Social Security News 7-6-12

 AFL-CIO (NAT)

Anti-Social Security Crusaders Fail to Incite Generational Warfare

07-05-12

Jackie Tortora

Social Security is popular. It is one of the most, if not the most, popular federal government-run programs. It is social insurance, not welfare. It provides Americans with a reliable source of income when: a senior retires from work, a child loses a working parent or if a worker becomes disabled.

http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Economy/Anti-Social-Security-Crusaders-Fail-to-Incite-Generational-Warfare

 

The Huffington Post (NAT)

The Unfinished War

07-06-12

Richard C. Leone

Nearly 50 years ago President Lyndon Johnson rallied the nation in support of a "War on Poverty." It was a goal widely accepted as necessary and realistic. While total "victory" might not have been unachievable, the effort was embraced and pursued by many leaders of both parties. The Nixon administration, for example, played a key role in advancement of the earned income tax credit and Ronald Reagan reached an agreement with the then Democratic Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, to strengthen Social Security's finances for another generation (today, about half of the nation's elderly would fall below the poverty line without Social Security).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-c-leone/war-on-poverty_b_1653834.html

 

CNBC (NAT)

Just to Be Safe, Retire at 70: Study

07-05-12

Susan Tompor

Many Baby Boomers head to work each day and wonder, "So what's the number?"

How many more years do they need to keep working? It turns out that if many of us could just keep working until age 70, we could be OK in retirement, according to a new study.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/48083339

 

Wall Street Journal (NAT)

Medicare Premiums: the Rumors Return

07-06-12

Kelly Greene

The Supreme Court’s decision upholding much of the Affordable Care Act last week breathed new life into an unfounded rumor, circling for at least a year, that is aimed at senior citizens and their pocketbooks.

http://blogs.wsj.com/totalreturn/2012/07/06/medicare-premiums-the-rumors-return/?mod=google_news_blog

 

Investors.com (NAT)

Disability Ranks Outpace New Jobs In Obama Recovery

07-06-12

John Merline

More workers joined the federal government's disability program in June than got new jobs, according to two new government reports, a clear indicator of how bleak the nation's jobs picture is after three full years of economic recovery.

http://news.investors.com/article/617233/201207060945/disability-climbs-faster-than-jobs-under-obama.htm

 

The Washington Post Local (DC)

Federal workers: phased retirement sounds good

07-06-12

Among the bills that moved through Congress last week is one allowing for phased retirement for federal workers. Would such a program, which would allow employees to work part time after retirement, with their salaries and annuities prorated — help or hurt agencies? Would you participate in the program?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/federal-workers-phased-retirement-sounds-good/2012/07/05/gJQAlVueRW_story.html

 

Nashua Telegraph (NH)

Letter: Time to remove cap from Social Security

07-06-12

Donald T. Jean

In 1937, senators and congressmen instituted Social Security for the benefit of all Americans. Social Security started to unravel in 1984 when “earned income” was capped. The well-to-do earning thousands of dollars over the cap were no longer required to pay the entire tax on their earned income.

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/opinion/letters/966856-263/time-to-remove-cap-from-social-security.html

 

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)

Letter: Moral courage

07-06-12

Abe Fleishman

I am an 86-year-old Navy veteran, and I have recently changed my voter registration from Republican to independent. Today's right-wing, obstructionist Republican Party is one that I do not recognize or support. I remember the days when it was political suicide to mention cutting Social Security or Medicare, but today with the Ryan budget plan, Republicans are tripping over each other to see how much and how fast to cut.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/letters/moral-courage-643532/

 

Burlington Times-News (NC)

Letter: Hard to understand or trust Republican motives

07-05-12

Rebecca Thompson

Perhaps the reason Republicans feel the need to hurry and overturn the Affordable Health Care Act on July 11 as they have said they would do has to do with newsman Dan Rather’s comment that he believes in 10 or 12 years down the road, Americans will come to love Obama’s affordable Health Care Act as much as they already love Social Security and Medicare.

http://www.thetimesnews.com/articles/ryan-56938-republican-claim.html

 

Daily Courier (AZ)

Letter: Speak out about Social Security

07-04-12

Alvin Lenik

Once you break a bottle it can never be made intact, but it can be broken into smaller pieces. This fits what has already happened and will happen to the Social Security system. 

http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&SubsectionID=73&ArticleID=108368

 

Door County Daily News (WI)

Seniors Invited To Weigh In On Medicare, Social Security

07-05-12

Bob Dohr

The future of Medicare and Social Security will be front and center at a Town Hall discussion Wednesday, July 11 at Stone Harbor Resort in Sturgeon Bay. The meeting is sponsored by AARP as part of a nationwide effort called 'You've Earned a Say.'

http://www.doorcountydailynews.com/news/details.cfm?clientid=28&id=38073

 

Politics

 

The Washington Post (NAT)

President Obama’s troubling trend line on jobs

07-06-12

Chris Cillizza

The news from the Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning that the economy added just 80,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate stayed stuck at 8.2 percent suggests that any hope that President Obama will be able to run for reelection bolstered by an improving financial picture is rapidly disappearing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/president-obamas-troubling-trend-line-on-jobs/2012/07/06/gJQAWDHhRW_blog.html?hpid=z1

 

The New York Times (NAT)

Romney and Republicans Assail Obama Over Weak Jobs Report

07-06-12

Michael D. Shear

Another weak jobs report on Friday returns the presidential campaign conversation to the sluggish economy, providing Mitt Romney a reprieve from several weeks of combat with President Obama on other topics. Mr. Romney on Friday called the unemployment rate “unacceptably high” and blamed Mr. Obama for failing to put in place polices that would jump-start the slow economic recovery.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/06/after-jobs-report-campaign-focus-returns-to-economy/?ref=politics

 

Politico (DC)

Trumka: 'The economy is simply not delivering right now'

07-06-12

Donovan Slack

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is out with a scathing statement attacking Mitt Romney and "his Republican allies in Congress" on the June jobs report. "The cruel reality is Mitt Romney and his Republican allies in Congress are willing to sabotage the recovery in the hope of scoring political points against the President," said Trumka, whose union endorsed President Obama earlier this year.

http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/07/trumka-the-economy-is-simply-not-delivering-right-128165.html

 

The Washington Post (NAT)

The long-term unemployed aren’t going away. But their benefits are.

07-06-12

Suzy Khimm

Friday’s gloomy jobs report showed that in June there were 5.4 million workers who had been unemployed for more than 27 weeks, essentially unchanged from the previous month. That’s down from the peak in May 2010, when there were 6.6 million long-term unemployed. But it’s still light-years away from pre-crash levels—1.4 million in January 2008—and the figure has barely budged since the beginning of this year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/07/06/the-long-term-unemployed-arent-going-away-but-their-benefits-are/

 

Mercury News (CA)

Wall Street and human reactions to Friday's jobs report

Christopher S. Rugaber (AP)

07-06-12

U.S. employers added only 80,000 jobs in June, a third straight month of weak hiring that shows the economy is still struggling three years after the recession ended.

Here's what The Associated Press' reporters are finding from the report.

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_21020273/wall-street-and-human-reactions-fridays-jobs-report

 

The Washington Post (NAT)

‘Obamacare’ tax hikes vs. tax breaks: Which is greater?

07-06-12

Josh Hicks

Republicans have seized on the Supreme Court’s health-law ruling to blast the Affordable Care Act as a giant tax on the middle class. Rush Limbaugh went so far as to call it the “biggest tax increase in the history of the world,” a preposterous claim we debunked in a previous column.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/obamacare-tax-hikes-vs-tax-breaks-which-is-greater/2012/07/06/gJQAx6AyPW_blog.html

 

The Hill (DC)

McConnell ratchets up pressure on vulnerable Dems over healthcare repeal

07-06-12

Alexander Bolton

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) is putting pressure on vulnerable Democrats to vote with Republicans to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The GOP leader called on Democrats in an op-ed to join with members of his party to unwind what Republicans are calling the biggest tax hike in recent memory.

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/236423-mcconnell-ratchets-up-pressure-on-vulnerable-dems-over-healthcare-law-repeal

 

The Huffington Post (NAT)

Citizens United: California Becomes Sixth State To Call For Amendment Against Ruling

07-05-12

Anna Almendrala

One of the largest states in the nation took an official stand Thursday against the Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, which ruled that government restriction of corporation or union spending on political campaigns violated the First Amendment right to free speech.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/05/citizens-united-california_n_1652684.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics

 

The Huffington Post (NAT)

The West Is Burning

07-06-12

Gary Hart

A genuinely conservative point of view would be that the West, indeed much of America, is warming, that the fires in the Rocky Mountains could well become an annual event, and that those who choose, as I do, to live in the mountains now must calculate the risk they assume by living in timbered areas. Somehow, this cautious view, a characteristic of conservatism, is the new "liberal" for those who distrust overwhelming scientific evidence.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-hart/the-west-is-burning_b_1654113.html

 

The Guardian (UK)

US jobs slowdown is bad news for the world economy

07-06-12

Heather Stewart

America's recovery from the deepest economic crisis in living memory is grinding to a halt. That is the message from today's payrolls report, and it's bad news for the world's biggest economy, and bad news for the world.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jul/06/us-jobs-slowdown-bad-news-for-world