Anyone who says we need to cut Social Security and Medicare to save money is a liar.

Neither is funded from the general fund. They are funded by special levies that are **supposed** to be kept sacred, in what Al Gore called a lock box. What has happened, however, is that the people we elected to act in our best interests have repeatedly and, some would say, criminally, taken the money and replaced it with I.O.U.s. What is killing us is paying off those IOUs; if they weren't there, there is plenty of money to meet obligations.

This is a lie that started with some right wing messaging think tank. It has become common wisdom through the concerted efforts of teevee talking heads who refuse to tell the real truth. The talking heads started propelling this lie in the frontal lobe of the people. Once started, politicians got on board. And now we are where we are - a Democratic president playing right into the lie.

This will be the biggest heist of the public wealth ever. And what is worse is that it is being stolen from those of us least able to withstand the assault.

"We need to cut entitlements."

That has been a hateful repubican mantra for as long as I can recall.

And now it is mainstream and a Democratic principle.

Wow.

How Medicare Works

I wouldn't necessarily call them liars. A lot are just willfully ignorant or stupid who carry such a belief without being willing to test its accuracy.

on edit (and the actual reason I replied to you! :) ) thanks for that link. Very helpful.

There is plenty of information out there to dispute their world of make-believe.

I recently had to argue with my family about it and give them the proof they were being lied to. They are baby boomers and retirement is over the horizon for them.

money from seniors and the sick but keep the wars going and put them on the credit card.

via
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2011/02/the_us_government_an_insurance.html

Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security should not be on the same graph as Military, Domestic Discretionary, Debt Service, Tarp (?), and Other.

Military, Domestic Discretionary, Debt Service, Tarp (?), and Other are general fund budget items. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are Trust Fund items that by LAW are not part of the general fund.

Therein lies the lie.

The problem with him I gather is he doesn't care much about safety nets, just business and how stupid the banking charade is from a business point of view.
He is no progressive.