You’re gonna cut entitlements? Suuurrrre you are
Granted: The national debt is a serious challenge to our economic prosperity and national security, and according to every budget projection, the problem will become even more serious in the years ahead.
So what are we going to do about it? Cut entitlement spending?
No, you’re not.
Not by enough to matter, anyway. If you want proof, take a look at how quickly that Texas tough guy, Rick Perry, has tried to backpedal on all that bluster about Social Security. And at this point, remember, he’s still running in the Republican primary, where such views are supposed to be popular.
On the other hand, if looking at Rick Perry is more than you can bear, you can also look at this:
Look at those numbers. If your plan for solving the debt crisis is to cut entitlements, you have no plan to solve the debt crisis.
The poll was conducted on behalf of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, which is grounds for approaching it with caution. However, it was conducted jointly by two nationally respected opinion research companies, one with generally Republican clients, one with generally Democratic clients. More importantly, its findings are consistent with poll after poll taken on the subject.
As the poll also found:
“When asked to choose between tax increases on the top 2 percent of income earners or cuts to Social Security and Medicare as a way to reduce the deficit, 94 percent of Democrats, 82 percent of independents, and 64 percent of Republicans prefer tax increase on the top 2 percent of income earners.”
The truth is, entitlements do have to be cut. Medicare’s current path is unsustainable. And with Social Security, a change in how benefits are adjusted for inflation would go a long way to making the program actuarially sound for the next 75 years. That’s not popular with voters — two-thirds of Americans oppose the idea, the poll found — but it probably has to be done anyway. (The poll also found that 71 percent of Americans favor raising the $106,000 cutoff on payroll taxes, compared to just 21 percent opposed).
However, such benefit changes are politically plausible only as part of a much larger package in which the burdens of debt reduction are shared broadly, through tax increases as well as spending cuts. Without such a package, forget it.
(And before you argue that we’ll just cut elsewhere, the so-called untouchables in the budget — defense spending, pensions, Medicare/health spending, Social Security, veterans programs and interest on the debt — amount to $3.1 trillion out of a total budget of $3.7 trillion. You could totally eliminate everything else the government does — environmental protection, federal courts, the FBI, border patrol, food inspections, the State Department, foreign aid, food stamps, Congress, the national parks — and still reduce the deficit by less than half.)
If you truly believe that the national debt is a serious threat, you have an obligation to quit the nonsense and get serious about politically realistic avenues for addressing it. Otherwise you’re contributing to the problem that you claim to abhor.
– Jay Bookman
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
365 comments Add your comment
Bosch
September 23rd, 2011
4:34 pm
“since he did the squirrels and Jesse Jackson”
OMG! I love that one! “Quick, hide the nuts!”
Brosephus™ - Issuing Spineless Sour Gummi Bears Since 2011
September 23rd, 2011
4:34 pm
(ir)Rational & Bosch
Feel free to use that one. I won’t even require licensing approval for it. Consider that my reduction in regulations.
md
September 23rd, 2011
4:38 pm
generation x/y?…….I thought it was generation m/e
Skeptic
September 23rd, 2011
4:38 pm
If we take the children away from these moms, then other women may be dissuaded from getting pregnant.
Put down the PIPE!!!!
Bosch
September 23rd, 2011
4:42 pm
Skeptic,
I told you it got better…
Joe Mama
September 23rd, 2011
4:43 pm
Brownsephus — “If/When Obama acts like some uber-liberal, I’ll call him on that. Until then, Obama’s superliberalism like the legend of Bigfoot. It’s some scary campfire story to scare the poop out of conservatives when no such monster exists.”
This.
(the real) Independent
September 23rd, 2011
4:43 pm
OK Skeptic, lets try it your way – let’s pay these women more and more for every child they have. Support them and their children without requiring them to work or do anything but conceive and delivery. You can call them “delivery women”. The Octomom is a good place to start, Pay her lots of money to support her herd. “Welfare Queen” is also a good name, women using their kids to get increased payments from the Govenment.
Bosch
September 23rd, 2011
4:45 pm
Somebody has gotten into the stash of Hyperbole Sandwiches…and overdosed.
Brosephus™ - Issuing Spineless Sour Gummi Bears Since 2011
September 23rd, 2011
4:46 pm
md
Generation m/e would include most of America. Just sayin…
Joe Mama
I can only call it as I see it.
Bosch
September 23rd, 2011
4:47 pm
Isn’t it just super great when somebody gets their crap called out and they go overboard with more crap that nobody said — I guess that’s what happens when you get embarrassed.
Joe Mama
September 23rd, 2011
4:48 pm
Independent — “women using their kids to get increased payments from the Govenment.”
If you can substantiate the existence of these alleged individuals, then kindly do so.
Otherwise, you’re talking about purple unicorns. They’re conjectured to exist, but no one’s ever actually *seen* one in the wild.
Bosch
September 23rd, 2011
4:50 pm
“Otherwise, you’re talking about purple unicorns. They’re conjectured to exist, but no one’s ever actually *seen* one in the wild.”
Yeah, for f’real — they are hanging with Bigfoot and the Superliberal Obama.
Bosch
September 23rd, 2011
4:50 pm
…oh, I forgot….they also drive Cadillacs and shop at Whole Foods with their EBT cards and wear big expensive bling.
Waheema
September 23rd, 2011
4:54 pm
This just iin:
In a proposed rule from Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the federal government is demanding insurance companies submit detailed health care information about their patients
I don’t want the federal government to have my health information. This is an unaccpable intrusion and a dangerous one at that. All of you silly people who got excited becasue the Patriot Act wanted to see your library card should be freaking out at this.
(the real) Independent
September 23rd, 2011
4:54 pm
I don’t personally know any other than my niece, but cut off all the TANF, the SNAP, and the EITC, and see if poor women still have the same number of children.
(the real) Independent
September 23rd, 2011
4:56 pm
My daughter also works at Kroger and tells us stories of the people who pay for their food with their EBT cards and then their smokes with cash. Not illegal, you understand. She didn’t say what kind of car they drove.
GOP Voter
September 23rd, 2011
5:00 pm
I’m a conservative Republican. The most embarassing moment of the GOP Presidential debates so far, was when they asked the candidates if they would accept $10 in spending cuts for $1 in revenue and none of the candidates would go for it.
It’s time the adults took over in Washington, however Americans — collectively — are dumb as dirt, as Jay’s survey above just reinforces.
md
September 23rd, 2011
5:01 pm
“…oh, I forgot….they also drive Cadillacs and shop at Whole Foods with their EBT cards and wear big expensive bling.”
Right on…….it’s like all those evil rich people scheming to pee on people…………….
real john
September 23rd, 2011
5:01 pm
Jay:
Two things: First, I’m glad you mentioned the entitlments do have to be reformed, particularly Medicare and S.S.
Second: One idea that is a little misleading the the intrest on debt which I beleive is now running over $400 billion a year. If we cut the debt, that number will go down as well.
Third: Raising the taxes on the weatlhy will just hurt the middle class and the poor. A lot of small business owners who have worked their tails off aren’t going to keep giving more and more to the government. Guess what will happen, they will simply cut salary and lay people off. It has been proven that in many cases, tax cuts have actually increased revenues. If people complain about the unemployment now, just wait until tax increase hit (a little hint, its not going to help the cause).
Fourth: While I know many Repubs who could support a tax increase, that will ONLY happen if serious, major cuts are made. That is a major reason why big business are not hiring. They know this house of cards is falling, but unlike the Federal Government, they can’t just keep borrowing and borrowing. If a company makes a bad business mistake, they pay for it dearly. That is why when taking on a major loan or risk, it is well thought out in advance.
Paddy O
September 23rd, 2011
5:03 pm
Those who try to pretend / downplay / manipulate popular perception with the gross lie that Obama is NOT an uber liberal, are just pushing propoganda FOR Obama. Can’t talk about the knee jerk (althought cutting off drilling after one platform that his admin gave permit approval to does lean that way), but tax & spend is Obama’s calling card – sadly, it is tax/spend & borrow. Both Bush & Obama have spent LIBERALLY, which prompted the TEA party – it is not just a response to Obama, but also to Bushes TARP. Entrenched GOP officials who jump the fiscal conservative ship and up end the market, as happened with AIG/Goldman Sachs, and which is generally personified by Saxby Chambliss, need to voted out.
Paddy O
September 23rd, 2011
5:04 pm
It would be a good public policy to ask food stamp applicants: Do you smoke? If they say yes, tell them sorry, they have too much disposable income to NEED food stamps.
Paddy O
September 23rd, 2011
5:06 pm
If the FEDS need extra money, why not impose import tariffs? A buck a unit plus 5% of selling cost.
Kamchak
September 23rd, 2011
5:08 pm
…oh, I forgot….they also drive Cadillacs and shop at Whole Foods with their EBT cards and wear big expensive bling.
Five kids, all of them wearing $200 Nikes, talking on iphones…
Joe Mama
September 23rd, 2011
5:17 pm
Independent — “I don’t personally know any other than my niece”
Your concession is noted and appreciated.
“people who pay for their food with their EBT cards and then their smokes with cash.”
Which is in accordance with the law. You can’t buy smokes with SNAP, nor should you be able to. Come up with cash or go without.
Your complaint here seems to be that some folks on SNAP also happen to smoke. How *terrible* for you.
Joe Mama
September 23rd, 2011
5:19 pm
Paddy — “they have too much disposable income to NEED food stamps.”
How about requiring them to participate in ongoing smoking cessation programs as a condition of receiving SNAP? Not just a 6-8 week program, but the whole time they’re on SNAP?
Kamchak
September 23rd, 2011
5:22 pm
How about requiring them to participate in ongoing smoking cessation programs as a condition of receiving SNAP?
Making them pay for it, of course.
md
September 23rd, 2011
5:26 pm
“Your complaint here seems to be that some folks on SNAP also happen to smoke. How *terrible* for you.”
I’m in that camp…..it’s called needs vs wants……….if folks can afford their wants, they should be able to afford their needs.
ATLien052
September 23rd, 2011
5:27 pm
Typical liberal nonsense: we have a problem, stick your finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing and use that to justify your position. The problem with entitlements is that, once given, people fee “entitled” to them. Of course no one on Medicare or who receives/is about to receive Social Security wants it cut, but that doesn’t mean that cuts should not be made.
More importantly, whose definition of entitlements limits them only to Social Security or Medicare? Only a person who argues against cutting entitlements. There are many entitlements (i.e. welfare, unemployment benefits, etc.) that can and should be cut, and I believe there would be strong support from the people.
In the end, I would argue for keeping (most) entitlement programs if Washington would cut or eliminate unnecessary departments, like the EPA, the Department of Energy, or the Department of Education. None are called for in the Constitution and all are now a morass of bureaucracy which hinder the American economy and educational system.
M
September 23rd, 2011
5:27 pm
Yes, Medicare spending should be reduced. But Medicare coverage should not. How is this possible?
The real issue is healthcare costs. The U.S. spends 2-4X more than other comparable counties because of the intense focus on profits rather than healthcare outcomes. Put people before profits and this problem fades in significance. We need some honesty in this discussion rather than protecting the influcential status quo health and insurance industries.
Kamchak
September 23rd, 2011
5:30 pm
Put people before profits and this problem fades in significance.
Every penny of profit is a penny of healthcare denied.
(the real) Independent
September 23rd, 2011
5:32 pm
“Your complaint here seems to be that some folks on SNAP also happen to smoke. How *terrible* for you.”
My complaint is that they use our tax money to pay for their food when they could pay for at least part of it with the cash they use for their cigarettes.
HUH?
September 23rd, 2011
5:34 pm
Social Security is something that is supposed to be paid in through ssa taxes. If you pay for it, it is not an entitlement unless you are an Illegal alien. If the crocked politicians had left it alone. It might be paying for itself.
(the real) Independent
September 23rd, 2011
5:39 pm
This is how the word “Entitlement” came to be a curse word: when people felt they were “entitled” to free food, free money, free healthcare, free housing. Free as in they did not pay for them. Not free to you and I, of course. Some things we should be entitled to, such as Social Security payments after we pay into the system for a lifetime.
md
September 23rd, 2011
5:39 pm
“Put people before profits and this problem fades in significance.”
And so will the quality of care…………..sure, there will be those that find their calling in the profession, but any in it for the money/lifestyle will simply move to other more lucrative industries………
Folks do it everyday when they study the career salaries charts prior to beginning a course of study…………do you think all those attorneys found their calling?
HUH?
September 23rd, 2011
5:39 pm
Go back to the days of “If you don’t pay taxes or own property then you don’t vote”. This will straighten this mess out.
Joe Mama
September 23rd, 2011
5:45 pm
Independent — “My complaint is that they use our tax money to pay for their food when they could pay for at least part of it with the cash they use for their cigarettes.”
Are you saying that a person on public assistance shouldn’t be permitted to purchase any sort of convenience or ‘luxury’ item — not even a pack of cigarettes?
Perhaps you don’t actually understand how SNAP works. You can’t have much more than a poverty-level income and still receive it — and most states impose time limits on how long you can receive it. At least one state even imposes a lifetime benefit amount limit.
Perhaps you could consider giving this a try.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_stamp_challenge
I’m out, all drive safely and be well.
Kamchak
September 23rd, 2011
5:47 pm
My complaint is that they use our tax money to pay for their food when they could pay for at least part of it with the cash they use for their cigarettes.
OK fine, we grant your wish and your complaint tomorrow will be what? Your tax dollars are paying for their food while they’re wearing Nikes instead of Keds?
md
September 23rd, 2011
5:47 pm
“Are you saying that a person on public assistance shouldn’t be permitted to purchase any sort of convenience or ‘luxury’ item — not even a pack of cigarettes?”
If others are subsidizing them………..then no. Why should that person get to spend on wants when the one subsidizing isn’t afforded that option?
md
September 23rd, 2011
5:48 pm
“Your tax dollars are paying for their food while they’re wearing Nikes instead of Keds?”
Possibly………i’ve never owned a pair of Nikes in my life……….K-Mart blue light special.
Again, needs vs wants……………..
M
September 23rd, 2011
5:50 pm
To md: “Put people before profits and this problem fades in significance.”
Your comment: And so will the quality of care … for the money/lifestyle will simply move to other more lucrative industries………”
Answer: Let them go into other fields. Perhaps to the “financial innovation” field where they can scalp unsuspecting retirees-to-be. They will be quickly replaced by others without missing a beat. And cheaper healthcare will be so much more readily available that he health of the nation will be much better off overall. No one’s irreplaceable.
Kamchak
September 23rd, 2011
5:53 pm
No one’s irreplaceable.
No one except John Galt.
Give me a break
September 23rd, 2011
5:55 pm
Enter your comments here
Kamchak
September 23rd, 2011
5:59 pm
Enter your comments somewhere else
That Black guy
September 23rd, 2011
6:05 pm
Bosch
September 23rd, 2011
2:17 pm
irRational,
Admit it, you agree with more of what we say than the wingnuts. Just saying.
Bosch, although you didn’t ask me, I also agree with alot of what you guys say.
“I tell ya’ were gonna get irRational on our side yet.”
Again, with out being asked, what keeps me off “your side” (we’re all Americans)is the nasty way people who don’t agree with your side are treated (wingnut, teabagger). I’m not saying some conservatives don’t treat liberals nasty, but from personal experience, your side takes the cake. Being a Black conservative, it would make you blush to hear some of the things that I have been called and accused of. And the teabagger thing, how would liberals like it if a group went around calling their mother or wife c@(ksuckers? Yet liberals do it all the time (not so much here anymore).
BTW, I haven’t joined “their side” either.
John Galt
September 23rd, 2011
6:06 pm
Social Security and Medicare are supposed to be insurance programs, not entitlements. The left has completely hijacked the vernacular.
John Galt
September 23rd, 2011
6:07 pm
And not even I am irreplaceable.
Kamchak
September 23rd, 2011
6:08 pm
And the teabagger thing, how would liberals like it if a group went around calling their mother or wife c@(ksuckers?
Don’t really care.
An insult is like poison or strong drink. It can’t effect me unless I accept it.
Jay's Brain
September 23rd, 2011
6:31 pm
Cut everything and everywhere. Just cut and laugh at the ignorant regressive leftist that says oh my
you are only cutting 1% of the budget.
Well dummy a few million cut here and a few more million cut there and it all adds up.
Do a budget one day for yourself and you just might figure it out.
yuzeyurbrane
September 23rd, 2011
6:58 pm
Jay, I agree overall but would choose a different modification to set SS straight for another 75 years. The chained COLA you are referring to is really a cut in benefits, even for those currently on SS, because it does not accurately measure cost of living increases for Seniors. Proponents argue it is more accurate than the current COLA formula (based on general population) but it is under the current formula that there has been no SS cost of living increase for 2 years. Actually, the most accurate COLA for SS would be 1 based on the senior population. If you still insist on chained COLA, then call it what it is–a benefit cut for all SS recipients present and future. The better choice is the 1 you briefly refer to in your article—raise the wage level subject to FICA above the present $106,000 and expand it to include income from interest, dividends, etc. which now allows many mega-wealthy to totally avoid FICA taxes. Just raise it to the level needed to assure SS’s solvency for another 75 years.
ODD OWL
September 23rd, 2011
9:32 pm
The Republicans have been attempting to defund and dismantle all the social programs since the ’30’s, when President FDR created social security and other entitlement programs. The right wing, neo-con Republican corporate bosses and their propagandist news media pundits, who claim that President Obama is anti-business are liars. They lie when they say that ObamaCare is driving up the price of health insurance today. Health Insurance prices were skyrocketing long before ObamaCare. Republican obstructionism blocked most of the Obama Admin. efforts to regulate free market capitalism. Republican lies, lies, lies. The corporate bosses that scape goat and Blame President Obama for their screw ups are the same corporate bosses (Koch Bros.) that fund and control the Tea party Republicans. Corporate profits and the personal income of the corporate bosses are the highest in history. So what is motivating the corporate bosses’ modus operandi ??? Is it race ??? Share the wealth, TAX THE RICH, pay down the debt.
ODD OWL
September 23rd, 2011
9:40 pm
We Democrats place Non rich Black Republicans in the same category as non rich White Republicans……… BIG HOUSE !!!
Mr. Right
September 23rd, 2011
10:45 pm
Share the wealth, TAX THE RICH, pay down the debt.
Yea, they didn’t earn their money on their own so take it from them, it’s just as much mine as theirs! Them greedy rich people! I mean they used the roads we helped pay for and they think they can keep the money they earned. How stupid can they be! Grrrr
Joel Edge
September 24th, 2011
6:53 am
How about we start with the sixteen dollar muffins, Jay? I watched some of President Obamas speech on education. He was praising work done for eduction by states, teachers and schools. The general tone was that much of the good and serious work was done at the local level. I’m sitting there thinking ‘why do we need the Department of Education again?’
Mighty Righty
September 24th, 2011
10:51 am
This is a real life example of Darwinian theory. the stupid will die as a result of their own greed. There simply isn’t enough money to continue these programs without modification. The population growth is among the ignorant and foreign invaders who for the most part are non producers is the source of future contributions. The benefit system is based on the future wage earners paying for the present recipients. (Can anyone say Ponzi) The invaders are already benefiting from belefits to which they have not contributed and will not. The Republicans and a few smart Democrats will save, invest and move their own money over seas while the few remainig non prodicers will divide a dwindling pot. Good luck to the rank and file Democrats who are counting on their benefits being paid by growth in illegal immigration. Remember, “survial of the fittest.”
Faithfu Servant
September 25th, 2011
6:08 am
The day the American people, allowed the federal government to automatically take money out of their paychecks was a sad day! The day, We The People lost our way! Look at that amount taken out of your check, is it more than your house payment? Hows the sales tax,, your property taxes, insurance, income tax! We own Fannie and Freddie they tell us, lucky American people, we own everything, united together!
Who really is above the law? And what laws do we all follow?
I want a raise, and you deserve one too, I love you! http://mommylife.net/archives/2011/03/history_lesson.html Do you feel secure? The only peace I have is that I know Gods plans, from the beginning, and anxiously wait for Jesus our Bridegroom, our Savior.
How better off we would all be, to have the say of how and where we want our money spent! How differently would you look at this fruit of your labor, with a peaceful heart, integrity, and confidence knowing you wrote with pride and honor to each of your laboring brothers and sisters for the good of mankind! “I labor to you in peace and love, to bless God our Father, whom I trust and love. I pray we all come together, stand and protect each other, in love for Lord Jesus, who paid our debt on the cross, and left the promise of the Holy Spirit, all we have to do is ask and it shall be given. With God on our side, who can be against US! May my share of the debt be paid in the glory of You Lord!”
Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. _Abraham Lincoln_
“We are important and significant” Learn all your history, starting with the Word as all was spoken. Truth should be held sacred, at whatever cost. The truth shall make us free some day. Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe. The truth shall make us free one day!
By idolizing those whom we honor, we do a disservice both to them and to ourselves…We fail to recognize that we could go and do likewise. _Charles V. Willie_
What passes for identity in America is a series of myths about one’s heroic ancestors. _James Baldwin_
The history of a nation is, unfortunately too easily written as the history of its dominant class. _Kwame Nkrumah_
Ten men in our country could buy the whole world and ten million can’t buy enough to eat. _Will Rogers,,, 1931_
The power to rise in the world is not within the reach of everyone. Our we masters of our own fate, can you mold your life into any form you please?
As long as you are convinced you have never done anything, you can never do anything,. _Malcom X_
When information which properly belongs to the public is systematically withheld by those in power, the people soon become ignorant of their own affairs, distrustful of those who manage them, and–eventually–incapable of determining their own destinies. This said by Richard Nixon. Do you think Nixon wasn’t getting all the information? How is your destiny looking for you and your loved ones? Are you, yourself, trustworthy!
We see things not as they are but as we are. _Anais Nin_
We have to face the unpleasant as well as the affirmative side of the human story, including our own story as a nation, our own stories of our peoples. We have got to have the ugly facts in order to protect us from the official view of reality. _Bill Moyers_
To study foreign affairs without putting ourselves into others shoes is to deal in illusion and to prepare students for a lifelong misunderstanding of our place in the world. _Paul Gagnon_
What did you learn in school today, dear little boy of mine? I learned our government must be strong. It’s always right and never wrong. That’s what I learned in school. _Song by Ton Paxton, 1963_
Once you have learned to ask questions–relevant and appropriate and substantial questions–you have learned and no one can keep you from learning whatever you want or need to know. _Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner_
Awaken peoples curiosity, teaching and opening the gift of knowledge, and share the truth! May our minds all be opened, but not overloaded.
He is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins. _Frederick Douglass_
I know that I am a sinner and by grace I am saved. To get into heaven, it’s who you Know that counts! Jesus asked, ” Do you know what I have done for you.” Are your feet clean?
May we all have the aim of the historian, then is to know the elements of the present by understanding what came into the present by understanding what came into the present from the past, for the present is simply the developing past…The goal of the historian is the living present! _Frederick Jackson Turner_ The historian must have no country. _John Adams_
The future of mankind lies waiting for those who will come to understand their lives and take up their responsibilities to all living things. _Vine Deloria, Jr._
God has not been preparing the English speaking and Teutonic peoples for a thousand years for nothing…he has given us the spirit of progress to overwhelm the force reaction throughout the earth. he has made us adept in government that we may administer government among savage and senile peoples…And of all our race He has marked the American people as His chosen nation to finally lead in the redemption of the world. _Sen, Alvert J Beveridge, 1900_
Americans see history as a straight line and themselves standing at the cutting edge of it as representatives for all mankind. _Frances FitzGerald_
It is becoming increasingly apparent that we shall not have the benefits of this world for much longer. The imminent and expected destruction of the life cycle of world ecology can only be prevented by a radical shift in outlook from our present universe as a comprehensive matrix of life forms. Making this shift in viewpoint is essentially religious, not economic or political. _Vine Deloria, Jr._ “Religion is man made, Christianity comes from God!”
The study of economic growth is too serious to be left to economists. _E.J. Mishan_
It should be left up to you, Us, together we Stand, divided we will fall. Thank you for your labors.
“A country without God, is a country gone under” _Ronald Reagan_
We need Statesmen and Faithful Servants!
May we never fail divided, but succeed united together for eternity!
May God love, bless, and keep you always.
Sideline Dude
September 25th, 2011
3:06 pm
Amen. Please cut entitlement spending. I have enough of a time supporting myself without having to support “entitled” others.
TruthBe
September 25th, 2011
3:29 pm
Get rid of Obama, Career Corrupt Politicans, and vote in REAL Conservatives that actually care about America.
thewindwhistler
September 25th, 2011
3:38 pm
My great grampa got a disability pension after the Civil War. It was $12.00. Now you begrudge him that pittance for doing his bit to defeat the Southern rebels. He was sailing off Key West when he caught a bit of dysenteria.
The real problem is there is a monopoly by the Social Security Administration. If private investment companies were allowed to compete for the workers social security then we would have something.
vicki
September 25th, 2011
4:57 pm
The problem with social security is not the benefits to the elderly, but the disability payments. A large number of people get disability from social security – I personally know some. And they can work at a job – they just dont want to.All you need is a doctor to sign the forms. This is where we should cut back….just because someone cant work as a brick layer or a house painter, doesnt mean he cant work at some other job. We, as a nation, just keep giving money away – and we do not have it to give away any more. Famiies should help each other, churches help the needy, and friends help friends. Leave government out it.
Ronin
September 25th, 2011
5:01 pm
Social Security is not an entitlement program. You pay a premium (well most people do) for coverage and receive a benefit (a very poor return if a high earner). The problem is government bureaucrats, liberal and conservative have spent any reserves that were saved by past generations. Otherwise, most people would retire millionaires if they worked 40 years and saved 13% (individual and company match totals) of their income, tax deferred.
Javon
September 25th, 2011
5:07 pm
I’m tired of the government telling me what I can and can’t by with my ebt card. I should be able too get whatever I want
southside
September 25th, 2011
5:15 pm
the racists in the tea party want to cut government benefits and give the money to rich white fatcats. I’m getting tired of this!
Atlanta1
September 25th, 2011
5:36 pm
Just the comments written in response to the article says it all. The left doesn’t want one penny cut – the right doesn’t want one penny in tax increases. (Please get away from revenue increases – it is a tax increase – call it what it is).
Here’s the truth – the Democrats have no plans to reduce the debt. Nor do the Republicans. The only honest approach is coming from Connie Mack.
He wants the current year’s budget frozen and then a 1% reduction each year over the following 6. What’s the reward? A balance budget.
So he has ‘big time’ support from the Republican Party right? Wrong. Democrats? Nope…
They are both dishonest and both positioning for a Power Play…
And who pays for this… The American People (literally)…
We all need to recognize that we are literally on a path of destruction. We have to cut folks… We have to cut… That will require cuts in the budget and it will require some increase in taxes…
Last comment – the Winner of the last Presidential Election was pretty much guaranteed ‘one and done’. That’s pretty much a done deal The ‘left may as well begin to accept that’.
The right thought they had a mandate in the early part of this century. The left thought they had a mandate when President Obama was elected. The truth is, it is almost always ‘less’ about what they like about your party and ‘more’ about what they dis-like about the other party.
Neither side appears to have learned a thing over the years They had better learn to work together or we ALL will pay a terrible price..
Olderandwiser49
September 25th, 2011
5:56 pm
The best place to start is a full repeal of Obamacare, which is already exceeding Obama’s stated claims of its cost, and employers are dumping their better policies because it’s cheaper to pay the fine. Thus, people aren’t “allowed to keep their current coverages,” as Obama promised. We need to audit medicare and social security to eliminate the fraud and waste, estimated at over $100 Billion per year. We need to start weaning people away from SS, allowing younger people to start 401k programs to fund their retirement, allowing some lump-sum benefits a percentage of what they have contributed) to middle-aged people to transfer into self-managed retirement funds. To think the Federal government can manage our funds for us better than we can ourselves is to deceive ourselves. The government has shown their financial ineptitude in every program they have instituted. It always costs more, and returns less, than they say it will. We need to get government out of our private lives, and limit their powers to those set forth in the Constitution. And while the dissolution of the EPA, NLRB, Dept of Energy, and Dept of Education might not save much in the budget, the first three will eliminate the burdensome regulations standing in the way of business growth, and the last one will improve the quality of education in this nation.
Jack
September 25th, 2011
6:13 pm
Moral decency the man said: Reminds me of Bill Clinton. I think withdrawing Medicaid from single mothers wouldn’t stop teenage sex, but it’d stop my money from being spent on their indiscretions.