First of all, there is no deficit crisis whatsoever for the rest of the decade. At some point in the 2020’s, possibly 2025, there will start to be one. This will be mostly caused by Medicare and Medicaid spending. We have to get health care spending under control.
The deficit at the moment is not being caused by “excess government spending.” It has three causes:
- The wars.
- The Bush tax cuts. Now the Obama tax cuts I guess. Way to go, Barack!
- The terrible economy, which was destroyed by Barack Obama’s bankster pals. You know, the same guys he plays golf with. Yes, Obama plays golf with his bankster best friends.
Social Security is not causing any deficit problems whatsoever, nor will it for a very long time. However, now that it’s funding has been severed from the payroll tax with this latest idiocy, it is now going to start to cause some budget problems. Prior to this latest outrage, modeling Social Security as funded out of payroll taxes only, we see that SS has no impact whatsoever on the deficit until about 2035, 23 years from now, when it begins to have a very modest impact.
Pete Peterson and the rest of the punditocracy have been railing about how we need to destroy Social Security since 1980. I can show you articles from 1980 that sound exactly like the deficit hawk screeds of today, with their same warnings of impending collapse in a few years unless we slash away right now.
Since 1992 and the Clintonite DLC takeover of the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party has been dedicated to destroying Social Security.
Bill Clinton committed to destroying Social Security: In 1996, Bill Clinton tried and failed to cut a deal with his best friend, Newt Gingrich, to start the slow murder of Social Security.
Hillary Clinton committed to destroying Social Security: His witch wife Hillary along with Bill implored Darth Vader, corporatist hack Erskine Bowles to start up a commission to begin the slow death of social security. It never started up. So we see that Hillary the Witch is also dedicated to destroying Social Security.
Barack Obama dedicated to destroying Social Security: Passage of the recent tax cut bill, the worst blow to SS in the 75 year history of the program. One of Barack’s very first acts was to appoint Darth Erskine Bowles, point man for Social Security destruction, to the Deficit Commission. His co-appointee to the commission was the diabolical Alan Simpson, who has callously referred to Social Security recipients as “the little people” and repeatedly called the “greedy.”
Which leaves us the puzzling question of why the Clintonites and Obama are utterly dedicated to destroying Social Security. None of it makes sense to me.
Are they rich so they don’t care? They’re just pushing for the politics of their super-rich class?
Are the Clintonites and Obama all working for the corporations and the rich, and out to fuck every single one of us. In other words, they support it because this is what their millionaire, bankster and corporate controllers have ordered? I honestly don’t get it.
Solutions: Raise retirement age. When SS was instituted, the retirement age was 61, and life expectancy was 62. There are calls to raise the retirement age. I support raising the age to 69 with one caveat. That persons who can no longer work period or in their chosen occupation after age 65 due to physical conditions be granted a hardship exemption allowing them to retire with full benefits at age 65.
Absolutely no cuts whatsoever to Social Security. It barely pays enough to even survive on (in fact, I would argue that one cannot survive on SS alone), so any and all cuts are 100% off the table.
Lift payroll tax limit. All of social security’s problems could be solved far into the future by simply lifting the idiotic payroll tax cap on it. Right now, it is capped at about $113,000. To his credit, Obama advocated lifting that cap in the primaries in 2008. The Evil Witch of the East Hillary then said and I kid you not, “The biggest middle class tax increase in America’s history” This evil bitch thinks that an individual making over 113,000/year is middle class? WTF, in what world?
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I myself would not be willing to vote (or politic) for any amendment to SS
until after the troops are out of both Iraq and Afghanistan, a few banksters are in prison real rather than milquetoast regulation of banking (re-Glass Stagall) enacted and taxes on finance money-shifting employed. Matter of principal, but only applying the post’s own explanation for the deficit.
In the meantime, if SS costs would hamper the ability to destroy Afghanistan and bring the new Iraqi government into puppet status, so much the better.