we should carry one message into these November elections

[Hamlette]

Bush intends to do away with social security and he thinks he will if the GOP retains control of Congress.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/009696.php

The hype that social security is going bankrupt is complete propaganda by the right.

The Dems should sell this like no other issue. Private accounts is the same as destroying a program the right has hated from day one.

If you ever wondered how it could get worse? I mean, Bush has destroyed our reputation in the world and have have started WWIII. Well, if he gets rid of Social Security get prepared to take care of your parents in the old age and start having kids so you will have someone you can burden when you get old.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

1. Remind people what's happening to 401ks these days

Mine is barely making any money after several months of actually losing some. I tried shifting funds around to no avail. They want to do the same thing to SS.

[Monkeyman]

2. yep

[SoCalDem]

8. I fear that the 401-ks are just another clever device

dreamed up by the same people who will manage to gobble a big bite later on.. These people are patient. They know enough to only do this stuff once every few decades.. Gotta let the moolah build up first..

Look back in history to the "collapses", "bubbles", "crashes"...

The fall only happens after a significant amount of trust and capital is there.. And the same people who talk these things up as safe and prudent and easy...well they are the same ones who end up raiding them and taking all the money..

Some people do make out great.. but then the first ones in and out of as pyramid or ponzi scheme make out well too.. It's all about the timing..and we don't control that..


We have been lucky on our 401-k (so far), but my husband has another 6 years to work, and I am sort of expecting that about the same time he needs to retire, "something" will happen..

and anyway, what we have in it will in NO way be enough to make a lot of difference.. It's not like a defined benefit pension..

Parents-of-Boomers were the last large group to have security..I know some of these oldsters and they are doing just fine...because when they worked, they had security.. I know one old guy who gets a military pension, a city pension and social security.. Between those 3, he gets more per month now than when he worked..

Why? military guaranteed pension, and union guaranteed pension and SS guaranteed amount..

You can only plan your future when you have hard numbers.. What people have now, is "possible"...but it can easily turn to IMpossible, and at a time in your life when there's no more time are energy to change course.. :cry:

[3121guitarist]

3. Here's my fear.

What if the Republicans steal another one? We will be screwed; maybe the nation will not survive.

[tbyg52]

9. Yep, I've been thinking what I'll do if that happens.

No good answers yet.

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[AX10]

4. K & R!

[Parisle]

5. I Agree...........

..... that this should be a prominent message in the campaigning leading up to the midterms. However, I would also like to hear from democrats that they will move to restore the "trust fund" nature of what Social Security was supposed to be all along. That means the "lock-box" of so many Al Gore speeches. Of course, it would have been ideal timing to have removed SS revenues from the General Fund back when there was a surplus in the budget, and the monies could have started accumulating six years ago. George Bush has thus far SPENT approximately three quarters of a trillion dollars from the peoples' supplemental retirement fund, AND STILL RAN DEFICITS TOTALLING ANOTHER TRILLION-PLUS.

----Add that information to your message,.... perhaps along with this: "With democrats in office, there are 285 million Americans who do NOT have to worry about a tax increase. The rest can afford it."

[CarlVK]

6. No, it's more of a diversion

like the immigration hoo-haw (which too many of us bought into). The top issues we need to hammer on are - The Iraq War, Abuse of our Constitution, and The Economy.

Just about all the punditry agree that the whole SS reform thing is dead in the water for the forseeable future anyway, so using it as the point of an attack as serious as the one facing us would be a complete waste of our time and resources.

[Parisle]

7. Prioritizing, here,.....

---- The single greatest threat to the Constitutional American Democratic Republic is corporate dominance of the political industry,... bribes, lobbyists, soft money, revolving door,... you name it. Rich corporatists literally BUYING the government they want is the biggest problem.

---- With that thought in mind,... all the other issues derive from it, do they not? Let's see, now... Iraq, oil, BIG Oil, Halliburton, no-bid, missing $9Bil.

----Ok,... Social Security: The gov't has filched $2 trillion from the fund and can't pay it back,.. but all that cash is still coming in at the rate of $600 billion per year,... Aww,... let's let Wall Street play with it, eh?

---- Constitutional abuse: All aimed at keeping the corporate master's flunkies in office and doing their bidding.

---- The economy: Please.