Obama Plans to Cut Social Security Next
Opinion: President Obama Plans to Cut Social Security Next
September 2, 2010CNBC Opinion - President Obama is playing “Watch the Birdie” with Americans over the age of 50, diverting their attention with handouts and scare tactics to hide in plain sight the enormous damage his policies are doing to the retirement safety net.
First it was Medicare. The ObamaCare legislation drops a few free goodies like breadcrumbs in front of Medicare recipients (such as free diagnostics and annual checkups) to draw their attention away from the enormous cuts in Medicare being used to help pay the freight for the new national healthcare system.
Additionally, the White House has engineered a full-blown propaganda campaign, coordinated with the AARP, to deceive Medicare recipients and baby boomers about the magnitude and the implications of the $575 billion in Medicare cuts being used to help pay for ObamaCare. Even more deceitfully, using TV icon Andy Griffith in a taxpayer-funded TV ad to talk about how happy days are here again, the Obama Administration and its mouthpiece AARP are attempting to hoodwink people over the age of 50 about the inherent healthcare rationing sown into the very fabric of ObamaCare.
Medicare’s own Chief Actuary has already publicly reported that the Medicare payment rates for the doctors and hospitals serving retirees will be cut by 30 percent during the next three years. The details buried in the Medicare Trustees report reveal that still further Medicare cuts adopted in the ObamaCare legislation add up altogether to $818 billion during the first 10 years of full implementation, and $3.223 trillion during the first 20 years, just for Medicare’s hospital program (Part A, HI). Counting the cuts for Medicare physician reimbursement under the Part-B program brings the grand total in Medicare cuts to $1.048 trillion during the first full 10 years, and $4.95 trillion during the first 20 years.
Now the president is coming after Social Security.
In his Saturday radio address on August 14, President Obama revealed he is already moving on to cut Social Security.
But again, he is playing "Watch the Birdie," this time using scare tactics rather than sweeteners.
In that address, he denounced the idea of solving Social Security’s problems by allowing young workers the freedom to voluntarily choose to save and invest some of their taxes in their own personal retirement accounts, an option federal employees already enjoy. The president rejects fixing the Bernie-Madoff Ponzi scheme currently used to finance Social Security with some form of personal accounts to begin pre-funding Social Security with real saving and investment. Instead, he rails about “privatization,” an incendiary (and false) characterization of voluntary personal retirement accounts intended to scare the bejeebers out of the American people.
President Obama knows that all these account proposals affect only younger workers and do not touch the benefits of today’s retirees or the baby boom generation soon to retire. Moreover, congressional proposals for voluntary personal accounts have maintained the safety net of Social Security, guaranteeing that workers would get at least as much as Social Security promises now.
But President Obama thinks Americans over the age of 50 are stupid and can be demagogued with false claims about their benefits. The far-left faction in the Democratic Party just can’t stand the idea of workers and retirees supporting themselves more through the private sector. They call that “privatization,” which means too much filthy capitalism for their tastes.
So the question remains: What is the president up to?
How does he propose to solve Social Security’s long-term financial crisis, which even his own Presidential Debt Commission realizes is real? Without some form of real saving and investment for workers to begin prefunding their retirement, the only alternatives remaining are to raise payroll taxes or cut benefits—and that is precisely what President Obama’s Debt Commission is planning.
One might think raising payroll taxes is out because President Obama pledged over and over to get elected that he would not raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year. If he refuses even to consider personal accounts as inconsistent with his socialist ideology, he will never be able to deliver on that promise.
As to benefit cuts, this is exactly what the Presidential Debt Commission is plotting to reveal right after the November election. Former Sen. Alan Simpson, co-chairman of the Commission, tipped the Commission’s hand recently when he described Social Security as a “milk cow with 300 million tits.”
Leaks indicate that among the options being considered are delaying the retirement age (sounds like a panacea to bureaucratic pencil pushers who never did a day of hard labor in their lives), changing the basic benefit formula to reduce future benefits, and delaying or slashing COLAs.
Apparently, President Obama’s concept of spreading the wealth includes sacking both the Medicare and Social Security systems on which America’s retirees have come to rely. That’s some progressive vision of “fiscal responsibility:” Put seniors out in the cold and into an early grave.
The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
"Social Security is not the trouble; it's just the target"April 2010
Government Relations and Policy - Social Security is likely to be the main target of the newly created National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The Commission is charged with improving the nation's fiscal position for both the short-term and the long-term. The new co-chairs of the Commission have announced their intent to aim squarely at Social Security and Medicare.
The co-chairs are former Republican Senator from Wyoming Alan Simpson and former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles. In an interview on the cable news station CNBC, Co-Chair Alan Simpson noted that the Commission would be going after "the big three -- Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security."
Likewise Co-Chair Erskine Bowles made it clear that Social Security topped his list for slashing benefits.
"We're going to mess with Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security because if you take those off the table, you can't get there," Bowles said in a speech to North Carolina bankers.Why do these fiscal hawks want to "mess" with Social Security? Well, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke didn't hesitate to reveal their real reason for wanting to cut Social Security benefits. Citing bank robber Willie Sutton's famous remark about why he stole from banks, Bernanke said Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid should be cut because "that's where the money is." The hawks in charge of the new fiscal commission intend to cut Social Security benefits, not to strengthen Social Security, but to make the nation's fiscal situation look better.
American's want fiscal sanity returned to Washington, but they know that Social Security is not responsible for our budget deficit. The real reason for the budget imbalance is billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy, a decade of borrow and spend policies, and a recession driven by the excesses of Wall Street.
Social Security has not contributed one dime to our nation's deficit. The Social Security Trust Fund was built up in preparation for the baby boomers' retirement. In fact, the annual surpluses in Social Security have been used for years to help balance the federal budget.
Today Social Security is owed $2.6 trillion previously loaned to the federal government to cover the cost of other programs. But budget hawks are arguing that there is not enough money to pay back this loan to Social Security, so their answer is to cut Social Security benefits instead.
Working Americans of all ages have contributed money to Social Security and that money belongs to them, not the government. That money is dedicated to paying promised benefits. Social Security should not be used as a piggy bank to pay for bad fiscal decisions of the past.
Structure of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
The Commission is made up of 18 members. Of those members, six are appointed by the President -- with no more than four from the same political party; six are appointed from the U.S. Senate -- three by the Majority Leader and three by the Minority Leader; and six are appointed from the U.S House of Representatives -- three by the Speaker of the House and three by the Minority Leader.
The Commission was charged with making recommendations to:
- Reduce annual deficits to 3% of the national economy by 2015; and
- Meaningfully improve the long-range fiscal outlook, including changes to address the growth in entitlement spending and the gap between the projected revenues and expenditures of the Federal Government.
If a final report is adopted by the Commission, Senate Majority Leader Reid has agreed to give the recommendations an up-or-down vote in the Senate by the end of 2010. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has agreed that, if the Senate passes the recommendations, the House will then vote on them.
Presidential Appointments: The President appointed former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and former Senator Alan Simpson as co-chairs of the Commission. He also appointed to the panel: Andy Stern, President of the Service Employees International Union; Dave Cote, CEO of Honeywell; Alice Rivlin, former Vice-Chair of the Federal Reserve and former Director of the Congressional Budget Office; and Ann Fudge, former CEO of Young and Rubican Brands.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's Appointments: Richard J. Durbin of Illinois; Max Baucus of Montana; and Kent Conrad of North Dakota.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's Appointments: Tom Coburn of Oklahoma; Judd Gregg of New Hampshire; and Michael Crapo of Idaho.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's Appointments: John Spratt, Jr. of South Caroline; Xavier Becerra of California; and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois.
House Minority Leader John Boehner's Appointments: Paul Ryan of Wisconsin; Dave Camp of Michigan; and Jeb Hensarling of Texas.
Alan Simpson Embarrasses Obama, Insults Women and, Well, Everyone
Alan Simpson: Cutting Social Security Benefits to “Take Care of the Lesser People in Society” (Transcript of Video Above)
August 25, 2010
Huffington Post - Alan Simpson, former US Senator from Wyoming and current Co-Chair of the President's Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, has crossed the line. We're all entitled to our own opinions, but not our own facts. And when he didn't like the facts, he took to personal insults and profanity. Check out his outrageous email to Ashley Carson, Executive Director of the Older Women's League, in response to her blog post from April.
Mr. Simpson dismisses the voice of advocates, stating that,
"people like [OWL] babble into the vapors about 'disgusting attempts at ageism and sexism' and all the rest of that crap."This is at best inappropriate and lays bare his contempt for those who dare speak truth to power and protect those among us who are least able to advocate for themselves against the likes of Mr. Simpson. And apparently being disgusted by ageism and sexism is not worth his time. I guess it's ok to discriminate when you're a wealthy ex-senator.
Further, Mr. Simpson seems not to understand what Social Security is or how it if funded, claiming that "people on Social Security...milk it to the last degree." The fact is that Social Security is only paying out to beneficiaries money they invested in the program. It's not a lottery winning or a gift -- any more than the bank giving you back what you've deposited in your savings account is a gift.
If he is referring to Americans who receive disability payments, or children who receive survivor benefits, perhaps he is simply out of touch with the realities of those less fortunate than he has been. Apparently Mr. Simpson thinks American workers do not deserve to get back the money they paid in, or that they are less deserving of having their bonds paid than China, which also holds billions of dollars in US Treasury bonds. (That's right, when they talk about cutting the deficit by cutting Social Security, they're talking about defaulting on the bonds Social Security holds. Don't worry, they'll pay China -- but it's ok to short American workers?)
But the greatest problem that Mr. Simpson demonstrates in this ranting email is his disrespect for women, along with a complete disdain for all government programs that help anyone, which is in line with his numerous statements decrying "entitlement" programs:
"It's the same with any system in America. We've reached a point now where it's like a milk cow with 310 million tits!"(You, like me, may be wondering if this is really him -- we checked his email and even called his assistant's phone -- unless someone has hacked into his email, msnbc's website, and his assistant's phone, this is legit. But it's not out of character -- check out this video from earlier this summer.) Such disrespect and vulgarity are characteristics not of a rational, bipartisan leader, but of a ranting ideologue bent on destroying a program that keeps millions of older American out of poverty.
Finally, my outrage turns to disgust at the suggestions that working on behalf of low-income older women is somehow not "honest work!" With people like Mr. Simpson, who is so clearly dedicated to undermining the social fabric of our country, co-chairing a commission that is intended to take a serious look at our nation's deficit woes, and suggesting that advocating for those who will be most harmed by the cuts he promotes is somehow dishonest or deceitful, he shows his true colors. Mr. Simpson is hamstrung by his own biases and prejudices, and unwilling to engage in a positive discussion with those who oppose his dogma. These are not the actions of a leader.
OWL sent a letter, along with a copy of Mr. Simpson's email, of course, to President Obama, demanding the resignation (or removal - we're flexible) of Alan Simpson from the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. We've also started an online petition, and joined with the National Council of Women's organizations to demand a better choice from the President. Call it a Women's Equality Day present - it's this Thursday, August 26. Mr. Simpson's sort of elitist, sexist, ageist and disrespectful thinking have no place in the serious conversations in Washington that affect us on Main Street. Don't let Alan Simpson steal your retirement. At the rate we're going, we're going to need every penny.
Get involved. Sign the petition. Call the White House and tell them what you think: 202-456-1111. Go to www.SocialSecurityMatters.org and find out how to get the information out. Don't Agonize, Organize!
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