Social Security News 8-22-12

Social Security News, Tuesday, 8-22-12

 

LA Times (NAT)

Proposal to Privatize Social Security rears its ugly head again

08-22-12

Michael Hiltzik

Ghosts have nothing on some of the ideas that come out of Washington when it comes to rattling chains and knocking pictures off the wall to terrify the common people. Case in point: the privatization of Social Security.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20120821,0,1818705.column

 

New York Times (NAT)

Restored Medicare Funds Could Raise Patient Costs

08-22-12

Jackie Calmes

Mitt Romney’s promise to restore $716 billion that he says President Obama “robbed” from Medicare has some health care experts puzzled, and not just because his running mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan, included the same savings in his House budgets.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/us/politics/costs-seen-in-romneys-medicare-savings-plan.html?ref=global-home

 

Slate.com

Watch Paul Ryan Discuss Medicaid as a 25-year old House Staffer

08-20-12

Josh Voorhees

From the C-SPAN vault, we bring you Paul Ryan's first two appearance on the public affairs channel (or at least the first two they have archived). The first clip is from the May 27, 1995 edition of the Washington Saturday Journal, and in it we see Ryan as a 25-year-old legislative director for then-Rep. Sam Brownback. His first topic of choice? You guessed it: The budget, Medicare and Medicaid.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2012/08/20/vido_watch_paul_ryan_talk_medicaid_on_c_span_at_age_25_.html

 

Seattle Times.com

Paul Ryan's delusional plan to reform Medicare

08-21-12

Froma Harrop

The Paul Ryan Medicare plan would replace guaranteed benefits with vouchers and would save money by increasing that number of dollars over the years by less than expected rises in medical costs. But accepting Ryan's sunnier vision, writes Froma Harrop, requires swallowing several delusions.

http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2018963236_harropcolumnryanmedicare22xml.html

Freeport Journal-Standard (IL)

Pensions

08-22-12

Op-Ed

But now we are bitterly attacked for greedily driving the state into bankruptcy. It wasn’t always that way. When we first started teaching over forty years ago, our friends and family laughed at us. We had a paltry government pension and Social Security. They had a substantial corporate funded pension, an annual bonus, profit sharing and a stock plan. They also had better health insurance. They said we were fools. They even voted for Reagan who took our Social Security away from us. Some nonsense about double dipping.

http://www.journalstandard.com/wemstroms/x1405830093/Pensions

Forbes (NAT)

Is disability the new unemployment insurance

08-22-12

Adam Hartung

“Working conditions in the United States are getting downright dangerous if the Social Security disability statistics are any indication.  The number of Americans collecting disability is rising at an unprecedented and alarming rate.  This belies Bureau of Labor Statistics data that tells the story of workplace safety that is constantly improving.  Everyone knows that injury incidence rates have been in secular decline since, well, always.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2012/08/22/is-disability-the-new-unemployment-insurance/

 

CNN (NAT)

Greedy geezers, that’s a myth

08-22-12

Amitai Etzioni

The coming elections seem to have fired up an intergenerational war, with the older population cast as the "greedy geezers" eating so much of the pie that they leave only crumbs for the younger generation.  Both Republicans and Democrats say that entitlements must be cut. The main losers of these cuts will be Americans older than 65 who collect Social Security and cash in Medicare checks.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/22/opinion/etzioni-myth-of-greedy-geezers/index.html

 

Palladium-Item (IN)

Programs in need of adult attention

08-21-12

Editorial

The future of Social Security also needs to be addressed, although there’s a longer timeline before it would become insolvent. Social Security’s trustees project that its trust funds will be exhausted between 2036 and 2041 unless significant changes are made in the program.

http://www.pal-item.com/article/20120822/OPINION/308220006/Programs-need-adult-attention?odyssey=nav|head

 

Herald Times-News (WI)

Congress is out of touch with common man

08-22-12

Letter

The elusive Wisconsin U.S. representative Paul Ryan, now candidate for vice president, is a prime example of how totally out of touch our representatives and senators are with the common, everyday American citizens struggling to survive in this country.  His proposals on Medicare and Social Security to better budget issues are totally unrealistic. First and foremost, they are now budget problems because of unregulated actions of Congress.

http://www.htrnews.com/article/20120822/MAN0602/308220081/Letter-Congress-out-touch-common-man

 

York Houston News (OH)

Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme

08-22-12

Wayne Potts

Maybe our leaders will wake up and make some changes that will ensure the future of this fund. They have talked about it for years but they are all afraid to do anything because it might anger those who put them in office.   I do not know about your feelings but I would be be much more upset if I lost everything I paid in because our leaders did nothing.

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/cleveland/opinion/is-social-security-a-ponzi-scheme/article_e13f79af-f4e1-5143-bea7-9cfdb4256a99.html

 

Herald Times-Reporter (WI)

Social Security problems tough but fixable

08-22-12

AP

Despite Social Security’s long-term problems, the massive retirement and disability program could be preserved for generations to come with modest but politically difficult changes to benefits or taxes, or a combination of both.

http://www.htrnews.com/viewart/20120821/MNH0101/308210189/Social-Security-problems-tough-but-fixable?odyssey=tab|mostpopular|text|FRONTPAGE

 

The Spokesman Review (WA)

Social Security not only issues

08-22-12

Letter

The most offensive assertion this political season is that we seniors are totally driven by fear of losing Social Security. Yes, we depend on it. Yes, we need it. We do have values, though, other than self-preservation. We care about ethics, traditional values and our families’ futures. We care that what we built with our lives will not be destroyed. We love freedom and understand the price paid for it. Ultimately, we will vote accordingly.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/aug/22/social-security-not-only-issue/

 

Quad-City Times (IA)

Dear Gov. Romney: Elaborate on Social Security

08-22-12

Letter

I asked Mitt Romney a question Aug. 8 in Des Moines and was disturbed by his answer or, more accurately, non-answer. His website said he wants to raise the Social Security retirement age, and I wanted to know just how high.

http://qctimes.com/news/opinion/mailbag/dear-gov-romney-elaborate-on-social-security/article_c954b322-ebd8-11e1-8562-0019bb2963f4.html

 

Democratic Underground (DC)

Five Things Government Does Better Than You

08-21-12

Monica Potts

Retirement Insurance: Retirement Insurance: Since the 1930s, Social Security has protected Americans by providing a cushion against poverty in old age. It taxes workers and employers for every dollar earned and uses that money to pay retired workers based on how much they’ve earned throughout their lives, adjusted for inflation. Ryan’s budget would significantly change Social Security by turning it into private accounts for each American worker, making it operate roughly like a 401(k) retirement plan you’re automatically enrolled in. People would choose how to invest in the private market for their own retirements.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/125174619

 

Charleston Gazette (WV)

AARP chief: 'Give and take' needed to sustain Social Security

08-21-12

Lori Kersey

Compromise is needed if generations of Americans to come can expect to draw full benefits from Social Security.  That's what a national AARP official had to say on the matter Tuesday evening.

http://wvgazette.com/News/201208210271

 

Politics

 

Politico (DC)

Todd Akin’s looming campaign of isolation

08-22-12

Manu Raju

Rep. Todd Akin showed he could win a 48-hour standoff with his party. But that feat pales compared with what’s next: Running for a critical Senate seat as a candidate in near total isolation — abandoned by Republicans across the spectrum after his “legitimate rape” remarks and hard-pressed to raise the millions of dollars he’ll need to compete with Sen. Claire McCaskill.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79971.html#ixzz24I8RP700

 

Politico (DC)

Sewell: Davis RNC speech 'dishonest'

08-22-12

Charles Mahtesian

The bad blood between former Rep. Artur Davis and his former party colleagues in Alabama runs deep, as evidenced by a statement Tuesday by Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell, his successor in the House.  Sewell, who won Alabama’s 7th District in 2010 after Davis made an ill-fated bid for governor, criticized Davis’s decision to speak at the Republican National Convention in sharp terms that didn’t mention Davis by name but left no doubt about the intended target.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/charlie-mahtesian/2012/08/sewell-davis-rnc-speech-dishonest-132788.html?hp=r6

 

Politico (DC)

Sewell: Davis RNC speech 'dishonest'

08-22-12

Charles Mahtesian

The bad blood between former Rep. Artur Davis and his former party colleagues in Alabama runs deep, as evidenced by a statement Tuesday by Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell, his successor in the House.  Sewell, who won Alabama’s 7th District in 2010 after Davis made an ill-fated bid for governor, criticized Davis’s decision to speak at the Republican National Convention in sharp terms that didn’t mention Davis by name but left no doubt about the intended target.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/charlie-mahtesian/2012/08/sewell-davis-rnc-speech-dishonest-132788.html?hp=r6

 

USA Today (NAT)

GOP trying to keep focus on economy rather than abortion

08-22-12

Susan Davis

Trying to keep the presidential contest focused on the economy rather than divisive social issues, Republican candidate Mitt Romney joined a growing GOP chorus urging a Missouri Senate candidate to quit the race after inflammatory comments about abortion and rape.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-08-21/abortion-akin-ryan-gop-message/57194616/1