Free Republic

Congressional negotiators put their final signatures late Wednesday on an economic plan worth more than $150 billion that would extend a payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits. A key roadblock was overcome when the lawmakers agreed to require new federal workers to contribute more to their pension plans, clearing the way for a majority of the House-Senate conference committee to approve the deal just past 11 p.m., aides in both parties said. A vote could come as early as Friday, the last act in a five-month battle over President Obama's proposed jobs plan.

In last year's Trustees Report, the Social Security Administration warned that the program's trust fund was likely to run out of money in 2036, leading to deep cuts in benefits. If that weren't bad enough for anyone expecting to be alive then, a more recent projection from the Congressional Budget Office paints a much worse picture. This year's CBO report forecasts that by the end of this decade, the combined Social Security Old Age and Disability Trust Funds will be about $800 billion smaller than last year's SSA projections. That's a very substantial drop -- and a sign that this...

ON JANUARY 1 2012, THE GOVERNMENT IS REQUIRING EVERYONE TO HAVE DIRECT DEPOSIT FOR SS CHECKS. WONDER WHY? 1% tax on all bank transactions HR4646 Watch for this AFTER November elections; remember this BEFORE you VOTE in case you think Obama's looking out for your best interest.

Article II SUPERPAC streaming live video and audio at this link

KEENE, N.H. (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum called Friday for immediate cuts to Social Security benefits, risking the wrath of older voters and countless others who balk at changes to the entitlement program. "We can't wait 10 years," even though "everybody wants to," Santorum told a crowd while campaigning in New Hampshire and looking to set himself apart from his Republican rivals four days before the New Hampshire primary. Most of his opponents have advocated phasing in a reduction and say immediate cuts would be too big a shock to current and soon-to-be retirees.

Gotta say, every time I read a headline that makes me think I’ll like Rick Santorum less, I just find myself liking him more. When I came across this article in The Huffington Post, I cringed to think Santorum might have taken a cheap shot at conservatives’ most revered modern hero. But he did no such thing. Instead, he made a valid point — that Reagan, for all his many victories, still established a troublesome precedent of quickly “fixing� Social Security instead of meaningfully reforming the program. The relevant excerpt: Santorum outlined his stance on social security at the event,...

It may have looked like they were ready for war or some deranged person looking for his late Social Security benefits. But it was only Federal Protective Service officers with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security who were conducting a random training operation early Tuesday morning when they surprisingly showed up at the Social Security Administration office in downtown Leesburg. With their blue and white SUVs circled around the Main Street office, at least one official was posted on the door with a semiautomatic rifle, randomly checking identifications. And other officers, some with K-9s, sifted through the building. "I thought...

I got this in an email this morning from a retired Col. in the Air Force. What do you think about it? It sounds pretty right. Subject: Soc Sec SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT THE ONLY THING WRONG WITH THIS CALCULATION IS THEY FORGOT TO FIGURE IN THE PEOPLE WHO DIED BEFORE THEY COLLECTED THEIR SOCIAL SECURITY!!!! WHERE DID THAT MONEY GO????????????? This is another example of what Rick Perry called "TREASON in high places" !!! Get angry and pass this on! Remember, not only did you contribute to Social Security but your employer did too. It totaled 15% of your...

- Let's see, to me one thing it means is that the federal government will be adding another $120 billion to the national debt. For my friend Jeff, at Liberty Works, it means – we've been bamboozled again. -By: BoomerJeff | Liberty Works"... On Thursday Obama ramped up the theatrics and gave us a preview of his New Year strategy for diverting attention away from his manifest failures. He stepped to the microphones to prove he identifies with the struggles of the helpless against those cruel Republican Scrooges (transcript). His tone dripping with pious solicitude, he began: We’ve been doing...

This latest reversal (and surrender) by Boehner in the house isn’t a surprise to me. It has been clear to me that while Obama is planning and executing a re-election strategy that depends on making you congressional Republicans look incompetent at best and evil-minded at worst, you seem to plod aimlessly along with absolutely no plan just assuming you will win automatically while helping Obama’s re-election campaign. How can you Republicans turn this around and put Democrats and Obama on the defensive? First, accept that you can’t sell the idea that the FICA/SS tax cuts must be paid for now....

The December 2011 battle in Washington, D.C. -- a battle over continuing a Social Security tax-cut for another year, or even another two months -- demonstrates the differences between the parties in stark detail, both in terms of campaign methods and economic ideology. Most commentators have focused on the campaign methods: brilliant, isn't it, how the Democrats have turned the tables on the GOP, making it look like the GOP is fighting a tax cut? Pundits laugh at the "tax cut party" being put in the position of opposing a tax cut that all workers' pay, while simultaneously opposing the...

Freshman Tea Party Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) is incensed that Republicans caved in the payroll-tax debate, and is putting the blame squarely on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “I don’t think there’s a revolt with respect to Speaker Boehner,” Gowdy said Thursday night on Fox’s "Your World With Neil Cavuto." "I think the license tag of the truck that just ran over us has Kentucky license tags. For the life of me, I cannot understand when the Senate is going to find something they care enough about to stand on policy and principle.”Last week, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a...

Flush from last night’s victory, Harry Reid floated the possibility at a press conference this morning that Dems could revive the idea of a millionaire surtax when the talks begin over the year long payroll tax cut extension next year. “I’ve talked to Senate Republicans, plural, who think there should be a fair tax on rich people,” Reid said. “I’m going to make sure that my conferees understand that this could be part of what we try to do.” Given that Dems dropped the millionaire surtax during the talks over the payroll tax cut earlier this month, you’d be forgiven...

We Stand for Principle Over Politicsand the Establishment Can't Stand It December 21, 2011 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: "House Democrats tried Wednesday to force a vote on the Senate’s two-month extension of the payroll-tax cut, but Republicans gaveled the House closed to prevent them from having a chance, as top GOP leaders huddled down the hall to try to figure a way out of the mess. The House was set to hold a pro forma session, but two top Democrats, Reps. Steny H. Hoyer and Chris Van Hollen, demanded to be recognized to try to force a vote on the...

The payroll tax cut is a social security tax cut. The program is already deeply in the red because of congress spending all the money. Democrats want to end Social Security by stopping the funding of it. Why isn't it being advertised as this by Republicans.

The standoff over preserving a tax break continued as House Speaker John Boehner showed little sign of reversing course despite sustained criticism from his own party and President Obama. Boehner assembled his top negotiators for a second day at an otherwise empty Capitol, but their position is being overpowered by the risk of a looming tax hike on Jan. 1. Obama planned to showcase stories of workers who will lose $40 a paycheck later Thursday at the White House.  “We’re fighting to do the right thing,” said Boehner, who wants to launch formal negotiations with Democrats to resolve differing approaches...

PARKERSBURG - A temporary extension of the Social Security payroll tax has infuriated a West Virginia senator. Sen. Joe Manchin said the two-month extension is a failure for the American people. "I am furious and disgusted that anyone could imagine this stopgap measure is the best that Congress could offer hard-working Americans, seniors and the unemployed," Manchin, a Democrat, said. "Delaying a decision for another two months makes no sense, especially when Congress will not be working for one of those months. Only in Washington would you get a month off for failing to do your job. West Virginians and...

Many Americans saw their hard-earned retirement savings virtually disappear during the 2008 financial meltdown--along with their confidence in being able to afford a comfortable retirement.

Politics: Lost in Beltway wrangling over a payroll tax cut, an ugly reality lurks: Our politicians are plotting yet another raid on the Social Security "trust fund," which is already near insolvency. When will this madness stop? President Obama and his congressional Democrats know well how bad their spendthrift reputation is among voters as election day approaches. With Obama at sub-50% approval numbers and Gallup reporting Congress clocking in at a record-low 11%, they expect a bloodbath at the polls in November — and maybe another slashed debt rating, too. What then could be better for Democrats than to be...

(Reuters) - If Congress misses its New Year's Eve deadline to renew a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits by a few weeks or a month, damage to the economy could be reversed in fairly short order, economists and analysts say. As the odds of a missed deadline rise, several economists said the economy could survive nearly unscathed if there is a short delay in extending the payroll tax break for 160 million workers and unemployment insurance for millions. "If it is a week or two, it is annoying but the impact would be fairly small," said Nigel Gault, U.S....

The conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board is slamming House Republicans today for their hard-line position on the payroll tax cut, writing that GOP lawmakers are throwing the 2012 election to President Barack Obama before it even begins. House Republicans are refusing to pass the bipartisan two-month extension of the tax cut that passed the Senate on Saturday, demanding a year-long increase. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he'll only reopen negotiations on a longer deal once the House passes the Senate bill — and removes the immediate threat of a tax increase for most Americans. [Snip] The Journal's...

Not so much a big win for us as a big loss for them. Democrats backed away from their demand for higher taxes on millionaires as part of legislation to extend Social Security tax cuts for most Americans on Wednesday as Congress struggled to clear critical year-end bills without triggering a partial government shutdown… Republicans minimized the significance of the move. “They’re not giving up a whole lot. The tax they wanted to implement on business owners was something that couldn’t pass the House and couldn’t pass the Senate,” McConnell said in a CNBC interview. Jettisoning the tax could also...

Just go to this link (http://www.c-span.org/Events/Senator-Mark-Kirk-R-IL/10737426166-1/) and watch it.

Asked if Americans will wake up January 1 to a tax increase because Congress failed to act on the issue, McConnell responded: "That isn't going to happen, and obviously we'll reach an agreement." Later in the interview, McConnell declared that extending the payroll tax cut "has bipartisan support." Another conservative Republican, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, agreed that a compromise would emerge but said he doubted it would include the oil pipeline provision. "At the end of the day the payroll tax will get extended as it is now," Graham said on NBC's "Meet the Press," adding: "The pipeline's...

Part of Pres. Obama's latest stimulus package involves renewing a payroll tax holiday that was to expire at the end of 2011. Because FICA taxes are one of the few income taxes that most Americans actually pay, the extension is popular and will probably pass Congress in some form. Of course Social Security and Medicare, the programs funded by FICA taxes, are hopelessly insolvent, and the tax holiday only worsens the problem. More telling is that the tax holiday finally debunks the notion that these programs are self-sustaining entitlements; the tax holiday exposes them simply as middle class welfare. The...

Republicans in the House of Representatives said on Friday they will attach a bill designed to speed approval of the Keystone pipeline to payroll tax cut legislation House Speaker John Boehner hopes to pass this month. The move is designed to ratchet up the heat on President Barack Obama, whose administration has put the Keystone XL pipeline on hold pending a study of a new route, pushing a decision past the 2012 presidential election. When complete, the pipeline would deliver some 700,000 barrels a day of oilsands crude from the Canadian province of Alberta to refineries on the U.S. Gulf...

Senator Dick Durbin (D, IL), in his regular email blast, reports that “the GOP is threatening to throw working families under the bus – again.” Now, coming from the majority whip of the party that singlehandedly drove American manufacturing overseas with its crippling taxes and strangling regulations, this is quite a cocky claim. But he goes on. “This week,” he continues, “Republicans are poised to vote to force average working families to pay $1,000 more in taxes next year by blocking an extension of the payroll tax holiday instead of asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share on...

WASHINGTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday threw their support behind a payroll tax cut extension, trying to blunt charges ahead of 2012 elections of favoring wealthy Americans over middle-class workers. Until Tuesday, Republicans had been lukewarm on extending President Barack Obama's payroll tax cut for workers, indicating they were open to negotiating it but never explicitly backing a measure, which the White House says will boost the country's sputtering economic recovery. (snip) "In all likelihood we will agree to continue the current payroll tax relief for another year," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said...

Though I applaud the refreshing boldness that Mr. Cain had shown by proposing to America an actual plan for tax reform, there are two serious drawbacks to his solution that show his fiscal naivete. Most critics would point to the unsavory proposal of having both a sales and income tax in force at the same time, making it possible for future Congresses to increase rates and turn us into Europe. But it is actually the plan’s impact on Social Security that is most devastating. Cain’s plan would eliminate the Social Security tax and related withholding, and cover retirement pensions as...

For decades we were warned that when the Baby Boomers started to retire that this country would be facing a retirement crisis of unprecedented magnitude. Well, that day has arrived ladies and gentlemen. Back on January 1st, the Baby Boomers began to retire and more than 10,000 of them will be retiring every single day for years to come. Most of them have not saved up nearly enough money for retirement. At the same time, private sector pension plans are failing all over the place, hundreds of state and local government pension plans from coast to coast are woefully...

When pro-life advocates list their reasons for opposing abortion-on-demand, they often cite their conviction that it is merely the first step toward even more grisly social engineering projects, including euthanasia for the old and infirm... [Snip] But such concerns will seem eminently reasonable to any open-minded reader who peruses the writings of Henry J. Aaron, the President's nominee for Chair of the Social Security Advisory Board. Like Obama's recess-appointed Medicare czar, Aaron is an unapologetic admirer of Great Britain's notorious socialized medical system, the National Health Service (NHS). Why? Because NHS administrators unabashedly practice the dark art of health care...

Barack Obama’s appointment of Donald Berwick as the head of Medicare and Medicaid became so unpopular — even among moderate Senate Democrats — that Obama ended up making Berwick a recess appointment even before Berwick had submitted a full questionnaire to the Senate. That might happen once again with Obama’s latest entitlement program appointment, Henry J. Aaron, picked to serve on the Social Security Advisory Board. The Brookings Institution economist shares a lot in common with Berwick, including a love of the British system of rationing health care, reports the Weekly Standard, which finds this from Aaron in the 1980s:...

There's been a lot of discussion about the deficit super-committee lately, and whether the bi-partisan panel can come up with a package, or whether it's doomed for gridlock. But whatever they decide to do, the near-term impact on the economy will be pretty minimal. The automatic trigger cuts don't kick in until 2013, and they can be watered down. [Snip] But there is one decision that has to be made in a few weeks that absolutely would have an impact, and that's whether the payroll tax cuts that were agreed to late in 2010 will be extended again. Morgan Stanley...

Will Baby Boomers be the last generation to enjoy the modern concept of a leisure-filled retirement? It's a worthy question to ponder in light of a new Pew Research Center report showing a growing wealth gap between young and old in the United States. Using government data over the last 25 years, Pew found that households headed by those over 65 have made "dramatic gains" in economic well-being, while those headed by younger adults have fallen steadily behind. In 2009, elderly households possessed 42 percent more median net worth than their same-age counterparts had in 1984. Young adults veered in...

Despite all the evidence of the past several decades, you still have not grasped one simple fact: that, just about a century after the last one ended, we engaged in a great civil war, one that will determine the kind of country we and our descendants shall henceforth live in for at least the next hundred years — and, one hopes, a thousand. Since there hasn’t been any shooting, so far, some call the struggle we are now involved in the “culture wars,” but I have another, better name for it: the Cold Civil War In many ways, this new...

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) made clear on Thursday that when it comes to a deficit reduction deal, his position hasn’t changed: Tax increases are out, but new revenues could be in. The question of taxes and revenue has bedeviled congressional and administration negotiators for months, and they were at the center of the dispute between Boehner and President Obama when their talks for a possible “grand bargain” on the budget fell apart over the summer. As the clock ticks down on the deficit supercommittee to find at least $1.2 trillion in savings, the size and scope of new revenues...

Last year, as a debate over the runaway national debt gathered steam in Washington, Social Security passed a treacherous milestone. It went “cash negative.” For most of its 75-year history, the program had paid its own way through a dedicated stream of payroll taxes, even generating huge surpluses for the past two decades. But in 2010, under the strain of a recession that caused tax revenue to plummet, the cost of benefits outstripped tax collections for the first time since the early 1980s. Now, Social Security is sucking money out of the Treasury. This year, it will add a projected...

I Think She Is Upset! Alan Simpson, Senator from Wyoming , Co-Chair of Obama's deficit commission, called senior citizens the Greediest Generation as he compared "Social Security" to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats. Here's a response in a letter from PATTY MYERS in Wyoming ... I think she is a little ticked off! She also tells it like it is! "Hey Alan, let's get a few things straight.. 1. As a career politician, you have been on the public dole for FIFTY YEARS. 2. I have been paying Social Security taxes for 48 YEARS (since I was 15...

In 2005 Congressional Democrats blocked Republican proposals to save Social Security. Then they wildly cheered their own obstructionism during the State of the Union Address the following year.YouTube videoDemocrats Applauding Their Own Obstructionism

Now, Social Security is sucking money out of the Treasury. This year, it will add a projected $46 billion to the nation’s budget problems, according to projections by system trustees. Replacing cash lost to a one-year payroll tax holiday will require an additional $105 billion. If the payroll tax break is expanded next year, as President Obama has proposed, Social Security will need an extra $267 billion to pay promised benefits.

I expect Gov. Perry’s flat tax plan to give him a significant boost in the polls. Many conservative and Republican voters who were initially attracted to Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan were likely enthused with the idea of bringing simplicity, transparency, and fairness to our tax system. Still, as details of Cain’s plan – and the additional consumption tax – unfolded, voters have been looking for an alternative. In fact, despite Cain's recent surge, his tax plan is likely the reason there’s still so much uncertainty surrounding him as a candidate. By putting forth a promising – and more realistic tax...

A 30-year-old California man who wears diapers and lives as an “adult baby” can keep his $800-a-month Social Security disability checks, the agency ruled. Stanley Thornton’s infantile lifestyle won him national attention after a National Geographic TV show revealed how he was spoon-fed and clad in baby clothes by his roommate and how he built furniture like oversized high chairs in his Redding, Calif., apartment. The show prompted Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to demand a probe of Thornton's Supplemental Security Income checks, the New York Post reported. But in a letter to Thornton, the agency said, “We recently reviewed the...

The California man who lives part of his life as an “adult baby” and collects Social Security disability payments says the federal agency has cleared him of wrongdoing and will continue sending checks. Stanley Thornton Jr. now wants an apology from Sen. Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma Republican who called for the benefit review because the investigation disrupted the final months of life for his roommate Sandra Dias, who playacted as his mother, spoon-feeding him and helping him into his baby clothes until her death in July. “We recently reviewed the evidence in your Social Security disability claim and find that...

Ever wonder what Ron Paul’s America would look like? Then read the budget outline that Paul released as part of his 2012 presidential bid. It promises to cut $1 trillion during his first year in office, balance the budget by 2015, withdraw us from all foreign wars and eliminate five Cabinet-level agencies in the process. Economists across the political spectrum say the impact of such drastic government spending cuts would be majorly disruptive and harmful to the economy in the short term. “At the scale he’s talking about, it’s unlikely you could have an immediate reduction in government without hurtling...

Social Security recipients will get a raise in January — their first increase in benefits since 2009. It's expected to be about 3.5 percent. Some 55 million beneficiaries will find out for sure Wednesday when a government inflation measure that determines the annual cost-of-living adjustment is released. Congress adopted the measure in the 1970s, and since then it has resulted in annual benefit increases averaging 4.2 percent. But there was no COLA in 2010 or 2011 because inflation was too low. That was small comfort to the millions of retirees and disabled people who have seen retirement accounts dwindle and...

The desperate search for an acceptable Republican Party presidential candidate continues. Republican leaders apparently are pushing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who previously said no, to jump into the race. The GOP's frustration is palpable. Mitt Romney has been running for four years but generates little enthusiasm. Rick Perry was an instant front-runner before losing much of his support after unimpressive debate performances. Michelle Bachmann briefly streaked across the political firmament but now barely registers in the polls. Newt Gingrich committed political seppuku shortly after announcing his candidacy. Ron Paul's support is fervent but limited. However, the real Republican problem...

Herman Cain is now polling alongside perpetual Republican kinda sorta frontrunner Mitt Romney. Today, KPCC's AirTalk did a segment on the sudden arrival of the Cain Train. Time to get up to speed on everything the pizza king stands for, and fast! Yesterday, it was the 9-9-9 plan to reform the tax system. Today, it's Cain's scheme to fix Social Security. In the CNN/Tea Party Debate, Cain said his plan could copy the "Chilean Model" (see the above video). So what does that mean? It means privatizing Social Security, as Chile did in the early 1980s. José Piñera, the Chilean...

The country of Chile has proven that through individual choice and privatization of public programs that economic freedom is achieved. The revolutionary privatization of Social Security in Chile has bulldozed big government and has allowed the economy and individual freedom to flourish. This country serves as a perfect model for America to look to. Chile transitioned from an unsustainable public pensions program to an incredibly successful private program by ushering new workers into it. The new system is based on individual decision making. Entering into the work force, workers were given a private pension fund that requires them to contribute...

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Saturday denounced "poisonous language" against faiths as he grappled with a flare-up over religion sparked by a prominent supporter of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, his rival. Perry steered well clear of that simmering issue and pushed another hot button instead: Social Security. [snip] At an event in Iowa later Friday, Perry was asked if he believes Mormonism is a cult. "No," Perry said.... So far, none of Romney's rivals has directly attacked his faith _ and Romney has dismissed the issue in interviews. "The great majority of Americans understand that this nation was founded...

Who poses the biggest threat to destroy Social Security? President Barack Obama. In December 2010, Obama signed a tax deal with his provision for a one-year, 2 percent Social Security payroll tax holiday. It lowered workers' payroll deductions from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent in 2011. This year, Obama proposed increasing the tax holiday for another year, with workers paying half the old rate -- 3.1 percent -- as part of his American Jobs Act. According to the White House, a typical family earning $50,000 a year could expect to save $1,500. Obama deftly co-opted the argument that Republicans successfully...