Posted on 08/29/2015 7:34:15 PM PDT by WilliamIII
Republican presidential candidates. who have had to seek contributions from a handful of wealthy contributors, want to cut Social Security. Average Americans love the program; the superwealthy don’t.
Something strange is happening in the Republican primary — something strange, that is, besides the Trump phenomenon. For some reason, just about all the leading candidates other than The Donald have taken a deeply unpopular position, a known political loser, on a major domestic policy issue. And it’s interesting to ask why. The issue in question is the future of Social Security, which turned 80 last week. The retirement program is, of course, both extremely popular and a long-term target of conservatives, who want to kill it precisely because its popularity helps legitimize government action in general. As the right-wing activist Stephen Moore (now chief economist of the Heritage Foundation) once declared, Social Security is “the soft underbelly of the welfare state”; “jab your spear through that” and you can undermine the whole thing. But that was a decade ago, during former President George W. Bush’s attempt to privatize the program, and what Bush learned was that the underbelly wasn’t that soft after all. Despite the political momentum from the GOP’s victory in the 2004 election, despite support from much of the media establishment, the assault on Social Security crashed and burned. Voters, it turns out, like Social Security as it is and don’t want it cut.
(Excerpt) Read more at mysanantonio.com ...
Don’t be so hard on onona: Krugman is a jerk anyway but give onona a break!
I thought Krugman was rich. Go figure,
If our government didn’t GIVE AWAY our money to all the ILLEGAL ALIENS, there would be no problem...
Actually the plan was very specific and he pushed very hard for its passage and held numerous forums on the issue across the nation, but it still failed to get popular support - thanks in no small part to the media, of course.
Wrong on two counts.
1. Republicans don't want to kill it because it's popular. They want to kill it because the funds are abused by big spending government hacks.
The funds are not put in an interest bearing account. They are spent as quick as they come in on just about anything under the sun.
Further, a privatized Social Security system would end the government exposure to unfunded mandates.
Further, a privatized Social Security plan done right, would cover retirement, medical care, and have a number of other perks tossed in that could improve the lives of those with the new plan.
2. Nobody in their right mind today, things the current government plan is something to be pointed at proudly.
What really needs reform is the SS Disability payments. This plan has increased under the Obama administration. More and more people are signing up and receiving benefits than ever before. This program will go belly up in a couple of years if something isn’t done. People get disability for their kids who have autism. The average monthly check starts at $710 per child. I know a woman who is an RN - makes $1000 a week and gets $710 for her autistic child - not to mention she also gets child support from her ex. What crap!
Your words should be printed in gold!
The Galveston Plan is what it was called...If it was implemented, it would’ve been great...Of course, older folks like myself would not do so well, but younger folks 25-35 would have tripled their retirement account.
Yes, SS funds were *always* used for general purposes as well as SS.
What would you have had them do with the funds? They never invested them in anything real. They just used them to “pay off” government debt.
The best run government retirement system is in Wisconsin. They put the retirement money directly into the stock market, where it earns real dividends from real investments.
Sec Sec should be private like in Chile..
Ponzi Scheme.
FDR should still be incarcerated in Leavenworth.
Trump with an endorsement from that noted conservative Paul Krugman.....
No money has been taken from SS. All the money collected from the payroll tax is deposited immediately into T-bills. Benefits are paid and any surplus is retained in the SSTF in the form of non-market, interest bearing T-bills. There is currently more than $2 trillion in the SSTF.
SS is a pay as you go system with today's workers paying for today's retirees. SS has been running in the red since 2010, i.e., the benefits collected exceed the revenue collected. The shortfall is made up by redeeming the T-bills in the SSTF by the General Fund. The SSTF will be exhausted by 2034, at which time, by law, benefits will be reduced to the revenue collected.
SS is going broke for several reasons. In 1950 there were 16 workers for every retiree; today, it is three and by 2030 there will be two workers for every retiree. The retirement of the baby boomers, 10,000 a day for the next 20 years, and the fact that people are living longer means that the system is unsustainable unless you raise taxes, reduce benefits, or a combination of both.
The SS DI Trust Fund goes bust in 2016.
The Establishment wants to end Social Security so they can use our tax money to support another 20 million illeagals.
Paul Krugman needs to put this in his pipe and smoke it...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE)
Then he needs to tell the world we can’t afford to support all the people who want to come here...
I don’t always agree with Paul Krugman.
But I think he is right in many ways the political establishment is beholden to the wealthiest individuals.
They support corporate welfare for powerful corporations that don’t really need it but want to cut Social Security benefits.
As you can imagine, they’re deeply loathed by average Americans.
Who rightly think they don’t represent them.
And for the record, Social Security is not welfare, its an earned benefits retirement program. People work all their lives to save for their retirement.
Its often their own only source of income and I’m repelled by politicians who say they should wait longer for what is rightfully their money.
No wonder the Republican Party has a brand image problem with middle and working class Americans. Its not standing by their side.
You don’t have to like Trump’s populism to understand few care if the rich pay more in taxes.
We don’t need any advise from Krugman
The Dems are the ones who keep cutting social security.
Then they tax it.
It was a socialist plan for everyone to contribute to a fund that would provide a pension for those unfortunates that outlived their resources.
Crooked politicians, longevity due to medical advances, and declining birthrates have wrecked the system.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.