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What it means is that he is going after a Social Security solution in a big way. He will be facing a Democratic congress. If he walks in the door with a no tax increase promise, the Democrats have no way to compromise and no alternative but to vote no.

With taxes on the table there is a very good chance that we will get privatized accounts. The Democrats will get a boost in the cap. With taxes off the table, we get nothing and they get nothing and the looming debt will go to the currency. The dollar will freefall.

Yes, he is trying to thread the needle but this is probably the most important issue of the campaign. The next President HAS to succeed on this or we will all pay a terrible price. He may not want an increase and he may fight it tooth and nail but he cannot take it completely off the table.

First of all, let me say “sorry” for your marital “monk” status...

Thanks for this well thought out response. You have given me something to chew on...

President Bush and a majority Pubbie congress couldn’t reform SS immediately after winning the the ‘04 election, yet McCain will somehow get it done with a Dem congress? Please.

This flip flop is the first step in McCain’s eventual capitulation on SS. When his good buddies Nancy and Hillary and Teddy and Russ tell him to sign the bill raising SS taxes, he will sign the bill. And we conservatives aren’t going to get private accounts out of it. Nope, we hard-working conservatives who own our own businesses will get to foot the bill, and be told to suck it up by our “Republican” President.

What it means is that he is going after a Social Security solution in a big way. He will be facing a Democratic congress. If he walks in the door with a no tax increase promise, the Democrats have no way to compromise and no alternative but to vote no.

SS is a pay as you go system. In 2017, SS starts paying out more than it is taking in. Congress must do something besides just voting "no." The status quo is not a choice. The only question is what they do to solve the problem. When this happened in 1983, Reagan and Tip O'Neil struck a Faustian bargain that was supposed to make the system solvent for the next 75 years. Just 34 years later the problem will be back, only bigger. In 1983, they raised taxes and reduced benefits including raising the retirement age to 67 for full benefits.

With taxes on the table there is a very good chance that we will get privatized accounts. The Democrats will get a boost in the cap. With taxes off the table, we get nothing and they get nothing and the looming debt will go to the currency. The dollar will freefall.

With the Dems in control, they will keep the Ponzi scheme going by raising taxes and the retirement age. Private accounts will only be considered if they are added to the system and not carved out of the existing SS contributions. FYI: The cap goes up every year and it goes up faster than inflation. In 2000, it was $76K and today it is $102K.

Yes, he is trying to thread the needle but this is probably the most important issue of the campaign. The next President HAS to succeed on this or we will all pay a terrible price. He may not want an increase and he may fight it tooth and nail but he cannot take it completely off the table.

No, it is not the most important issue of the campaign because it can be solved relatively easily, i.e., raising the payroll tax and the retirement age to kick the can down the road again. Medicare/Medicaid is a far larger problem and can not be solved easily without lots of pain, political and fiscal.

The issue that can destroy this country with the stroke of a pen is amnesty. Obama and McCain both support it. They also both support a cap and trade system to address the manmade global warming hoax that will wreck our economy. Some choice.