What will Democrats offer on Social Security?

[NVMojo]

WASHINGTON - There is one message congressional Democrats have for the public: Social Security is not in trouble; there is no crisis, as President Bush would have people believe.

But, as the struggle over the future of the retirement system takes shape in the coming weeks, will it be sufficient for Democrats to simply keep repeating, "No crisis. Bush is a fear-monger"?

Will that be enough of a message to allow the Democrats to hold their own?

At a press conference Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California indicated they were open to idea of offering proposals to strengthen Social Security. But first they want Bush to lay his cards on the table in the form of a specific proposal.


more...

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6843790/

[Just Me]

1. LIE! Democrats have offered suggestions about improving SocSec!

The freakin' greedy neoCONimperialists force their framing (it's bankrupt and ohhhhhh the horror, the horror) and the Dems aren't going to be backed into that corner.

[Pegleg Thd]

3. I believe that we will

be finding out that they do not have the intestinal fortitude to stand up and stop the puke bastards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Just Me]

8. Sounds to me like you've resigned all power to the "puke bastards".

I am sorry you find yourself in that space.

Maybe, you could read MLK's speeches to find some hope and inspiration.

On edit: I would also recommend that you read some of Senator Byrd's fabulous speeches on the Senate floor. That may also help you regain your faith.

[papau]

2. nothing except a wage cap increase and possible the Clinton 401k addon

voluntary via payroll deduction accounts where investments go into an index fund, a bond fund, or a money market.

The above gives Bush more cover than I want to give for his declaring victory - but it at least is semi reasonable.

[Taragui Junkie]

10. Why not means test it?

Seems crazy that millionaire widows are getting Social Security checks paid for by deductions from paychecks of the working poor.

[papau]

16. The point is to make sure folks feel entitled - it is not WEFARE

means test and folks will be told by others that if they had pride they would leave the money for those that really need it.

Indeed a no wage cap - pay the very rich a million a year - system works best to help the middle class because the payroll tax overcharges at the high end

so the rich will overpay to get that million a year - and that overpayment will allow you and me to save a few cents.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Blanche Lincoln has said

she doesn't want to change SS-improve it by upping the limit for FICA taxes. She's been getting out the message that she won't allow benefits to be cut now or in the future, and the response from Arkansans has been very positive.

[brown6004]

5. What stinkin crisis?

From the MSNBC article you posted:

On the CBS program "Face The Nation" last Sunday, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said that at the point where the system has too little in funds to pay full scheduled benefits to retirees, “All you have to do is raise the payroll tax on that, and that would solve most of the kind of a problem that you’d have.”

According to the actuaries of the Social System, by 2042, when today’s 30-year old workers will be retired, the Social Security system will have insufficient funds and will be able to pay only pay 73 percent of promised benefits.

For higher-earning retirees who had been prudent enough to save money while they were working, this cut in benefits might be only an annoying pinch. But for low-income workers who’d retired without amassing personal savings, a 27 percent cut in promised benefits would impose hardship.

I would say that a over a 27% decrease in my benefits is a crisis! I remember when Bush was running the first time he said that he would have to raise taxes or increase the retirment age for those born after 1971. Well screw that! Our Senators and Congressman need to come up with real answers to real problems. I bet you didn't know that there is a cap on SS tax for the wealthy. I believe that the cutoff is at 80K to 90K. The tax goes down the more you make. SO it is the working man that is footing the bill. Let the Kennedys, Bush's and Kerrys of the world pay their 7 or 15% in SS taxes and see how they like it.

[NVMojo]

9. you are right ...they need to pay up but wasn't the cap to encourage

them to not use social security cuz they are rich??? Having worked in the medical industry in the past, I always laughed when the richest folks in town pulled out their medicare cards ....I know, my bad....

[brown6004]

11. Yep

I heard Tom Dashle give an interview once and he bragged how his Mom uses medicare. I almost fell out of my fucking chair! He and his wife are millionaires!

[DividedWeAre]

15. kennedy was neutered long ago

the repubs love to see him on tv with his puffy face. they managed to destroy his credibility long ago. in fact, his credibility is next-to-zero with me, too. he did it himself, though. we need newer, younger spokesmen. people who look like they are there for a reason instead of trying to shine up some legacy. sorry, if you are a big kennedy guy, but i think he has been toast for a long time. no offense intended.

[papau]

17. that 2042 will never happen - the projection uses 1.6% GDP growth

for the Intermediate result that gives the 2042 date.

Over the last 10 years the doomsday date has been pushed out 15 years because we grow faster than 1.6%.

Indeed the SSA better projection with the higher but still conservative GDP growth assumption shows that we never run out of trust funds and benefits need never be cut.

[brown6004]

19. Then why is Ted Kennedy saying that....

there will have to be a 20% reduction in benefits?

...answer

The baby-boomers out number the gen-xers.

[papau]

25. The 2052 GAO projection says 20% cut in 2052 - but again the GDP

growth assumption is very low and when corrected to just "low", the result is NEVER A PROBLEM.

But a raise in the wage cap is a reasonable compromise if we are in a PR battle where "something must be done".

[Telly Savalas]

6. They offer the message that Social Security is in much better shape...

than the rest of government. They need to hammer the point that if President Dickhead is concerned about Social Security defecits in 75 years, maybe he should be doing something about the budget defecit crisis which is happening RIGHT NOW.

[brown6004]

7. Balls on...

Bush doesn't give a rat's ass about spending other peoples money on his pet projects, but he wants to put my kids in hock with this damn ponzi scheme of a retirement plan.

[Just Me]

20. Yup. The neoCONimperialists want to spend our wealth and steal our,...

,...only reliable source of insurance against abject poverty.

Insurance companies can escape debt by filing bankruptcy and Wall Street just doesn't give a damn about anything other than MONEY (human life often gets in its way of increasing its love for money).

Our government just cannot do that. BUT, this greedy tyranny is willing to find a way to funnel public wealth into their hands.

It's disgusting.

[jasop]

12. A-Frickin-MEN!!

No one ever talks about the trillion dollar deficit but they love to talk about a few pennies in comparison..

[newyawker99]

28. Hi jasop!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[DividedWeAre]

13. they are fighting people who are smarter than they are

they are fighting people who are smarter than they are (albeit evil) and i can see their old statements being used against them. they will hear how they said for so long that social security was in danger and needed more funding. now, bushco plans on offering smarter money over more money (i know its a lie). but they need to wake up or social security is doomed. and, even if they succeed with the "it's well funded" tactic, they won't be able to raise social security payments for years. half of the republicans would be happy with just that. yeah, our boys are being outmaneuvered badly.

[papau]

18. The automatic increase system will raise SS benefits - no need to

worry -

Indeed if the 2042 benefit is cut 27% as is the danger, it will still be twice as large - in real 2004 dollars - as the current benefit!

[Sugarbleus]

14. Listened to Byron Dorgan and Deb Stabenow on C-span, they

were HOT ON THE TRAIL of this SS propoganda coming from White House.

I was ECSTATIC to hear them get tough on the subject.

My local radio hosts harp on the scare tactics coming from Bushco, I see it on my local TV. Our representatives are bringing up the subject regularly... I'm feeling less fearful because of these efforts.

If anything is in trouble, it's MEDICARE.

I need a fax machine so I can write to those reps that are out of my district to show my support for their efforts.

Our Dem reps are starting to grow some back bone...woooooohooooooo
:bounce:

[jvdassam]

21. Social Security and Medicare Benefit the Rich

The "dirty little secret" about age-based entitlements is that they generally benefit the rich. Eighty-seven percent of the wealth in this country (ie, real estate and securities) is owned by people 55 and above. And yet over two-thirds of government entitlements are going to the same folks. Do you lament that the rich are getting richer? The biggest culprit in increasing the disparity between rich and poor is the federal government, as they use our employment withholding to subsidize ocean view condos in Tampa Bay, plantation homes in Myrtle Beach and golf course haciendas in Sun City.

Like most of the other great institutions created by Democrats in the 1930's and 1960's, Social Security and Medicare have been hijacked by the rich and powerful. I wonder if maybe it's time to reposition the party in a more imaginitive way. Why can't we be for smaller government that also levels the playing field for the little guy? First we need to face the fact that, given how the great institutions created by Democrats have been bastardized by corporate greed, it may have been a mistake to create them in the first place.

If Social Security is in such a crisis, we ought to discontinue benefits to the very wealthy, means test benefits for the well-off, and increase benefits for those in need. Also, reduce the rate of the tax (the reduction could go into personal retirement accounts, or you can spend it now, who cares) but make the withholding apply to every penny of an individual's income. Let's shrink the overall size of the program and turn it into a safety net, as opposed to a guaranteed pension program that does nothing more than subsidize an unproductive leisure class.

[Skink]

22. Dems: Spread ass cheeks here.

There's Haciendas in Sun City? That must be in Ca. My folks live in sun City Centre Fl. It's a golf course allright.

[NVMojo]

23. just disgusting ....the rich entitlement ...I'm getting quite sick of it.

[Skink]

24. NV

Are you the guy that used to post on the Al franken page? We are under attack btw.

[papau]

26. LOL - I love a silly post - Wealth is held by the old= Soc Sec helps rich

means test = welfare = equal easily cut = GOP selling idea that if you had pride you would leave the money for the really poor.

Soc Sec is not in a crisis! but I am curious where you got the idea that "Social Security and Medicare have been hijacked by the rich and powerful"

:-)

[flaminbats]

27. dipping into Social Security is the crisis, the solution is to stop..

putting our tax dollars into the stock market will only benefit the rich at the expense of the disabled and working poor. It's bad enough that babyboomers will be pulling their money out of the market as they retire, why make the government another participant in a potential stock market crisis?

Why bargain from a position of weakness? Only after Democrats win back Congress should we offer an alternative proposal.

[The_Casual_Observer]

29. Dems don't need to offer anything on SS. It's chimp's non-issue

issue for '05. I say simply ignore the bastard.