I'll make this thread and let it rest.....(war on SS)

AZ Jim

AZ Jim

R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
Location
SURPRISE, ARIZONA
If you are a senior and voting GOP, clearly you are shooting yourself in the foot. There has been a war on Social Security by the GOP since FDR died. Doubt it? Read up on who sponsored what bills that would have killed or diminished it since then. You may be independently wealthy, but I am not. I paid in faithfully since 1956 and by God I respect the original terms of the program.
 

The Republicans haven't been very friendly to Medicare either. Witness Paul Ryan's proposal to convert Medicare to a voucher program for all future seniors.
 

A couple of big strikes against voting republican IMO, they want to call these things 'entitlements' and take them away from the seniors who worked hard and paid into the system all their lives. I'm not rich either, but just a responsible middle class blue collar worker (now retired), who has never been on welfare and always paid my taxes and worked full time and overtime all my adult life. The GOP has plans to not only gut Medicare benefits for seniors, but they also plan to cut Social Security Benefits in the future also. Luckily many of us here are too old to be screwed with.


Republican Budget Creates a Fast Track to Cut Social Security and Ends Medicare as We Know It
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The House GOP’s FY2014 budget proposal, The Path to Prosperity: A Responsible, Balanced Budget, threatens the future of Social Security and Medicare, and the well-being of virtually all Americans. The Republican budget would expand tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, while pulling away critical Medicare and Social Security protections from the middle class.

UNDERMINES SOCIAL SECURITY

The Republican budget strikes three major blows to Social Security, a self-financed insurance program, which past Congresses have worked hard to keep out of budget discussions, in recognition that Social Security does not and, by law, cannot add to the federal debt of the United States.

First, bucking legal and historical precedent, today’s Republicans make Social Security a major part of their budget proposal.1 In addition, the Republican budget, proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Representative Paul Ryan (R, WI-1), would: Create an unprecedented new fast-track procedure to ram through Social Security benefit cuts.

In a radical departure from the way Social Security changes have been legislated since 1935, the Republican budget would force Congress to fast-track legislation determining the future of Social Security.

As the following bullet describes, the Ryan budget moves the goal posts, adding a new test of whether Social Security needs reform and then forces the president to submit legislation whenever the new test is violated. Within two months of the president submitting Social Security legislation, Congress would have to consider it “under expedited procedures.”2

Every year, the Social Security trustees project Social Security’s income and outgo for a 75 year valuation period, far longer than used by private pensions and most other countries for their Social Security systems.

Notwithstanding this already conservative practice, the Ryan budget requires the president and Congress to reform Social Security on an expedited, fast track basis, even if it is in 75 year actuarial balance—simply because it is found to be out of balance in the 75th year!3

The new requirement that the Republicans seek to impose is simply another way of forcing draconian cuts that the American people reject.

Projections over 75 years, by their nature, lack certainty. Projections of Social Security's solvency change every year, which means that Ryan's plan could force big changes to Social Security based on very short-term variations in the program's finances.

BOTTOM LINE:

Social Security affects virtually every American. Moreover, unlike many divisive issues, poll after poll shows that the American people are united and clear about how they want Social Security reformed. They do not want to see benefits cut and they favor asking all working persons and their employers to make payroll tax contributions on...

Read 6 page PDF with informative links here: http://www.strengthensocialsecurity....heet_FINAL.pdf
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The new GOP House Budget Proposal by Paul Ryan would kill Medicare as we know it. Hopefully most of us here won't be affected, but some of the younger seniors approaching retirement will...


April 1, 2014
Statement by Medicare Rights Center President Joe Baker on Representative Paul Ryan’s House Budget Proposal

New York, NY—The budget released today by Congressman Ryan repeats on an old and tired theme—ending the Medicare program as we know it. The Ryan budget would replace Medicare’s guaranteed health benefits with a voucher (or premium support) that seniors and people with disabilities would use to purchase health coverage through private health care plans.

The Ryan budget’s privatization scheme would grind away at traditional Medicare, funneling younger and healthier retirees into private health plans and leaving older, sick beneficiaries in the traditional Medicare program. Providing coverage for this vulnerable population will make traditional Medicare more expensive and less able to compete. In short, the Ryan budget preserves Medicare as we know it, only to allow it to wither on the vine.

At the same time, the Ryan plan forces seniors and people with disabilities to pay more for less. The Ryan budget would raise the Medicare age of eligibility and force middle class beneficiaries to pay higher premiums.

The Ryan budget would repeal key advancements made by the Affordable Care Act to strengthen Medicare benefits, including more affordable prescription medicines and access to low cost preventive health care benefits.

Congress must reject this plan and instead look to responsible options, like obtaining lower prices for pharmaceutical drugs and advancing the delivery system reforms made possible by health care reform, to secure Medicare’s future for years to come. In many ways, the Medicare program is stronger than ever.

Adoption of the Ryan budget would only serve to dismantle that success.

http://www.medicarerights.org/newsro...leases/4114-2/
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Why Paul Ryan's budget proposal would kill Medicare as we know it for those approaching retirement age...http://democrats.budget.house.gov/fa...care-guarantee
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greedy-rich.jpg
 
It's wise to remember the old adage "He who pays the piper calls the tune."

In politics that should be the voter but he/she has been outbid by non voting entities with big bank accounts.
As another adage goes, "Follow the money trail".
 
Josiah09 said:
The Republicans haven't been very friendly to Medicare either. Witness Paul Ryan's proposal to convert Medicare to a voucher program for all future seniors.
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Can you just imagine!? First of all, they want to do away with the ACA that prohibits Insurance companies from denying insurance for pre-existing conditions.. THEN they want to give seniors a voucher to go out an purchase their own medical insurance on the private market.. OK.... do you know ANY senior with no pre-existing conditions? What are they planing to do with us? Make pet food out of our dead bodies for profit?
 
Republicans have been itching privatize Social Security and to give the Social Security fund to their buddies on Wall Street for YEARS.. Just look at the money they would be able to gamble with and skim off a little from the top.. Just look at how they can gamble with peoples' retirement and very lives..The very money WE have worked all our lives putting into the fund so that some day WE would have a secure retirement.. Again... It's just a scam to move money up to the top and leave the rest of us holding the bag for the risk.

Can you just imagine what would happen to us if our Social Security checks were tied to Wall Street? Imagine what would have happened to Seniors when the market crashed in 2008!! This HAS to be stopped, our lives depend on it. ANY senior voting Republican must have a death wish.

socsecshootdown400.jpg
 
Pappy said:
Funny, but the old movie "Solvent Green" comes to mind. :cool:
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Geez Pappy, just yesterday I looked up a clip from that movie to post it here, then decided against it. I remember it well, and so many of those types of movies seem to me to be coming true.:(
 
No, we have to fight to save our SS, that's all there is to it. Whoever will fight against them taking it away, or even messin with it, I am with and will vote for, support, whatever. I'd be an idiot not to be. I will be mostly living on my SS retirement, unless I make a bit extra doing odd-jobs like pet-sitting. I'm glad I've had this forum so I could learn as I have about these things. Yes, there are still things I don't agree with, but if I don't have my SS, I will end up on skid-row not being able to do any good for anyone. I plan to be a productive member of society as long as I can.

I've had to put principles before personalities, and just listen to the information, even if I don't like the way a person delivers it. I've never like anyone bad-mouthing others because the believe differently, not regular people. These "mafia" creeps or whatever you want to call them though, that would kill their mother to make a dime, hell with them.
 
It's Soylent Green. There is a commercial product today using the name and is a complete meal. No clean up, no preservatives etc. completely balanced.
The company is doing well.
 
tell me this isn't about politics

To Win Back Older Voters, Democrats Talk Up Social Security

WASHINGTON — Democrats are stepping up their appeals to older voters in the final stretch before the midterm elections, spurred by polls showing the party has regained some support lost in the Obama years. The question is whether they can narrow the gap with Republicans enough to offset their broader disadvantages given widespread dissatisfaction with President Obama.

link

Obama’s Long Battle to Cut Social Security Benefits

story

your beating a dead horse. for years politicians have raped and plundered medicare. both sides. its free money. and they never paid back a cent. but if it does go belly up what will the libs replace it with?? all of you voted for it



Jesus H Christ
 
I finally looked this up and I see the definition doesn't bother me at all. Those who have SS benefits are deserving. I can tell you from experience, there are many conservatives that believe we deserve nothing but death, and these conservatives are christians I'm talking about (it is one of the "main" things that the bible teaches). Maybe if there are some conservatives that can tell me if that's why the word deserving, or entitlement is used "against" those that want what they earned.

I respect others beliefs, just because I don't believe the same, I still would fight for your rights as well as my own. Either all people are free in the US, or we are not a free country. I can also tell you that in the bible, people, elderly, disabled were ALL to be cared for. So don't forget that conservatives. I know there are compromises to be made, I know there are some real wrongs done by all parties/groups. But there are good things. It's not easy for someone with limited knowledge like me (by my own fault) because there isn't a "white hat" and a "black hat", it's not easily to distinguish between good guys, bad guys. People lie. So then I see where I have to look at the records, what have they done in the past? If they have been consistent in the past at being "for" Americans, not just themselves, then yes, I am listening up.

Now what worries me is since when does the younger generations listen to the older?


en·ti·tle·ment

inˈtīdlmənt,enˈtīdlmənt/
noun
noun: entitlement; plural noun: entitlements
the fact of having a right to something.
"full entitlement to fees and maintenance should be offered"
synonyms:right, prerogative, claim; Morepermission, dispensation, privilege
"their entitlement to benefits"






  • the amount to which a person has a right.
    "annual leave entitlement"
    synonyms:right, prerogative, claim; Morepermission, dispensation, privilege
    "their entitlement to benefits"





  • the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.
    "no wonder your kids have a sense of entitlement"


 
kcvet said:
tell me this isn't about politics

To Win Back Older Voters, Democrats Talk Up Social Security

WASHINGTON — Democrats are stepping up their appeals to older voters in the final stretch before the midterm elections, spurred by polls showing the party has regained some support lost in the Obama years. The question is whether they can narrow the gap with Republicans enough to offset their broader disadvantages given widespread dissatisfaction with President Obama.

link

Obama’s Long Battle to Cut Social Security Benefits

story

your beating a dead horse. for years politicians have raped and plundered medicare. both sides. its free money. and they never paid back a cent. but if it does go belly up what will the libs replace it with?? all of you voted for it



Jesus H Christ
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So then they change their view when they see things aren't looking good, is that true? Do they all do that? It's like war, if something isn't working, you have to do something different to get the upper hand. But with political promises the the people of America, what in the hell can "jane average" figure who the hell to vote for:(
 
nwlady said:
en·ti·tle·ment

inˈtīdlmənt,enˈtīdlmənt/
noun
noun: entitlement; plural noun: entitlements
the fact of having a right to something.
"full entitlement to fees and maintenance should be offered"
synonyms:right, prerogative, claim; Morepermission, dispensation, privilege
"their entitlement to benefits"



  • the amount to which a person has a right.
    "annual leave entitlement"
    synonyms:right, prerogative, claim; Morepermission, dispensation, privilege
    "their entitlement to benefits"
  • the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.
    "no wonder your kids have a sense of entitlement"
Click to expand...

Read this opinion piece Denise, regarding "entitlements". http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2013/02/op-ed_social_security_is_not_an_entitlement.html

Recently, the Business Roundtable, a group of CEOs from Fortune 500 companies, said that their plan to “fix” Medicare and Social Security was to raise the retirement age to 70.This group of (mostly) men, wealthy beyond imagination, most of whom have likely not done much physical labor in their lives, now want working people to be forced to work 5 more years before accessing their full social security benefits.

Their view is share by most leaders of the Republican Party, pro-business “think tanks” and our own U.S. Senator here in Pennsylvania, Pat Toomey

That the long knives would be out once again for Social Security, brandished by wealthy businessmen and their mouthpieces, should come as no surprise.

Their predecessors fought Social Security when it was first won in the 1930’s and have been ideologically opposed to our basic retirement safety net ever since.


Desperately hoping to erode the deeply popular support for Social Security, Wall Street mouthpieces such as Rep. Paul Ryan, Sen. Pat Toomey and most of the Republican Party leadership these days refer to Social Security and Medicare as “entitlements,” intentionally conveying the idea that older Americans recipients are getting something for nothing.


Let’s be clear: Social Security is not an “entitlement.” Social Security is an earned benefit, bought and paid for through decades of hard, sometimes disagreeable work. Every payday since we began working, we have contributed 6.2% of our income, matching our employer’s 6.2% paid into Social Security on our behalf.

These contributions over a lifetime of work provide a modest but guaranteed monthly benefit for life. Without this earned Social Security retirement income, the poverty rate among older, previously middle class Americans would be staggering, and tragic.

The reality is that if the forces behind the movement to cut Social Security had their way, they would simply eliminate it in favor of a 401(k)-type program where the employer’s contribution eventually went to zero. Make no mistake; the ultimate aim of the forces that seek to raise the retirement age, cut and privatize Social Security is the eventual elimination of the employer obligation to contribute to employees’ retirement security.

To support their drive to erode popular support for Social Security, these forces will often point to government statistics describing, in their words, when Social Security will “go broke.” These assertions are fundamentally dishonest.

Right now, Social Security takes in significantly more money than it pays out. At some point, around 2033, because of the demographics of the workforce, and the peak of the baby boomer retirements, Social Security will take in 100% of the money needed to pay benefits, and in ensuing years, take in gradually less money than what will be needed to pay benefits.
Thus, “fixing” Social Security, the most popular and successful government initiative ever established, is easily accomplished through several straightforward modifications to the program.

Right now, Social Security contributions by both employers and employees are capped at $113,000 per year, allowing the 1% wealthiest taxpayers to shield most of their income from taxation.

Eliminating this cap, or simply raising it to $500,000 or $1,000,000, would bring in substantial amounts of revenue over time, solidifying the program in perpetuity and even enabling a modest improvement in the level of benefits for everyone. Or simply increasing the contribution rate from 6.2 % to 7% for both employers and employees would likewise ensure that Social Security remains on solid ground generation after generation.

There is a battle raging in our country right now. It is a battle over what kind of society are we going to have—will we live in a country of unregulated, unbridled capitalism where everyone is on their own, where one misfortune in life, one injury, one lost job can jettison you and your family to a life of poverty?

Will we live in a country where the wealth that we collectively produce is captured by the top 1%, allowing extravagant lifestyles for the few while the overwhelming majority struggle to meet their families’ needs paycheck to paycheck?

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, imperfect in their own right, are bedrock compacts in our society. They are part of a social contract we make to one another in our democracy; it is a contract rooted in the idea that a major reason why the wealthy are wealthy is because of the hard, sometimes disagreeable labor of the majority; and when that majority gets sick or finally is able to retire, they should be able to do so with some measure of dignity.

So, the next time you hear someone refer to your hard-earned Social Security benefit as an “entitlement” don’t let them get away with it. Say something—write to the newspaper, the radio program, the TV program: speak out; this is a battle our families can’t afford to lose.
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nwlady said:
So then they change their view when they see things aren't looking good, is that true? Do they all do that? It's like war, if something isn't working, you have to do something different to get the upper hand. But with political promises the the people of America, what in the hell can "jane average" figure who the hell to vote for:(
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with big bucks at stake yes. dems change their minds as fast as their pants. I voted for it before i voted against it. make sense?? yeah me neither. and i don't let the GOP off either. they both go behind closed doors and make deals that affect us. our money, our lives our way of life. I think those doors should be removed or else have a rep in there who represent us.
you have to research candidates first to find out who or what they represent. there was a time when i flipped a coin outside the polls to see who i vote for. or vote for the dog with the least fleas. and their all infected.
ill never vote dem but if the GOP comes up with a loser im not voting. period.
 
I just gotta vote, you guys have fought for our freedom, our right to choose who leads us, I gotta vote.

I do believe both sides do the same, I don't want to be "on a side" but I guess we end up on one whether we like it or not. Gads I hate TV, movies where there are truly honorable people that want the best for all. No, not all will ever have the best of everything, but at least someone with a true heart for the people, a regular guy. Jimmy Stewarts gone so we have to have someone else (Mr. Smith goes to Washington).
 
SeaBreeze said:
Read this opinion piece Denise, regarding "entitlements". http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2013/02/op-ed_social_security_is_not_an_entitlement.html
Click to expand...

Desperately hoping to erode the deeply popular support for Social Security, Wall Street mouthpieces such as Rep. Paul Ryan, Sen. Pat Toomey and most of the Republican Party leadership these days refer to Social Security and Medicare as “entitlements,” intentionally conveying the idea that older Americans recipients are getting something for nothing.
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Brainwashing

This was a good (but hard/scary) read Seabreeze, thank you for it. I think that if more folks like me that don't "pay attention" would start paying attention, these "votes" would be easier. If I was 20, I couldn't bare to think of folks working all their lives and due to one tragedy, be doomed to poverty/homelessness in their elderly years. I will be paying attention, and I hope not only will my vote count, but there is someone I will truly not just support, but no more lesser of two evils.

 
SeaBreeze said:
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Wow, that was good SB, I had a bit of trouble hearing him, but I did it!! It seems that the wealthy think they are entitled, but those that didn't earn the big bucks are not. That sounds like Rome/Ceasar to me. I actually feel way better tonight. I am starting to understand some things way better. I was a bit brainwashed by a rich, Republican husband, but I don't blame him. I did NOT look into it all myself.

Another thing I am ashamed to admit, is that the main reason I am listening up now, is that I find myself in below poverty level. And, a senior, now "she" pays attention. Well, I hope "better late then never" is true in this case:) denise PS I so hope more folks like me will stop saying they don't want to talk about politics, it's boring, there's nothing I can do. I believe I can now:) and so can others, it's not that hard;)
 
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