Posted on 03/25/2015 8:13:32 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz (R-TX) said he was an “emphatic advocate” of a balanced budget amendment, and expressed support for means testing Social Security and raising the retirement age on Monday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.
“I think the penny plan has an awful lot of force to it, and I am an emphatic advocate of a Balanced Budget Amendment” Cruz stated.
Cruz added, “you’re going to be hard pressed to come up with a cost-cutting program that I’m not going to support. I do think the military, we need to look at the growing national security threats, and we need to make sure we take care of the men and women in the military and we provide what we need to protect this nation. And also if you look at the budget, you cannot bring the budget into control without taking on entitlement reform. Two-thirds of the federal budget is entitlements. So, if you don’t talk about entitlements, you can’t do it.”
Cruz expressed support for means testing Social Security and raising the retirement age, but he clarified that he was talking about future generations
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
First glitch.
Thank God for a politician who speaks plainly, and isn't afraid to tackle adult-sized problems.
Where did you get the idea that taxes were voluntary?
My suggestion to everyone is to save whatever they can of whatever the government doesn't take. Given the savings rate in this country (compared to how much is spent eating out, for example), not many take the advice.
I hope you did not entrust your retirement to politicians, specifically when the original legislation reserved to them the right to alter it, and this has been affirmed by the Supreme Court for over 50 years.
If you truly feel this way, then don’t sign up for SS or if you have, write a check back to the government each year for the amount you have received. But, don’t delude yourself into believing that would make any difference to the SS solvency or the national debt. Congress has never been known to live within it’s budget and will aways spend more than they have. And, the more they think they will have, the more they will spend.
To change S.S., simply start a savings plan in the employees name and get the federal government out of it.
Right now the government pays out far more than it brings in for/from and individual, because it doesn’t invest the funds.
A good investment portfolio will mean that an individual can have far more than the government will ever give them. And if they get creative about self-insuring, they can build up a massive retirement fund by the age of 65.
Of course that’s providing they can find work in this seriously F’d up nation.
Uh it’s not 18 trillion it’s closer to 80 trillion and it’s never going to get paid.
Lyndon Johnson to pay for Vietnam, i believe
Note to TED CRUZ: On afternoon of Jan 20, 2017: Sign the following actions without any delay:
DEFUND and DISMANTLE every single page & rule & tax & code & reason for Obamacare. It is a total nightmare. The rules have been changing like the weather & the complexity of the original bill of over 2700 pages was a nightmare & wrong from the first page. Pelosi & the Dems knew it & were only out to destroy the existing medical insurance & medical services in this country. Sebelius added more rules from every direction & it isn’t working. Sebelius was NOT elected—she had far too much power to add items to or interpret Obamacare.
DEFUND completely each & every nook & cranny of the EPA. Let the states decide what they need in their own locales. The current EPA has gone berserk deciding that every drop of rain that falls on YOUR house roof is THEIRS & they can control it & fine you over where those rain drops go.
DEFUND every single part of whatever areas are controlling Immigration & advocating for amnesty with voting rights for people who broke the law to get here in the first place. We are rewarding lawlessness from the first footstep across our borders. Such illegals are invading us & getting no screening for communicative diseases. USA citizens deserve better security on our borders.
FUND a new set of retired judges & use the court buildings at night to clear up the Immigration problems. NO USA locations allowed to be SANCTUARY locations. IF such cities wish to continue to offer ‘SANCTUARY’ to outlaws-—DEFUND every single cent those locations get from the Federal government & the taxpayers. Food stamps—roads-—prisons—jails-—whatever—DEFUND such if they offer SANCTUARY. A 15 member (or less) City Council should not be able to subject it’s citizens to such medical & criminal problems.
ORDER ICE to deport people & keep sufficient numbers of Border Patrol guards on duty to prevent them from sneaking back into the USA.
DEFUND the Federal Dept of Education. Same solution. Let the states decide what they need for their own students. Common Core isn’t common & it certainly isn’t showing to be core education to build off of.
DEFUND immediately the rules set down by Michelle Obama about school lunches. The staggering waste in the school cafeterias is the result-—NOT healthier kids. Also- weighing & measuring EVERY single kid in daycare—private or public isn’t within her realm of control. Michelle certainly was NOT elected. She should butt out & go hoe her own garden.
DEMAND immediately that students who do not read-write-speak well in English are put into classes where they concentrate on acquiring such skills before they can be advanced to upper grades. Mingling such non-English speaking students with American kids who already have such skills is dragging the English proficient kids down & slowing their education & progression. I am including EBONICS in those who do not read-write-speak proper English. DEMAND that CURSIVE writing be used in the schools. Today’s kids only know how to print!!!!!
DEFUND immediately the Student Loan programs now controlled by the Feds. Let the banks handle those loans & set a fair interest rate for those banks to charge for student loans. Monitor such bank actions. The current student loan program under Obama is off the rails with inefficiency & bloat.
DEFUND IMMEDIATELY a big portion of the IRS. Clarify & simplify the IRS tax codes & their meanings.
DEFUND a big part of the Dept of Transportation. ONE SIZE does NOT fit all. Here in Nevada, the Feds are trying to put Roundabouts everywhere. This state allows trucks with 2 trailers behind for hay- gravel- even UPS & FED EX. Trying to navigate those roundabouts is a nightmare. Let the states decide what they need & do NOT need.
DEFUND the Dept of Labor. NONE of their figures about unemployment & new claims for unemployment are correct. They have been fudging the numbers since the day Obama got sworn in. Spend the money instead on REQUIRED VOCATIONAL training for long term unemployed. IF a person refuses to get such training, require them pick to up trash on the roadways & shut down their unemployment for a minimum future time. This same department has a bias in support of Unions. CARD CHECK needs to be outlawed. Secret voting is the norm in the country & Unions should follow the same procedures. CARD CHECK does NOT allow that. EMPLOYERS are being held hostage to CARD CHECK.
DEFUND a great part of the Dept of JUST US. Federalizing more & more police departments in the cities is another example of One Size Fits All. Cities & states have a right to control their own judiciary & protection systems. Washington should butt out. Crimes of all kinds MUST be prosecuted. Black on White crime is just as serious as Black on Black or White on White crime or White on Black crime. Follow the procedures of Sheriff Arpaio in Arizona. His rate of recidivism is very low. It needs to be copied nationwide.
DEFUND immediately the National Forest & National Parks & Bureau of Reclamation services agencies within the Interior Department. RELEASE the PUBLIC land back to the states where such lands are located.
DEFUND the purchases of machine guns & tons of ammo for the BLM and the National Parks/Forest agencies. The Feds control over 84% of the land mass of Nevada & over 82% of the Utah land mass. NO property taxes are being received from those acres. No productive mining or oil extraction is being done there. The states are perfectly able to control their own land mass.
PASS & FUND immediately the Keystone Pipeline. Obama is protecting his major supporter, Warren Buffett, who owns the railroad that current carry the oil instead of a pipeline. The EPA studies have had plenty of time to be done & completed-—and the EPA needs to vanish, also.
DEFUND the secret army that Obama has referred to in the past. IF it does exist, it needs to be immediately dismantled. The Social Security Administration doesn’t need ammo purchases...
DEFUND any programs that are blocking normal USA citizens from buying guns & ammo & reloading supplies.
FUND laws that put criminals into prison or work camps & NO plea bargaining. Our current JUST US system is a very busy revolving door.
FUND better administrators within the VA. Quit using the lowest performing staff & kick them to the curb & find people with more talent & integrity. We have officers of varying rank coming home from the Middle East—perhaps they can handle the VA problems better than civilians.
FORCE the Department of Education—who feeds kids at school cafeterias——& the WELFARE departments who issue food stamps to review strongly & fairly how many ‘families’ are getting food stamps for 3 meals a day for each day of the month for each family member. IF these kids are getting fed at school——they should NOT be counted in the issuance of such numbers of food stamps on the EBT cards.
CANCEL the EBT cards of people who are buying beer/booze—cigarettes—gambling—strip clubs & other items. The people who PAY the taxes deserve a better control on how their money paid for taxes is spent. Once they are discovered to have used the EBT card fraudulently, they NEVER get another EBT card.
REVIEW each & every EBT recipient in the entire country. Such reviews to be mandatory & to be done by people who DID NOT grant them the EBT status in the first place. ELIMINATE the frauds & PROSECUTE them for fraud. The fraud is 2 pronged, IMO. The recipients & those who determine their status are both guilty of fraud. Prosecute strongly every fraud case you find.
REWRITE the leases for grazing sheep & cattle on those lands and let the individual states control such grazing.
REVIEW EACH & EVERY job in the FEDERAL government payroll. ELIMINATE the duplication & and redundancy.
FUND immediately the building of a serious fence between the USA & Mexico. FUND immediately more Border Patrol agents & patrols & make SURE that they have real bullets for their job. We have already trained American military members coming home to a poor job outlook. Hire them for the Border Patrol & SHUT DOWN OUR BORDERS.
ELIMINATE immediately the ESTATE taxes on personal estates. Those estates were built with after-tax money that was EARNED. Taxing the resulting estate contents is a very high double taxation. The USA is losing farms & ranches each & every day to the estate taxes. How long before there is no more food grown in the USA?
FUND immediately a task force to go into the Social Security Administration records & clean out the 6.5 MILLION recipients of benefits who are shown as still receiving benefits & are OVER 112 years old. This is just plain fraud & theft. Social Security is busy ordering 40 millions rounds of ammo & at the same time, giving out benefits to dead people. There is NO EXCUSE for such theft.
DEMAND immediately that Congress write new laws preventing the misuse of Earned Income Credit usage on tax returns. Illegals are filing tax returns with Identity Theft information & getting billions of $$$$ in such benefits. IRS says they cannot stop such fraud because Congress hasn’t given definate rulings on this topic. The American taxpayer who works is getting ripped off AGAIN.
DEMAND that Congress define the correct usage of Amendment 14. It was NOT written to allow invaders to drop babies on American soil & grant those babies immediate citizenship. The 14th Amendment was to grant citizenship to the children of slaves after the Emancipation Proclamation. These ‘ANCHOR BABIES” are a farce. Then letting such ‘anchor babies’ drag any & all family members in from another country is a joke.
I know this is a long list, but I will bet that other Freepers today can add to everything I wrote here——multiple times over my items.
I’m very OK with capping the salary level at which you contribute to SS. If you’re doing well and capable of saving—rather than being forced to thru SS—you should do a lot better doing it yourself than having the government do it.
With respect to Ted’s comment about means testing Social Security, you’re right, it could get messy without the IRS. I suppose you could key it off of the flat tax revenues, however they are monitored. The worst policy would be to inquire as to wealth. Wealth taxes are the leftist wet dream, and it would be a shame to have that happen in a misguided conservative quest for fairness. Cruz is a smart guy, however, so I doubt he’d go that way given the opportunity to think it through.
Stop giving benefits to over 6.5 MILLION people who show an age of over 112 years old!!!!!
There already is & has been a cut-off thresh hold for deducting Soc Sec. At present, it is around $110,000 gross income.
The limit on earning which trigger contributions to Medicare were lifted years ago. IF you make $100,000,000 a year you will pay into Medicare & your employer will have to match this.
I don’t know exactly how sports teams handle this. Since each player has his own contract, I don’t know if they are considered employees or indipendant contractors. (1099).
I’m well aware of the cutoff. I was replying to Norseman’s post where he seems to imply that this cutoff is a form of means testing in and of itself. I disagree—Social Security is supposed to be a pension that is dependent on what’s been paid in by each pensioner, but it is capped. I don’t see a problem with capping the benefits if the payments are also capped.
The means testing that has been proposed by various parties would eliminate or dramatically reduce your Social Security payment depending on how well off you are in your retirement, presumably based on income. My comment is that our progressive tax system does that to you anyway by taking an increasing percentage of the pension back.
As to the unlimited 2.5% self-employment Medicare tax, that is a total screw-job. Not only do you pay far more than your share of the cost, when you retire, they whack you a few hundred dollars extra a month for your coverage if you have a high income, regardless of how much you’ve paid in over the years past.
These are all really good ideas. If Cruz is the man I hope he is, he will issue executive orders to do those which are properly within the constitutional powers of the President, and send the remainder to Congress for action.
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