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Santorum: Trim Social Security now even if painful
Associated Press ^ | Jan 6, 2012 6:35 PM (ET) | CHARLES BABINGTON

Posted on 01/06/2012 6:38:10 PM PST by DJ MacWoW

KEENE, N.H. (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum called Friday for immediate cuts to Social Security benefits, risking the wrath of older voters and countless others who balk at changes to the entitlement program.

"We can't wait 10 years," even though "everybody wants to," Santorum told a crowd while campaigning in New Hampshire and looking to set himself apart from his Republican rivals four days before the New Hampshire primary.

Most of his opponents have advocated phasing in a reduction and say immediate cuts would be too big a shock to current and soon-to-be retirees.

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: greed; planners; police; santorum; socialism; socialsecurity; teachers
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To: PLMerite
Okay, so what did you call the product if not “vacuum cleaner” ?

I don't recall. It was something like "home maintenance system." It sliced, it diced, it gave your wife an orgasm (and it literally could, since it had a massaging vibrator attachment).

421 posted on 01/07/2012 8:10:16 AM PST by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: babygene

>Indeed it did... every extra nickle he got to keep was a extra nickle I had to pay. It was a redistribution of wealth from me to him. I EARNED the extra money that I had to pay in taxes to support his deduction(s) too.

Rubbish. You really are on the wrong web site. Try DU or perhaps Daily KOS. They would appear to suit your worldview more closely.

Let me try again (for the last time, I hate wasting time trying to convince those who don’t listen). The government has a budget. It includes revenues and outlays. The revenues take into account the expected amounts people will pay in taxes. This will be based on total income as well as deductions which adjust taxable income. If the government decides that it needs to raise taxes because it doesn’t want to decrease outlays due to deductions it offers to make people do things it wants people to do, then that is the decision of the politicians. However they are certainly capable of keeping the outlays down to compensate.

Your rationale is just as valid as saying that anyone who earns less money than you, and thus pays lower taxes is being subsidized by you. If instead of having kids, he decided to cut his income by $6k, would you claim he is being subsidized because he is paying less in taxes?

You are not supporting his deduction in any way shape or form. You are supporting government profligacy.

>Your not thinking very clearly this morning, are you?

Pot. Kettle. Black.


422 posted on 01/07/2012 8:12:47 AM PST by drbuzzard (different league)
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To: TigersEye
"How about cutting foreign aid, benefits for illegal aliens, welfare for layabouts, SS/Medicare/Medicaid fraud and grants for quasi-political orgs like ACORN first?"

Doing all that wouldn't come close to solving the coming entitlement tsunami. Please take a close look at the following:


423 posted on 01/07/2012 8:13:38 AM PST by KantianBurke (Where was the Tea Party when Dubya was spending like a drunken sailor?)
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To: central_va

>You have a thin skin FRiend, lighten up

How about you lay off the insults and learn to read instead?

I said it wouldn’t save as much as you think. I said nothing to the effect that illegals were a economic positive. Yes, they are a drain. However it’s not very much money at all, and getting worked up over it is a tempest in a teapot compared to real fiscal issues.

I get tired of people around here tossing insults when they can’t make real arguments. I also get tired of people who don’t even vaguely understand the scale of things they are discussing.

But since you want numbers:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/07/02/immigration-costs-fair-amnesty-educations-costs-reform/

They say the cost is about $100 billion at all levels of government. This is FAIR, so it’s hardly people sympathetic to the cause of illegals (and many claim it is an over estimate).

So let’s do some math. Hmm, $1.2 Trillion spent on seniors vs. $.1 trillion spent on illegals. DAMN- There’s the solution.

Oh, wait the numbers don’t add up.

You want to try again without the innumeracy and insults?


424 posted on 01/07/2012 8:19:28 AM PST by drbuzzard (different league)
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To: drbuzzard

100B is a Trillion dollars every 10 years, a lot of money even to a Dr.


425 posted on 01/07/2012 8:24:51 AM PST by central_va ( I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: KantianBurke

Each senior applying for SS benefits should be assign a social worker, just like welfare people. We don’t want seniors spending their SS checks on booze do we? /sarcasm


426 posted on 01/07/2012 8:27:42 AM PST by central_va ( I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: central_va

>100B is a Trillion dollars every 10 years, a lot of money even to a Dr.

Yes, and it is still only 1/12 as much as we spend on seniors every year (at the federal level, and mind you the $100B estimate is at all levels). Oh, and that number for the seniors is growing fast.

Do you actually have a point hiding in there somewhere?


427 posted on 01/07/2012 8:28:06 AM PST by drbuzzard (different league)
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To: Revolting cat!
" Hi Fives in Axelrod’s office. The wascally Wepublicans want grandma to each dog food! "

Wow... that's what the MSM, Liberals, and Democrats said about GW Bush when he proposed reforming and privatizing Social Security... looks like things have not changed since then.... same rhetoric....
428 posted on 01/07/2012 8:30:06 AM PST by American Constitutionalist (The fool has said in his heart, " there is no GOD " ..)
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To: central_va

>Each senior applying for SS benefits should be assign a social worker, just like welfare people. We don’t want seniors spending their SS checks on booze do we? /sarcasm

It’s funny the irony in that post. What is to prevent such a thing? It is a government check after all. It does come from the paychecks of current workers(it is not an investment or something from a trust). If someone wanted to put proscriptions on it, why couldn’t they? Oh yeah, the hollering. Nevermind.


429 posted on 01/07/2012 8:30:29 AM PST by drbuzzard (different league)
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To: drbuzzard
We should have a program where welfare people have to work for retired people, cleaning, yard work etc. in lieu of an actual SS payment. How's that for thinking out of the box?
430 posted on 01/07/2012 8:31:09 AM PST by central_va ( I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: DJ MacWoW
Yeah, Santorum clearly hasn't mastered the art of mealy-mouthed platitudes and pretending pressing problems can be kicked down the road. From the article:

Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania, says changes should include a higher eligibility age to qualify for Social Security benefits, and tighter restrictions on benefits for upper-income people. Americans now qualify for reduced Social Security benefits at age 62 and full benefits at 66, soon to rise to 67.

Social Security pays proportionately higher benefits to low-income people. But Santorum says wealthy retirees' proportionate benefits should be trimmed further. He did not offer details.

This week, he told New Hampshire audiences that Americans over 65 were society's poorest age group in 1937, when Social Security was created. Now that group is the wealthiest, he said.

All of this is absolutely true. And it is bizzare to watch so many FReepers pile on Santorum for speaking the truth here.

431 posted on 01/07/2012 8:32:38 AM PST by dirtboy
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To: dirtboy

Why raise the eligibility age? It’s up to 67 now. Why not get 20 somethings and illegals off first? There are older people that actually were forced to pay into it that will NEVER see their money.


432 posted on 01/07/2012 8:36:02 AM PST by DJ MacWoW (America! The wolves are here! What will you do?)
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To: dfwgator

Spot on comments throughout this thread. One question the “gimme gimme gimme” crowd isn’t answering is why does the responsibility to the elderly rests at the Federal level?


433 posted on 01/07/2012 8:37:42 AM PST by KantianBurke (Where was the Tea Party when Dubya was spending like a drunken sailor?)
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To: DJ MacWoW

Santorum may have a point-—as long as he substitutes the fat cat retirement and health plans that congress gives themselves.


434 posted on 01/07/2012 8:38:41 AM PST by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like it)
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To: reaganaut
Not everyone was able to do that. You don't "invest well" when you are barely scraping by.

I'm very happy that your Mom is set. But there are many who are not. My Mom was a secretary. When the company closed, she became a saleslady. There was nothing to invest.

435 posted on 01/07/2012 8:40:35 AM PST by DJ MacWoW (America! The wolves are here! What will you do?)
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To: freeangel

Yes. But they won’t. None of them will. And they all leave Congress richer than when they arrived.


436 posted on 01/07/2012 8:42:19 AM PST by DJ MacWoW (America! The wolves are here! What will you do?)
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To: DJ MacWoW
I guess you miss the point. Look at the graphs posted on this thread about where entitlement growth is going. You will not be able to fix the entitlement problem by tinkering around the edges. On their own, they will grow to consume the entire federal budget. Changes to Social Security are just one aspect of what has to change.

Also, note what I posted of Santorum's comments. People are living longer. I expect to work until I am 70-75. You can't just pay longer and longer periods of Social Security without a serious impact to the program

It really is a sad statement that by speaking the truth, Santorum is being savaged by so many on FR, of all places.

And Santorum isn't even my top choice, that is still Newt. But I ain't gonna rip into the guy for having the guts to speak truth even if that is politically risky. We got where we are today because so many mealy-mouthed politicians preach utter lies to the voting public. And now we should turn on him for not being willing to lie as convincingly as the others?

437 posted on 01/07/2012 8:43:18 AM PST by dirtboy
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To: DJ MacWoW

“There was nothing to invest.”

And soon there will be nothing left to disburse. A problem which Santorum is trying to address.


438 posted on 01/07/2012 8:43:18 AM PST by KantianBurke (Where was the Tea Party when Dubya was spending like a drunken sailor?)
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To: drbuzzard

“The government has a budget.”

That’s I think where you go wrong. The government doesn’t have a budget. They spend whatever they get and then some.

Have you been drinking? It’s early you know...


439 posted on 01/07/2012 8:47:39 AM PST by babygene (Figures don't lie, but liars can figure...)
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To: ExtremeUnction
I'll help destroy any chance he may have on getting elected.

Spare us, it was clear that was your objective even before this.

440 posted on 01/07/2012 8:50:18 AM PST by dirtboy
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