The rich want more tax cuts, they will be very unhappy without them. Where to get the money? Just steal it from the poor, the elderly, widows, orphans, and disabled veterans!
President Obama and Speaker Boehner appear close to striking a deal that includes Social Security benefit cuts, what is known in Beltway-speak as “chained CPI.” For millions of seniors, Social Security pays for crucial medicine, food, and daily necessities. The greatest impact would be on the oldest seniors, which happens to correlate with the poorest. For most of the middle class, Social Security is the last remaining defined-benefit retirement program available.
The average monthly Social Security benefit for a retired worker was about $1,230 at the beginning of 2012. The latest cost of living allowance (COLA) comes to about a dollar a month – that’s without Obama’s cuts!
Obama’s offer would make permanent some of the Bush Tax Cuts for the top 2% that President Obama previously promised to oppose, while raising taxes on middle class workers. The payroll tax holiday would expire, meaning middle class workers will see smaller paychecks in 2013.
Our President is breaking some of his most often repeated promises, and in exchange what are the Republicans giving up? Nothing.
This is an attack on retirees and the middle class, pure and simple. Makes me very glad I never voted for President Obama.
UPDATE: Jane Hamsher: Can We Please Stop Pretending Obama is “Capitulating” on Social Security?
The President has been very forthcoming about the fact that cutting Social Security benefits is something he wants to do. When he said during the debate that he didn’t differ from Mitt Romney on entitlement reform, he meant it. It’s time for people to remove the rose-colored glasses and stop projecting their own feelings on to the man. It’s time to take him at his word.
UPDATE: Boehner dismisses President Obama’s plea for compromise. After Rep. Nancy Pelosi promised to deliver Democratic votes for a Social Security benefit cut, Speaker Boehner was our only hope. And the leader of the Party of NO (or is it Hell NO?) delivered.
More info:
Americans Overwhelmingly Oppose Obama Plan to Cut Social Security
David Dayen: Obama’s Latest Fiscal Slope Offer: I’m Missing the Part Where Republicans Give Up Something
More on Chained CPI, the Benefit Cut for Social Security on the Table in Fiscal Slope Discussions
#1 by Mike Murphy on December 18, 2012 - 10:25 pm
There are so many reasons I’m glad I never voted for Obama or any Democrat…
True, the rich (>$400k annual income) can do without some of that money. It’s doubtful it would affect their standard of living in any discernible way. However, aren’t thousands of small businesses included in that group being targeted for a higher tax rate? Another ~4% in taxes won’t hurt most wealthy persons but a small business on the verge of bankruptcy or looking to expand may be forced out of business or put off plans to hire given a higher tax rate. The ‘Affordable’ Care Act has already done enough to dissuade employers from hiring and has provided ample insecurity in the markets. Do we really need to add a higher tax burden to the mix?
The Left likes catch words like ‘sustainability’. Does anyone really think the current entitlements outlay is sustainable? It’s not. For instance, how much do we spend on end-of-life care? It’s not surprising that individuals in their last year of life consume a disproportionate share of medical resources. One percent of the population accounts for 30 percent of the nation’s health care expenditures. Nearly half of those people are elderly.
Medicare, the health insurance program for the elderly, spends nearly 30 percent of its budget on beneficiaries in their final year of life. Slightly more than half of Medicare dollars are spent on patients who die within two months.
Although Medicare costs for services have continued to rise over the years, the proportion of payments for persons near death in relation to Medicare’s total budget has changed little. Seems people nowadays are afraid to die. Why? Lack of faith.
Our family frequently volunteers at a local nursing home. The majority of those there are funded by Medicare. Most are completely dependent on nurses and CNA’s to provide for every need. Many cannot see well enough to read, watch television, play a game and many cannot speak or remember events that took place ten minutes ago. A married couple at this particular home were suffering various terminal impairments as well as Alzheimer’s. They’d been married 60+ years. The woman passed away a few weeks ago. The family decided not to bring the husband to his wife’s funeral because he couldn’t remember who she was.
Why are we bankrupting our country extending the lives of those who’d be better off dead? This may sound callus but the fact is the standard of living of these individuals is without dignity, without emotion and often filled with pain, loneliness, confusion, despair and sorrow. I’m not advocating euthanasia, but rather questioning why we’re not letting nature take its course when the patient is terminal? 40 percent of Medicare dollars cover care for people in their last month of life. We’re committing fiscal suicide in a vain attempt to extend life when life has lost its purpose and ran its course.
#2 by Nathan Erkkila on December 18, 2012 - 10:40 pm
I’m rather ok about this because the elderly do not deserve social security for how they voted the past 12 years
#3 by cav on December 18, 2012 - 11:03 pm
And the right (wrong) likes General Dynamics, Dynacorp, CACI International, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, The Carlyle Group, Northrup Grumman, Boeing, etc. It’s always been about the money. Always.
For so long, for a decade plus, the fire hose of money that has been gushing into the military, CIA, those listed above and others like them, has also spawned a gigantic private contractor establishment that will not be soon nor easily undone, as it should be for crissakes.
And all while a covert effort – part of the ‘Cliff’ negotiations – to gut military benefits – America’s Highly Effective Socialized Medicine Provider, the VA System, and Military Benefits Generally – by privatizing them. Privatization has rarely delivered on its promise of better performance and/or lower costs. Indeed, in the military, it has served as an egregious ground for looting. Let’s leverage our ‘Heroes’.
Well, you’ve been too long at the kool-aid dispenser, my friend. Time to step away. There’s life thereafter, I’ll guarantee you.
#4 by cav on December 18, 2012 - 11:06 pm
Nathan – Fetch me a ‘switch’. This Second!
#5 by Larry Bergan on December 19, 2012 - 11:12 pm
Not so fast, Nathan!
The first time I was allowed to vote, I voted for Jimmy Carter and he may have lost, but we’ll never know for sure because that was the first year the famous punch card machines used in Florida were rolled out in Utah.
Highly programmable and not even designed for actual elections.
#6 by rmwarnick on December 20, 2012 - 11:45 am
An important function of One Utah is to help educate people about public affairs, particularly those who have swallowed lies from Faux News Channel.
Mike is wrong about small businesses. Only 2.5 percent of small business owners are among the top 2 percent of taxpayers with incomes over $250 K.
Medicare is not “bankrupting our country.” Nor is Medicare as a system failing to pay for itself. Overpriced health care is a problem – let’s solve that.
#7 by cav on December 20, 2012 - 12:24 pm
Is this thing ON?
#8 by cav on December 20, 2012 - 12:26 pm
Must be some sort of trap. Quick. Too the gun locker.
Really now, how trollish of me.
#9 by cav on December 20, 2012 - 12:29 pm
Well, apparently the Mayan clock makers missed a cog. Funny comments, even though the timeliness will fast fade..
http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/155upu/the_world_has_not_ended_sincerely_new_zealand/
#10 by Richard Warnick on December 20, 2012 - 5:31 pm
H/T Douglas Adams
#11 by Cliff Lyon on December 20, 2012 - 6:38 pm
Mike,
You’ve made an argument for Euthanasia at the very least. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia
…a liberal, progressive position.
…and I am intimately familiar with and sympathetic to your nursing home sentiment.
Makes sense to me that the first best step would be to remove the profit motive to extend life past a certain easily-defined, quality threshold.
Republicans refuse to even open that door much less entertain euthanasia laws.
Spineless, pseudo-religious Republicans HATE the very idea of hospice. The Republican mind is afraid of death.
So it falls to the counties to deal with reality.
Unfortunately, very many US counties are run by scummy, small-minded, self-promoting “pious” (like Catholic priests are pious) Republicans.
#12 by cav on December 20, 2012 - 10:16 pm
Dear Santa,
How are you? How is Mrs. Claus? I hope everyone, from the reindeer to the elves, is fine. I have been a very good boy this year. I would like an X-Box 360 with Call of Duty IV and an iPhone 5 for Christmas. I hope you remember that come Christmas Day.
Merry Christmas,
Timmy Jones
Dear Timmy,
Thank you for your letter. Mrs. Claus, the reindeer and the elves are all fine and thank you for asking about them. Santa is a little worried all the time you spend playing video games and texting. Santa wouldn’t want you to get fat. Since you have indeed been a good boy, I think I’ll bring you something you can go outside and play with
Merry Christmas,
Santa Claus
Mr. Claus,
Seeing that I have fulfilled the “naughty vs. nice” contract, set by you I might add, I feel confident that you can see your way clear to granting me what I have asked for. I certainly wouldn’t want to turn this joyous season into one of litigation. Also, don’t you think that a jibe at my weight coming from an overweight man who goes out once a year is a bit trite?
Respectfully,
Tim Jones
Mr. Jones,
While I have acknowledged you have met the “nice” criteria, need I remind you that your Christmas list is a request and in no way is it a guarantee of services provided. Should you wish to pursue legal action, well that is your right. Please know, however, that my attorneys have been on retainer ever since the Burgermeister Meisterburger incident and will be more than happy to take you on in open court. Additionally, the exercise I alluded to will not only improve your health, but also improve your social skills and potentially help clear up a complexion that looks like the bottom of the Burger King fry bin most days.
Very Truly Yours,
S Claus
Now look here Fat Man,
I told you what I want and I expect you to bring it. I was attempting to be polite about this but you brought my looks and my friends into this. Now you just be disrespecting me. I’m about to tweet my boys and we’re gonna be waiting for your fat ass and I’m taking my game console, my game, my phone, and whatever else I want. WHAT EVER I WANT, MAN!
T-Bone
Listen Pizza Face,
Seriously??? You think a dude that breaks into every house in the world on one night and never gets caught sweats a skinny g-banger wannabe? “He sees you when you’re sleeping; He knows when you’re awake”. Sound familiar, genius? You know what kind of resources I have at my disposal. I got your shit wired, Jack. I go all around the world and see ways to hurt people that if I described them right now, you’d throw up your Totino’s pizza roll all over the carpet of your mom’s basement. You’re not getting what you asked for, but I’m still stopping by your crib to stomp a mud hole in your ass and then walk it dry. Chew on that, Petunia.
S Clizzy
Dear Santa,
Bring me whatever you see fit. I’ll appreciate anything.
Timmy
Timmy,
That’s what I thought, you little bastard.
Santa
#13 by Mike Murphy on December 21, 2012 - 3:36 pm
If you’d taken the time to read my ENTIRE post you would have seen that I’d stated I DO NOT support euthanasia but rather hospice.
A blanket statement regarding Republicans being unwilling to entertain euthanasia laws or “HATING” hospice is entirely INCORRECT. I have family members working in hospice, family member who have left this life on hospice and Utah is one of the most saturated markets for hospice services. Both my family and Utah are predominantly LDS, but not “pseudo-religious”.
This comments takes the cake for your post Cliff:
“A Republican mind is afraid of death.” How would you know? That’s analogous to stating a Democrat mind welcomes death. Neither are true.
Cliff, can you explain your “reality”? Perhaps you can dig out your philosophy textbooks some quotes by Plato?
#14 by Larry Bergan on December 21, 2012 - 4:05 pm
cav:
The Santa letters are precious.
#15 by Cliff Lyon on December 21, 2012 - 8:56 pm
Mike, Your evidence about your family is anecdotal. What YOU think and what YOUR PARTY thinks differ often I imagine. (Right, I mean like you really dint want to screw veterans do you?)
So when I say Republicans suck, you get to decide IF I am talking about you or the party to which you assign you undying loyalty, like a good soldier oblivious of the ruse.
#16 by Mike Murphy on December 22, 2012 - 10:06 am
Cliff: My personal experiences and observations do not lack facts nor evidence. Therefore they cannot be categorized as anecdotal. I have four close family members working in healthcare. I’ve discussed these matters at length with them and have been hired to consult home health, hospice and SNF companies in the past several months. I’d say my opinions are based on a fairly broad spectrum of inputs within the system.
What is my party Cliff? You assume I’m a Republican but I haven’t always voted that way. I’ve only stated elsewhere I’ve NEVER voted for a Demoncrat because their platform is rooted in communism.
I don’t mind “screwing” veterans who come back from war able to contribute yet decide to turn the tables of their service to expecting the government to provide all manner of benefits and coddle them to the grave. Aside from using my MGIB, which I paid into, to finish grad school I’ve asked nothing of the VA and don’t intend to.
#17 by Cliff Lyon on December 22, 2012 - 1:17 pm
Mike, “four close family members” is the very definition of anecdotal. The opposite of anecdotal is broad-based scientific metrics. Since you family are all LDS, its even more anecdotal.
May I assume your self-funded graduate studies are not in the classics.
Next. Your opposition to euthanasia supports my assertion, albeit anecdotally, that Conservative/Religious/Republicans are afraid to acknowledge the reality of death in any public way.
Next, your mean-spirited assertion that vets are lazy and leech off the government, demonstrates that you have no knowledge of there veteran support bills the GOP rejected in the last session. Which reminds of another demonstrable fact: conservatives are less informed than liberals (ask me to prove that, I dare ya).
Finally, your assertion that the Dem platform is “rooted in communism” exposes your own deep roots in an expressly rural, homogenous community in which individualism and intellectual curiosity is shunned in favor of conformity.
Forgive me Mike for being so personal. I prefer not to argue with people like you. Been there done that. You;re not here to learn or upgrade you standard of discourse. You are here for self-validation and to bully me.
Lets go Mike. Have at me.
#18 by Mike Murphy on December 22, 2012 - 2:54 pm
Cliff- Why is it someone as highly educated as yourself has such poor reading comprehension skills? You’d be well served reading through ENTIRE posts and taking some time to digest the statements therein prior to posting a comment. Again, you assume my entire extended family is LDS. They are not. They do however possess a combined 100+ years of experience in the medical field as: nurses, doctors and administrators. My own background qualifies me to serve as a consultant to home health, hospice and SNF’s. I would say that meets the requirement of “broad-based” and scientific.
Correct, my graduate studies comprise three disciplines: geography and remote sensing, intelligence analysis and security. I was introduced to the classics by my mother who holds an MS in library science.
My comment regarding vets was not a blanket statement like those you’ve posted regarding gun owners, conservatives and Republicans. Some vets I know do leech of the government. Most vets choose to move on with life once active-duty is at an end such as myself.
Please demonstrate the ‘fact’ conservatives are less informed than liberals. Both sides possess their share of uninformed.
I’ve lived in various states across the country and predominantly in urban or suburban environs: Norfolk, Virginia, Washington DC, San Jose, California, San Diego, California to name a few, not including international posts. The fact that the Democrat party is motivated by a communist agenda is confirmed with nearly every piece of legislation and social program they sponsor. Take an appraising look at the man you helped place in the oval office. His father, mentors, friends and sponsors in many cases are card-carrying members of the communist party and/or hardline anti-colonial. Seems you are the one needing to educate oneself prior to endorsing someone for office, unless you happen to agree with these ideologies.
Interesting comments from an article describing Democrat/communists links:
“while communist propaganda is by definition a pack of lies, the CPUSA is refreshingly up-front about one thing: their primary and defining purpose is to achieve communism in the United States of America. In pursuit of that defining purpose, they have for years thrown their lot in with the Democratic Party, and they are now very strongly advocating for Barack Obama in particular.
The point here is not to accuse Obama of guilt by association. The endorsement of communists does not prove him a communist.
The interesting question, however, is this: why does the CPUSA, in speaking to its own members, urge them to support Obama by citing the very policies and decisions that Obama himself is most proud of?
The answer is as unavoidable as it is straightforward: the Communist Party regards Barack Obama’s signature achievements and defining principles as consistent with, and conducive to, its own defining goal — namely, the establishment of a socialist workers’ state in America.
the Communist Party loves the same Obama policies and accomplishments that the Democratic Party establishment loves, that the mainstream media loves, that the unions love, and that Charles Schumer, Jennifer Granholm, Harry Reid, and Dick Durbin love. They want more of the same. The CPUSA sees what most of us see, and what the Democratic Party would somehow like to keep its permanent underclass — um, that is, its voter base — from seeing: the Obama agenda is driving America “forward” on “the Road to Socialism.” The only difference is that the communists are honest enough to spell it out.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/09/obamas_communist_party_endorsement.html#ixzz2FotSzL00
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
Cliff, I hold no animosity toward you personally. I merely would like to debate via a forum dedicated to this express purpose. I regret that the opinions of the Left and those of modern liberalism offer little in the way of intelligent debate but more often than not digress into profanity, insults and comedy. That has been my observation here on UtahOne, elsewhere online and in personal debate.
#19 by Cliff Lyon on December 22, 2012 - 6:38 pm
Mike, You must know (or maybe you don’t), but you really, really, REALLY sound like the Communist fear mongers of the McCarthy, Eastland era.
This is a tired, old song.
In all fairness, and since shown some decency, you should know a little about my history and influences. The Cliff in this documentary is my Grandfather and namesake. A far more graceful man than I. He was accused of being a communist too.
And by assholes far more prominent than Mike Murphy or whomever you really are.
https://vimeo.com/44816744
#20 by Larry Bergan on December 22, 2012 - 6:48 pm
Mixing religion with politics or science is simply unworkable. I’m a pretty old guy who has lived in Salt Lake all my life. I seems to me that Mormon scientists and politicians used to be able to separate their careers from their faith in the recent past, before the crazies took over the Republican party.
It’s wonderful to see Louisiana taking a stand against this nonsense:
A Louisiana board bans creationism
#21 by Lyman Hall on December 23, 2012 - 9:34 pm
Cliff, how is it that you are from the same gene pool of a man who had such courage to defend liberty, when your life’s passion is to suppress liberty? There must have been a mistake at the hospital.
#22 by Larry Bergan on December 23, 2012 - 10:17 pm
Pretty good Lyman.
Good enough?
Nah!