Social Security News 8-6-12

SSW/SSSC mention** 

Foster’s Daily Democrat  (NH)

Report: Medicare, Social Security vital for N.H. seniors

Jim Haddadin

8-6-12

The mission of Social Security Works is to "protect and improve the economic status of disadvantaged and at-risk populations, and, in so doing, to promote social justice," according to its website. The group believes Congress should close Social Security's funding gap by requiring "those who are most able to afford it" to pay more.

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120806/GJNEWS_01/708069941&template=DoverRegion

 

SSW/SSSC mention** 

Tulsa World (OK)

Political Report, Wayne Greene: Fallin faces tough political decision on Medicaid

Wayne Greene

8-5-12

In a recent news conference, Eric Kingson, co-founder of Social Security Works, took a similar comparison pretty far, saying resistance to Medicaid expansion reminds him of politicians who fought the New Deal programs such as Social Security and paid for it with voters.

"These systems work. They provide value to the American public. They enhance our lives," he said. "What we're seeing with the states that are being recalcitrant on implementing the (Affordable Care Act) is they simply want to destroy it, destroy the ACA program, to do it, I would argue, for political reasons.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=336&articleid=20120805_16_A24_Thedeb556209

 

Washington Post (NAT)

Health care is crowding out everything. Social Security isn’t.

Dylan Matthews

8-6-12

No one disagrees that the retirement of the baby boomers is going to increase the cost of Social Security as a percentage of GDP. But it’s worth noting that the increased cost does not deplete the Social Security trust fund until 2040, according to the CBO. And it got that trust fund because other programs kept borrowing from Social Security’s revenues and are required by law to pay that debt back. So more and more of our Social Security obligations will take the form of debt repayment financed through general revenues, principally the personal income tax.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/06/health-care-is-crowding-out-everything-social-security-isnt/

 

Business Insiders (NAT)

The importance of Social Security

8-5-12

Social Security works:

Study: Many Americans die with ‘virtually no financial assets’, by Peter Dizikes, MIT News Office: It is a central worry of many Americans: not having enough money to live comfortably in old age. Now an innovative paper co-authored by an MIT economist shows that a large portion of America’s older population has very little savings in bank accounts, stocks and bonds, and dies “with virtually no financial assets” to their names.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-importance-of-social-security-2012-8

 

Truth out (Blog)

"People's Pension" Author: Social Security Cuts Would Hurt Ethnic Families Most

Paul Kleyman

8-5-12

Social Security is not in crisis. We can deal with any of the program’s long-range fiscal problems for decades to come by raising the portion of income subject to payroll tax, which would tax affluent workers a bit more heavily. In 2012, the payroll tax only applies up to $110,200 in earning. Or the payroll tax could be raised very gradually across the board – over a period of decades, so no one's purchasing power would be eroded. This is how Social Security has been “fixed” in the past, and there's no reason it couldn't be done again.

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/10701-peoples-pension-author-social-security-cuts-would-hurt-ethnic-families-most

 

CEPR (Blog)

Robert Samuelson's Generation Squeezed is Victimized by the One Percent, Not their Parents

Staff

8-6-12

Arithmetic fans know that if our children and grandchildren live worse than we do it will be because the folks at the top grabbed away all the money. In any plausible scenario the gains from productivity growth will swamp any additional burdens placed on workers from a larger population of retirees.

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/robert-samuelsons-generation-squeezed-is-victimized-by-the-one-percent-not-their-parents

 

EPI (DC)

Keep your government hands on my Medicare!

Monique Morrissey

8-3-12

Celebrating Medicare and Medicaid’s 47th birthday this week, here are some quick thoughts on government’s role in ensuring access to affordable health care:

http://www.epi.org/blog/government-hands-medicare/

 

Associated Press (NAT)

Social Security: Who gets it?

Staff

8-6-12

About 56 million people receive monthly Social Security benefits. Who they are, and how much they get

http://www.newson6.com/story/19201866/social-security-who-gets-it

 

Wall Street Journal (NAT)

The Social Security College Fund

Kelly Greene

8-6-12

He pointed out a Social Security benefit he learned about while researching benefits for a couple who adopted a Chinese daughter a few years ago. The husband was 67 and filed to suspend his Social Security payments until age 70.

http://blogs.wsj.com/totalreturn/2012/08/06/the-social-security-college-fund/

 

Politics

 

The Hill (DC)

Mitt Romney outraises President Obama for third month in a row

Amie Parnes

8-6-12

Mitt Romney’s campaign announced Monday it had raked in $101.3 million in July, outraising the Obama campaign by more than $25 million.

It's the third month in row that the presumptive GOP nominee has outraised President Obama.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/242325-romney-outraises-obama-for-third-month-in-a-row

 

Salon (NAT)

Ten theories on Romney’s taxes

Joshua Holland

8-3-12

It’s beyond obvious that whatever’s in those returns must be enough to do serious damage to Romney, or even sink his candidacy completely.

What might it be, exactly? In the vacuum Romney has created by not disclosing, any number of theories have been floated as to what his returns could reveal. For your convenience, we’ve collected 10 theories that are making the rounds in the political press.

http://www.salon.com/2012/08/03/10_theories_on_romneys_taxes_salpart/

 

Politico (DC)

GOP steers clear of gay marriage issue

Maggie Haberman and Emily Schultheis

8-6-12

But the comparative quiet from party leaders would have been unimaginable even four years ago, when public opinion hadn’t yet shifted so rapidly on a signature social issue. And it marks a dramatic change among some of the top Republican donors and opinion-makers, who are supporting same-sex marriage in state-based gay legislative and legal fights, even as the official GOP platform will remain centered on traditional marriage.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79389.html?hp=t1

 

Politico (DC)

David Krone, Harry Reid's chief of staff, denounces GOP ‘cowards’

John Bresnahan

8-6-12

The war over Mitt Romney’s tax returns is getting more bitter by the moment, with a top aide to Senate Majority Harry Reid blasting Republicans as “cowards” and “henchmen” for their attacks on the Nevada Democrat.

“They’re a bunch of cowards, and they’re avoiding the issue,” said David Krone, Reid’s chief of staff, in an interview with POLITICO on Sunday night. “Lindsey Graham, Reince Priebus — they’re a bunch of henchmen for Romney, and they’re all reading off the same talking points. They couldn’t hold a candle to Harry Reid.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79392.html?hp=l1

 

The Tampa Bay Times (FL)

RNC speakers include Rick Scott, John McCain, Condoleezza Rice, Nikki Haley, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich and Susana Martinez

Richard Danielson

8-6-12

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Sen. John McCain and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are among seven headline speakers announced today for the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/rnc-speakers-include-rick-scott-john-mccain-condoleezza-rice-nikki-haley/1244151

 

Mother Jones (NAT)

Allen West's Rise From the Florida Fever Swamps

Tim Murphy

8-6-12

SINCE THUMPING DEMOCRATIC REP. Ron Klein at the polls in 2010, West has taken dead aim at the lily-livered sissies he believes are running America into the ground—and the Islamic extremists he's convinced are poised to seize control. He has suggested that Democratic leaders—whom he calls "chicken men"—"get the hell out of the United States of America"; considers drivers with Obama bumper stickers "a threat to the gene pool"; and says black Democrats are trying to keep his fellow African Americans "on the plantation"—and he's the "modern-day Harriet Tubman" helping them to escape

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/allen-west-tea-party-congressman

 

The Atlantic (NAT)

Gabby Douglas Isn't Jingoistic Enough for Fox News

Conor Friedersdorf

8-6-12

So to sum up, this guy thinks that "American exceptionalism" can somehow be shown by displaying our flag more at the Olympics; and at the same time, he thinks it's absurd to object, because all the other countries do this thing that we should do in order to demonstrate we're exceptional.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/08/gabby-douglas-isnt-jingoistic-enough-for-fox-news/260720/