Obama is working AGAINST Democratic principles with Romney-Care, extending tax cuts for the wealthy and continuing Bush's wars, and military tribunals and Guantanamo etc.

[Tx4obama]

28. The FACTS below -------->

from the White House...

FACT SHEET: The President's Framework for Shared Prosperity and Shared Fiscal Responsibility
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/04/13/fact-sheet-presidents-framework-shared-prosperity-and-shared-fiscal-resp

[ddeclue]

30. Yeah.. No CURRENT beneficiary should see the basic benefit reduced...your own spin sheet.

The rest of us FUTURE retirees are screwed..

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

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

[ddeclue]

34. Yes English is - 660 Verbal on my SAT (that was the low score), college grad, minor in American Lit.

and I also happen to read, speak and write Spanish, French and German to varying degrees as well.

The word CURRENT implies it will happen for anyone NOT a CURRENT retiree. If not then there is no need to use the word CURRENT.

You apparently don't understand what a WEASEL word is. Lawyers and politicians use them all the time to cover their asses.

If Obama wanted to say no cuts for anyone he should have simply said that just like when John Edwards said Medicare for All it was clear he meant everybody would be covered by Medicare.

The more words and the more complicated your sentence becomes the less likely it is to mean anything.

[Brickbat]

37. To think we're all in the clear because there won't be any "slashing" is unrealistic.