New post on Facebook ...FYI

"Mr. President, I heard you say you will not guarantee SS checks if the debt ceiling isn't raised. Why is it the scare always has to do with SS, Medicare, & our Soldiers pay? Why not stop your own pay or all of Congress to save much more money for our country? Why use the Seniors, Soldiers, & our Needy as examples? Take the money from those who take no risks and reap the benefits?"

Response anyone?

for Congress is going to make much of a dent in the debt...

However, I would like to see Obama say nobody in Congress gets paid unless and until they come to some sort of agreement.

"Salary of the US President... $400,000. Salary of retired US Presidents... $180,000. Salary of House/Senate... $174,000. Salary of Speaker of house... $223,500.... Salary of Majority/Minority Leaders... $193,400.......... Average US Salary... $33,000 to $77,000. HELLO! I think we found where the cuts should be made! If you agree repost"


I responded... "oh yeah, a little over a million dollars a year will really fix it, won't it?"

into that column, cutting benefits will not fix it. So we should only make cut backs that 'fix it', and not any others? We can not add up smaller bits to make a larger whole?
The total pay for the House in a year is 75 million, 690 Thousand Dollars. So even a 10% cut would save 7.5 million, not 'a little over a million'. Will it 'fix it'? No, of course not. Nor will the cuts to other people's incomes.
If nothing else, it would be prudent for Professional Politicians to stop calling what they do 'public service' when they are highly compensated for the 'work' they do.

Nothing personal, but while it sounds really clever and grass-rootsie, it wouldn't mean a thing.

We need to, and have been trying to, bring attention to what needs to be addressed.

Low taxes on the rich, the end of the middle class, etc., etc.

IMHO.

:hi:

If these payments were stopped, no one in the government should be paid either. Compared to seniors, they can deal without pay.

Hint: Seniors will not.

"If the United States fails to raise the debt ceiling by Aug. 2, it will pay creditors first and stop benefits like Social Security payments, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday.

The central banker's comments offered the first public indication of how the Obama administration will prioritize its financial obligations after Aug. 2, when the US Treasury says the government would run out of money to pay all of its bills."

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world-news/us-would-pay-bondholders-after-aug-2-bernanke_565380.html

in years past.

Too many jackwagons on there.

as examples. That would be the republicans doing that.

... while I agree with the sentiment this is one reason "liberals" have been so marginalized.

Congressional pay in total equals about 0.00000001% of those other things mentioned. Stopping it would have ZERO effect on anything.

Why are so many Americans so freaking innumerate?

they will not pay attention to the crisis. Many think this has nothing to do with them because we have republicans telling them a default won't have the negative impact the democrats say it will. I'm glad the president said that SS checks along with military checks could be impacted. That got people's attention.

in Washington to negotiate in good faith. You'd be surprised how fast things would get done.

President's pay is a drop in the bucket.

and did this commentator vote Republican? Find that out first.

hrh

Of course we MUST remember congress has really tied the President's hands. The fools in congress that insist we fix the budget problems on the backs of the poor, disabled and elderly, and will NOT require the extremely wealthy people and major corporations to contribute their fair share. I do think President Obama is doing his best to get this fixed. If only he could get some help.

That is a good question, eh? Think of an average check being 1k

1k times 50 million payees.... 1000 x 50,000,000 equals 50,000,000,000

Which is 50 billion.

That means the government has to sell at least $50 billion of assets to make the SS checks good?

Please.... double check the figures.

Congress is just as responsible for this mess as our president. Put up a second status talking about how selfish they are because they are the holdup. I do agree that it is not fair to hold out on ss, medicare, soldiers pay, etc. but the house doesn't want to ensure there is enough money to run this country for more than a month at a time. There has been a proposal which cuts spending and it eliminates (in two years) the tax cuts for the extremely rich at a time when it is absolutely necessary. I don't totally disagree with this status but I feel like it is a lie because it is a half truth. People need to look beyond our President to the others who control this country and hold it by the balls.

It's not a threat, it is reality.