Excellent points. I think a lot of the outrage on this thread is due to SS benefits being discussed as the first step in reducing the deficit.
Why not start with all the "drops in the bucket" that could well total over $100 billion per year?
Go after illegals, cull the welfare rolls, quit subsidizing pet projects, no more foreign aid, no more foreign bases, etc...
Does anyone really think that Graham (or any other politician) will make the rest of the cuts necessary to get spending under control after they lower SS costs? HECK NO! They'll call the money saved a "surplus" and spend it on something else. Anyone who believes different hasn't been paying attention to how our government works.
Go after illegals, cull the welfare rolls, quit subsidizing pet projects, no more foreign aid, no more foreign bases, etc...
I agree totally. Thanks for the reply. When I hear the incompetent politicians who have over the last 30 years succeeded in sending the greatest manufacturing economy on Earth to China, and say their pet pork project or foreign aid only represents 1% of GDP or budget it drives me nuts. These are compromised corrupt fools for the most part.
We need symbolism of austerity from everyone in government and we need real expense cuts. BUT before Americans are cut we must end foreign aid (and Federal Reserve handouts) to every other and that includes Israel, Ireland, Germany, Egypt and all of our so called allies. We need to end the entitlements to them now and get rid of the military bases unless they pay us fully for our defense costs.
Politicians work only for lobbyists, elitists and big NY money interests and they do not care about average law abiding hard working citizens. I'm in pretty good shape financially only because I've always been fiscally conservative and invested conservatively and I live beneath my means, and most importantly have lived in the USA instead of Somalia. The latter is a real big deal when I hear some people tout just how wonderful they are in getting rich. Had they lived in Somalia they'd have nothing. They OWE this country big time.
Illegals are a huge entitlement expense for health, education, etc and they are here only because they work cheap and provide profits to corrupt businesses. End the jobs and entitlements and they will go back home and it would save us more billions. I'm for hanging the employers of these people and that will stop it. I don't trust Rs to take care of this and never the Ds. Sorry for the length of this but it really ticks me off that the politicals such as Graham etc are honing in on Americans first instead of the foreign interests sucking and living on our dole.