Congress will soon begin deliberating on a debt deal, and many on the right and their corporate backers are exploiting the situation to argue for a “Grand Bargain” that would cut both Social Security and the corporate tax rate.
In an interview with a local television station, Wisconsin Senator-elect Tammy Baldwin (D) argued against including Social Security in these discussions, saying that it “shouldn’t even be on the table”:
BALDWIN: With regard to Social Security, Social Security is in no way contributing to our deficit and debt, and shouldn’t even be on the table for the discussion about where we move forward from here.
Watch it:
Recall that Progressive Change Campaign Committee members were integral to Baldwin’s election. We made 92,000 calls for her and also raised more than $55,000 for her campaign.
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Janet Gaudiello says:
I am sick and tired of the constant attacks against all working Americans whether it’s Social Security, unions, teachers, minimum wage which should now be $11 an hour. I am weary of hearing the attacks regarding food stamps, and people in foreclosure.
Progressives need to go after the military/industrial/security complex with a vengeance non-stop. I am sick of the government’s false flags of terrorism. The terrorists are the US government along with the Saudis and the British Monarchy. The government needs to get the hell out of the Middle East and to stop being direcdted by a demonic Zionist Lobby.
Social Security, my ass.
Tom Langham says:
The new twist lately is to repeat the mantra that Social Security and Medicare are “entitlements” over and over until we accept it as fact. This short-hand label suggests the programs are simply government handouts, “welfare,” and that its charity. The inference is that the Government is “giving” us something for free. Currently, the folks that develop the “balanced budgets” and the “Tea Baggers” support reducing or even eliminating these “hand outs”. They cry for “spending reform” and we must reduce the deficit! But for the life of me, I can’t understand why they cry for more tax cuts while we continue to give a subsidy to the five largest Oil companies that made record profits in the past few years. The questions I have to ask is “are they insane or are they just lying?” Shouldn’t we fix the Tax system we have now? But that’s another issue.
The truth is that neither Social Security retirement/disability nor Medicare are really “entitlements” at all. Payments come out of the wages of working people, and are deposited in four separate trust funds: Old-Age and Survivors Insurance; Disability Insurance; Hospital Insurance (Part A of Medicare); and Supplementary Medical Insurance (Part B). Its money paid into the government for specific proposes.
Throughout our working lives, we pay our “premiums” (a percent of our wage earnings) into these government insurance trust funds so that when we no longer have earnings, due to retirement or disability, we will receive these benefits back – the same way any private insurance program is supposed to work.
Its our money, and I agree with Tammy Baldwin that it shouldn’t be on the “chopping block” for a “Grand Bargan.”
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