Poll: Support lags for Social Security plan

[UCLA Dem]

Sorry if dupe (I didn't see it posted when I scrolled through).

snip:

CNN) -- President Bush has made overhauling Social Security a key part of his second-term agenda and has spent weeks on the road discussing the subject, but a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found that just over a third of respondents approve of his handling of the issue.

The poll, conducted April 29 to May 1, found that 81 percent of respondents believed that the program would need major changes in the coming years.

Thirty-five percent of respondents said they approved of Bush's handling of Social Security, while 58 percent said they disapproved.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/05/02/bush.poll/index.html

[wakeme2008]

1. Mmm 58 to 35 is more than

a "lag" it is more like Totally Rejected IMHO... of course...

[LynneSin]

24. No, it use to be like 80% of the people disapproved...

if these numbers are real it's starting to worry me because it means he's starting to gain support for stealing more money from the working class folks

[Inland]

2. Lousy president has lousy numbers. How does THAT happen?

I thought they had repealed any connection between shit performance and polling.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[On the Road]

4. "Lag"? Boy, if That Isn't a Loaded Term

It's "lagging" now, which implies it will catch up later. Certainly is a loaded term.

[Al-CIAda]

31. Agree. They KNOW this too. It is BLATENT opinion making and an attempt

at manufacturing consent.

[grytpype]

5. RECOMMENDED, and... Ahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

If there was ever any doubt that Bush is the dumbest guy ever to be "elected" president, this is the conclusive proof!

[Pirate Smile]

6. More bad news for BushCo

Bush job performance
Respondents were almost equally divided on Bush's job performance, with 48 percent saying they approved of the way he was handling the job of president and 49 percent saying they disapproved.

On other issues:

Forty-five percent of respondents said they approved of Bush's handling of foreign affairs and 49 percent said they disapproved.

Forty-two percent said they approved of his handling of Iraq, compared to 55 percent who said they disapproved.

Forty-three percent approved of his handling of the economy while 53 percent disapproved.

Just over a third of respondents, 34 percent, approved of Bush's handling of energy issues, while 52 percent disapproved.

Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they approved of Bush's handling of gas prices, and 67 percent said they disapproved.

[ikojo]

7. Most Americans are working class whether we

want to admit it or not. Very few Americans earn their income from investments and most know how insecure 401(k)s are. Is it any surprise that most people would reject Bush's social security proposals?

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. A lot of people in this country live check to check

and are maxed out on their credit cards. They don't know how to save now. How are they going to figure out wise investing?

[trogdor]

17. Even if you do know what you're doing.

You don't bet the rent money. You walk out of the goddamned casino. If you bet 10 grand on index funds in January 2001, you'd have 9 grand today - four and a half years later. The way we're going, in 2009, you'd probably still only have 11 grand - if you're lucky. That's about 1% a year. How is that a good deal?

Say this piratization scheme is based on the Thrift Savings Plan. In case you don't already know, TSP sharply limits your ability to flee from bear markets by only allowing fund to fund transfers, changes in contribution levels, changes in contribution allocations, etc., every quarter (that's three months). In the meantime, you get to watch your nest egg shrink week after week, not being able to do squat about it. TSP was probably a good deal in the 90's, when even a chimpanzee could make money on Wall Street, but how often does a kick-ass bull market like that happen? We probably won't have another one for a generation.

[progressiveBadger]

25. And they are finally seeing that bush's policies affect them DIRECTLY

bout time...

[Cha]

8. Hmmmm! Even after his big frickin'

takeover of the airwaves Thursday night? monkeyboy can't charm the skin off a snake anymore?

[ktowntennesseedem]

18. I demand more press conferences and nationwide tours!!!

He needs to go on promoting it, so we can get 100% disapproval!

:rofl:

[dissent1977]

21. Don't Forget to Bring DeLay Along

He had DeLay with him last week, and I really want to see him continue this partnership. Maybe they will continue their show of solidarity when the connections between the two of them are clearly laid out. DeLay could use a pet chimp to keep him company when he is in jail.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

10. The Monkey's Motto:

"If it aint broke, I'll fix it!!"


The real fixes aren't glamorous, they just call for that fabled Hard Work. Real examination of the problem is required, not just shiny Townhall schemes that guarantee the only thing this administration truly desires: Friendly Face Time for the Cameras, and a nodding smiling audience.

[The_Casual_Observer]

11. "lags" that's a laff!

[Az_lefty]

12. To Hell with bush and his monkeying with social Security...

I've paid into this for 35 years and I don't need that lying, greedy shit tinkering with it.

[stevebreeze]

13. mmmm just to fuel the fire, you have OVERPAID all 35 years

the trust fund represents an overpayment of taxes by working people to prepay for their retirement. This was the deal worked out by Reagan and Greenspan in '83. Now of course it was not used under Republican presidents to pay down the regular debt, so that the general budget could afford to pay it back as we were told. That is why they keep disparaging the treasury bonds in the trust fund, they don't want to pay them back as it would mean tax increases for the rich. Nothing is more precious to this administration then protecting the welfare of the richest among us.

[texastoast]

16. Would you please

post more detail about this or link me up. I've got some sound bites together that I've been passing out to my pukian associates and I would like to have some more details that will further scare the hell out of them. So far, they read with interest, but won't admit to anything.

[UpInArms]

19. here you go:

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/newsevents/cite_ss_promise.cfm

excerpt:

Since 1983, American workers have been paying more into Social Security than it has paid out in benefits, about $1.8 trillion more so far. This year Americans will pay about 50 percent more in Social Security taxes than the government will pay out in benefits.

Those taxes were imposed at the urging of Mr. Greenspan, who was chairman of a bipartisan commission that in 1983 said that one way to make sure Social Security remains solvent once the baby boomers reached retirement age was to tax them in advance.

On Mr. Greenspan's recommendation Social Security was converted from a pay-as-you-go system to one in which taxes are collected in advance. After Congress adopted the plan, Mr. Greenspan rose to become chairman of the Federal Reserve.

This year someone making $50,000 will pay $6,200 in Social Security taxes, half deducted from their paycheck and half paid by their employer. That total is about $2,000 more than the government needs in order to pay benefits to retirees, widows, orphans and the disabled, government budget documents show.

So what has happened to that $1.8 trillion?

The advance payments have all been spent.

Congress did not lock away the Social Security surplus, as many Americans believe. Instead, it borrowed the surplus, replacing the cash with Treasury notes, and spent the loan proceeds paying the ordinary expenses of running the federal government.

...more...

[Megahurtz]

32. This just infuriates me!

So the Busheister lied even more than I realized.:grr:

He just stole our money under the premise that "it's the government's money" even when SS was already set up to work for us in the future!

So now he's just making excuses not to pay it back because he just doesn't want to, because it will ruin all of his tax cuts to the rich (including his own and the Bush Klan because I'm sure he set up the laws to benefit himself)

What it comes down to is that he basically fucked up royally and is trying to cover it up.

He's trying to make us pay for HIS mistakes!!!

What a lying, sneaky, conniving THIEF!!!:argh:

[ailsagirl]

14. But even if people don't support it, can't * just put it through???

I'm assuming the creep can circumvent the law (rewrite it, if necessary) to push his BS SS plan through, no??

I get the feeling he'll do anything to accomplish his Scrooge-like (sorry, Dickens) scheme. Anything. It's his greatest dream (second only to starting a war, which he has already achieved).

:puke::puke::puke:

[jazzjunkysue]

15. That's a Texas 35% mandate. Yep.

:popcorn:

[9119495]

20. I think this shows he has a solid 35% that will follow him

into hell (by the way they're almost there).

I think most Americans see what is up with this--it's the uncritical 35% Fox viewership that are supporting the plan. I'd love to see if within that 35% there is any understanding of what is proposed. My guess is no.

[Robworld]

22. Don't mess with anyones wallet.

In the end of the day most people will only care if it affects their money.
Start your false wars, demonize homosexuals, but don't mess with my money.

http://www.dumdumgoestothecircus.com/

[gordianot]

23. Exactly right.

This is the reopolitic and level headed pragmatism where ideology meets the real world.

Certain others seem to have learned this lesson and are now bold enough to step too far to the right. Only when there is a threat to the wallet do sheeple come to their senses. Bush represents people who have resented Social Security for decades and the Pinko Liberal Democrats who started it. He has now stepped on the third rail and it will do him in. What angers me about this is no one will call him to task for the crimes they have committed along the way to political suicide.

New Democratic motto: What is in your wallet, hope it's not Bush?

[LynneSin]

26. These numbers should worry us and here's why

When Bush started touring the country trying to sell his messed up Social Security plan, the poll numbers were overwhelmingly against him - like 75% of the people disapproved. THat was back in February.

Fast forward to the beginning of May and suddenly it's down to 58%??!! Sure, those are the people that disapprove, but somehow people are starting to buy into this plan. Probably do to the overwhelming push from the Bush Regime and the Lobbyists who want this plan to suceed. Their ads spinning how private accounts can save the world (and never mentioning how it's stealing money set aside for future retirees) is starting to win a few folks over.

And this is what scares me more. Bush will continue to hype, spin and push his SS Thef..I mean plan while Frist & Hassert wait for those numbers to drop even a little bit further. I mean, you notice that the Bush's SS plan hasn't even come to the congress yet. But Bush never gives up and probably by late summer he'll have the world won over on this fucked up plan and then Frist & Hassert will start debating it.

We need to be relentless on this matter and we need to get more ads out there on TV stating the truth that this plan will bankerupt seniors and put an end to Social Security as we know it

[underpants]

28. I agree they should worry us

I heard someone report last week that W says he is going to stay on it until the last day of his term if need be. THAT is something I finally think he isn't lying about.

[customerserviceguy]

29. The other part of the survey

showed that 81% of respondents "believed that the program would need major changes in the coming years." That's why the disapproval numbers are eroding. At least Bush is talking about making some changes, and that's what's selling right now.

We need a leader on our side who's willing to come up with a comprehensive plan. The dangers to Social Security from a baby boom population that is not dying out at the rate its grandparents did is perceived to be real. We can't fight something, no matter how badly thought out, with nothing.

A frank and honest debate about what to do to save Social Security would establish a firm leader for the 2008 nomination, in my mind. Ignoring it lets the other side win by default.

[Megahurtz]

33. This worries me too.

:scared:

[harlinchi]

27. Conference committees should be the response when the GOP asks...

...why the democrats have no plan for Social Security!! Why have a plan to be castigated when the GOP has resolved and will resolve differences between the Senate and the House in these GOP-only conference committees. When your party is the majority party in Congress, has the executive branch, has appointed most of the judicial branch and resolves differences in this manner, you've precluded the minority party's significant involvement. All the GOP wishes to do is get the Social Security debate finished, get some legislation passed by both houses and get the matter into a conference committee where the feces will hit the rotary blades.

And for goodness's sake don't broaden the discussion of Social Security into one of overall retirement. These thieves have planned to take enough; don't give them another pie to slice up for their contributors, their cronies, their family and their friends. Remember how they 'broadened' the energy transmission (yeah - remember the blackout?) debate into one which bogged down trying not to blame their involved friends and further bogged down trying to realize maximum profits for friendly energy companies? Remember how the 'war' on those who flew the planes on 9-11 and their supporters was broadened into a 'war' on terror, starting in Ear-rock? No broadening of Social Security, please! Address the solvency -- pay the IOU's, raise the cap and make it work!


this was posted in the editorial section as well...

[ronnykmarshall]

30. Thanks .... and let me just add:

<clap> <clap> <clap> <clap>


U ....... C ........L .........A !

U-C-L-A Fight Fight Fight!

[LongTomH]

34. The Rethugs have found one way to "fix" Social Security!

They've slashed Medicare and Medicaid. You can forget any predictions about Baby Boomers living longer than their parents. Unless this is reversed by the next Congress, Boomers will die off earlier than the preceeding generation!:grr:

[katinmn]

35. Bush needs our SS money to pay for the permanent tax cuts for the rich

Make no mistake about that.