Gene Lyons' latest opinion column.
"What Obama's got here is a teachable moment, an opportunity to apply his formidable pedagogical skills. He's already said that reforming Social Security is "easy"-simply remove the cap on payroll taxes on persons earning over $200,000 a year and the program can be self sustaining indefinitely. Compromise? Maybe raise age limits slightly to give moderate Republicans cover.
The point is to bring aboard those members of the opposition willing to deal with reality. Let the rest walk around Washington wearing signboards printed at the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation or any of the other tycoon-funded propaganda shops dedicated to rationalizing tax cuts for multimillionaires above all else.
Medicare's tougher. The simplest fix would be to make it universal. As that's probably a political impossibility, Obama must keep pointing out that simply cutting benefits would produce a cascade of bad effects. The answer lies in increased efficiency through universal health insurance, which also would greatly improve the competitive position of U.S. auto companies, for example.
Bipartisanship, then, involves personal civility, repeatedly emphasizing that we Americans are all in this mess together and soliciting ideas from Republicans willing to brave the wrath of Rush Limbaugh. It certainly doesn't mean occupying the middle ground between wisdom and folly."
- rest at http://moose-and-squirrel.com/gene/gene.html
I hope that Mr. Lyons is correct that reasonable Democrats and reasonable Republcans can work together to save Social Security and Medicare for the long term.
Barack Obama's teachable moment
Discussion in 'Political Debate & Discussion' started by KenH, Jan 23, 2009.
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Sounds like just the ticket to create jobs - raise the cost of hiring/keeping highly skilled employees. :BangHead:
Since the social security payment that you receive in retirement is supposedly tied to what you paid in would you object to those higher paid wage earners receiving higher retirement payments from social security too?
Or would social security simply become another welfare program whereby one class of people (high wage earners) pay in and another class of people (lower wage earners) are paid out? -
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Here is the plan that I support for Social Security reform:
www.centrists.org/pages/2003/12/11_lemieux_wealth.html -
Not that impressive to me. -
A little bit of raising taxes, a little bit of reducing benefits for the high income folks, and a little bit of raising the retirement age. That's what Ronald Reagan did back in the 1980s and it kept Social Security in the black for about 35 years to 2017. It worked then, it will work again.
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Obama is a socialist ideologue.
It is he that is unteachable. -
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Yes, it is.
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Is redistribution of wealth a Christian principle?
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We, the American people, vote for our representatives who set the policies. You have as much say in the matter as I do.
A lot of us think that providing a mechanism to help people economically in old age(Social Security) is a good thing for us as a society as a whole to do.
A lot of us think that providing a mechanism to help people with medical needs in old age(Medicare) is a good thing for us as a society as a whole to do.
If you want to fight us politically, you are free to do so. -
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The breakdown of the family unit is what has caused this. If/when my parents are too old to work and care for themselves, I will personally take care of them. My siblings will as well. I fully expect that if I am unable to care for myself that my children will care for me. I'm teaching them by words and actions that it is their responsibility!. -
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I also agree that at this point in time we can't simply do away with SS and Medicare immediately. The fallout from that would be horrible. There are too many people that in retirement or nearing retirement that are depending on those systems to be in place. I believe we need at 30 year plan to do away with the systems (and yes a 30 year plan would mean that the systems would not be available for me). We need to make it clear that the system won't be there in 30 years and to not expect it. People will need to plan for themselves. I am personally not planning for or expecting SS to be there when I retire. -
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Revmitchell Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
While some try vainly to prove it is to justify their agenda it has been debunked on this board already.
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