In addition to being breathtakingly arrogant, disrespectful and closed minded, Simpson seems stuck in the past, i.e. Social Security was never intended as insurance. Is this senility or what? He has always been a bit confrontational and colorful in the language he uses. I'm guessing that he's let it all hang out since he is no longer in Congress and doesn't really care what people think of him. We now see who he really is. Amazing.

I fault Obama for a lot of things and appointing Alan Simpson to this commission is definitely on the list.

Do us all a favor Alan and RESIGN. With friends like you who needs enemies?

Alan Simpleton left out the cash cow that he and his ilk live on!

"Cat Food Commission" I wish! My cat eats better than me IF you compare the $ paid VS the free labor I do to grow 30% of my food. Also I have to clean the Cat Box!

We need to challenge Simpson because it forces President Obama to show his hand.

Democrats put Obama in White House so that he could put

Republicans in charge of government -- economic policy

and with their decades long desire to destroy Social Security

and Medicare!!??

I don't think so -- I think the corporate wing of the

Democratic party -- DLC/New Dems -- have control of the

completely infiltrated Democratic Party!!

.
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"

"Simpson's tirade continues a pattern of erratic behavior that threatens to undermine the commission's work."

He is DOING the commissions work. His attitudes are a clear, if crude, statement of what the commission was put together to do, for Pete's sake.

This is simply another article by another person who apparently wants the commission to succeed and thus berates anyone who would seem to "undermine it".

If Simpson is, indeed, "undermining" the commission's work, more power to him!

Who is this Ryan Grim?

Letter to Simpson:
You claim to be open to suggestions about how to "stabilize" Social Security. It already IS stable. You, from your publicly-funded position of affluence and privilege, augmented from wealth corruptly accumulated from sources inimical to the interests of the people of the US, are trying to destabilize and weaken this safety net!

SS and Medicare were conflated with the general budget in 1968 to conceal the cost of the Vietnam War. If you tease them back out it becomes evident that military spending consumes over 60 percent of the federal budget. THIS is where the problem is!

In fact, if you eliminated just two SS/Medicare LOOPHOLES (the unearned income exemption and cap on taxable income) sufficient revenue would be produced to not only "save" SS but to fully fund a single payer national health care system for ALL Americans, providing better care for all with major savings. But then, what do you care, with your terrific lifetime Congressional health care?

Additionally, if savings were actually needed, means-testing would be an obvious first step, not cutting care for my stepson on life support. Warren Buffet pointed that the wealthy of the country do not need it and that his secretary pays more taxes than he does.

SS and Medicare, while not without faults, are efficient and effective despite handicaps Congress has handed them. Why not try to improve them rather than making their problems worse?

Oh, but Mr. Simpson did make one sterling and very valuable comment: re" Social Security

"It's paying out more than it's taking in.."

REALLY? How much ARE the WARS taking out? I'm not sure, but the paying in appears to be ZERO.

Time to really cut the military industrial complex..... it's a bleeder!

Alan Simpson is a tired old bull with half a brain. Time to put him out to pasture.

By voting for the lesser evil wing of the elite juggernaut, so-called "leftist" USans actually empower the greater evil, so we have people like Simpson running around like idiots in this grotesque gilded age of gilded ages, saying idiotic things, to destroy what's left of public rights/benefits such as Social Security.

Social Security is a very simple system. Very simple systems simply work. It's very simply fair. You get out of it what you put into it, with a modest redistribution element that has been understood all along (centuries) to be important for the health/well-being of societies. The simplicity of the US Social Security system makes it corruption-proof.

The reason that voting lesser evil aids the greater evil comes out of the people's demonstrated willingness to continue sacrificing their economic and spiritual well-being under a mere pretense of fighting back.

They are led to continue sacrifice themselves by their "lesser evil" "dear leaders" who dangle the bait of material/petro-opiates.

If the people wholly denied elitevil their exchange/association (including their vote) then elitevil, i.e. Simpson et al, will be stopped in their tracks. Until the people take this action, they can expect further erosion of what's left of once-great institutions in the USA, as the nation falls further into fascist extremism.

Obama needs to get out of this "bipartisan" mode of selecting committees and advisors, and rid his administration of people like Alan Simpson, Timothy Geithner, Lawrence Summers, et al. He needs to appoint people who will come up with practical and feasible ideas that will work and remove those whose intent is merely to show that "government can't work."

Dear Douche Bag Alan,
Social Security is a trust fund that everyone has been contributing to all their lives. It's like a bank account which you have been given the responsibility to protect and increase. It is not a handout. Now, your vision, and others of your gangster ilk, of the U.S. government is a gigantic tit for you to suck on while contributing nothing to the benefit of the people of America. I'm voting you off the island.

Alan Simpson reminds me of another red-neck reactionary from Wyoming - - the criminally-inclined former VP who pulled the strings on that puppet called "The Shrub", and whose vile policies drove this Republic into the mess we're in now: Richard Cheney. Haven't we had enough of this kind of mindset?

Dear God. I know that the way forward is not best walked when we proceed through the gateway of violence. That said, when the collapse does begin, and law and order break down, and the Blackwater mercenaries that our owners hire don't perform as well as had been expected, a moment will arrive when each and every one of these Caucasian members of the political class will be in a position to be dispatched from the debate.

The ownership class, the transnational oligarchs, the global financiers who have collectively impoverished a vast swath of the planet through their decisions and actions, cannot perpetuate the damage without the administrative assistance of the political class. Someone has to keep the suckers in order. When the torches get lit and the pitchforks sharpened, then the "security" sub-group will take center stage in suppressing the rabble. But the numbers are just too great. The security will be overcome but obviously not without a lot of bloodshed.

That is when Alan Simpson will be standing naked in a room being protected by level headed people. But they will not be able to protect him for too long (because the lure of extrajudicial justice is too great) and Alan will be looking up from his knees into a harsh light as one of alleged teat suckers will deliver the sweet release of death.

The letter was extremely obnoxious. On the basis of the letter, he should resign. In fact, he should resign from Congress--you simply should not be permitted to speak to your constituents in that manner.

However, it's peculiar that this is surfacing at the same time as Boehner's calls for Timmy and Larry's resignation, along with the extension of the Bush tax cuts.

If that's red meat for the right, I guess we need a distraction for the so-called left.

Predictably, it's the usual cultural "liberal" sideshow--the PC outrage!--in order to rile up the usual easily distracted suspects while the thing that will really impact peope's lives is that the only cuts proposed by our deficit hawks are to popular programs that benefit the entire public.

This commission has been flying under the public radar. If this PC outrage can grab everyone's attention, then that's good provided people can still keep their eye on their wallets.

If the extent of this issue is merely "give us a guy to screw us with cultured finesse" (you know, someone smooth like Obama, maybe), then NOW and everyone else can keep their PC outrage.

If that sounds nuts, consider that NARAL shut up during the healthcare disaster while the D-Party cultivated its anti-abortion Congressional votes, because it preferred to curry favor with its well heeled donors who, of course, are always much more concerned with how something impacts their wallets than any cultural issue they may pretend to care about when it comes time to spend their left over pocket change.

And, for sure, all kinds of well heeled "liberals" with money to invest in healthcare stocks wanted that Bill to pass more than they wanted anything else, starting with Paul Krugman and working up and down the foodchain.

Gee, who won't we sell down the river?

Simpson can stick his head in a toilet.
Obama can fire his ass.

Keep your damned hands off of our hard-earned security.

Get the hell out of war and spend some of our money on our people and their needs for a change. Life in America- what a shame and we are ruled by corrupt asses like this. Bless our poor, our elders, our young and our sick. Respect for life and true conscience would not allow such deceptions and lies.

Nancy Pelosi needs to work FOR the $ security of our people and not play games or make unholy deals such as a vote after the elections to dis-empower our peoples' right to their own secure hard-earned social security savings determined by insincere idiots like Simpson. No excuses can abide such betrayal. Obama is stacking this deck against our people with his commission while funding endless war and hardship in our name. Americans have terrible leadership in both parties. Beware.

With spots, an IQ of around 70, used up by the people who own everything else as well, just waiting around for the next meal, making plenty of noise but little sense, but from what I can tell the cow seems to be a regular guy.

gnken

Alan Simpson your are a BASTARD!!

Perhaps since Simpson thinks I am somehow attached to one of Social Security "tits", his ASS should be replaced!

Now this 'ass' wants to detach me from a 'tit'? I've been working since I was 14, and am now pushing 70. Most of those years were spent working on a farm, so my 'wages' were not reported as such. I cringe to think my labors went to feed him! Mr Reagan destroyed our farm livelihood with his 'trickle down' economics. It never quite reached the farmer.

I'd like to see this idiot live on the pitance I get! But no, his salary is for life...and I pay it in taxes!

who appointed simpson and emmanuel and geithner and summers and jones(CSIS) etc., etc.,?... so o-the-house-slave gets to sit behind massa's desk and sleep in massa's bed and ride in massa's plane, but the cries of the field slaves under the lash do not cease...

The assault on the majority of the inhabitants of the United States by the corrupt and sadistic elites continues.

War is not just happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, but right here in the homeland.

Dear Alan,

The word is "teat" - not "tit" (maybe you've been hanging out in the "titty" bars, pathetic). Frankly, Alan, it is long past time for you to be put out to pasture. Years ago I thought you were on the dumb side but at least decent and well meaning. Wow, has that changed! When the heck did you get so nasty? Or did I just miss it way back when?

And just when did you get to yell about anyone else's supposed entitlements? Did you bother to look in the mirror at the congressional pensions? Or maybe you want still more and Social Security has the bucks you wish for yourself.

FYI - Social Security is not an investment scheme. We all pay in to it all our lives. Some of that accumulates and most pays directly to those of use who need it. It is a method by which the entire country is like a big extended family taking care of its own, because we don't have many of those families anymore. Not for a long, long time. First, children are fully supported for a couple of decades after which they join those who pay into the system. If they live long enough and need the benefits, they've earned them. No way should we grumble.

So I guess that it is “Kick the Crap Out of Alan Simpson Day” on the liberal web sites. In my opinion he is one of the few repugtards who is willing to stand on principle rather than standing for what Wall Street bankers and executives tell the repugtards to stand for. The evil repugtard PAC group, Club for Growth attacks moderate repugtards and seeks Wall Street control of congress through spending millions on puppet politicians who are willing to sell their soul to be in congress. Almost all repugtards obey these Wall Street executives, but Alan Simpson has never surrendered his dignity to them.

In fact you might want to look at his record on other social issues, this stolen from Wikipedia; has been an outspoken advocate for access to abortion stating it is a horrible situation but a deeply intimate and personal decision and should not be a political issue in a Party that believes in "government out of our lives" and "the right to be left alone" and "the precious right of privacy".He supports gay and lesbian rights, and equality for all persons regardless of race, color, creed, gender, or sexual orientation. In an article in the Washington Post, the former senator wrote an article criticizing the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy stating " 'Gay' is an artificial category that says little about a person. Our differences and prejudices pale next to our historic challenge."

I don’t support raising the retirement age but I have yet to hear anyone explain what is so wrong about it. The life expectancy when Social Security was started was 57 and retirement was 65, now we live to 79 on average. I certainly don’t see any reason why all income isn’t subject to Social Security tax. The $106,800 limit is just an excuse for the wealthy elitist to avoid paying their share, especially considering that the government owes Social Security a couple trillion dollars. All this while cutting taxes to the wealthy and eliminating the inheritance tax. Then they start two wars even though the constitution requires the funds to pay for them before they go off and kill hundreds or thousands of Muslims in revenge for the World Trade Center.

Social Security was intended to cover workers who become disabled on the job but today we are paying out millions to children who score low on a test. We are paying benefits to college students who have retired parents. It has been claimed that we are paying benefits to illegal aliens though I know of no actual cases of this. We are paying for a lot of TITS on the Social Security “cow” and much of it needs to end. On the video, the rude punk kid interviewing Senator Simpson needs to stop arguing and listen to what the man says. Journalist don’t argue their personal opinions, they ask intelligent questions. Some of you libtards need to do the same and stop the personal attacks on Simpson; he's a republican and there aren't many of them left.

gnken

When will the SS March on DC take place. LIke the Bonus March we should get thousands or more to camp on the Mall and let the Congress know that they can't take something that belongs to the people that have paid into it. I would be willing to show up, tent and all and stay indefinite. Of course now if we did that, the Govt. would play the Terrorist card and arrest everyone involved.

Simpson should know a tit sucker when he sees one in the mirror every morning. He has been fed and cared for by the taxpayer for most of his adult life through political appointments and election to the Senate and other elected offices.

Social Security is a poverty insurance for old age. You pay in for many years while working. The ones who are lucky enough to live get a very modest payment in their old age or earlier with disability. Most of the guys who worked with my father collected little or no Social Security, they died fairly young. Building roads, plowing snow in long shifts, crushing rock for gravel and repairing equipment apparently exposes you to a few chemicals, causes periods of sleep deprivation and kills off a large percentage of the workers before 70.

Raising the retirement age would be cruel to people who do physical work and would be likely to cause more disability claims.

Why even bother listening to this old senile fart!

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who will guard the guardians, watch the watchers, etc?)

Hello Ryan Grim,

Did anyone notice the resemblance between Alan Simpson and the image from Star Trek episode The Corbomite Maneuver of Balok.

http://www.google.com/images?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hl=en&source=imghp&biw=1024&bih=571&q=the+corbomite+maneuver&gbv=2&aq=0&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=the+corb&gs_rfai=

One difference is that Balok is not evil.

How many years as a US Senator did Alan Simpson snuggle up to the public tit? Where does President Zero keep finding these morons?

Think a minute, folks. We are seeing the same tactics used against Social Security that were used against welfare -- often using the exact same catch-phrases! I think this is probably the most fascinating thing about the effort to de-fund Social Security (a.k.a., steal the people's money). When welfare was defunded, America yawned with indifference. Even progressives finally accepted the insane notion that poverty was merely a "lifestyle choice," and that standing for social/human justice, having a sense of compassion, was just so namby-pamby. Weak. Impotent.

It worked. To prevent public opposition to these ugly policies, information about the consequences were censored out of the media. As a result of welfare reform, the infant mortality rate among America's poor now actually surpasses that of most Third World countries, and the life expectancy of our poor has fallen to or below that of Third World nations. That is a stunning downfall. These policies are actually killing our poor -- and America continues to yawn with indifference. It was inevitable that these strategies would also be used to steal public money out of Social Security.

Note that there have already been experiments -- largely ignored by the media -- in slashing aid for the fully disabled and requiring disabled people who happen to have children to "find jobs." The results were largely kept out of the media. They were a horrendous failure, but there is no question that with a few minor changes, they will be reimplemented and expanded. (I anticipate a campaign about having families take "personal responsibility" for providing for their own elderly and disabled, even though so many are struggling just to feed their children.) All the money taken out of public funds by ending Social Security will, like welfare, be funneled directly into paying the tax bills for corporations and funding endless war.

America -- We can't win wars against the weakest countries, but by golly, we're getting good at winning wars against ourselves.

I'll give Simpson credit for not going the John Conyers route and calling the cops on the interviewer.

Social security is a joke. The wealthy hate it because it is too socialist and the people who depend on it hate it because it isn't enough.

And many of us are bickering like a bunch of rats fighting over the same crumb when the deli itself is so fully stocked it has to throw food away.

Maybe Simpson is crass and unsympathetic. Maybe he's sympathetic but frustrated and uncreative.

But there seem to be options that could completely replace social security that no one is even considering. For one example, why not a wealth cap? Why not all-out socialism and redistribution of wealth?

It is amazing how much $$$$ the USA can spend on illegitimate wars, and the war machine Eisenhower warned US about.
We paid into SS for the 45 years of working.
Reduce war expenditures, stop bombing weddings with artillery from drones.

How many countries does the USA have a military presence? The military still remains in Germany after over 50 years since the second world war. Give me a break.

The USA loves conflict and war to show our power.

The war machine has won over the US citizens. What percent of the tax dollars or GDP is spent on the war machine. How much is spent on EDUCATION in the USA? What percent is spent on HEALTH of the US citizens?

We are 18th country in education in the world but we pretend to be the best country in the world.

Social Security brings in more $ than is paid out.

I am greatly puzzled by this tempest in a teapot. I understand that the nation's collective SS tax, the moment it arrives at the Treasury, is used to pay for the wars etc. in the absence of what is euphemistically called "lock box". Yes, the IOU which the Treasury has to write for borrowing SS taxes adds to the national debt but without these taxes the same amount would have to be borrowed elsewhere, presumably at higher rates of interest. Why, then, is SS "on the table" of this Presidential Commission? All President Obama has to do is tell the Commission to stop discussing SS or else he will send them all home to their magnificent retirements which he can do because they serve at his pleasure. That would be much more useful than firing Simpson and his co-chair who also targets SS. It is amazing, nay a tribute to the amateurish governance of this President, that he seems to have forgotten the hot water President Bush got in when he attempted to touch Social Security. God, if he exists, help our country a bit to survive governance by nimbi.
P. S. My hunch is that Simpson et al. want to continue the collection of SS taxes for our foreign wars but raise the age of eligibility to 70 to reduce the total pay-outs plus cutting the pay-outs some. That is a matter which can only be decided by Congress. Will the chairpersons of the pertinent congressional committees have the guts to refuse to hold hearings on SS if that is demanded by the commissions report? Will Ms. Pelosi refuse to allow a vote on any recommendations for SS which she can because this is not a congressional but a presidential committee? Don't put your money on "yes" because you may lose it.

I've been a California public servant for almost 40 years and in that time I've contributed almost $200,000.00 to Social Security and PERS Pension; this is not a gift and far from the "sugar tit" analogy that Simpson uses. It is fascinating that the social safety nets for average working Americans are the only programs that are problematic to people like Simpson; they'd be happy if we were all penniless serfs.

I've been a California public servant for almost 40 years and in that time I've contributed almost $200,000.00 to Social Security and PERS Pension; this is not a gift and far from the "sugar tit" analogy that Simpson uses. It is fascinating that the social safety nets for average working Americans are the only programs that are problematic to people like Simpson; they'd be happy if we were all penniless serfs.

who set up the commission to begin with? who appointed simpson? is oourprez a liar? yes. is he a coward? yes- is he bought and paid for? yes. is he a war criminal? yes-so oourprez is a cowardly, lying, bought and paid for war criminal....or perhaps more simply, a pathetic wimp..

Monday 23 August 2010
by: James Ridgeway | This Can't Be Happening | Op-Ed

President Obama’s Deficit Commission is all smoke and mirrors. Its members are making a big show of laboring over ”painful” choices and considering all options in their quest to bring down the deficit. But inside the Beltway everyone knows what’s going to happen: The commission will reduce the deficit on the backs of the old and the poor, through cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Some opponents have taken to calling it the Cat Food Commission, since that’s what it’s victims will be forced to eat once the commission gets done slashing away at their modest entitlements.

In fact, the true intent of the Deficit Commission was evident before it was even formed. That intent was only driven home when Obama appointed as its co-chair Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming who is well known for voicing, in the most colorful terms, what Paul Krugman calls the zombie lie” that old-age entitlements will soon bankrupt the country....