WTF? I thought we were being told that Social Security is “FINE.” What is this about?
Are our fearless Democratic leaders ready to capitulate yet again? Even as Bush’s poll numbers on everything — including his Soc Security plan — are dropping? Please tell me I’m merely being hysterical.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – On the eve of Social Security’s 70th anniversary, Democrats said on Saturday they are ready to move toward revamping the financially troubled retirement program but warned against stripping away benefits to retirees and relying on private accounts for funding.
“We have a moral obligation to stand up and protect Social Security for the next 70 years and beyond — that means stopping privatization and dropping partisan demands for private accounts,” said Rep. John Salazar, a Colorado Democrat, in his response to President George W. Bush’s radio address. MORE BELOW:
[……..]
There is an effort by Republicans to move toward private investment accounts, thereby reducing the government’s role in retiree funding. But they have been forced to delay action on legislation to revamp Social Security because of strong opposition from Democrats.
“Social Security has never failed to pay promised benefits, and Democrats will fight to make sure that Republicans do not turn a guaranteed benefit into a guaranteed gamble,” said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California.
“Democrats stand ready to address the challenges facing Social Security’s solvency, but this cannot begin until Republicans begin talking about ways to make Social Security stronger, not weaker,” she said.
(Reuters)
I am one who is willing to listen to anyones ideas. I will tell one what I think after digesting the body of text. I am increasingly becoming leary of the democratic party and their stance on may things. This is becoming a worry for me. Can someone give to me a personal hand on thinking differently on things, PLEASE…..if I have not one thing to belive in anymore, then what???!!!!:o(
I am very ill to my stomach on lots of things happening nowadays with the democratic party. once I find something to believe in with them, they change their direction. Scarrrrryyyyyyy..makes me to have a very uneasy feeling to have.
PS: maybe it is the trust I am worried about instead. Trust is earned not just given. I want them to earn this trust from me…seems slow in coming, IMHO
I just ran across this article and posted it in the election fraud story as an update. But it fits your concerns to a T.
80 Million Reasons To Ignore Election Fraud
to that referenced Matt Bai’s article, from The Nation comes Ari Berman’s excellent piece on the same set of topics called The Strategy Class.
If anyone wants to get an idea of the internal forces at work in the Democratic party and the magnitude of those forces’ destructive potential; and if one seeks an informed perspective on how we might best view the actions and motives of the DLC and it’s various subgroups like NDN, etc.; then Ari Berman’s piece should be essential reading.
Real Democrats can’t afford the mis-named “centrist” positioning of the DLC crowd, and our democracy as a whole can’t afford their oligharchic ideological ambition.
Why are some prominent Dems making conciliatory, (or should I say conspiratorial) noises with respect to the SS issue? Self-interest is why. They place their own interests far out in front of the national interest. They regard the intelligence of democratic voters with contempt, figuring that they can dupe the public with almost any lie if they repeat it often enough. The DLC knows that the greedy, the people who have no qualms about amassing wealth at the expense of others, will follow their model of “big business first” politics.
And for the rest of us, well, we’re not capable enough, or educated enough, to even understand what’s going on, so they feel free to deceive us with impunity, infantalizing us with their paternalistic condescension. They think they can trick us into voting for their candidates, even when casting such a vote goes directly against our own best interest. They rely on us to be too stupid to realize this, and this is the biggest insult of all.
If Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton wind up as the Dem nominee in 2008, we’ll be in even worse shape than we are now.
exactly
It’s long been acknowledged, by Democrats and everyone else, that SS will need tweaking to stay solvent. That’s always been known. The argument has been over the Bush administration’s reference to the problem as a “crisis” (it’s not) and the method used to ensure solvency.
We will have to raise the earnings cap (only the first $90K is subject to SS tax), adjust the retirement age, or come up some other way to deal with it. There are many approaches. Bush’s plan to divert funds to private accounts does nothing to address the underlying problem.
It is not a crisis. The system, as it is now, is fine until 2042 or thereabouts.
Do we really want to chance any “tweaking” with the Republicans in control of everything?
since they do not have an honest idea in their head, the democrats will do the tweaking and bush will get the credit for it…I do not think so. Let us back into discussions and then we will see….as it is the committeee members wont let the democrats back into any discussions so why should the democrats do any work for them. I suggest we get both houses back then do some tweaking….:o)
I simply do not trust the republicans to be honest what so ever.
Since it’s the Bush regime sounding the alarm over SS, Dems should let Republican voices be the ones to inform the public of their proposal. Since the Repub strategists know that the public always punishes the bearer of bad news, (at the voting booth), they have been trying trick the Dems into offering their own plan for revamping SS. they know that any plan that addresses the solvency issue of SS has to include raising revenue going into the system, and they want that painful proposition, (i.e. tax increases, etc.) to be delivered by a Democratic party voice.
The Dems need to avoid this trap at all costs. Let Bush himself propose raising the salary cap, or raising the payroll tax rate for SS. Ask him to explain how taking trillions of dollars out of the system for these stupid private accounts has any positive effect on the SS system? But above all, don’t be tricked into proposing your own plan to address an issue that the Repubs don’t even describe accurately. Make them state their case, and then refute it.
Another shining example of our Democratic representatives snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The corporate wing of the Dem party, anyone?
One thing just about all of america is forgetting…it’s not about the “party” anymore, ie. Dem/Rep… bottom line, it’s all about GREED.
Plain and simple, and I don’t give a rat’s patootey what animal your hang’n on to, that Ass, or an Elephant, if you think that one side or the other is going to be our saviour, then, your a lost ball in the weeds.
It will come down to us, the people to straighten out this mess, because the corporate shills on the hill could care less about us. Plain Fact.
It’s going to take another election, or two, before people actually open their eyes and see the writing on the wall.
Change is what has to happen, and we the people are going to have to be more involved than ever before, if we want what we had in the past, and that is prior to the last decade or so.