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Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
The threats to Social Security and Medicare benefits right now are very real. And anyone who says "wait until we know more" is trying to keep you inactive while you're fattened up for the slaughter. They intend to drop this thing with lightening speed once they have a deal, and vote on it before anyone realizes what's happening.
If you want to save Social Security and Medicare from being cut, the time is now.
The threats to Social Security and Medicare benefits right now are very real. And anyone who says "wait until we know more" is trying to keep you inactive while you're fattened up for the slaughter. They intend to drop this thing with lightening speed once they have a deal, and vote on it before anyone realizes what's happening.
If you want to save Social Security and Medicare from being cut, the time is now.
Mitch McConnell and the Republicans offered a clean debt ceiling vote -- no cuts necessary. President Obama rejected it. Then he told the country that Social Security checks might not go out on August 2. I was on CSPAN this morning and several callers were near tears as they said how they had been calling their Social Security offices, and the offices told them they didn't know for sure if they'd be getting their checks or not. These people are terrified of being thrown out on the streets, of not being able to pay their utility bills, of not being able to feed themselves.
They'll probably be relieved when they are told that it's "only" going to be cuts in their cost-of-living adjustments, or that a Catfood Commission II will be formed take the very un-democratic step of making recommendations that congress gives an up-or-down vote to. No amendments, no markups, no changes allowed. It's how Congress traditionally passes really unpopular legislation like base closings.
Over 2000 people have already signed up to visit the office of their Senator or Representative tomorrow. Because elites of both parties are dead-set on doing this, and grassroots opposition is the only way we're going to make an impact.
Face-to-face meetings are the way to make it real. You can show up any time of day tomorrow, just for 5 minutes, let them know in no uncertain terms how you feel about their plans to cut these critical programs at a time of economic hardship.
The President lectures progressives on Friday about how we should all care about the nation's fiscal health. We do. We know that they don't need "tweaking." The President then went on to say that he supported the cuts recommended by the Catfood Commission, which included cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits, but as Commander-in-Chief he couldn't support their cuts to defense.
Someone should tell the President that if he wants to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits before defense spending, he's not in any position to be giving advice to progressives.
Will you take time to go visit the office of your member of Congress or Senator tomorrow, and remind them that the American people overwhelmingly oppose cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits, and that you will will not support them in 2012 if they take part in doing that?
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
The threats to Social Security and Medicare benefits right now are very real. And anyone who says "wait until we know more" is trying to keep you inactive while you're fattened up for the slaughter. They intend to drop this thing with lightening speed once they have a deal, and vote on it before anyone realizes what's happening.
If you want to save Social Security and Medicare from being cut, the time is now.
Mitch McConnell and the Republicans offered a clean debt ceiling vote -- no cuts necessary. President Obama rejected it. Then he told the country that Social Security checks might not go out on August 2. I was on CSPAN this morning and several callers were near tears as they said how they had been calling their Social Security offices, and the offices told them they didn't know for sure if they'd be getting their checks or not. These people are terrified of being thrown out on the streets, of not being able to pay their utility bills, of not being able to feed themselves.
They'll probably be relieved when they are told that it's "only" going to be cuts in their cost-of-living adjustments, or that a Catfood Commission II will be formed take the very un-democratic step of making recommendations that congress gives an up-or-down vote to. No amendments, no markups, no changes allowed. It's how Congress traditionally passes really unpopular legislation like base closings.
Over 2000 people have already signed up to visit the office of their Senator or Representative tomorrow. Because elites of both parties are dead-set on doing this, and grassroots opposition is the only way we're going to make an impact.
Face-to-face meetings are the way to make it real. You can show up any time of day tomorrow, just for 5 minutes, let them know in no uncertain terms how you feel about their plans to cut these critical programs at a time of economic hardship.
The President lectures progressives on Friday about how we should all care about the nation's fiscal health. We do. We know that they don't need "tweaking." The President then went on to say that he supported the cuts recommended by the Catfood Commission, which included cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits, but as Commander-in-Chief he couldn't support their cuts to defense.
Someone should tell the President that if he wants to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits before defense spending, he's not in any position to be giving advice to progressives.
Will you take time to go visit the office of your member of Congress or Senator tomorrow, and remind them that the American people overwhelmingly oppose cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits, and that you will will not support them in 2012 if they take part in doing that?
The threats to Social Security and Medicare benefits right now are very real. And anyone who says "wait until we know more" is trying to keep you inactive while you're fattened up for the slaughter. They intend to drop this thing with lightening speed once they have a deal, and vote on it before anyone realizes what's happening.
If you want to save Social Security and Medicare from being cut, the time is now.
Mitch McConnell and the Republicans offered a clean debt ceiling vote -- no cuts necessary. President Obama rejected it. Then he told the country that Social Security checks might not go out on August 2. I was on CSPAN this morning and several callers were near tears as they said how they had been calling their Social Security offices, and the offices told them they didn't know for sure if they'd be getting their checks or not. These people are terrified of being thrown out on the streets, of not being able to pay their utility bills, of not being able to feed themselves.
They'll probably be relieved when they are told that it's "only" going to be cuts in their cost-of-living adjustments, or that a Catfood Commission II will be formed take the very un-democratic step of making recommendations that congress gives an up-or-down vote to. No amendments, no markups, no changes allowed. It's how Congress traditionally passes really unpopular legislation like base closings.
Over 2000 people have already signed up to visit the office of their Senator or Representative tomorrow. Because elites of both parties are dead-set on doing this, and grassroots opposition is the only way we're going to make an impact.
Face-to-face meetings are the way to make it real. You can show up any time of day tomorrow, just for 5 minutes, let them know in no uncertain terms how you feel about their plans to cut these critical programs at a time of economic hardship.
The President lectures progressives on Friday about how we should all care about the nation's fiscal health. We do. We know that they don't need "tweaking." The President then went on to say that he supported the cuts recommended by the Catfood Commission, which included cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits, but as Commander-in-Chief he couldn't support their cuts to defense.
Someone should tell the President that if he wants to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits before defense spending, he's not in any position to be giving advice to progressives.
Will you take time to go visit the office of your member of Congress or Senator tomorrow, and remind them that the American people overwhelmingly oppose cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits, and that you will will not support them in 2012 if they take part in doing that?