Kucinich to Announce a Major Jobs Program (retire in early 60's)

[The Straight Story]

Congressman Dennis Kucinich to Announce a Major Jobs Program
Submitted by Eugmc on January 25, 2010 - 3:12pm.



Dennis Kucinich is going to announce a job program that would add one million new jobs. The Cleveland area Congressman will make the announcement on Capitol Hill just hours before President Obama gives his State of the Union speech on Wednesday.

The liberal Democrats plan includes early 60s, can take advantage of Social Security retirement benefits to exit the workforce, making room for younger workers who have been struggling to find jobs.

http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/12763

[Manifestor_of_Light]

1. Dude, we already exited the workforce. Involuntarily.

And it starts a lot sooner than the 60s. Try the 40s.

[dhpgetsit]

17. Making people eligible for SS will shrink the workforce.

Under the right conditions, this will bring wages up and create more opportunities for people below retirement age.

However the "Right Conditions" are hard to meet in this age of Global "free trade" (AKA race to the bottom workforce management). Before we can do anything to restore the middle class through better pay and benefits, we have to protect American labor and renegotiate the "free trade" agreements.

[NightWatcher]

2. lower the age for retirement to 55

how many millions would take advantage of retiring with full social security?
then many of us would be put to work in the jobs where people are holding on into their late 60's.
we'd be paying more into social security and therefore helping sustain it for the future.

[tonysam]

4. +1,000

And ban WEP/GPO for states opting out of paying SS.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Uh? Who would be paying someone 55 at the same SS benefits they would have at 67?

The older the employee, the bigger the salary (in most cases) and the more paid into SS. If somebody retires 'early' today at age 62, they receive 30% less then if they wait until 66. The trust fund would only be able to pay somebody 55 about 50% of their retirement.

[NightWatcher]

6. no, that would be the change. allow people at 55 to get 100%

[sinkingfeeling]

13. And who's going to pay for it? You realize that as the older workers retire, less and less

is going into SS because of lower salaries and less jobs.

[reggie the dog]

14. raise taxes on the wealthy

we have tried giving them tax cuts for years, nothing trickles down, we should just take it from them.

[dhpgetsit]

20. By eliminating the SS cap.

SS is effectively a regressive tax. The middle class pays a much higher % of income than the rich in SS taxes. Remove the cap and at least make it flat.

Also at least as an emergency measure, we could make rich people ineligible for SS benefits.

[Hannah Bell]

37. that's the "solution" the ruling class wants you to choose. because it increases

the tax on labor while allowing capital to continue borrowing surplus SS collections without repaying them.

[fasttense]

16. There is $3 Trillion in the Social Security Trust fund.

Get rid of Rayguns Social Security tax cuts to the uber wealthy and there will be plenty of money.

[sinkingfeeling]

19. Sure there is.

[karynnj]

8. It would bankrupt social security

Adding everyone at 55 who wants to retire - or is retired, would have to increase the cost by at least 50%. Nothing you say adds total jobs that pay into SS.

[reggie the dog]

11. raise taxes on the wealthy and it would bancrupt nothing

[NightWatcher]

12. wouldnt the new people who took over their jobs be paying in to SS?

and the rest of the bill could be paid by the government. they can spend trillions to make war and bail out banksters, they can pay a little to save the nation.

[karynnj]

29. Yes they would - but that will not even completely replace the amount

from the 55 - 65 year olds leaving the job. The younger people will likely be offered lower salaries because older employers on average have higher salaries. But, assuming they get the exact same amount of money - it is a wash on the money coming in.

Now, they bailed out the bankers to keep the financial system working. Many banks have paid it all back. Obama is now asking for a tax on them to pay back the rest - including the indirect money they got from AIG.

As to war, I agree it is among many things even worse, a waste of money - but, we can't afford continuous war either.

Here, SS is a perpetual system, it has to have the money to work.

[dhpgetsit]

22. Oh, the poor, poor millionaires!

Eliminate the cap on SS taxes and make the rich ineligible for SS benefits and SS will be solvent forever.

[Zoeisright]

27. It always amazes me how millionaires have gotten the average person

to feel sorry for them. Greatest con job in the history of the world.

[karynnj]

28. I doubt it

1) eliminating the cap on income will add revenues but not to the extent needed.
2) define rich - I doubt you can be speaking of more than the top 1 or 2% - eliminating that small number will not make up the increase here.

[dhpgetsit]

34. The income of the top 5% richest Americans far exceeds whaqt you imagine.

If that income were subject to SS taxation is would make a huge difference.

http://www.lcurve.org/

[karynnj]

38. Much of their income is not via wages - the only thing subject to the tax

Capital gains, dividends etc make up a lot of that. But, if you make the change to tax that - more middle class people will have a new tax than the excise tax on the top 3% of all plans - and you saw the outrage on that.

Many others have pointed out that people in that age range with jobs msy not want to retire as they do not have enough money.

[Hannah Bell]

35. In 2004, Bush's tax cuts ALONE let the top 1% keep an extra $30 billion.

■The tax cuts will confer more than $30 billion on the nation’s 257,000 millionaires in 2004 alone.

And the benefits of the Bush tax cuts accelerated for this top 1% over time, i.e. their "savings" were bigger in 2009 than in 2004.

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1811


cost of the bush tax cuts for the top 5% over 10 years = $978 billion, i.e. about 40% of what's currently owed to the Social Security Trust Fund.

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:A6CpAwWBQswJ:www.ctj.org/pdf/bushtaxcutsvshealthcare.pdf+bush+tax+cuts+top+1%25+trillion&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESit6OD7BbtrwQs7mV3a6yMjOywQ7-wS8XNXBwx6bXJWpVAjdHqe6RiPq-nWfFy2-X2yw-uloOCOUaOhXzDjhhBlo1hb1aSHvpWJHZYdB3Vc70-zkEnZUlwzAfgRb2vN9GAG36Sm&sig=AHIEtbRAAo76HpvICqOFO199H5MZEWRzKQ

Which means that it would be quite easy for this segment of "lucky duckies" to repay that borrowed money over the approximate 30 year window of the boomers' retirement -- simply by raising their taxes back to what they were UNDER CLINTON.

wow, that would be SUCH a hardship for them.

[reggie the dog]

39. date the wealthy

elite meeting.com has an ad on top of this page..... is that for real? I guess I should have dated the wealthy if i wanted retirement

[AngryAmish]

31. This is the stupedist thing I have heard in a long time.

Well done, sir.

[villager]

this post has made some twitchy unreccers very upset...

n/t

[tonysam]

3. Once again Kucinich grandstands,

and once again his ideas go nowhere.

[rudy23]

10. And once again, the magic phrases fly.

Or should I just believe that 50 different posters just decided to all call one of our own a grandstander.

Too bad he's not standing up for bipartisanship and Wall St. like the New Dems.

[Bluebear]

15. Is this like your post that Terry Schiavo was murdered? Question, are you a Democrat?

Just curious.

[superduperfarleft]

23. She's a PUMA.

Her blog is both frightening and hilarious. I think she'd find a soulmate in Perry Logan, personally.

[Binka]

24. Gack Haven't You Put That Thing On Ignore?

This Schiavo reference tells me all I need to know about "ignored." Your question is a good one, do you think she/he/it will answer it?

[Bluebear]

32. No, she emerges every couple days to pollinate threads with semi-right-wing pap

and then lays low.

[flvegan]

36. Hates animals, too.

Abhors them, matter of fact. Digging up that one's back yard might be quite the task.

[old mark]

7. I retired at 59. Am I more "Progressive" than Dennis the K ? nt

[izquierdista]

9. I 'retired' at 49

Of course, I didn't have much say in the matter. Now to wait until the pension and SS kick in.

[old mark]

26. I took my SS at age 62, quite a bit less than if I had waited till the

government approved age to end my lifelong wage slavery.
So far, it's been worth every dime.

mark

[Donnachaidh]

18. and what about those over 50 folks who have taken a huge hit on their retirement packages

and cannot retire on SS because they've been out of work as long or longer than some of the younger workers?

Government going to replace our lost funds too?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

40. Sure, they can live on SS alone.

Kucinich said so! He has a Miracle Wand!

[notesdev]

21. Uh, Dennis...

please run the numbers for the impact that would have on SS and other seniors programs.

The problem is NOT that there are too many people working, the problem is that there aren't enough JOBS. Pushing one person out of a job so another can take it is treading water at best. Pushing one person out of a job and putting him on government assistance is moving backwards.

[ParkieDem]

25. Early retirement is not the answer.

I'd love to retire when I'm 50 or 55 or even 60, but when I get there, it's not going to happen. When Social Security was first created, most workers entered the workforce at age 18 (or earlier), retired at 62 or 65, and then lived maybe another 10 years.

Today, many workers do not enter the workforce until age 22 or so. Some people are retiring at age 55 or 60, then living to be 85 or 90. At its extreme, only 1/3 of such a person's life will be spent in some sort of productive economic activity. Like it or not, our extended life expectancies mean that people are going to have to work longer. Either that, or we have to accept a reduced standard of living.

[reformist]

30. Is that his plan? Lowering the retiring age?!

Major FAIL.

[KingFlorez]

33. We need job creation

And early retirement just isn't in the cards for many workers, many have to work as long as they can to insure a solid retirement. I don't see this opening up many jobs.