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Familiar GOP Plan Lives: Cutting Social Security to 'Save It'
Republican Rep. Ryan's Social Security Plan Would Cut Benefits for High Earners
A Republican plan to rein in the rising cost of Social Security would dramatically reduce retirement benefits for middle- and upper-income Americans, especially those now younger than 25, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the program's chief actuary.
Ryan crafted the 'road map' as the top Republican on the House Budget Committee. The plan, by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), would reduce benefits by gradually raising the retirement age and gradually trimming benefits for the top 70 percent of earners. (AP Photo)
The plan, by Rep. Paul Ryan
(R-Wis.), would reduce benefits by gradually raising the retirement age
and gradually trimming benefits for the top 70 percent of earners.
Together, the two provisions would slice initial benefits by about a quarter for middle-income Americans who turn 65 in 2050, according to the analysis. Wealthier retirees would see even deeper cuts, losing about a third of scheduled benefits in 2050 and more than half of scheduled benefits if they turn 65 in 2080.
With congressional elections less than two weeks away, the Ryan plan has been a frequent target for Democrats accusing the GOP of plotting to gut Social Security. But the report by Stephen Goss, chief actuary for the Social Security Administration, also examines other ideas for overhauling the program, including several under discussion by a bipartisan deficit-reduction commission appointed by President Obama. Leaders in both parties say Social Security may present the best opportunity for compromise on the commission, which is due to issue a report Dec. 1.
Goss's analysis shows that those ideas may not be much more palatable than Ryan's plan. For example, allowing the retirement age to continue rising two months per year until it hits age 70 would cut initial benefits by nearly 20 percent for anyone turning 65 in 2050. Meanwhile, the commission is talking about trimming the cost-of-living increase retirees receive each year, as well as cutting their initial benefits.
"There's been a lot of discussion about how easy it would be to cut Social Security in order to save it," said Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.), who requested the report as chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security. "The new analysis reveals that these proposals result in benefits cuts ranging from 10 percent to as high as 50 percent. . . . That's not what I'd call 'saving' Social Security."
Ryan spokesman Conor Sweeney said Goss did not analyze the full effect of Ryan's plan to balance the federal budget and ignored Ryan's proposal to guarantee a higher minimum benefit to low-income retirees. More to the point, Sweeney said, failing to overhaul Social Security - which is already paying out more than it collects from payroll taxes - will cause more immediate harm.
"According to the Social Security Administration, Congressman Pomeroy's do-nothing plan will impose painful, across-the-board benefit cuts on current seniors and those nearing retirement," Sweeney said. "It is deeply irresponsible for elected leaders to stand idle with icy indifference as the social safety net collapses."
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36 Comments so far
Show Allyup they want to run the government because they know the government is the problem.
By throwing dates like 2050 into the scheme the banksters and other gutters hope to get buy-in from boomers since most of them will be dead by then.
What will happen is that in 2020 or 2025 when boomers are no longer the largest block of voters, younger Americans who will be victims of the 2050 cuts will be motivated to vote to dump the whole social security system, bankrupting boomers who are dependent on the system.
Seemingly minor social security cuts proposed to occur 40 years out will therefore be the only loose thread needed for the banksters to unravel the whole system.
2050 shouldn't be a problem. At the rate the warmongers are bankrupting the country, by 2050 the US will not exist.
It isn't only the republicans. Please get informed on Obama's deficit commission. He appointed the board himself. Check out Alan Simpson. Also, I direct you to this Glen Ford piece: http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/obama-prepares-triangulate-himself
Obama pushed through Republican programs that were relabelled ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank, then he declared victory and now chastises those who criticize his strategy.
Obama is planning to apply the same strategy to social security gutting.
Contact your Federal Reps. and tell them to demand that Obama dissolve his deficit reduction committee whose mission it is to gut Social Security and Medicare.
Either the Republican or the Democratic party are really the Corporate Business party. They are both hopelessly evil.
Cutting the safety net to shreds while extending Bush tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires is an abomination. FIGHT!
What do you mean by "Fight." I take it to mean that if these crooks and thugs mess with Social Security and do nothing to actually improve it and that doesn't mean cut anything but to raise benefits, they need to be hunted down like rabid dogs.
The quickest and most sure fired way to destroy "entitlement programs" is to kill the jobs that supply the taxes that support the programs. "Get government off the backs of business" was the mantra the conservatives used to kill the regulations that kept the greedsters at bay. By deregulating business and finance, we opened the door for capital flight and along with it went our manufacturing sector and the jobs that supported the middle class. When these jobs departed, the drying up of taxes paid by the workers that support the "entitlement" programs, begins to dry up as more and more people retired and pulled from the SS system.
This was a deliberate act to kill FDR's social net that the conservatives have always hated. As long as the "globalized economy" exists for Americans, we will continue to watch one after another of the safety nets disappear, because of the intentional high numbers of the unemployed that will be continuing to grow by the year until we are as desperate as any other third world country for jobs.
Laissez Faire is the problem, not the answer. America needs to kill the idea that "free trade" is good for the working class. We need to stop the flood of foreign made goods into this country and slap a 25% tax on any goods and services not made in America by Americans. It's our only hope of avoiding third world status and deprivation. This real folks, this is not some scary tale from Hollywood. We are headed for serfdom within the next 25 to 30 years.
"America needs to kill the idea that "free trade" is good for the working class."
No, we just need to get America to be able to recognize the cadaver.
This is more predatory capitalism. Their real goal is to move the money out of the Social Security fund and into private accounts controlled by Wall Street. Once there, plundering those funds becomes relatively easy--as was the case with the vanishing 401K accounts.
They've already done a pretty good job of plundering the Social Security funds by moving the money into corporate accounts through their unfunded and unnecessary wars and other boondoggles. However, even that is not enough for these predators. They want it all, and they want the easiest possible access to it.
Trusting these predatory capitalists with our Social Security investments would be tantamount to trusting pedophiles to baby sit our children. In either case, one does not need to be a rocket scientist to know what the consequences will be.
Nothing, absolutely nothing will stop these corporate predators and their accomplices in Congress except for a full-scale rebellion against them.
I'm not a fan of cutting social security or of Paul Ryan, but I have to admit his plan seem plausable. I know we cannot cut social security for anyone nearing retirement age (and I would put that at anyone over 45 as they have already counted on social security). If we start with those just beginning their working years, then they can plan using other methods than just social security for retirement. However, none of this works without jobs. We have to find jobs for our existing workers and for those that will be entering the work force in the next few years. More jobs, mean more dollars into the social security system.
I find it rather shortsighted of those who harp on the raising of SSI benefits eligibility age to age 70 by the year 2050. Does no one take into account the sorry economic condition the US (if there is indeed still a US) will be in by that year after 40 intervening years of continuing and accelerating economic, social, and environmental degradation that this earth is likely to endure. What can any reasoning person think will be the average life expectancy of the remaining homo sapiens? I doubt very much that it will be 70 years but rather something much, much less. Look to where general life expectancy was in the 19th century.
gnken
We should not stand idly by why the powers that be Republicans/Democrats cut and peel away SS. Like Europe people need to take to the Streets with a "Don't Give an Inch" Attitude. If we don't fight and show the Govt. we mean business they will continue to cut everything we have worked so hard to do. You must make the Govt. Nervous!!
Scwell, you need to engage in a bit of research before you spout support for cutting social security. The SS fund is quite solvent - even left untouched - for another 60 years. However, to make it PERMANENTLY FULLY-FUNDED, cutting it is not necessary. One easy fix does it:
Eliminate the income cap.
That's it. Boom. Problem solved. Any income over the current cap of $80,000/year would be subject to SS tax, same as EVERYONE ELSE making less than $80,000/year. I.e., the rich of this country would actually have to - gasp - pay into SS the same as the poor and middle class does on ALL their income, not just the first $80,000 of it.
SS would then have a surplus that would actually allow us to RAISE benefit payouts and LOWER retirement age, and still have more $ in the SS fund than we would know what to do with.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
I've been trying to tell people this same thing for years, now. All you have to do is to make sure the rich are paying their actual share, which, due to the fact that they have stolen our wages, benefits and futures from us for the last 30+ years, is the LEAST they can do. They SHOULD be handing over every damned penny they have stolen from us and our country and be forced to live on the streets, like they have relegated so many of us to. If God REALLY wants them to be so freaking rich, they will be again.
BTW, LOWERING the retirement age would increase the jobs available for younger workers, while raising it makes it that much harder for younger people to find a job. This is a HUGE part of the right wing plan. Less jobs, lower wages, no benefits, and now they are trying to get the courts to eliminate the minimum wage! So NO jobs that you can actually live on, while the rich get everything they want AND MORE.
To be honest, when you look at damn near EVERY problem this country has, the rich and big business are at the root of ALL of them. The fact that we have let them run Scott free for the last 3 decades and the resulting damage to the other 98% of us should be more than enough proof. I say that since they declared war on us, we take it RIGHT BACK TO THEM. If it takes guns, torches and pitchforks, then so be it. We are fighting for our very lives, here, it's time that we realize it and start taking appropriate actions.
Very good points, WJM, about job availability tied into lowering the retirement age. I hadn't even considered that, thank you.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
great point!! and to be honest fascism is here and is wrapped in a flag and they are pummeling us with the cross as we speak.
Also: Separate the Social Security item from the general federal budget. Historically, the Social Security account has been collecting much more money than paying out in benefits. But each year the Federal Government borrows all of the billions of dollars of Social Security surplus in exchange for a worthless IOU placed in the "Social Security Trust Fund". The SS would be much richer, but for this borrowing.
Before predicting the SS demise: (1) stop all future federal borrowing from SS, (2) return all the money borrowed in the past, and (3) then recalculate the SS solvency period.
Demonstorm - You have me wrong - I do not want to cut social security - or Medicare for that fact but the information I have read on Social Security is that is solvent as it is until around 2030 - then if something is not done, it will need to be reduced by about 25-30%.
I totally agree with your accessment that eliminating the income cap would help.
And I also agree that lowering the retirement age should create more jobs for younger people. However, what I see happening in today's economy is that companies are giving 'early' retirement packages for workers anywhere between 55-60 which usually consists something of a year's or less salary. But the companies are not replacing those that are accepting these packages or for those that retire at the normal retirement age. These companies are expecting those that are left to 'take up the slack' of those that have 'retired'. I also see these companies 'laying off' employees that reach a certain age and salary so that they can hire younger people at a much lower salary - or in some cases ship the jobs overseas.
So I guess what I'm saying is that if something has to be done to 'fix' social security we need to make sure that people have plenty of time to plan. But once again the real need is JOBS, JOBS, and JOBS and that is not going to happen until our large corporations who are trying to take over our government and democracy realize that their GREED is what is ruining this country.
One Republican comes up with an idea, and all of a sudden it is the "Republican Plan." Like this one guy controls the whole party.
So much for brain storming.
You should count on some form of cuts after the midterms. Both parties are in on the act. Saving Social Security my ass. This is nothing more than outright theft. They simply do not want to make good on the trust fund. More important for the other big investors, especially China to get their government bonds made good. Us workers, well, screw you - you're not important.
If THIS doesn't get EVERY worker in the streets raising hell, nothing will.
Raise taxes on the rich, and I mean RAISE them. All the way back to the Eisenhower rates. Anyone caught trying to move the money offshore to avoid taxes, confiscate ALL of it.
Montgomery sez: "Wealthier retirees would see even deeper cuts, losing ... more than half of scheduled benefits if they turn 65 in 2080."
***
Hmm. Wonder how many "wealthier retirees" will be generated from a group that won't be born until the middle of Palin/Beck's first term.
Look deeper. This guy's "plan" is to eliminate the rich from paying ANYTHING into SS. The whole idea of cutting back on rich people's benefits is just stupid, and is obvious as hell. The rich are such a small percentage of those who collect that eliminating their benefits entirely wouldn't save much at all, but it would give them an excuse to opt out of paying into it AT ALL. Mark my words, this is all just another attempt to rob the system, to keep the rich from participating in our country at all, other than BUYING it out from under us.
EVERY republican "plan" is nothing more than a way to SCREW you and I for the benefit of those who already have WAY too much. Why the hell ANYONE who isn't in the top 2% would vote for a republican is beyond me. I wouldn't vote for a family member who was a republican.
These scum bag right wingers don't want to save SS at all, if they can't "privatize" it and steal it outright, they want to destroy it so that WE don't get a thing out of it either. They are like little prissy children who don't want YOU to have whatever they can't steal.
Screw the rich, they have been doing it to us for 30+ years, now. I say it's time that we not only raise the minimum wage so that you can LIVE on it, but I say it's time for a maximum wage, too. ANYTHING over say a million gets you a 100% tax rate. NO GODDDAMNED LOOPHOLES. They have been screwing us for decades, I say it's time we take it right back to them. THEY declared this class war, it's time they pay for it with THEIR asses. We've paid with ours for WAY too long.
WJM,
I agree, the war has been declared and only one side has bothered to show up. For my entire adult life I've been astonished at what these psychopaths have been able to get away with. Lately though, it seems people are waking up to what is happening. Problem is, the bulk of the country is either uninformed or misinformed, and the very real anger gets deflected from those causing the pain.
At the rate things are going, I give it another ten, twenty years before this society totally collapses into anarchy. The guns and axes might be in the streets, but it ain't gonna be against the ruling classes. Just look at all the anger over our schools and who the public has been directed to focus their anger on. Yep, those bad, unionized teachers.
Bad times ahead.
Time to shore up our own little support groups. Family, friends, neighbors.
We're all gonna need em.
KrazyKatz sez: "Problem is, the bulk of the country is either uninformed or misinformed ..."
***
Actually, they get lots of information from the Assimilated Press.
Oh, wait, that's what you said. Never mind.
I couldn't agree more. The rich are the one portion of the population that doesn't even need social security. When they get their little $700/month SS checks, they probably toss them in bowl and forget about them, or say "hey, a little pocket change, I can buy a bottle of 30 year old Scotch with it."
Make the rich bastards pay their fair share. Eliminate the income cap. ALL income - regardless if it is payroll income, or investment income - should be subject to SS tax, and no cap on the income taxed. If you make 1 billion $/year, then you pay SS tax on the entire billion, not just the first $80,000 of it.
The 1% rich portion of this country need a hard lesson, taught to them by the 99% not-rich portion, whom they have been screwing sans vasoline for decades. Preferably with pitchforks, torches, and a sturdy water-boarding table. (after all, it isn't torture, according to them.)
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Is Ryan giving the new Republican 'Sieg Heil Mein Fuhrer'? He should be doing it with his right arm and it should be straight out, not sideways. Tell him to get with it. This does not inspire an image of the overwhelming strength of The American Master Race.
Nice.
Although it could be that Herr Kommisar Katfud was seated to his left and he was merely directing attention ...
I am glad I am not the only one that noticed this guy's salute.
How dare these Republican Rogue Cops try to bully and intimidate the ordinary unprivileged citizen with such outrageous proposals!
Never fear-- the Democratic Good Cops will save us!
IF the morons in Congress really truly wanted to bring down the debt and make certain that the government remains solvent they would cut funding to the DoD by at least 50%. If they want SS to remain the wonderful program that it has been since the 1930s they would remove the income cap or at least raise it to $500,000/year. All quite simple but won't happen until the 99% of us who are not millionaires or billionaires get off our butts and out into the streets. I'm afraid that won't happen until we are all destitute and then it will be too late...
The longer a person has to work just to live is counter productive for the whole society because it keeps the younger ones from having,even a shot, at a job. I'm sure the assholes in charge know this but people dont count just money. Tony
1300000000000 or 1.3 trillion for social security, medicare and medicaid. 2010 figures
If you put a penny sales tax on every dollar spent in this country ( 2.7 trillion ) you would collect 270 billion a year , we are 1/4 of the way to covering what we need.
Then place the social security tax of 6.4 percent on all wages including over 100000.The present cap or cut , and you will get the rest.
Either that, or get rid of payroll tax deductions,instant 7 percent raise for all Americans, and move to a flat fair tax system on all commerce,get rid of the IRS and all costs associated with it, the fair tax would not only pay for all social services, it would reduce the retirement age opening up lots jobs , and collect enough money to pay for the US debt of 15 trillion dollars over 10 years.
WIN, WIN!
ALL WE NEED NOW IS REAL AMERICAN PATRIOT LEADERS TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.
Tomorrow zee vorld.
The Deficit Commission, which was never “bipartisan” in goals, “due to issue a report Dec. 1" ( as a means of bypassing more repercussions of the midterm elections), was “appointed by President Obama." Remember this, when all the shockwaves and resulting commentaries on the outrages arrive on Dec. 2. Remember this, while reflecting on the following response to a cry for a foreclosure moratorium (50 state attorneys general involved) due to revelations of institutionalized (ENRON) Fraud: "This is not a problem for [us] to fix. This is a problem for the banks and servicers to fix. They can fix it as fast as they feel like it." Remember this, as our president campaigns against extremist republicans with criticisms of their “Snake Oil Ideas.”
Bottom Line: Obama Put Social Security On The Table http://wp.me/phRi4-vn
And that bottom line, once again, reflects his true nature.