Social Security News 8-31-12

New York Times (NAT)

Mr. Romney Reinvents History

8-31-12

Mr. Romney’s big speech, delivered in a treacly tone with a strange misty smile on his face suggesting he was always about to burst into tears, was of a piece with the rest of the convention. Republicans have offered precious little of substance but a lot of bromides (“A free world is a more peaceful world!”) meant to convey profundity and take passive-aggressive digs at President Obama. But no subjects have received less attention, or been treated with less honesty, than foreign affairs and national security — and Mr. Romney’s banal speech was no exception.

 

It’s easy to understand why the Republicans have steered clear of these areas. While President Obama is vulnerable on some domestic issues, the Republicans have no purchase on foreign and security policy. In a television interview on Wednesday, Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state, could not name an area in which Mr. Obama had failed on foreign policy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/31/opinion/the-hidden-subject-in-tampa.html?_r=1

 

Politico (DC)

In RNC speech, Mitt Romney gives passing mentions to health care, Medicare

Jennifer Haberkorn

8-31-12

TAMPA, Fla. — Mitt Romney’s most significant political speech of the 2012 campaign made only a passing reference to two of the biggest issues in the entire election: Medicare and the future of President Barack Obama’s health care law.

In the whole speech, which lasted about 45 minutes, there were exactly two lines about health care. One was the same attack on Obama’s Medicare cuts that Paul Ryan made last night. The other was the standard pledge to repeal “Obamacare.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/80509.html

 

Global Policy (NAT)

8-25-12

Pivot Point: Social Security and African Americans

Maya Rockeymoore conducts interviews with Dr. Wilhelmina Leigh and Stefanie Brown about Social Security and economic disparity issues. Other topics include life expectancy and social insurance benefits.

http://globalpolicy.tv/topics/economy/social-insurance/item/81-pivot-point-social-security-and-african-americans?utm_source=GPTV+08%2F31&utm_campaign=August+Newsletter&utm_medium=email

 

Truth Out (NAT)

Cut the Pentagon Budget, Not Social Security and Veterans' Benefits, Save 380,000 Jobs

Robert Naiman

8-31-12

Some people in Washington want to cut Social Security and veterans' benefits, by cutting the cost-of-living adjustment. But there's a better way to cut government debt than cutting Social Security and veterans' benefits: cut the bloated Pentagon budget.

Not only would that protect Social Security and veterans' benefits, it would save 380,000 jobs. And cutting the Pentagon budget would mean less war in the future: the Pentagon wouldn't have the money to occupy other people's countries.

http://truth-out.org/news/item/11252-cut-the-pentagon-budget-not-social-security-and-veterans-benefits-save-380000-jobs

 

Forbes (NAT)

New Study: Working Until Age 70 Isn't Enough

Susan Adams

8-30-12

Most of us know that greater longevity and rising health care costs mean we may not be able to afford to retire at the traditional age of 65.Now some new research suggests that for roughly one third of households, working another five years, until age 70, won’t mean that they have saved up enough to have a comfortable retirement. The news comes from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), a private, non-partisan, nonprofit research institute based in Washington, D.C.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/08/30/new-study-working-until-age-70-isnt-enough/

 

Media Matters (DC)

REPORT: How The Media Covered Two Romney Falsehoods

Emily Arrowood, Thomas Bishop, Hannah Groch-Begley, Chelsea Rudman, & Kevin Zieber

8-30-12

Two recent falsehoods from the Mitt Romney campaign have received media attention: the false claim that President Obama removed the work requirement from welfare, and the false claim that the health care reform bill "cuts" $716 billion from Medicare. While many mainstream media outlets debunked the false claims in much of their coverage, several -- particularly Fox News and The Wall Street Journal -- repeatedly failed to debunk the falsehoods.

http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/08/30/report-how-the-media-covered-two-romney-falseho/189668

 

Washington Post (NAT)

Not in Romney’s speech: Social Security, Iraq, Afghanistan, border, welfare, Medicaid

8-31-12

GOVERNMENT AID: On Social Security, Romney has not talked specifics about what we would do with these budget-busting entitlement programs other than to say he would gradually raise the retirement age on the massive program for aid to seniors. He generally has steered clear of proposals to touch Medicare and Social Security in the short run, which leaves a relatively limited portion of the $3.6 trillion federal budget to cut. His addition of Ryan has caused Romney a headache as Democrats seek to make him own Ryan’s budget proposals that call for Social Security benefits based on workers’ needs and optional private alternatives to Medicare.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/not-in-romneys-speech-social-security-iraq-afghanistan-border-welfare-medicaid/2012/08/31/fd3d66c0-f33f-11e1-b74c-84ed55e0300b_story.html

 

Red Lands Daily Facts (CA)

A plan to dismantle Medicare, Social Security

8-29-12

The Louisville Courier-Journal ("Ryan's questionable `path to prosperity,"' Aug. 23) is one of several leading publications to recognize Rep. Paul Ryan's tax plan as a "classic wolf in sheep's clothing." It points out that his plan, "disguised as a deficit-reduction plan," would dismantle Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Ryan's plan would not balance the federal budget until 2040. Most of the funds he'd cut - from Medicare to food stamps - would be immediately redirected to subsidize tax breaks for the ultra-rich, far above the Bush tax cuts. Eliminated entirely would be the inheritance tax, any tax on capital gains and most income tax for dividends. By contrast, middle-class taxes would rise, since deductions such as interest on mortgages would be taken away.This deceptive "wolf" would be equally hard at work within Ryan's specific plans for Medicare and Social Security.Originally, Ryan proposed to cut Medicare for everyone, but widespread opposition resulted in his current proposal to exempt those 55 and over. Is an arrangement that needs to exempt all older Americans suddenly desirable for those under 55?

http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/letters/ci_21428910/plan-dismantle-medicare-social-security

 

North County Times (CA)

Keep Social Security the way it is

8-30-12

The Social Security bill was passed 77 years ago and became the most successful humane social program ever passed by the U.S. Congress. Social Security is an insurance program and does not add to the national debt. Not only has the Social Security program protected the elderly from degrading poverty, but included in the program are unemployment and disability benefits.

http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/letters/keep-social-security-the-way-it-is/article_e66c86cb-f36d-5fbf-bc33-3419597c9a7d.html

 

Money News (Blog)

Poll: Third of Americans Fear They Will Never Retire

8-30-12

More than one-third of Americans near retirement age expect they'll never retire, a poll finds. Thirty five percent of Americans don't expect to retire, up from 29 percent two years ago, according to findings from a “2011 Risks and Process of Retirement Survey Report” from the Society of Actuaries, the New York Times reports. Four in 10 of the survey's so-called "pre-retirees" say they won't retire say because they are financially unable to do so, as they either need the income or the employer benefits.

http://www.moneynews.com/Economy/Americans-Never-Retire-work/2012/08/31/id/450493

 

Des Moines Register (IA)

Archer details Medicare, Social Security reforms

Jason Noble

8-30-12

Archer, the Republican candidate for Congress in Iowa’s 2nd District, repeated an unambiguous call for major reforms to federal entitlement programs and political sacred cows Medicare and Social Security during a meeting with the Greater Des Moines Partnership on Thursday. The retirement age for Social Security — the immensely popular federal pension program — should be raised, Archer said. And beneficiaries should be means-tested, so those with higher incomes won’t receive benefits commensurate with what they paid in.On Medicare, he endorses a shift toward vouchers — his word — that seniors could use to purchase private health insurance.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120831/NEWS09/308310037/1007/news05

 

 

Politics

 

KRTV (NAT)

Tester hears Social Security & Medicare concerns

Marnee Banks

8-30-12

Tester says he supports the Bowles Simpson plan to reduce the federal debt. It would reduce deficits by at least $4 trillion over 10 years by cutting defense spending, federal entitlement programs and reforming the tax code. However, Tester says he doesn't support cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

http://www.krtv.com/news/tester-hears-social-security-and-medicare-concerns/

 

Slate (NAT)

Mitt's Messages

William Saletan

8-31-12

The Obama economy. In his remarks, Romney lamented that this Obama economy has crushed the middle class. Family income has fallen by $4,000. But health insurance premiums are higher, food prices are higher, utility bills are higher, and gasoline prices have doubled. Today more Americans wake up in poverty than ever before. Nearly one out of six Americans is living in poverty. … His policies have not helped create jobs, they have depressed them. The numbers are familiar and will be vigorously debated. Romney will focus on the unemployment rate; Obama will focus on the number of new jobs created. But the key phrase tying it all together for Romney is Obama economy. Those two words, repeatedly paired, will burden the president with perceived responsibility for the weak economy, regardless of the extent to which he (as opposed to President Bush, Wall Street, Europe, congressional Republicans, or other factors) is at fault.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/frame_game/2012/08/romney_s_convention_speech_class_warfare_the_obama_economy_and_other_messages_for_the_fall_campaign_.html

 

The New Republic (NAT)

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Romneyworld

Alec MacGillis

8-30-12

The crowd roared in delirious disapproval, because this was of course not an Obama ad but a sort of mirror image of one, held up to mock the man. This, after all, was Obama's notorious riff from a stump speech last month in Roanoke, Va., when he tried to echo Elizabeth Warren's viral YouTube riff last year about how "there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own." But, wait a second, I thought—was this clip I was hearing boomed into the hall, over and over, really what Obama had said? I looked it up again to be sure. And here's what he said in Roanoke. 

http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/106724/how-i-learned-stop-worrying-and-love-romneyworld