Liberal groups worry president will cut deal on 'crown jewel' Social Security

The Hill ^ | 1/13/11 | Alexander Bolton

[markomalley]

A broad coalition of labor unions and liberal groups has launched an intense lobbying campaign directed at the White House in advance of President Obama’s State of the Union address.

These groups are concerned about Obama’s taciturn response to the proposal by his fiscal commission to gradually increase the retirement age and use a different calculation for cost-of-living adjustments.

Coalition partners held a conference call with liberal bloggers on Thursday afternoon to expand the public-relations campaign directed at the White House and Congress.

The Strengthen Social Security Campaign includes more than 200 member groups such as the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, SEIU, Campaign for America’s Future, National Women’s Law Center, USAction and MoveOn.org.

Many of the groups were members of the Health Care for America Now campaign that worked alongside Obama to push healthcare reform through Congress.

Now that Republicans control the House and Obama is facing reelection, the political dynamic is different and liberal groups fear the president might be willing to cut a deal on Social Security. Labor unions and liberal groups worry Obama could endorse a boost in the retirement age or a change in cost-of-living adjustments when he discusses strategies for reducing the federal deficit later this month.

[MrB]

SSI is where you’ll see the majority of the fraud going on.

Parents with “crazy children”.
Libs living in their mom’s basement collecting “disability”, etc.

[King Moonracer]

That parents with crazy children thing is the new welfare. Put your kids on ritalin and get $900 a month... 3 or 4 kids, and why bother getting off the couch.

[King Moonracer]

That parents with crazy children thing is the new welfare. Put your kids on ritalin and get $900 a month... 3 or 4 kids, and why bother getting off the couch.

[sickoflibs]

And how can Obama support these measures to ‘cut the deficit’ anyway when Democrats are all claiming that SS is fully funded the next 10 years using the SS trust fund money ?

Jim DeMint recently made a similar claim but said that that money was borrowed but still owed by the govmnt (future taxpayer???) to the future SS retirees (??)

NEWS ALERT! THERE IS NO TRUST FUND! FICA TAXES WERE ALL SPENT UPON RECEIPT. THAT IS WHAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DOES AND THAT THE VOTERS DEMAND, EVERY DIME SPEND AND MORE!

[Liz]

[ZULU]

They need to do something about the system or it will collapse.

Nevertheless, the GOP had better be VERY CAREFUL about how they deal with that viper in the Oval Office. He’s a REAL political animal. Don’t put it past him to shift the blame for any adverse fall-out to the GOP and then say he was forced by them to do it, later on in a political campaing.

Any changes to SS need to have the fingerprints of BOTH political parties all over it so any public resentment is equally distributed.

[Durus]

Well said. A sense of entitlement is not an apt description of people wanting their own money back. I think social security should be scrapped as it's a socialistic ponzi scheme, but there would have to be some effort to return peoples money.

[Liz]

[andy58-in-nh]

Yep. There are now states where people can now receive a far larger income through welfare, unemployment, SSI, food cards and rent subsidies than they could ever possibly make by working for a living, especially after taxes.

[oh8eleven]

I'm convinced that we will run these programs right into the ground
What do you mean "we?" The gov't wastes trillions of dollars on NASA, Medicaid, Depts of Energy & Education, foreign aid, etc., but it's SS and old people draining the treasury?

They have a sense of entitlement that would do any welfare queen proud.
So, people get forced by law to pay into SS and you don't think they've earned it? You sir, are an @ss.

[Notary Sojac]

The gov't wastes trillions of dollars on NASA, Medicaid, Depts of Energy & Education, foreign aid, etc., but it's SS and old people draining the treasury?

In a word:

yes.

Except for Medicaid (which needs major cuts too), you could take all the others you mentioned down to zero, and the savings would cover SS and Medicare for maybe a few weeks.

[Beagle8U]

“These groups are concerned about Obama’s taciturn response to the proposal by his fiscal commission to gradually increase the retirement age and use a different calculation for cost-of-living adjustments.”

The bastard already did that! There hasn't been a COL raise since the Commie bastard was elected.

[Notary Sojac]

I know that the money I have paid into SS/Medicare is gone, as gone as if I had dropped it at the blackjack table. And I'm in my mid fifties.

I have structured my future plans accordingly.

[Notary Sojac]

I believe that this will be the bipartisan plan to solve the shortfalls in the Medicare and Soc Sec trust funds

[Durus]

And?

Social Security is among the biggest mistakes government has ever made, as well as being unconstitutional. That doesn't mean that people should just be screwed out of their money even if you are willing to give it all up.

[goldstategop]

Liberals know that Social Security and other entitlement programs are IOUs. If they are not reformed, every single dollar will go to them... think of it as climate change for Big Government.

That ought to concentrate their minds.

[Notary Sojac]

We could cut benefits today 25% across the board. That would bring the actuarial numbers back into balance. And the vast majority of recipients would still get more than they paid in.

As far as Medicare goes, the most anyone could have paid in over their lifetime, with 4% compound interest, is less than $120,000.

If I were President, I would gladly buy back Medicare cards for $120,000, with the understanding that everyone taking that offer is responsible for their own medical care for the rest of their life. It would be a great deal for the US Treasury.

[Durus]

It is very unlikely that anyone who is retiring today will ever get back what they paid into social security, ignoring the simple compound interest they could have earned had they been able to put their own money in a savings account.

I won't comment on medicare as I don't know enough about it.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

A lot of unions don’t even pay into social security.

Why would they care?

[Gilbo_3]

ive often said they could just let me opt out in the future and i'll call it even...

the burden on my kids shouldnt be multiplied, or even continued as is, on their backs...

that said, the gubmint could simply give back the 'contribution' with or without simple interest and eliminate the system...everybody would win, except the pigs at the trough...

i realized 20 plus yrs ago that i'll never see a dime of it, unless i die *soon* [before the house of cards collapses], then the kids would get something in survivor 'benefits'...besides that, the gilbo clan is responsible for itself, as it should be...