Obama claims GOP trying to destroy Social Security

[dmcowen674]

I have not made an OP in here in a long time but seeing Obama come out swinging on this is pretty big.

About time he grow a pair and says exactly what the Republicans are doing.

When Republicans do get the chance to put Social Security into the stock market kiss it goodbye along with all of the rest of your money.



8-14-2010

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100814...lYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA29iYW1hY2xhaW1zZw--


[COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important]President [COLOR=#366388 ! important]Barack [/COLOR][COLOR=#366388 ! important]Obama[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] used the anniversary of Social Security to trumpet Democrats' support for the popular program and accuse Republicans of trying to destroy it.

Some Republican leaders in Congress are "pushing to make [COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important]privatizing [COLOR=#366388 ! important]Social [/COLOR][COLOR=#366388 ! important]Security[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] a key part of their legislative agenda if they win a majority in Congress this fall," Obama said.
He contended that such privatization was "an ill-conceived idea that would add trillions of dollars to our budget deficit while tying your benefits to the whims of Wall Street traders and the ups and downs of the stock market."

 

[dmcowen674]

Jesus, the post looks like ass.

 

[rudder]

Screw the GOP, obama should just get Bernie Madoff on his staff and social security will be fine.

 

[Hacp]

Screw the GOP, obama should just get Bernie Madoff on his staff and social security will be fine.

Social Security SHOULD be destroyed. Right now, it has enough money to service the baby boomers for the 30 years they wont be working(I.E. not being productive). Thats it. After the baby boomers die, there will be no money left for the current people in their 20s. Doesn't that sound a bit outrageous? Paying people for 30 years of their lives to not work?

 

[ShawnD1]

I don't even know why Obama would need to "claim" this. Haven't some republicans and libertarians publicly stated that social security was bullshit and should be ended?

I'm pretty sure I've heard it before. In the last election, I specifically remember McCain bitching about entitlement programs. He's talking about entitlement in general, but social security definitely counts as an entitlement program. This is not some kind of secret! News not found.

 

[dmcowen674]

I don't even know why Obama would need to "claim" this. Haven't some republicans and libertarians publicly stated that social security was bullshit and should be ended?

I'm pretty sure I've heard it before. In the last election, I specifically remember McCain bitching about entitlement programs. He's talking about entitlement in general, but social security definitely counts as an entitlement program. This is not some kind of secret! News not found.

So all Republicans are perfectly capable of supporting themselves when they retire?

 

[Engineer]

Social Security SHOULD be destroyed. Right now, it has enough money to service the baby boomers for the 30 years they wont be working(I.E. not being productive). Thats it. After the baby boomers die, there will be no money left for the current people in their 20s. Doesn't that sound a bit outrageous? Paying people for 30 years of their lives to not work?

So the average expected life expectancy of the baby boomers is between 92-95 years old (based on 62-65 SS eligible age)? Really?

 

[xj0hnx]

I don't even know why Obama would need to "claim" this. Haven't some republicans and libertarians publicly stated that social security was bullshit and should be ended?

I'm pretty sure I've heard it before. In the last election, I specifically remember McCain bitching about entitlement programs. He's talking about entitlement in general, but social security definitely counts as an entitlement program. This is not some kind of secret! News not found.

Social security is an "Entitlement" program? Cool I'll just I can stop making payments into it then huh? And get my money back now?

 

[dmcowen674]

So the average expected life expectancy of the baby boomers is between 92-95 years old (based on 62-65 SS eligible age)? Really?

I don't know of many men making it past 85.

 

[Tristicus]

Jesus, the post looks like ass.

Eerily similar to every post you make.

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

Social Security SHOULD be destroyed. Right now, it has enough money to service the baby boomers for the 30 years they wont be working(I.E. not being productive). Thats it. After the baby boomers die, there will be no money left for the current people in their 20s. Doesn't that sound a bit outrageous? Paying people for 30 years of their lives to not work?

Math fail? Isn't life expectancy 75 or so?

 

[ChunkiMunki]

raise the fica tax past $108,000. Why do you stop paying tax after this magic amount?

 

[bamacre]

The idea behind social security is that too many people will not save for their retirement. So the government took all that money, then completely failed to save one dime of it.

 

[ShawnD1]

I don't know of many men making it past 85.

Maybe you only know the worst men.

75 years is the average, and that includes babies and children. The result of including babies and children is that it drops the average to a ridiculously low number.
Let me give an example of how this works. 100 men are born, 100 of them live to 75. The average age at death is 75. If 100 men make it to 75 but 5 extra people die at birth, it drops the average down to 71.4 (75*100 / 105 = 71.4)

This way of calculating life expectancy has actually caused a lot of confusion and misconceptions about how long people live. Example: life expectancy in the 1500s was only about 30 years. Does that mean everybody dies before 40? Of course not. What it means is that a high number of people died at birth. Famous painter Michelangelo died in 1564, he was 88 years old! Leonardo died in 1519 at the age of 67. Raphael died in 1520 at age 37. Donatello died in 1466 at age 80. I can't find a wiki page about Shredder, but so far 2 of the 4 ninja turtles made it to 80 and that was like 400-500 years ago.

Seriously, if you can't even outlive people from the 1500s then you just suck at life.

 

[xj0hnx]

Maybe you only know the worst men.

75 years is the average, and that includes babies and children. The result of including babies and children is that it drops the average to a ridiculously low number.
Let me give an example of how this works. 100 men are born, 100 of them live to 75. The average age at death is 75. If 100 men make it to 75 but 5 extra people die at birth, it drops the average down to 71.4 (75*100 / 105 = 71.4)

This way of calculating life expectancy has actually caused a lot of confusion and misconceptions about how long people live. Example: life expectancy in the 1500s was only about 30 years. Does that mean everybody dies before 40? Of course not. What it means is that a high number of people died at birth. Famous painter Michelangelo died in 1564, he was 88 years old! Leonardo died in 1519 at the age of 67. Raphael died in 1520 at age 37. Donatello died in 1466 at age 80. I can't find a wiki page about Shredder, but so far 2 of the 4 ninja turtles made it to 80 and that was like 400-500 years ago.

Seriously, if you can't even outlive people from the 1500s then you just suck at life.

I lol'ed at the TMNT reference. But today, especially in America we are seeing increases in heart disease, and other obesity related disease, I am curious how that is going to effect lifespans in the next couple a few decades.

 

[ShawnD1]

I lol'ed at the TMNT reference. But today, especially in America we are seeing increases in heart disease, and other obesity related disease, I am curious how that is going to effect lifespans in the next couple a few decades.

500 years ago, you just died when your heart stopped. Now, it's possible to restart your heart, and it's possible to switch some of the tubes around (this is what a bypass is). We also have artificial hearts that are used for a few hours at a time while doing surgery. In the future, these artificial hearts could be made portable and run on batteries, similar to a pacemaker.

Also, there hasn't been an increase in heart disease. Heart disease is a vague term used to describe any problems related to the heart. 50 years ago people would say "he died of natural causes" when a person's heart stopped. Now people say "he died from heart disease" because it's a bit more descriptive.

 

[destrekor]

Because social security is a dumb as shit idea?

Perhaps.

Why not create a set of laws that enforces the selection of a retirement account. And enforce regulations, not money collection into government-owned organizations.

Force all adults, once they reach a specific age, to decide which type of retirement account they would like to own. Make it so that there are consequences of not choosing such an account (and if you escape the system, the system won't do shit for you when you retire. that's one consequence. good luck on the streets at 80). And then just like S.S., automatically require a certain amount to be deducted pre-tax from your paycheck.

The government should have realized 40 years ago that population change, which was obvious, would completely impact government's hold your hand wallet.

Fuck SS, money that I worked to earn, I will almost certainly not get to see when I retire.

 

[cubby1223]

raise the fica tax past $108,000. Why do you stop paying tax after this magic amount?

Because Social Security was not created to be yet another "take from the rich & give to the poor" program.

 

[her209]

Why not create a set of laws that enforces the selection of a retirement account. And enforce regulations, not money collection into government-owned organizations.

Force all adults, once they reach a specific age, to decide which type of retirement account they would like to own. Make it so that there are consequences of not choosing such an account (and if you escape the system, the system won't do shit for you when you retire. that's one consequence. good luck on the streets at 80). And then just like S.S., automatically require a certain amount to be deducted pre-tax from your paycheck.

Sounds like some other law that was just recently passed.

 

[ShawnD1]

Force all adults, once they reach a specific age, to decide which type of retirement account they would like to own. Make it so that there are consequences of not choosing such an account

lol. Obama would be proud.

We are making a new law that forces you to buy health insurance retirement bonds. If you don't comply with this law, we will cut your dick off cut your dick off.

 

[Jhhnn]

Republicans speak with forked tongues, particularly wrt SS. They're going to "save" it by forcing people to put their money at the tender mercies of Wall St...

Dunno about the rest of you, but the numbers for my own tax deferred investments and my pension plan still haven't recovered...

Lots of retired people would still be totally screwed if they'd been depending exclusively on a revenue stream from their investments...

Saint Ronnie really screwed boomers when he increased SS contributions to cut fatcat taxes at the same time. The SS trust is currently owed a few $T as a result, and Repubs are now trying to welch on those commitments... any way they can. They'd have to raise taxes on the true bush constituency to honor those commitments, and that's just unthinkable for them...

 

[drebo]

Because social security is a dumb as shit idea?

Perhaps.

Why not create a set of laws that enforces the selection of a retirement account. And enforce regulations, not money collection into government-owned organizations.

Force all adults, once they reach a specific age, to decide which type of retirement account they would like to own. Make it so that there are consequences of not choosing such an account (and if you escape the system, the system won't do shit for you when you retire. that's one consequence. good luck on the streets at 80). And then just like S.S., automatically require a certain amount to be deducted pre-tax from your paycheck.

The government should have realized 40 years ago that population change, which was obvious, would completely impact government's hold your hand wallet.

Fuck SS, money that I worked to earn, I will almost certainly not get to see when I retire.

While I don't support social security, I don't like your idea, either.

Why not force people to have some personal/familial responsibility? We could start by teaching kids the value of money and some fiscal responsibility in their schooling.

 

[Engineer]

While I don't support social security, I don't like your idea, either.

Why not force people to have some personal/familial responsibility? We could start by teaching kids the value of money and some fiscal responsibility in their schooling.

While I would love for schools to teach personal finance and fiscal responsibility, if you leave it up to only the individual to save for his or her retirement, there will be massive fail in the future, period.

Most recent retirement savings amounts by ages...

So where do we find the average retirement savings by age? We are forced to rely on the internet. Unfortunately, with the recent stock market crash, writing about nest eggs and average retirement savings hasn’t been very popular. To get data, we turn to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s latest report on Individual Account Retirement Plans (August 2009).

The EBRI’s report has a ton of detailed information on almost everything you might want to know about retirement savings and participation, from defined contribution plans to IRAs. For the purposes of our comparisons, I’ll just look at the age breakdown (2007 figures adjusted to 2009):

* < 35: $6,306
* 35 &#8211; 44: $22,460
* 45 &#8211; 54: $43,797
* 55 &#8211; 64: $69,127
* 65 &#8211; 75: $56,212
* 75+: (sample size insufficient)

Awesome amounts we have there. I wonder, since those are 2007 figures, if the amount has actually went down considering the crash of 2007-2009.

 

[destrekor]

While I don't support social security, I don't like your idea, either.

Why not force people to have some personal/familial responsibility? We could start by teaching kids the value of money and some fiscal responsibility in their schooling.

I don't like my idea either.

In fact, I don't know what I'd want government to actually do in this instance.
I do fully support S.S. going away, and I'm on the fence about medicare/medicaid. Food stamps also can go.

Government programs are a waste, and abused.
I just don't know how to force personal fiscal responsibility, when people are dumb as shit and don't want to plan for anything.
I figured a law would be a good way to start, and hell... as much as I hate large government, a law sure is better than actually taking in my goddamn money.

 

[khon]

The issue is simple really. Over the years the government has borrowed $2.5 trillion from social security, and now many are starting to worry that the bill is coming due. To that end Republicans want to "reform" social security, which is really just their way of saying that they have no intend of ever paying the money back. Instead they want to raise the retirement age or lower benefits.

If the democrats have any political savy at all they'll exploit this opening, since social security is extremely popular in the general population, and several republicans are already on the record saying they want to cut it. Obama's comment could be just the first step in that direction.