Posted on 07/08/2011 4:41:50 AM PDT by blam
The Sneaky Way They Plan on Cutting Social Security Benefits
July 8, 2011
Talk of changing the way the CPI is calculated is now part of on going talks on how to deal with the debt expansion. Reuters explains bluntly what is going on:
President Barack Obama and lawmakers are considering cutting Social Security and increasing revenue by changing the way the government measures inflation.
Four senior congressional aides said lawmakers are discussing using an alternative yardstick to gauge inflation, known as the “chained consumer price index,” to determine annual cost-of-living adjustments for millions of Americans. How much of an impact will the change in the method of calculating CPI have on Social Security?
It could result in cutting Social Security by $112 billion over 10 years, raising taxes by $60 billion and cutting pension and veterans’ disability payments by $24 billion, according to estimates by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation.
According to Reuters:
Advocates say the change is needed because the government’s current measure of inflation overstates how quickly prices rise. Got that? In May, the annualized core CPI came in at 2.4% and the government debt negotiators think this is too high a number.
Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma goes one better, he says:
There hasn’t been any economist anywhere that says we shouldn’t do that, [change the way inflation is measured] Earth to Couburn, start with John Williams at Shadow Stats, if you are looking for some one who thinks the CPI measure has been manipulated downward enough already and read up on the last manipulation of the CPI, which was inspired by President Richard Nixon.
Coburn continues with this outrageous remark:
We need a CPI that truly reflects what’s happening in the economy, not what’s good for the politicians.
Bottom line: D.C. politicians are attempting every way possible to raise revenue and cut expenditures, even if it is on the back of the elderly. They will lie and say things with a straight face, even if a quick trip to the supermarket confirms the absurdity of the statements made by politicians like Coburn.
I never blamed you for supporting Social Security.
I blamed you for failing to stop the program from turning into the financial charlie foxtrot that it has become today.
and don't blame the people who paid in and supported your parents/grandparents
My parents lawfully immigrated to the United States in the early 1980s.
That’s the problem with socialism, Rabs. Eventually, you run out of other peoples money.
There are billions & billions of supplemental social security checks paid out to drug addicts and alcoholics
as well as disabled folks who could easily live with a family member.
Then of course, the politicians stole all the money.
I think everyone should be responsible for their own retirement. If they insist on keeping SS, workers should at least be given a choice: invest/save your own SS payments or hand them over to the government. Which ever you choose, you get what you get.
Maybe I wasn’t clear but I’ve never been pro-SS. My problem with the current proposals is that if someone is collecting SS (not disability), at least I know that at some point in their life they’ve been employed and probably contributed something to society, unlike the huge crop of 20-,30-,40-somethings who have never held a job in their lives and contributed absolutely nothing but a bunch of kids to follow in their footsteps.
My SS statement always reads “0” in every column because after working from the age of 12-25, I stayed home to raise my kids. With our own money and no help from anyone else.
Frankly, the solution, as I see it, is more bears. 150 years ago, the stupid, irresponsible people would have been eaten by a bear at some point. Or at least bitten by a moose... ;)
Sorry, I should also clarify that what I’ve said is based on the knowledge that they are never going to cut ALL entitlements, I’m speaking strictly from a point of “druthers”.
If the debt limit isn’t raised entitlements and everything else will be slashed. This is probably why Boehner will cave ;-)
I just mean that he took to me right away, and I to him. He has never once, in the 14 years since we adopted him, intentionally bitten nor scratched me. He stays near me most of the time, and he follows me around when he’s not sleeping. He is the only cat we ever adopted who treats me this well all the time. That is why I call him my Rocket.
So much for survival of the fittest! :/
Disability will be destroyed for the people who really are disabled - and Social Security will be destroyed for those who are too old to work. And the promise made to the young still paying into the system will be broken.
All so the same old same old can work one more scam.
When the system is bankrupt those who are truly disabled and without family will die. Same with the 80 year old grandfather... Scammers won't be hurt - they'll get work or go on to steal from some new victim.
Awe...that is soooo special....
‘Kitty’ also followed me around. They think they’re dogs! When I’d get ready to watch a movie, she knew it and was on my lap in a heartbeat. Same when time for bed...she knew my routine and would run and pounce on the bed. I always gave her a nice chin and body rub at bedtime. I shouldn’t have started that because she’d rub and paw at my face until I’d do that! LOL....Cats, a wonderful animal to enjoy IMO.
Not quite that simple....live gets in the way along that path, and live is not simple. Otherwise we'd all have our own safety net established and secure.
My memory is that self-employed paid 14%, then the ‘employer’ half was deductible, but the full amount had to be paid before taking the tax deduction.
Yep, one of my early posts,( around 10 years ago,) was pointing out exactly what you said. That is why they started to manipilate the CPI, so the future payouts would be reduced. And all the money that was collected beyoud what they paid out was spent on programs funded by the gerneral fund.
Good morning. Now I see the problem ... Your parents willingly came to the United States well after the establishment of SS. Blame them for putting you in this situation.
Sad when law abiding families now have to proclaim they lawfully immigrated to the United States. The times are changing for the worse.
I don’t think that that the rules of government i.e. Constitution that we live under demands compassion of one person for another. It does require we not impede the choices and opportunities for another. This certainly doesn’t preclude compassion and it can be argued compassion is a must in a good society. However, in the example cited I will ask where is the father? I will say I had no decision in any bad decisions of the woman to have children or even any of her choices in life. If by chance I am less fortunate (chances not) than the lady does she have to give something to me? This all goes to tell that somewhere along the line of life and at sometime in the past we as a Nation have fallen short as to instilling that individual actions have consequences. Let’s find help for the lady and her children but let’s cut off the future loading of these situations including immigration.
SS can be fixed. There is a $2.5 trillion surplus that will keep it solvent until 2037. The real problem is Medicare, which could also be fixed over the years.
But the real, real problem is our general general financial situation and that goes to all government programs. They have all grown rapidly in recent years. If the US economy does not become healthy again, with low real unemployment and adequate jobs to move people from government support to self-supporting employment, then you can forget it all.
I keep asking on FR what's to be done about the $950 billion spent annually now for welfare, medicaid, food stamps, EITC and other programs for able bodied citizens who don't work, or work in the lowest paying jobs.
And you can be sure that $950 billion for 2011 will grow beyond a cool trillion next year
. And, I know the government spent the SS surplus and continues to do so. But for now, the annual shortfall is around $40 billion. Not much compared to the trillion being spent now on all sorts of government support programs for people not working.
True and didnt live long enough to collect it
Thanks for copying me on your replies. It’s maddening how so many people refuse to see the truth. Ponzi schemes always end badly.
The days of defined benefit retirement plans is over. The private sector moved away from them decades ago. Public sector unions and SS have not yet and unless they do, they will die a slow, painful death.
Let people get what they and their employers contributed to SS, plus a reasonable amount of interest and that’s it. No more. Just like private companies handle it. After you’ve exhausted what you put into SS, it’s nothing more than welfare.
Before SS, several generations lived together in one household if they couldn’t afford to live separately. We’re heading that way again and it may not be such a bad thing.
Latest polls show that 6 in 10 do not support a budget agreement that cuts entitlement programs. There is a lot of educating that needs to be done. Too bad that education is so sorely needed right here on a conservative forum where people should know better.
That seems to be the only end result for a number of reasons.
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