[SkyPilot]

So there you have it.

Everyone who has a brain knows we have to cut Entitlements, but no one will do it. We now have one in seven Americans walking around with a Food Stamp (now called SNAP) debit card in their back pocket. We have millions of people collecting Social Security checks and SSI disability. Parents of children with mild ailments such as heart murmurs or sleep apnea have learned how to get their children classified as disabled so that they collect checks for life. Illegal aliens have sucked the Medicaid fund dry. Some inner city minority populations depend on government direct deposits in the form of AFDC, daycare cash payments, nutitional assistance, special minority loans for business, and Section 8 housing for almost all of that community's income. Unemployment payments have now reached half a Trillion dollars since Obama took over - half a Trillion for people not to work.

What will Washington do? It looks like they will slash miltiary veterans programs, decimate the Defense Budget, and freeze military salaries come November.

Under debt deal, military pay, veterans programs in play for cuts

This will do almost nothing to stop the implosion, but because Entitlements are "off the table" - our Government will appear desperate to convince the public it is doing something.

This is the beginning of the end. I am filled with a deep and abiding fear that nothing will be done until the whole system collapses.

And the cause of it all will be a segment of Americans and worthless politicians who were motivated by nothing more than pure envy and greed.

"The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, But the treacherous will be caught by their own greed."

Proverbs 11:6

[SF_Redux]

people sure have alot of problems learning that SS is NOT an entitlement.. it has been used like a govt person checking account

[saganite]

Right after your bolded sentence is this:

“or on reaching an agreement on raising revenues”

As far as S&P is concerned either will do. Cut spending or increase taxes. You don’t seriously expect Dems to “see” the problem as excessive spending do you? There will be more and more calls for taxes.

[PanzerKardinal]

Preach it brother!

[PieterCasparzen]

Cutting Social Security and Medicare, but leaving the Unconstitutional Department of Education in place, does not make any sense.

Get rid of all unnecessary departments - then AFTER that is ALL DONE, see if any reductions are needed in SS.

Otherwise, SS will just get decreased every year (like it has been because COLA has been denied) in order to pay for more Federal employees.

[SF_Redux]

take away all the freeloaders that never paid a penny into the govt has give it too

[DeaconRed]

I believe that if we concentrated on FRAUD in all departments we could make a big dent in our debt.
Back in the early 80's I worked for the US Postal service. I worked at a bulk mail center.
Every month the supply room had orders to throw out brand new supplies. The facility had a huge fence around it so no one could get to the dumpster. It bothered me and I tried to report it. No body gave a damn. This was at least a $1,000.00 per month at this one location. They got brand new supplies every month.
On top of that the Managers of the facility were paid on a production basis. They got a good salary and were paid a bonus depending on volume of mail. They would resort sorted mail to get a higher count so they could get a bigger bonus, no wonder the postal service is broke.

This was one facility. I am sure it went on in every federal department.
I am sure Social Security is paying claims they should not be paying. We all know medicare gets scammed.
Getting the fraud eliminated everywhere could go a long way to getting us back on track.

[PieterCasparzen]

Comparison of nObama’s first year and current year

U.S. Federal Government Spending Comparison, 2008 and 2011
Figures given in billions of U.S. Dollars

Category_______ FY 2008 FY 2011 INC/(DEC) INC/(DEC) %
Pensions_______ 659.8_____793.2_____133.4____20.22%
Healthcare_____ 671.4_____882.0_____210.6____31.37%
Education______ 101.8_____129.8______28.0____27.50%
Defense________ 729.6_____964.8_____235.2____32.24%
Welfare________ 322.3_____495.6_____173.3____53.77%
Protection_____ 47.1_______60.7_______13.6____28.87%
Transportation_ 77.6_______94.5_______16.9____21.78%
General________ 20.8_______33.2_______12.4____59.62%
Other__________ 99.3______158.4______59.1____59.52%
Interest_______ 252.8_____206.7_____-46.1____-18.24%

Total__________ 2,982.5____3,818.9____836.4____28.04%

U.S. Federal Government Revenue Comparison, 2008 and 2011
Figures given in billions of U.S. Dollars

Category_______________ FY 2008 FY 2011 INC/(DEC) INC/(DEC) %
Ind. Inc. Tax___________1,145.8__956.0___-189.8_____-16.56%
Corp. Inc. Tax___________304.3____198.4___-105.9___-34.80%
Social Ins. Taxes________900.2____806.8____-93.4____-10.38%
Ad-valorem Taxes_______140.1____132.9_____-7.2___-5.14%
Fees & Charges___________0.0________0.0_____0.0
Bus & Other Rev__________33.6_____79.5_____45.9___136.61%

Total___________________2,524.0___2,173.6___-350.4____-13.88%

Surplus/(Deficit)________-458.5__-1645.3__-1,186.8____258.84%

Social Security is part of the first number, Pensions.

You want the breakdown of Pensions for 2011 ? Here it is:

Federal employee retirement and disability (602)_____________$127.1
Social security (651)_________________________________________$748.4
Employer share, employee retirement (on-budget) (951)_____($67.1)
Employer share, employee retirement (off-budget) (952)_____($15.1)

Please help me to understand -

FEDERAL EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT AND DISABILTY COST 16% OF EVERYONE’S SOCIAL SECURITY PAYMENTS ?

Just how many Federal employees are retired and at just what pay ?????

And there is NO TALK OF REDUCING FEDERAL EMPLOYEE PAY OR BENEFITS.

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !

[TalBlack]

“...reaching an agreement on raising revenues is less likely than we previously assumed”

They assumed that the government MUST now understand that the game is over. Wrong. Watch now the tragedy unfold.

[jamaksin]

"A reward once given becomes a right." from Frederick Herzberg (American industrial psychologist, from his classic The Motivation to Work, circa 1959).

The War on Poverty, several "Education" Presidents, a couple of Bridges to "Shovel Ready" projects (aka Jobs) and gratis cellphones, etc., have all shown little results except those are now "rights."

[Earthdweller]

You can’t explain to a entrenched parasite that he is not entitled...it makes absolutely no logic to him at all. Nice try tho...

[firebrand]

Also, and related to your post, is the fact that no one yet knows who will be on the 12-member committee called the “Super Congress,” or how they will vote on various issues. It can all go whichever way they want it to go, with no Tea Party to rein everything in.

That is called uncertainty. Our chance to make a decisive move to head off disaster has passed.

Just as Obama makes end runs around Congress, Congress has made an end run around the Tea Party.

[listenhillary]

Coming soon - uncontrolled inflation. SS checks won’t be much use even if they are tied to inflation.

[xzins]

The answer is the freeze spending solution. No one get’s more dollars than they got this year...a real freeze, not a “this year + 7.5% increase” fake freeze. 2012 they get the same amount. Period. They will find efficiencies or struggle at the end of the year.

Reduce spending each year 1 or 2 percent (dollar amount and not baseline 7.5% fantasy). The money is there.

In one year we’d control spending; in 2 years we’d have real cuts; and in 2 quadrennia, we’d have a balanced budget.

8 years to get out of the hole.

ObamaCare must be rescinded...there is no money for it. Entitlements would have to be reformed. (Increase retirement age to 70 or 72). Welfare and Medicaid would have to be based on “work for money.” with WPA type projects. Medicare would have to have annual minor medical caps....routine doctor visits, medicine, end non-MD therapy treatments (chiro, massage, “natural”, etc),

[maine-iac7]

Write 100 times on the blackboard:

SOCIAL SECURITY/MEDICARE ARE NOT ‘ENTITLEMENT’ PROGRAMS.

It is a program that people PRE-pay into for 50 years before they can use it.

And Medicare: health insurance PRE-paid for for 50 years and THEN, over $100 a month premium, a yearly deductible, 20% co-pay and office visits are not covered.

The program would be solvent had the gov’t not EMBEZZLED trillions from it for other purposes - and did not the gov’t now rob from it to give to millions of young people who have paid little to nothing into it - people perfectly capable of working, but who sit on their lazy arsess collecting a monthly check, food stamps and ONE HUNDRED % medical. NO premium, NO deductible, NO co-pay, office visits covered - AND free counseling (not covered for seniors.) All these people need to be - or claim to be - are current/past alcoholic/druggies/”bi-polar” etc.

These people's largess should not be robbed from Social Security/medicare funds.

GET IT?

Gov’t should be made to repay it's notes to Social Security and the interest built in would keep it solid. Remember, not everyone lives to collect SS, and many not for long.

Separate the SS/med. funds, pull the mooches funds from general and start cutting out the fraud and waste.

But SOCIAL SECURITY is NOT a ‘freebie’ program for seniors. They've paid the dues ahead and are still paying into medicare.

[Don@VB]

Didn’t see it last night but I’m waiting for a liberal pundit to arrive at the conclusion that S&P is a racist/terrorist organization.

[Vision]

bm

[MontaniSemperLiberi]

Just to be precise, S&P is talking about Unemployment, SS, Medicare, i.e. programs you pay into and get a benefit based upon the amount you paid in.

Not Food Stamp (now called SNAP)
Not Medicaid
Not AFDC
Not daycare cash payments
Not nutitional assistance
Not special minority loans for business
Not Section 8 housing

It’s because Americans think they earned these things by working and paying in that it makes politicians so reluctant to cut them.

[Terry Mross]

The WH says S&P made a $2 trillion error. If that’s true then this is S&P’s fault and no one elses.

[algernonpj]

Here’s the elephantt in the room, no one seems to mention.
Anchor babies, illegals, new immigrants, and their respective families have been sucking up hundreds of billion of dollars in freebies for years.

[RockinRight]

Yes, entitlements need to be cut, but how? Once you create that dependence cycle, it’s like taking away a crackhead’s crack - he’ll do ANYTHING to get it back.

Considering that a disproportionate percentage of people outside the 65+ SS recipient class are of a mindset that is more statistically likely to commit violent crimes, what are we going to do with 20 million hungry people who have a lower-than-average resistance to robbing, stealing, and shooting their way to prosperity?