Over the last month or so I've been getting emails from readers suggesting that President Obama... will buy into the debt commission's call for cuts to Social Security. ... But so far I'm just not seeing any evidence to suggest this is true.
... one key issue is that the nation's longterm debt problems -- which are very real -- don't really have much to do with Social Security. Social Security is currently subsidizing the rest of the budget.
...
In any case, I'm not saying it's impossible. I just haven't seen any convincing evidence. ...
I'd like to see concrete evidence, in the form of an unambiguous statement from the president, that he will defend Social Security. I know, I know: he's completely unreliable and his statements don't seem to mean much. But if he doesn't make a statement, that says even more: in that case, you can be relatively certain that he has secret plans to disable the fund into which we have been paying for decades, the fund that is already financially solid for about another 25 years even if no changes are made. That would be baldfaced theft from the elderly... and more proof that Obama is really a Republican.
That probably would be the final straw. I think people would take to the streets over any tinkering with Social Security. The waters are rising and we're about to hit a critical stage.
ReplyDeleteCG, I believe you are right. I do wonder, though, what those most active of activists, the Tea Partiers, would do... remember those hand-lettered signs that read "Government Keep Your Hands Off My Medicare"? The realm of the clueless expands daily.
ReplyDeleteWhen he went with the "payroll tax" reduction, that was a reduction in the ability of the Social Security System to fund itself.
ReplyDeleteThe Social Security System has only one source of income, the payroll tax. By cutting it, they have already cut Social Security. That money should have flowed into the Trust Fund, but that isn't going to happen.
Josh Marshall is not on my blogroll any more because he has bought lock, stock, and barrel into the Obama cult since the primaries, and his opinion is currently valueless.
I don't know if it's real or not. Just because we haven't seen evidence doesn't mean the bear hasn't shat in the woods.
ReplyDeleteBryan, I feel the same way about Josh Marshall. He disgusted me last election.
Josh Marshall is not the point. Defending or attacking Social Security is the point. Based on recent past behavior, I'd bet that Obama would ditch it in a Chicago minute if he thought it were politically expedient. But whatever else it is, advocating ditching Social Security is bad politics for any Democratic candidate... even The Great Obama.
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