Tag Archives: Social Security

What Entitlements?

For the past few years, a common refrain among conservatives (and to be fair, many other Americans concerned about their government), is the notion that we live in an “entitlement society”. Large programs like Social Security and Medicare have been known as entitlements because of the founding belief of those two programs; that all Americans are entitled to a secure future. In the first decade of this century, however, the term entitlement has become a pejorative; much like the word “liberal”, entitlement is being hurled around the universe of politicians and pundits like a curse word.

The Rational Middle would like to know why.

Social Security and Medicare guarantee both a modest income as well as health care for American seniors. Setting aside the moral foundations for these programs, the two constructs reduce the pool of working Americans by tens of millions, reducing pressure on the job markets. And then there is the way that these programs are paid for:

Everybody whose employer practices withholding, pays for Social Security and Medicare. That includes, by the way, illegal aliens working on stolen s.s.n. numbers who will never collect a retirement check.

Furthermore, the tax that supports Social Security and Medicare is a flat tax…almost. That is to say, it is a flat tax for the Working Class, because if you made more than $110,100 in 2012, you and your employer paid less than the rest of us. This year, employers paid 6.2% of an employees wages up to $110,100, and employees paid 4.2% up to the same threshold. Medicare does not have an income threshold, meaning the “evil program” that Reagan likened to Soviet Communism is the only federal program paid for via a truly flat tax.

So, the programs are as universally popular as any in history, and are paid for by taxes that are flat to regressive. Even better, Social Security was designed to save money while the Baby Boomers were working in order to have the money available once they retired. Which is why the deficit in Social Security is being paid for out of the Trust Fund…as it was designed to do.

Universally popular program, necessary program, program paid for by a flat tax (actually, a regressive tax), program built to save during flush times in preparation for lean times. You would think that Medicare and Social Security would be two programs that Mitt and Paul would want to leave alone. You would be wrong.

Paul Ryan cosponsored legislation with John Sununu in 2004 that would privatize Social Security; diverting its annual receipts into Wall Street hands (yes, the very same hands on the rudder of the housing market). You can read about the plan here. Wall Street made billions in commissions and fees after needing the Bush TARP to cover their poor performances, what do you suppose they would make on $10 trillion (the amount Social Security will collect in the next decade)?

Of course Mr. Ryan is more famous for the Medicare “plan” he proposed in his far less intelligent than reviewed budget proposals. Democrats have said that he plans to eliminate Medicare. Republicans have said that is a lie. What is true is that Ryan did more with Medicare than he and his party have proposed doing with health care in general. But his method would clearly, and without dispute, eliminate the guarantee that seniors have with health care right now. The Ryan Plan would also, by extension, eliminate a major source of hospital and clinic revenue  for the foreseeable future.

I don’t know what Romney thinks about Ryan’s plans for Social Security and Medicare, but he did pick the guy for the V.P. job, and Ryan’s resume is thin where everything else is concerned. Does Ryan want to destroy Medicare and Social Security…no, I don’t think so. Would his plans destroy the two programs for millions of Americans who have paid their fair share for a lifetime?

Absolutely.

 

The Rational Middle is listening…

 

The Economic Rights Of The Many

In June of 2009, The Rational Middle premiered on the national stage. Of course, by national stage, I mean 12 readers per day…well, maybe 12 readers per week. Right at the outset, the notion of government both big and small, interested me. The role of perception in how big government is defined was the subject of an early post, Other People’s Big Government. Human nature being what it is, our own plans are usually superior to those of our fellow citizens, and their plans are typified by the reckless endangerment of our liberties and way of life. I have written the idea often, but the point remains; in a nation of 300 million, everybody’s absolute liberty is impossible to maintain. The Stones had it right; you can’t always get what you want.

But if you try really hard, you really can get what you need. And that idea friends, is what our arguments should revolve around. The major problem now, is that our problems, dreams, ambitions, and issues have been marginalized in favor of ad-friendly soundbites. Our democracy is being talking-pointed to death. The phenomenon of the day is an outgrowth of how detached we the people are from our own ability, our own right, to chart the course of the nation. It may make perfect sense to establish policy that rewards personal responsibility and ambition within the working class, it makes none to structure an economy that favors only the most wealth-defined successful within the construct. This is precisely the path we have taken over the last three decades, and the results of the journey ought to be self-explanatory.

Continue reading →

False Advertising

“Social Security broke earlier than expected.” “Nations retirement programs bankrupt by 2036.” “Social Security and Medicare to be out of money earlier than previously thought.”

For years now, Peterson’s deficit hawks have been on a mission to privatize the retirement security programs that a super-majority of Americans approve of and support. They have lied and misinformed, distorted and obfuscated, all with the intention of driving the $1 trillion per year collected by the FICA tax directly into Wall Street coffers. They have convinced a generation of headline writers to support their fight, and those writers went into overdrive last week.

Continue reading →

The Boehner Diet

If you folks are anything like me, you need to lose some weight and get your blood chemistry under control. Your doctor has probably (many times by now) advised you to get some exercise, prescribed you some medication, and told you to eat more green leafys and less fast food. With just over three weeks separating America from its New Year’s resolutions, you are probably still trying to do the right thing. That won’t be the case for much longer though. When most of us give up the diet in a few weeks however, it won’t be because we think that french fries and inactivity are better for us. We the people are far too intelligent to fall for that kind of emotion-driven, fact-defying thinking. Aren’t we?

All of this effort, it should be noted, is directed at fulfilling the rational solution to a well-defined problem; we are overweight because we take in more calories than we burn. Our arteries are clogged because we take in more fats than we can process. It sounds simple, but we the people have a disturbing tendency to disregard facts we find uncomfortable. And we are perfectly willing to listen to people who spew utter nonsense, so long as the nonsense is wrapped in a tasty package. It only makes sense that we would follow the same logic in our democracy as that which we adhere to in our dietary lives. Currently, the preeminent peddler of nonsense in a tasty wrapper is John Boehner. Now that he is the Speaker of the House, it seems natural for America to go on the diet of the combative Ohio Republican; The Boehner Diet.

Continue reading →

The Boehner Protocols

Think what you will about John Boehner, the presumptive Speaker of the House stands as the most powerful opposition leader in American political history. The party discipline enforced by the pugnacious Ohio Republican meant that Democrats with a massive majority were forced to sweat out intra-party compromises to get measures passed in the House. The imagery presented to Americans of a unified Republican House standing in opposition to measures that were always (according to the Minority Leader) “forced down our throats”, cost untold electoral damage to the Democrats in 2010.

The Republicans, led by Mr. Boehner, came out of their 2008 drubbing with a plan: oppose every policy item favored by Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid, or President Obama. This opposition was to be reflexive; members were to fight legislative offerings regardless of content, purpose, or ideological origin. The Republican Senate had the occasional defector; not so in the House. Now the unified and flush with success House Republicans are poised to run a more aggressive playbook during this new Congress, and the new Speaker is poised to run his gameplan from a position of strength. But who is John Boehner, and what are his plans for 2011?

Continue reading →

The Retirement Blues

Advocacy groups like the A.A.R.P. have long been on the leading edge of the fight for the rights of older Americans. The right to self-determination, driving privileges and, especially, the right to work as long as one is able are all cornerstones of that fight. Americans, however, have long cherished the right to retire from one’s lifetime labor before injury or sickness forces the choice upon them. Retirement security is therefore a principle concern of our democracy, and so remains a political hot potato.

We live at a time when the war on the working class has brought pensions squarely into the cross-hairs of politicians and pundits looking for scapegoats and an easy fix. In the past, it was the working poor and jobless who bore the brunt of the economic blame that so often circulates during tough times. Today, working class Americans with careers in industry, law enforcement, fire protection, the military, education, and state and municipal services are being attacked because they earn decent wages and benefits that include retirement security. This malevolent scrutiny is added to the cynical attacks mounted by Wall Street interests on Social Security. The promise of dignified retirement that is so critical to the American way of life is under dire threat.

Continue reading →