[Libloather]

The State of the Union Show should be interesting.

[PGalt]

Great post; OUTSTANDING thread. Thanks to all posters/linkers/researchers/educators. BTTT!

[Uncle Miltie]

This is the Onion, right?

This can’t be happening....

They’re going to cut Social Security payments? I agree, but that will cause riots.

[19zulu]

I will be shocked and amazed if there is one word of truth in any of this.

[Condor51]

Under the agreement, President Obama would issue an executive order to create an 18-member panel that would be granted broad authority to propose changes in the tax code and in the massive federal entitlement programs — including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security

Oh yeah. Well think again Barry

1. You have no such authority
   
2. You can't do shiite to anything pertaining to Taxes
   
3. EOs issued by any POTUS pertain only to the Executive Branch, any agencies under the executive Branch's control and how they are run (If you want to change the uniform of TSA workers to Green and Fuchsia knock your socks off).
4. You CAN'T issue any EO that subverts or bypasses any Coequal Branch of government, like the US Congress. If you did, you could disband the Federal Courts and SCOTUS by an EO.
5. Therefore, any EO resembling what's in the above article carries the authority of an essay written by Eric Cartman.

Here's a tip Barry. Your 'power' is not absolute as you're not a Tribal King in Kenya sitting on your throne in a loin cloth and holding a spear and shield. Then ruling by fiat which missionary gets put in the pot for dinner and which one dies by Ugga-Bugga.

~~~ all insults intended ~~~

[6ppc]

The article is fairly incoherent, but basically sounds like it's another power grab. It basically says that the plan developed by this commission wouldn't be published until after the November elections, and somehow would go straight to the house floor, bypassing the usual committee process.

Sounds like a plan to get a lame duck congress to shove a telephone pole down our throats.

[Wisconsinlady]

Please tell me that Republican lawyers are all over this!

[GailA]

Should start calling this OBAMA's WAR on retired Military and Senior citizens.

[happygrl]

Before reducing benefits that taxpayers have paid into for years, why not eliminate entire Departments in the Federal government ?

Education, Energy, Agriculture, HHS, anything that is not stipulated in the Constitution should get the Axe.

And BTW, let's bring home the troops in Europe.

Sixty five years is enough protection, and the money spent by Armed Forces will recirculate here instead of Europe.

[GailA]

Obama: No reduced Medicare benefits in health care reform

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/28/obama.health.care/index.html

Will healthcare reform mean cuts in Medicare for seniors?

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2009/1017/will-healthcare-reform-mean-cuts-in-medicare-for-seniors Health Reform’s Hidden Victims

Young people and seniors would pay a high price for

ObamaCare.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203517304574306303720472842.html

Slashing Medicare to pay for healthcare reform an ugly shell game

Dr. Stuart M. Shapiro,
July 27, 2009

http://www.mcknights.com/slashing-medicare-to-pay-for-healthcare-reform-an-ugly-shell-game/article/140656/

If the cost is by cutting Medicaid and Medicare, then taxpayers are in for a rude awakening when millions will retire without money to pay for their healthcare. Ransoming seniors' long-term care for immediate, large-scale health reform is more politically beneficial for its supporters in the short-term than it is reasonable for everyone in the long run.

In fact, even in the short-term, one could argue that taxpayers, including the elderly, are looking at an old-fashioned shell game from Washington. No sooner was the ink dry on the federal stimulus package, which provided millions of dollars to support care for the elderly in Pennsylvania, before Congress and the administration began to propose major cuts in Medicare to finance healthcare reform. Because Medicare payments support quality care in our nation's nursing homes, the proposed cuts nationally approaching $50 billion in Medicare payments for the care of the elderly is guaranteed to undercut the quality gains of the past decade. In Pennsylvania, if the proposals currently on the table are enacted, these policies would result in an almost 10% reduction in cumulative payments over 10 years, or more than $2.1 billion.

None of the answers on healthcare, Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare is easy. But there is one thing we do know: Our population is growing older, and doing so rapidly. Cutting money from the programs that finance care for Pennsylvania seniors is seriously flawed. There is no simple or single solution. But there is a wrong way, and taking money from the care for American seniors is deeply flawed.

Stuart H. Shapiro, M.D., is the president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association.

[GailA]

Medicare tax may apply to investment income (ObamaCare tax hike)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2460988/posts