Why, yes, I agree.

"This is unacceptable. "

Well, no, the OP's laughable speculation is, unfortunately, acceptable.

What if Santa Claus is the one who does it?

before the Super Committee and Sequester were established, every so-called progressive on this board was screaming that Obama was ready to cut Social Security and Medicare. never happened. Both were explicitly excluded from the sequester.

Now this shit again?

It's not going to happen.

What will happen? Many of the same people will make fools of themselves again with these asinine predictions.

...and then everyone could relax.

But you gotta admit he seems open to the idea cutting these benefits, by the chained CPI, or by raising the retirement age.

The President should commit to veto any cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or Veterans benefits.

If he would commit to that, he would be doing the job we elected him to do.

But he won't say that, so it seems like he will not veto cuts. He will allow cuts as part of a deal.

The sequester is not going to happen. At a minimum Obama and Boehner will need to reach a temporary deal and kick the ball down the road a few months.

This all seems non-controversial to me, just matters of fact, not opinion.

The hand-wringers were wrong, as usual.

What if they agree this time?

from his "moderate" leaders of our party:

Last week Vice President Joe Biden did a courageous thing, he promised an audience in southern Virginia that there will be no cuts whatsoever to Social Security in a second Obama Administration. He used the strongest possible language, telling customers at a local diner: “I guarantee you, flat guarantee you, there will be no changes in Social Security. I flat guarantee you.”

That is that.

the President said he wants to "tweak" social security, so how does that square up with Biden's comment?

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/03/politics/debate-transcript/index.html


I interpret tweaking as reducing the COLA, cost of living adjustments, by adopting the chained CPI.

What other tweaking is there?

That also leaves Medicare. The President offered last year to raise the Medicare retirement age.

btw the chained CPI could also affect increases for other benefits like veterans benefits.

It also leaves Medicaid exposed for cuts.

If Biden's comment is enough for you, ok, but for me it's not very reassuring.

Raising or eliminating the cap would fix the bulk of the "problem."

That's what they should do. Unfortunately everything is on the table.

Raising Medicare age = mass murder on a scale that Al Qaeda couldn't achieve in 100 years. People DIE right now waiting to get on Medicare, ferchrissakes!

Referring to himself and Mr. Romney: "I suspect that on Social Security, we've got a somewhat similar position." Reassuring, no?

They made the predictions, and when were found to be completely wrong, never apologized for the unnecessary drama. Never admitted they were wrong. Never said that they were fearmongering. Never admitted that they were running with the right wing narrative. They flat out just don't get it.

I guess that means that Romney thought it should not be cut.

They desperately want their doom and gloom, so they can look smug and tell people "see, told you do" 'cause they think being a cassandra is something to feather their caps with.

--against that in massive numbers.

Everyone heard him say that his opinions on Social Security weren't all that different from Romney's.

OMG OBAMA IS GOING TO BLOW UP OTTAWA FOR SURE!!!!!!!!!

First of all, I don't think we are all quiet on this. And there will be a lot more noise if it is more than just a rumor.

But I do believe that the Republicans have been successful on one thing, and that is convincing younger people that SS and Medicare will not be there for them. Without the support of the young people, it is much easier to make these changes. But I could give a lecture to these younger people....about what it was like before these programs, and how these programs keep you from having to give a home and financial assistance to your parents, grandparents, older aunts or uncles....all under one roof.

When the stock market tanked if the funds had been privatized

I cannot believe that anyone would advocate private accounts after what they have seen.

The chained CPI is essentially about bankrupting and killing those who have the gall to live longer than 80 or so years. Since gassing them won't go over very well, just make them poorer every additional year they stay alive and hope they die of poverty.

I remember my grandmother died from diabetes that was treatable, but she could not afford a doctor and medications until it was too late and she was too sick. Even today, I have a friend with diabetes and has no insurance....and between the insulin and the syringes, it is breaking her (and she uses the syringes for a week instead of just once).

There is something about this whole scenario that I do not want to live to see.

in the living room with my widowed Grandma in a 1 bedroom NYC apartment. She couldn't afford to rent a place of her own UNTIL she was old enough to get Social Security. Eventually she got too old and feeble to work cleaning apartments and caring for rich people's little kids.

Yep, the good old days of the 50s and 60s. If it was the 1850s and 1860s, she would have been in that bed until she died.

Both are viewed as missed opportunities by the third way and centrists in the party.
President Obama himself was instrumental in the formulation of both.

He is a "moderate" that agrees with such deals.

Or shall we re-write history now pretending his position is different than it actually is?

...that was then, this is now. Elections have consequences, no? Lame duck, and all that, no?
Geez, I thought Simpson-Bowles got voted down. Maybe I'm just tired from a couple weeks of serious politicking. Maybe I just have TOO MUCH hope?


Peace, ReRe

handled separately, and later.

Medicare...I'm not up on the problems with Medicare. I think the govt acctg office has said there are financial problems with that program, but I'm not sure.

It should be totally separate discussion.

I hope it will be.

Stop with this shit.

We need to remind him to dance with who brung him.
No 'Grand Bargain' or chaining.

is that OBama better stand up to the soulless jackasses that call themselves reichwingers. No fucking cuts. I need my social security untouched.

Merge the three and lower the retirement age to bring in more unemployed people.
As for Obama gutting Medicare,Medic-aid and SS,don't believe the shenanigans,this smacks of propaganda from the fascists who want it all.

For curiosity, if yes, did you write the polite request once every day? (I call doing that daily homework.)

And if no, what are you waiting for?

Thanks.

Bob Marley - (Don't Give Up The Fight)

I don't think they "take the time it takes" to read forums like DU. (Unfortunately).

Congressman Alan Grayson does and he is a member, but he is on our side.

So glad to have him back!

Thousands have to do their daily homework (without expecting replies but you never know, they WILL notice).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1011

It's OUR MONEY.

in the spam folder.

I just guess it's the same for pols (or is there a secret-service folder for extremely impolite emails? Maybe. I don't know).

that they work for us and not the other way around. They are elected as our representatives, not as fucking kings.

It is time for the looting of the middle class and the poor to stop. Any politician who takes the attitude you describe toward any email from a constituent does not deserve to hold public office.

What fucking planet are you on?

Democratic Party politicians are a different matter.

AMERICANS, by large margins and across party lines, want Social Security and Medicare benefits protected.

And health care reform. And most other economic issues.

Isn't it....interesting....how our political system works these days....over and over again.

I don't want to see these programs cut but they do need to be reformed at some point to keep them solvent. And I don't believe these programs should be more sacrosanct than food stamps, Head Start, public transportation, disaster relief, education, veterans' healthcare, and other important programs. I am not in favor of cuts to Social Security and Medicare but I am not necessarily more opposed to that than I am to cuts to other programs.

All who have revenues pay their part, and revenues means Income, Pensions, Dividends, Capital gains, et al. ALL revenues.

Then, at the receiving end, those who don't need these programs (those who don't pay them now because they are wealthy enough) will receive them, like everybody else, BUT they will have to pay them back entirely through their yearly tax forms.

Easy, effective, raising revenues, fair.

To both raise the caps and then set it up so that people who paid a much higher amount don't get any benefit. I am in favor of raising the caps but not means testing. The whole point of the program was supposed to be that everyone pays in and everyone gets back out. It was never designed to be a redistribution program, and turning it into one would erode its popular support and make it much easier politically to cut the benefits in the future.

Only a $50,000 lifetime reduction, on average.

Starving and freezing Seniors are a small price to pay for handing more cash to the Job Creators.

And in the spirit of cooperation, we have to compromise and cut these expensive entitlements.

Why do I think this is the kind of BS we will hear if this does in fact, happen.

I don't know which would be worse, hearing the usual crowd here at DU cheerleading something like this as some sort of great victory, or being told we are just hopeless dreamer lefties and whining because we don't understand how government works if we don't like the grand bargain.

all options must be on the table. Including SS, medicare and medicaid. I am saying this as a liberal on long time supporter of obama. Spending cuts have to happen and taxes have to go up to close the gap.

Fuck the deficit. It needs to be ignored entirely until the jobs situation is fixed.

A real liberal understands all sides of the issues and understands that inaction breeds further complications. Jobs will be factored in with govt spending, tax reform and tax increases. A major reason for the economic growth in 1990's is govt spending was controlled and wasn't sucking the death out of the money supply. Sooner or later interest rates have to increase and that alone will stress the debt and deficit beyond imagination.

when Reagan and Bushler were each doubling the deficit to pay for their wealth-fare tax cuts and vanity wars? How come it's only when Dems are in office that red-staters start in on their "fiscal discipline" routine, when they're the biggest beneficiaries anyway? Why not just tell them to go to heck, let the cuts kick in, and extend any essential programs by executive order until they cry uncle? Bushler did it all the time and nobody batted an eye.

there will be no cuts in SS, Medicare, and Medicaid. Biden's word is non-Bidening, since he's not the President. Sorry. He is STILL trying to woo the right wing into his grand bargain, but AGAIN, he bargains from a position of weakness. You CONCEDE nothing prior to the other side. The Republicans are laughing at us again as our champion gives away the queen as a fucking olive branch. Enjoy defending poor negotiating the next four years.

We don't know what the bargain will be at the end of the day. Just assuming a doomsday scenario doesn't help anything. Raising the eligibility age for Medicare, however, is not as bad with Obamacare as without it. I say this as a 63 year old person without much left in the way of retirement resources, so this matters a lot to me. In the event that I can't work until I'm 66 or older this will directly affect me, so I'm not making light of it at all. Medicare eligibilty has always been tied to the age at which you can receive full retirement benefits (unless you're on Social Security Disability). Now, as the full benefits age is gradually increasing, the Medicare age is remaining at 65. As it should, but if there absolutely has to be give on this, Obamacare probably makes it a much less catastrophic measure, because subsidies would then be available to you for the interim period. The Kaiser calculator gives you an idea of what that would be.

http://healthreform.kff.org/SubsidyCalculator.aspx

Now I don't know what part of what bargain the Obama would accept, and neither does the OP. The election may have changed things in our favor, so I'm willing to see what happens, but it's clear to me that Obamacare makes possible changes a lot more palatable. And of course, raising the cap should be on the table along with any other changes to SS/Medicare.