Overall, the proposal would cut Social Security benefits by $112 billion over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. It would cut government pensions and veterans’ benefits by $24 billion over the same time period if adopted for them.
Reaction from the president’s own party was swift Thursday, raising questions about whether Obama can keep Democrats on board if he agrees to cuts in Social Security. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said her caucus won’t support any package that includes Social Security cuts.
“Do not consider Social Security a piggy bank for giving tax cuts to the wealthiest people in our country,” Pelosi said. “We are not going to balance the budget on the backs of America’s seniors.”
Not until every Baby Boomer gets all that’s coming to them.
Archer–I am a baby boomer and I can see it is obvious that Social Security has to be changed, and soon. Not all boomers are ignorant and/or greedy as you seem to insinuate. There are a lot of creative solutions but no one seems to be considering any of them. The box cliche is so cliche that I won’t even say it–but does anyone in government ever have a creative or new idea?
Of course there are solutions, but Baby Boomers from day one when they started Kindergarten have consistently followed the “as long as I get mine, no one who comes after matters,” mantra. There are individual exceptions of course, but the pattern has held strong for 60+ years. It ain’t gonna change now, as the country song used to say, because they are old and set in their ways. And the problem is that a lot of policy makers in Washington now and over the last 25 years are boomers or are primary elected by boomers.
Everyone knows this is just the way it is. The only problem is, the boomers won’t be around long enough for everyone after them to say, “I told you so.”
[blockquote] Everyone knows this is just the way it is [/blockquote]
Just like “everyone knows” every other completely unsupported slander against an identified sub-group.
#3, sorry to bust your bubble, but I was forced into the Social Security ponzi plan against my will. If they want to buy me out, dollar for dollar today, I will take it in a heart beat.
Ditto with Medicare. Buy me out today, dollar for dollar and I will never file for benefits.
If they’re going to hack away at Social Security benefits, then they
also need to hack away at overly generous retirement benefits for
public sector employees such judges, states attorneys, fire fighters,
police, etc. Many judges can retire at $100K+ per year. Not bad for
a “public servant”.
#6, last i noted, local fire and police are hired (and rewarded) by local officials who in turn are elected by you and me. I don’t think it’s up to the Fed’s to reign in local government; it’s up to us. And if you think you can hire a judge for $35,000 a year and a 401K, good luck in court.
6. Ditto, Ichabodkunkleberry, and how about taking away Congress’s right to raise their own pay and retirement benefits while we’re at it? How about leaving the question of congressional pay raises for the voters every four years? Put it in the form of merit raises, and we’d soon see how many get those raises. Not really necessary for most of them, however, since most are lawyers and are already financially well off. And furthermore, how about doing away with Congressional pensions altogether, especially since they’re guaranteed after serving for as little as six years?
Government pensions are in reality deferred compensation. The various governments are not “giving” these employees “gifts”. Now if you want to argue that the overall compensation of government employees is too high then make that argument.
Then yes, it [i]is[/i] too high. Compare Congressional compensation (including the Senate) with federal military compensation, which is also federal government compensation, and you’ll see quite a difference.
And take a good look at military retirement compensation vs congressional retirement benefits while you’re at it.
OK, so they want to play games with veterans, the elderly and disabled? Let’s rock and roll.
I have always worked hard and played by the rules. I paid into SS, teacher retirement (which is a joke) and Medicare until two serious diseases put me at death’s door. I have cut my budget and necessities to shreds and moved Heaven and earth to stay alive and be able to pay for my necessities. Now, they want to cut my SSA benefit AND raise my Medicare?
OK, then, I will be cutting government mandates. Car insurance? Nope, forget it. I will assume the risk. Heck, I only drive to church and maybe twice a month to grocery shop, anyway, if my care provider can’t take me. That means when my registration and inspection expire, I won’t be renewing those, either, and I’ll pay the small charge to use the public transportation for the disabled when necessary.
And what about school taxes? I haven’t had a kid in school for quite a while and never will again. If this country is going down the road of not wanting to pay for other people’s services then I shouldn’t have to pay anything toward the schools. Come to that, I don’t want to pay for police and fire services, either. I’ve got an alarm system in my home and I’ll buy a gun/learn how to use it. If my home burns down, oh well. It’s fully insured so I’ll just buy a new one. That’s what happens in rural areas where there is no town/city fire department. You either contribute a determined sum annually toward the volunteer or private fire services or you take the risk of not paying and not having a fire response.
If this is what this country is becoming, bring it. My monthly expenses are comprised of mostly government-mandated insurance premiums/taxes, food, and utilities. Get rid of the insurance and tax mandates, sell my car, utilize Meals on Wheels and the food bank both of which I qualify for but don’t use, and I can use that money to put in a small wind power system to power my home and even sell some energy back to the grid. I’d only have to pay for city water and sewer and that costs me about $20/month. I can do that.
Just think — collectively saying no to government mandates and turning to non-profits for essentials would hit the insurance companies, utility companies, grocery chains, etc. hard. Not my problem. Maybe it’s time we citizens did start fighting back against insurance mandates and such because they are likely unconstitutional.
Teatime2, for years, there has been an ongoing battle between veterans’ organizations and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs……the VA……for adequate funding of medical services, etc, and for all of this time, the members of Congress have been trying to slash that funding. Fortunately, the families of disabled servicemembers and veterans have been successful, for the most part, in defeating these moves.
Now, other American citizens are facing similar threats in the form of cuts to Medicare, Social Security, etc, and if these cuts take place, a good many are going to be very seriously hurt. I agree that Medicare isn’t exactly perfect……far from it……but for many, it’s all they’ve got! Neither is Social Security perfect, and it certainly has its flaws, but for far too many American citizens, it’s their only source of income.
My wife and I paid into the System for all of our working lives, and we depend partly on it for our support. I started paying into the System when I was 15 and working part-time in a bowling alley when I was in high school. I continued paying into it when I was at college and working part-time for GE, and for my entire service career in the Air Force. I started receiving payments when I was retired for 100% disability after 15 1/2 years of service, and still receive it……along with VA Disability Compensation equal to my base pay at the rank I hold on the Reserve Retired List of the Air Force. My wife also receives her Social Security compensation along with her pension from her employer. We pay income tax on that Social Security income, but my VA pay is tax-free.
It is admirable for Congress to aspire to force this country to live within its means, but if it means that people whose health and well-being depends on such things as military retirement pensions and Social Security……and I am associated with many members of veterans’ organizations such as my own Disabled American Veterans……are going to be adversely affected, then we need to rise up and take a stand in defense of what we have in place.
You can’t just throw the baby out with the bathwater, and that’s what anti-Social Security/Medicare types will accomplish if they have their way.
I think most folks on this site can relax about SSN.
I would suspect any real changes to SSN will look like proposed Medicare changes. Enshrine the current benefit structure for those over 55 and then make changes in retirement age after that. It is such a huge program that minor tweaks make enormous improvements in the unfunded liabilities.
By the time changes really occur, all of us will be dead [sorry] and the new beneficiaries will have had years to adjust.
It really is a fair way to bend the curve on entitlements without having people decide to quit paying garbage fees and other fees for essential services.
“Of course there are solutions, but Baby Boomers from day one when they started Kindergarten have consistently followed the “as long as I get mine, no one who comes after matters,†mantra”.
I’m not a Boomer, but that isn’t fair or true. And I’ve heard plenty of similar statements from people who don’t want to contribute, say, to renovating their church “because they’re going to be dead in a couple of years anyway, so who cares what comes after us”?
And just yesterday, whilst in a used bookstore, I heard a woman in her 20’s pitch a complete fit because she had to wait to receive the small compensation for her used book-sell. It’s the policy of the store that they process the sell-backs as they come in; people have to wait in line, or wait in the store for their order to be processed, then they are paged back to the sale desk to receive their money. It’s no more than a standard, temporary “wait-in-line” procedure and some people, with their impatience and nasty sense of entitlement, can’t even do that; Boomers or not. Pathetic…
And I meant [i]every single word of what I said[/i] about Congressional pay and perks!