Cutting SS Wages are on the table

[101Scout]

Man, talk about pissing off millions of voters overnight ...... if either party pushes for wage cuts on SS while inflation is already killing seniors ..... this will not sit well for millions of ppl. Not only will it piss off millions who are on SS but think of the voter in their 40s and 50s approaching SS in the near future knowing that their SS checks won't keep them afloat!! These party idiots who want to cut SS, thinks that it only mainly effects the elderly who are now on SS ..... and soon, they will die ... so who cares ... right?? Nothing to worry about pissing off a few million old folks who will soon die. Well .... like I said ... voters who are only 10-20 yrs away from being on SS ..... CARES!!!! 100 + million of ppl cares, that's who!!! This is playing with a very sharp knife now pointing at these fucking Corp ran Parties!!

By the way ... this is what brewing chaos looks like. ~ reality check

:rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant:


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BY STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
Associated Press
Friday, July 8, 2011

WASHINGTON — Once considered untouchable, Social Security is now in play in the debt-ceiling negotiations, which could mean higher income taxes for many U.S. families and shaved benefits for tens of millions of retirees as they age.

Social Security became part of the private discussions between President Barack Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner on coming up with “something big” to reduce deficits by $2 trillion to $4 trillion over the next decade.
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In most years, Social Security payments are increased based on a measure of inflation called the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. If Social Security adopted the new measure, annual increases would be 0.3 percentage points smaller, according to the program’s actuaries.

That could be a tough hit for seniors who have gone two years without a cost-of-living adjustment and are projected to get such a small one next year that it will probably be wiped out by higher Medicare Part B premiums for most recipients.

As the possible cuts are phased in, a typical 65-year-old who started receiving Social Security benefits at age 62 would get an annual reduction of about $130, according to an analysis of data produced by the Social Security actuaries.

By the time that retiree reached 75, the annual cut would be $560. At 85, the cut would be $984 a year.

Average Social Security benefits are about $1,100 a month, or about $13,000 a year.

“Social Security has contributed nothing to these deficits and to me has no basis for being a part of these deficit talks,” said Rep. Xavier Becerra of California, the top Democrat on the House Social Security subcommittee.

If applied more broadly to the tax code, the new inflation measure could hit taxpayers at every income level, raising about $60 billion over the next decade for the government, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.

[Schneibster]

I think means testing for people who are making six figures from their private investments is reasonable. I don't think they need Social Security. I think they need Medicare. I think everyone needs Medicare.

I think using a price indexing scheme that conforms to the inflation seniors are actually dealing with is not only reasonable, but safer- for example, given we're currently using an unreasonable one that's overpaying, what's to stop it from underpaying later? We should use an accurate measure of the real inflation to prevent problems.

These are just two examples of things that could be done to help Social Security last past 2100.

Are you aware that this year, for the first time, the SSTF has paid out more than it took in? Just this year. Has nothing to do with Shrub; it's simply a matter of how many people there are working and paying in, and how many people are getting benefits. It will probably get better as the economy ramps up, but even so, this is just the first of many inevitable times when this will happen, and eventually the SSTF won't have any more money in it- sometime around 2025, according to current responsible estimates, which ain't all that far off.

Now, would you like Obama and the Democratic Senate to fix this now, or would you like to roll the dice and wait until later?

[Xena]

What I would like is a firm plan to improve and/or repair Social Security and not have it "on the table" with the deficit cuts. To include it in debt ceiling negotiations is an invitation to disaster.

[Schneibster]

No, it's a political maneuver.

As far as a plan, it's a bit early yet. But you can see the principles that will be embodied in any plan developed by the White House here ([Only registered and activated users can see links]). It's unlikely that any of these are going to be compromised in any plan that gets a Presidental signature, which is one of the things that the President gets to do. Or not.

I have listened to a lot of horseshit about how Obama was abandoning the gay community. Then he signed this legislation ([Only registered and activated users can see links]). He even got straightlaced old Mike Mullen to go along with it and tell the Reprehensibles to fuck off; and they didn't veto it in the Senate, and they passed it in the House, despite the fact it's full of teabaggers. And DOJ has filed an amicus brief that says blocking benefits as DOMA does is unconstitutional, in a lawsuit filed by a lesbian over benefits to her life partner; they characterized it as violating equal protection. Yet I still hear people complaining. I figure they're not actually complaining about what Obama's done, they're just complaining to have something to complain about. Yet they still keep using the word "Obama" like he's got anything to do with it other than to try to help them out.

This is gonna be like that.

[101Scout]

Now, would you like Obama and the Democratic Senate to fix this now, or would you like to roll the dice and wait until later?

The debt ceiling is the current issue and SS has no place on the same table along with the debt ceiling!!! Pelosi is correct to demand that SS and Medicare programs deserve their own tables for any reform. So, I stand with Bernie Sanders when addressing both the Obama Admin and all of Congress .... "Keep your hands off SS!!!" After the debt ceiling is settled, then address how to make those programs better. While they'll at it, they need to reform the shit out of NAFTA too!!!

[Schneibster]

Yes, they're very very scary shadows on the wall.

Sigh.

[webhead]

The debt ceiling is the current issue and SS has no place on the same table along with the debt ceiling!!! Pelosi is correct to demand that SS and Medicare programs deserve their own tables for any reform. So, I stand with Bernie Sanders when addressing both the Obama Admin and all of Congress .... "Keep your hands off SS!!!" After the debt ceiling is settled, then address how to make those programs better. While they'll at it, they need to reform the shit out of NAFTA too!!![/B][/COLOR]

Yes! Repeal NAFTA.

From what I've read and from the soundbites I've heard, the Democrats in Congress will not accept cuts in Social Security.

The Social Security Board of Trustees issued a report on the status of the Social Security trust fund. As of last year, SOcial Security is solvent for to pay 100% of benefits until 2036, and then 75% of benefits through 2085. The Board of Trustees are required to issue this report once a year to Congress. The Board IS THE AUTHORITY on what is in the Trust Fund


A SUMMARY OF THE 2011 ANNUAL REPORTS
Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees

After 2022, trust fund assets will be redeemed in amounts that exceed interest earnings until trust fund reserves are exhausted in 2036, one year earlier than was projected last year. Thereafter, tax income would be sufficient to pay only about three-quarters of scheduled benefits through 2085.

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Any Democrat in Congress who votes for these cuts will lose my vote, and they will lose then next campaign.