Currently you don't have to pay Social Security taxes on wages above $113,700. (And, of course, you pay no SS tax on dividends or capital gains.) The rich get some huge tax breaks here. Remove those and Social Security has no funding problem.

could not be stated any better.

like President Obama has been talking about?

http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/09/21/obama-re-endorses-raising-social-security-payroll-tax-cap/ (Soory for linking to FDL, but it was the first link on the first page of the google search)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/10/obama-medicare-budget_n_3052762.html

Have we learned nothing about this man, President Obama?

Do you have anything more recent where the President is saying the same thing. That would be very heartening.

Alas, President Obama put the chained CPI in his budget, but I'm not getting into another silly debate with you about- well, anything. You are so partisan as to make that fruitless.

the article is over a year old ... and happens to coincide with the last round of "he's gonna destroy 'entitlements'" talk, i.e., the last budget with ccpi in it.

Do you notice the irony of someone, on a site named Democraticunderground, refusing to engage in "another silly debate" with someone that clearly supports a Democratic President, because the supporter is too partisan?

So I guess your answer to my questioon is "No", you know nothing of this President.

you and I have gone round and round on this and it's just pointless to engage in more of it. clearly we don't agree.

And no, I don't think the President will destroy entitlements; I think he'll weaken them.

I know the meaning of irony.

And yes, we clearly disagree ... I tend towards watching what this President DOES; not what he MIGHT do ... and that is what makes/has made me a supporter.

and you refuse to believe him when he says something that doesn't fit your hypersupportive frame.

And he put that chained CPI in his budget. That's something he DID. duh.

you are correct ... President Obama has DONE nothing that I do not support; but it's not "hyper-supportive", rather, it's because everything he has done has been the right move at the right time, considering the time in which we live.

Yes .. President Obama did place CCPI in his budget proposal ... it was the right move, at the right time then; and it's the right move at the right time now. I have explained why before and I will explain again ... not that you will take on moment to consider something other than your "All Bad (President) Obama, All the Time" frame.

Here let me spell it out for you one more, again …

Why it hurts republicans …

Republicans demand movement on “entitlements” … President Obama places on the table CCPI … the left freaks out (showing that President Obama is acting against his base, i.e., willing to compromise) … But the offer comes with a demand for more revenue (something that the left ignores during their freak out) … republicans are caught in a pickle; if they accept the CCPI along with the increased revenue, they face a primary challenge because they caved on tax increases AND they are hurt with a significant portion of their mid-term base - the elderly. If they vote against the CCPI, they face a primary because they didn’t cut “entitlements” AND they are hurt with those fed-up republicans and independents that want to see governance, if not compromise, by once again proving the “obstructionist” label, true. The republicans have, once again, refused to take what they asked for.

Now, why it won’t hurt Democrats …

Listen to what sitting Democratic legislators are actually saying about CCPI … Those in safe districts are saying “CCPI? Hell no!” Those in purplish districts and the Democratic leadership are saying, “CCPI? Well, we’ll think about it (against my base’s wishes); but only if the republicans will give in on significant revenue.” Republicans will not do the level of revenue required for CCPI to be put to a vote in the House or the Senate, nor will they do sufficient revenue for President Obama to sign the thing into law.

So fear not … CCPI is going nowhere except to further damage the republican party ... and the only ones that believe differently, are the ones that have been wrong on President Obama on just about every out-rage.

dont worry about what he might do. While others are proactive and try to influence him into doing what they want. But you do have a point. Why worry about it, just accept whatever he does.

Seems there's three sides to this debate: One side wants to work their hardest to save SS and Medicare and the second side is working hard to kill SS and Medicare, and then there's your side that is willing to put blind faith in your leader and bad mouth the left all the time.

nt

for using it is bogus.

Check out this link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023871310

I don't like how some of the Dems are talking about this Grand Bargain. Case in point I read the following on HuffPo:

Durbin said that Republicans had to put tax revenue on the table to get entitlement cuts. Fox host Chris Wallace noted that Durbin has previously supported entitlement cuts, and asked why Republicans should have to give up tax increases to get something that many Democrats support. President Barack Obama has repeatedly endorsed Social Security cuts as part of budget deals, and Durbin acknowledged that he did support Social Security reforms.

"Social Security is gonna run out of money in 20 years," Durbin said. "The Baby Boom generation is gonna blow away our future. We don't wanna see that happen."

Durbin's up for re-election in 2014. This doesn't seem like something he should be toying with if he wants to get re-elected.

I called Durbin's office yesterday and gave them the what's for.

Durbin's office number in D.C. is: 1-202-224-2152. Time to put in your calls to him.

Tell him to "Lift the Cap"

This is an easy, no-brainer solution. I don't know why it hasn't caught on and more people here on DU and over the country aren't pushing for this?

of the demented, is no "bargain." It's well past the time that progressives put a few of their OWN demands on the table.

THEN we can start to negotiate.

but apply it to all forms of income including cap gains and investments...then we could raise payouts and lower the percentage we pay. I've always hated the last Grand Bargain "tweak" that doubled the percent we paid from about 7.5 to 15. That's been a killer for small businesses and start-ups, and has to have contributed to the way wealth has "flowed up" instead of "trickled down."

is by constantly limiting the scope of debate so that these possible solutions are never even mentioned.

That is the *only* way they can sustain the lesser of two evils game they constantly use to loot the 99 percent, and it is the *only* way they can maintain the absolute fiction that liberal solutions aren't viable.

At the time President Obama colluded with insurance companies to scrap the public option, it was actually very popular in opinion polls. Most people don't know that, because the corporate media avoided talking about it, just as they avoid talking about raising the cap on SS.

This piece is absolutely correct. We need a full-force campaign to promote and demand these things publicly, and we need to seek out and cultivate the public support of every prominent person we can find who will dare to go against the PTB to demand it. This is not only a liberal cause; Americans across political lines oppose cutting Social Security. We need to create a situation in which people across the nation start demanding that the cap be raised.

Thank you for posting this piece.

"Limiting the scope of the debate". that's so well put and so damned true and so fucking frustrating.

bed now or in 10 minutes." Of course they always chose 10 min. And when 10 min went by and they objected to going to bed. We just told them sorry but it was their choice. Yes, we were authoritarians.

The Chained CPI is soo much better than more serious cuts, therefore, the masses should just accept it.

Seems our "representatives" are always starting our bargaining from a losing position.

Democrats should insist on lowering the Medicare age and lifting the SS cap. They should be on TV and everywhere with that single message. Dominate the discussion instead of just reacting.

or so the saying went. What's all this "solutions" talk? Tsk Tsk

Imagine talking about solutions!

an America hater.

Just a few of the lying things that those _ _ _ _'s call me.

-Laelth