Social Security News 6-05-12

Americans for Democratic Action (Blog)

Raising the Social Security Retirement Age: An Unfair Burden

06-04-12

Bob Lucore

A new briefing paper from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), by Monique Morrissey and Eric Kingson, provides an excellent example of how factual evidence can contribute positively to the discussion of the future of retirement.

The paper takes a look at proposals to increase the eligibility age for Social Security retirement benefits. Simpson, like many others, has often suggested that raising the eligibility age makes sense, because life expectancy has increased. Kingson and Morrissey say that raising the age would put huge additional burdens on many older workers..

http://www.adaction.org/pages/posts/raising-the-social-security-retirement-age-an-unfair-burden799.php

Huffington Post (NAT)

Dammit, Chris Matthews! You Were Doing So Well 'Til You Said "Simpson Bowles"

06-05-12

Richard (RJ) Eskow

Chris Matthews had something of a scoop on Morning Joe yesterday. He indicated that yet another Democratic leader in Congress has succumbed to the austerity-based political fever that's decimating that party on Capitol Hill.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/aw-cmon-chris-matthews-yo_b_1569754.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger

Media Matters for America

Health Care Assault Is Blueprint For Future Constitutional Challenges To Safety Net Laws

06-05-12

David Lyle

In Salon, Andrew Koppelman sets out the process by which the constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate made its way - via think tank issue briefs, op-eds, and blog posts - from being a completely off-the-wall notion to a nearly universal article of constitutional faith among conservative activists. This look back is even more important as a means of anticipating how the Right is likely to launch future attacks against Social Security, Medicare, and any number of health, safety and consumer protections.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201206050006

Bloomberg (NAT)

Why Is Obama Avoiding Romney’s Biggest Weakness?

06-04-12

Ramesh Ponnuru

Obama’s best bet is probably to hit Romney again and again over his plans for Social Security and Medicare. That’s a big issue: Nothing Romney is proposing would be more consequential. And it’s an issue where Obama can draw on strong public sentiments. Most people believe the programs need reform. But in a Pew poll in 2011, Americans favored preserving benefits to reducing deficits by almost 2-to-1. By 56 percent to 33 percent, they worried more about Social Security benefit cuts than about tax increases. In a March 2012 poll, just 26 percent of the public favored the Republican idea of changing Medicare so that beneficiaries pick a health plan and get a “fixed sum of money” to meet the costs.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-04/why-is-obama-avoiding-romney-s-biggest-weakness-.html

SSW/SSSC mention **

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

The Facts on Social Security Reform and Intergenerational Equity

06-04-12

Staff

To a person, we have concluded that you are flat wrong when you claim that the Bowles-Simpson plan to alter Social Security would be good for our generation. In a recent letter to the California Alliance for Retired Americans, you assert that the Bowles-Simpson plan is "trying to save" young people, who otherwise are "going to get gutted." In truth, it is your proposal that would "gut" our Social Security.

http://crfb.org/blogs/facts-social-security-reform-and-intergenerational-equity

The Washington Post (NAT)

Could the retirement age creep up to 80? AIG’s CEO thinks so.

06-04-12

Boris Cerni and Zachary Tracer

American International Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche said Europe’s debt crisis shows governments worldwide must accept that people will have to work more years as life expectancies increase.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/could-the-retirement-age-creep-up-to-80-aigs-ceo-thinks-so/2012/06/04/gJQAZGwdDV_story.html

Chicago Tribune (IL)

Retirement: Get real about budgeting for health care

06-05-12

Susan Garland

The painful truth is that a 65-year-old couple who live until age 92 can expect to incur $400,000 in unreimbursed medical costs, assuming an annual health care inflation rate of 6 percent, according to Fidelity Investments. What's worse, that figure does not include long-term-care expenses.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-201205241800--tms--kplngmpctnkm-b20120605-20120605,0,215593.story

The Hill (DC)

A lame-duck Congress can make a difference

06-05-12

David M. Walker

We are facing a fiscal cliff at the end of this year. And everyone from the presidential candidates to the most junior Congressional staffer realizes that how we address this challenge will have an enormous impact on our economy in both the short term and over time.

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/230937-a-lame-duck-congress-can-make-a-difference

Your West Valley News (AZ)

Surprise AARP collects comments on Medicare, Social Security

06-05-12

Nora Avery-Page

As for solutions, the survey takers told AARP that a possible increased eligibility age, means testing for benefits, changing the practice of “robbing Peter to pay Paul” when it comes to borrowing from both program, and making politicians live on Medicare and Social Security, would all be solutions to the problems in each program.

http://www.yourwestvalley.com/surprise/article_8864abb0-af33-11e1-8c96-001a4bcf887a.html

South Coast Today (MA)

National View: Who has the spine to fix the United States' finances?

06-05-12

Staff

The reason to doubt Obama can be summed up simply: He's had his chance. When the Simpson-Bowles commission presented its plan to reduce the federal debt, with bipartisan support, the president ducked. "If it had been President Clinton, he would have said, 'God, I created this, this is wonderful. It was all my idea,'" co-chair Erskine Bowles, a Democrat, later recalled. "So we were really surprised."

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120605/OPINION/206050302

South Florida Sun-Sentinel (FL)

Obama needs to revive Bowles-Simpson to fix economy, re-election prospects

06-05-12

Steven Kurlander

After the president had two years of Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, but failed to bring about meaningful fiscal changes, he then established the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, otherwise known as the Bowles-Simpson Commission in April, 2010 to formulate policies to improve the economy and to achieve fiscal sustainability for years to come.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/purple/sfl-steven-kurlander-obama-needs-to-revive-bowlessimpson-to-fix-economy-reelection-prospects-20120604,0,404576.story?page=1

Desoto Times Tribune (MI)

Readers quick expressing views on Social Security taxation

06-04-12

Sid Salter

Readers didn’t just tell me I was wrong, they were angry about it. They wanted me to know in no uncertain terms that they paid taxes their Social Security benefits. Most callers weren’t happy about that fact. The truth is that most Social Security recipients don’t pay income taxes.

http://www.desototimes.com/articles/2012/06/04/opinion/editorials/doc4fcd098a741c5290053271.txt

Deutsche Borse Group (NAT)

US's Hoyer: 'Working' On Deficit Plan Based on Simpson-Bowles

06-05-12

John Shaw

At a briefing, Hoyer declined to give details regarding his budget initiative, other than to say he is "pursuing" a package that is based on the Simpson-Bowles plan.

https://mninews.deutsche-boerse.com/index.php/uss-hoyer-working-deficit-plan-based-simpson-bowles?q=content/uss-hoyer-working-deficit-plan-based-simpson-bowles

Politics

The New York Times (NAT)

Wisconsin Votes on Recall of Scott Walker

06-05-12

Monica Davey

A large turnout is predicted in a contest that pits the governor against the mayor of Milwaukee.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/us/politics/wisconsin-votes-on-recall-of-scott-walker.html?hp

The Hill (DC)

Dire CBO report projects US debt will double GDP by 2037

06-05-12

Erik Wasson

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office warned Tuesday that the long-term outlook for the national debt remains dire. CBO is warning that, driven by increased entitlement spending on aging baby boomers and insufficient revenue, the debt would be nearly twice the size of the entire U.

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/230901-cbo-warns-of-grim-long-term-debt-outlook

BBC News (UK)

Al-Qaeda commander Abu Yahya al-Libi killed - US officials

06-05-12

Staff

US officials said Libi was the target of a drone strike which hit a volatile tribal area of Pakistan's north-west, killing 15 suspected militants.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18334377

National Journal (NAT)

Following the Money

06-04-12

Charlie Cook

Everyone who avidly follows politics has his or her own list of the true “swing states” in this presidential election. The lists that really matter, however, are the ones kept by top strategists for the Obama and Romney campaigns, and the ones kept by the one large Democratic and five Republican-oriented super PACs and by other major presidential advertisers this year. Figures compiled by Elizabeth Wilner of Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group show that, beginning on April 10—the day Rick Santorum dropped his presidential bid, effectively making Mitt Romney the Republican nominee—and through May 29, there have been 63,793 television spots run in 57 out of the nation’s 210 media markets.

http://www.nationaljournal.com//columns/off-to-the-races/following-the-money-20120604

Project Syndicate (Blog)

"The Price of Inequality"

06-05-12

Joseph E. Stiglitz

America likes to think of itself as a land of opportunity, and others view it in much the same light. But there is less equality of opportunity in the US today than there is in Europe – or, indeed, in any advanced industrial country – and none of the resulting inequality in income and wealth is contributing to economic growth.

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-price-of-inequality

The Wall Street Journal (NAT)

How Romney Pushed State Health Bill

06-05-12

Mark Maremont

Emails show then-Massachusetts governor defending insurance mandate for state residents.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303640104577436300587354714.html

The Hill (DC)

New House spending bills target funding for Dodd-Frank financial reforms

06-05-12

Erik Wasson

The House Appropriations Committee released its 2013 Agriculture and Financial Services spending bills on Tuesday and the titles take a shot a defunding President Obama’s signature Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The Financial Services bill contains a provision which would make the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) subject appropriations process starting in fiscal year 2014 rather that allowing it to receive money from the Federal Reserve.

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/230921-new-spending-bills-target-dodd-frank-financial-reforms

Roll Call (DC)

Barack Obama, Democrats Hit Mitt Romney on Pay Equity

06-05-12

Steven T. Dennis

President Barack Obama and Hill Democrats coordinated a public relations push Monday for a pay equity bill that their allies hope will be a potent weapon against Mitt Romney.

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/57_145/Barack_Obama_Democrats_Hit_Mitt_Romney_on_Pay_Equity-215046-1.html?pos=hftxt

Politico (DC)

Bill Clinton: Mitt Romney White House would be 'calamitous'

06-05-12

Maggie Haberman

Bill Clinton thumped Mitt Romney as dangerous for the country Monday night, telling donors who ponied up thousands of dollars to see him paired with President Barack Obama that the presumptive Republican nominee and his policies would be “calamitous.” The former president made the remarks just days after he pierced Chicago’s...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77048.html

Politico (DC)

Fear factors: What worries Romney backers

06-05-12

Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei and Jake Sherman

Mitt Romney has done the unthinkable: silenced the legions of conservatives who saw him as too starched, too ideologically wobbly and too Richie Rich to win a few months ago. Now comes the hard part: getting those same conservatives not to pop off as he moves to confront a half-dozen very Mitt-specific political dangers — the ones top Republican...

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=4456020F-661A-4DA9-88AA-C3A8CDC1686F

International Clips

Foreign Policy (NAT)

Is America Pivoting to Asia Fast Enough?

06-04-12

By James Holmes

Panetta used his bully pulpit to reaffirm American resolve in maritime Asia. Despite budgetary headwinds, he said, Washington will "rebalance" forces to keep faith with regional allies like the Philippines.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/06/04/is_america_pivoting_to_asia_fast_enough

The Economist (UK)

Greeks say they are the hardest-working European nation: Stereotypes of Europe

05-30-12

Staff

ONCE in a while an opinion poll throws up an insight that is very revealing; yesterday it was the Pew Global survey of European countries. Among the usual questions about attitudes to the euro and the European Union, people in eight nations (Britain, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Poland and Spain) were asked which country in the European Union is the hardest-working.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/05/greeks-say-they-are-hardest-working-european-nation?scode=3d26b0b17065c2cf29c06c010184c684

The New York Times (NAT)

Putin Arrives in China for Regional Summit

06-05-12

Jane Perlez

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and President Hu Jintao of China are expected to discuss Syria, Iran and efforts to squeeze the United States out of Central Asia, analysts said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/world/asia/vladimir-putin-in-china-for-regional-summit.html?ref=world

The Washington Post (NAT)

As China’s growth slows, its leaders face an impasse

06-05-12

Keith B. Richburg

Facing a series of unpalatable choices, China’s top leaders seem uncertain which measures to take to keep the nation’s economy on track.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/as-chinas-growth-slows-its-leaders-face-an-impasse/2012/06/05/gJQA7KaEGV_story.html

Reuters (NAT)

IMF says euro needs master plan, not deadline

06-05-12

Staff

Euro zone leaders need a master plan and collective determination to rescue the common currency, but not necessarily a deadline.