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No, Raising The Social Security Retirement Age Is Not A Good Idea by Laura Clawson, dailykos.com | December 2, 2012
Some zombie lies cannot be smacked down hard enough or often enough. The claim that we should raise the Social Security retirement age because we're all living longer and can therefore work longer is high on that list. This zombie is so hard to kill because the people who control policy will live longer and be able to continue working long past 65. If you've had good medical care for most of your life and you work at a desk in a climate-controlled office, it doesn't sound so hard. But for people who do physical work, it's another story. The reminder of what that means—physical pain, dangerous situations—has to come as relentlessly as the raise-the-retirement-age zombie. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein set a little zombie loose on CBS last week, joining Alan Simpson, Pat Robertson, and too many more to name. But let's talk about the real world. read more »A New, Tougher Obama? by Robert Kuttner, prospect.org | November 30, 2012
In response to pushback from Congress and progressive activists following a report in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal that Obama had offered to be “flexible” on tax-rate hikes for the very richest, the White House formally unveiled a tough bargaining stance: $1.6 billion in tax increases over a decade, all on the top two brackets, and no tax hikes for the bottom 98 percent. The White House proposal included only $400 billion in spending cuts over a decade, none of which cut into Social Security or Medicare—details to be filled in later. Obama also proposed a change in the law to eliminate the obstructionist ritual of requiring a congressional vote to periodically increase the debt ceiling. Two things are encouraging about Obama’s stance. First, there was no backsliding on the promise to insist on restoring the pre-Bush tax cut rates on the top two brackets. Equally significant is the refusal to whack Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. read more »What Do Republicans Want? by Paul Waldman, prospect.org | November 27, 2012
As we head into negotiations on the Austerity Trap (better known by the inaccurate moniker "fiscal cliff," which I refuse to use), there's a clear narrative emerging. This narrative has it that Democrats want to see taxes increase on rich people, which Republicans aren't happy about, while Republicans want to see entitlement "reform," which Democrats aren't happy about. So once everybody gives a little, and Republicans accept some tax increases for the rich while Democrats accept some "reform" of Social Security and Medicare, then we can have a happy ending. The problem with this is that while the Democrats' position is quite clear—the Bush tax cuts should expire for income over $250,000—the Republicans' position is extremely vague, on both the tax side and the entitlement side. read more »Did Social Security and Medicare Crash the Economy? by Dean Baker, finance.yahoo.com | November 27, 2012
The talk in Washington these days might lead people to think that the main cause of the economic downturn is the Social Security and Medicare benefits being paid to retirees. After all, we have people from both parties giving us assurances that cuts to these programs are an essential part of any budget deal. This is the sort of topsy-turvy thinking that passes as conventional wisdom in Washington. In case it's necessary to remind people, our economy plunged due to the collapse of a Wall Street fueled housing bubble. The loss of demand from the collapse of the housing bubble both led to a jump in the unemployment rate from which we have still not fully recovered and also the large deficits of the last five years. read more »The Giant Lie Trotted Out by Fiscal Conservatives Trying to Shred Social Security by Lynn Stuart Parramore, alternet.org | November 20, 2012
Trying to convince the public to cut America’s best-loved and most successful program requires a lot of creativity and persistence. Social Security is fiscally fit, prudently managed and does not add to the deficit because by law it must be completely detached from the federal operating budget. Obviously, it is needed more than ever in a time of increasing job insecurity and disappearing pensions. It helps our economy thrive and boosts the productivity of working Americans. And yet the sharks are in a frenzy to shred it in the upcoming “fiscal cliff” discussions. The most popular red herring Social Security hustlers have unleashed into the waters of public discourse has grown into such a massive whale of a lie that liberals frequently subscribe to it. Here are five clear reasons why the life expectancy argument is nonsensical, counterproductive and based on a pack of lies. read more »Arm Yourself For Fiscal Cliff Arguments by Dave Johnson, OurFuture.org | November 19, 2012
I joined Campaign for America's Future's Richard Eskow to talk about the "fiscal cliff" scare, austerity, Social Security, Medicare and how we WON the election so we really should be talking about jobs instead. This was a GREAT hour, and hold the information you need to arm yourself to win holiday-dinner conversations with your right-wing brother-in-law. read more »Life, Death and Deficits by Paul Krugman, The New York Times | November 16, 2012
America’s political landscape is infested with many zombie ideas — beliefs about policy that have been repeatedly refuted with evidence and analysis but refuse to die. The most prominent zombie is the insistence that low taxes on rich people are the key to prosperity. But there are others. And right now the most dangerous zombie is probably the claim that rising life expectancy justifies a rise in both the Social Security retirement age and the age of eligibility for Medicare. Even some Democrats — including, according to reports, the president — have seemed susceptible to this argument. But it’s a cruel, foolish idea — cruel in the case of Social Security, foolish in the case of Medicare — and we shouldn’t let it eat our brains. read more »New Poverty Statistics Show Need for Bigger, Not Smaller, Social Security Benefits by David Dayen, news.firedoglake.com | November 14, 2012
Fiscal Cliff Scare Talk Follows Shock Doctrine Script by Dave Johnson, OurFuture.org | November 12, 2012
Anyone who has read The Shock Doctrine understands exactly what this "Fiscal Cliff" scare is. If you have already read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein you have probably been rolling your eyes at all this "Fiscal Cliff" scare talk. "Here they go again" you're thinking... If you haven't read the book, you should. You really, really should. read more »Hey, Obama, Hands Off Their Medicare by Robert Kuttner, prospect.org | November 8, 2012
President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner are on track to cut a deal that Wall Street has been slavering over for a decade—a small dollop of revenue increases, mainly through loophole closings, coupled with massive spending cuts including in Social Security in Medicare, adding up to 4 to 5 trillion dollars of budget cuts over a decade. Obama is convinced that this sort of grand bargain is necessary because financial markets expect it. Yet the same financial markets are happy to lend the government money for 30 years at less than 3 percent interest. If Obama and the Republicans do make such a deal, growth will slow to a trickle. Ironically, the president, having humiliated the Republicans on Election Day, holds most of the cards. read more »
The Latest
Robert Borosage is quoted in The Washington Post: Voters want the focus on jobs, voices.washingtonpost.com | January 24, 2011
Call it the pre-prebuttal. Anticipating a heavy focus on reducing the deficit in President Obama's State of the Union address next week, liberal groups are already attacking the idea, arguing that deficit reduction should not come before further stimulus to help the economy. read more »
Roger Hickey is quoted in the Washington Post , The Washington Post | January 24, 2011
DCCC Chair: Dems Will Pound GOP On Social Security, Keep Retirement Age In Place , Huffington Post | August 13, 2010
Top officials insist that among all the issues they've tested with voters, the one that yields the best results for the party is a pledge to protect the retirement program from privatization. read more »
Protecting Social Security: Let's Tell The Deficit Commission Not to Slash Entitlements , dailykos.com | August 13, 2010
Earlier today I sent a letter to the White House, signed by myself and Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Lynn Woolsey, making it clear that we will stand against any potential cuts to Social Security benefits. read more »
At 75, Social Security Ripens as Voter Issue, USA Today | August 13, 2010
They spent months on health care and Wall Street in Congress, but as lawmakers talk with voters during the summer recess they are increasingly focused on an entirely different issue: Social Security. read more »
Democracy Corps Poll: Cut the deficit by investing, not by cutting Social Security , dailykos.com | August 13, 2010
The most salient result from the polling, said Greenberg is that it reflected that the electorate is "remarkably sophisticated about the economic crisis and its causes" and hold the firm belief that the only way to address the deficit long term is with investment in the economy. The survey of 1,000 people who voted in 2008 was conducted at the end of July. Here are the key findings:
Dems Plan to Attack GOP on Social Security, thehill.com | August 10, 2010
House Democrats are planning more than 100 events around this week’s anniversary of Social Security to attack Republicans who want to reform the popular entitlement.
Democrats and interest groups on the left have scheduled “birthday parties” and other events to highlight Saturday’s 75th anniversary of the program signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt.
In Weak Economy, More People Are Filing Early for Social Security, The Washington Post | August 9, 2010
Social Security Approaches Its 75th Anniversary, mcclatchydc.com | August 9, 2010
Evelyn Sekula's widowed grandmother struggled to survive during the Depression. Like millions of other elderly people, she had no pension and no savings. read more »
Medicare Stronger, Social Security Worse in Short Run, Report Finds, The New York Times | August 6, 2010
Medicare will remain financially solvent for 12 additional years, until 2029, because of the cost-cutting measures in President Obama’s recently enacted health care legislation, the program’s trustees projected on Thursday. read more »
