Social Security News 8-9-12

 SSW/SSSC mention**

Lean Forward MSNBC (NAT)

Seniors groups organize retirees for Obama this fall

Alex P. Kellogg

8-8-12

“The Ryan budget… will almost certainly shift costs to the most vulnerable among us—seniors and people with disabilities,” wrote Nancy Altman, co-founder of Social Security Works, in an email to Lean Forward this week.

Altman was former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan’s assistant when he chaired a bipartisan commission that helped solidify the financial foundation of Social Security in 1983.

http://leanforward.msnbc.com/_news/2012/08/08/13179722-seniors-groups-organize-retirees-for-obama-this-fall?lite

 

Medical Xpress (Blog)

Retirement expert: Medicare woes mostly rooted in myth

Phil Ciciora

8-9-12

Among the myths that have sprouted, perhaps the most popular one is that Medicare is going bankrupt, Kaplan says. “Medicare consists of several distinct components with differing mechanisms for financing its costs,” he said. “Medicare Parts B and D are financed by premiums paid by current-year enrollees and general tax revenues. These funds are generated in the current fiscal year.” As long as the federal government receives tax revenues from any source and there are any enrollees in Medicare Parts B and D, those two programs can be funded, Kaplan says.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-expert-medicare-woes-rooted-myth.html

 

Huffington Post (NAT)

Untangling the Web of Retirement and College Savings

Jacob Gold

8-8-12

One troubling trend in the last decade has been the boom in student loan debt. Overall student debt has skyrocketed 148 percent since the beginning of 2005 to $902 billion. At the same time, the average starting salary for recent college graduates has plunged 10 percent to $27,000 per year since March 2012. It is not a pretty picture for today's college graduates. Given these challenges and the difficult economic environment, parents need to do all they can to plan and prepare early for funding college, without sacrificing their own retirement goals.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-gold/college-savings_b_1738577.html

 

AARP (Blog)

How will boomers’ economic anxiety affect their vote?

Khelan Bhatia

8-8-12

It’s unsurprising that, across party lines, voters 50+ overwhelmingly want whomever is elected to strengthen Medicare (88%) and Social Security (91%). And 91% want Republicans and Democrats to come together to find common-sense solutions.

http://blog.aarp.org/2012/08/08/how-will-boomers-economic-anxiety-affect-their-vote/

 

TIME (NAT)

The Trouble with Simpson-Bowles

Joe Klien

8-9-12

In point of fact, "Simpson-Bowles" has become a symbol, or SimBowl, rather than an actual plan, political shorthand for the process of long-term deficit reduction. Does the President support "Simpson-Bowles"? Yes. He's said so many times. And he's even been willing to act on it. In July 2011, he came very close to making a SimBowlic deal with House Speaker John Boehner to cut $3 trillion-plus from the deficit over the next 10 years. Boehner had committed to $800 billion in revenue increases, mostly loophole closings; the President had committed to significant, if not earth-shattering, cuts in entitlements. Specifically, he agreed to raise the age of Medicare eligibility and to change the way the consumer price index is calculated for Social Security recipients, to reduce the annual inflation adjustments. Both of these are as unpalatable to most Democrats as the $800 billion in new revenue is to Republicans.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2121647-2,00.html

 

The Sacremento Bee (CA)

Rep. Fattah Calls on Congressional Colleagues to Enact Simpson-Bowles Plan to Slash Deficit and Avoid "Sequester" Budget Cuts

8-9-12

"…There is very little time remaining for Congress to create and pass a viable alternative. Yet, no alternative is being considered," Fattah wrote in a letter to all House members. "The Simpson-Bowles proposal is the only solution before Congress that has bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress and addresses the fiscal and policy goals that were debated prior to the budget sequester agreement."

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/08/4705681/rep-fattah-calls-on-congressional.html

 

Huffington Post (NAT)

The Lost Art Of Political Compromise: An Interview With Al Simpson

Max Perry Mueller

8-8-12

Since leaving the Senate (he served Wyoming from 1979 to 1997), Simpson has become famous not only for his views on social issues, but for his leadership on federal deficit reduction.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/the-lost-art-of-political-compromise_n_1757952.html

 

The Sacremento Bee (CA)

Our Generation Releases Report On Reforming Social Security Disability Insurance:

8-8-12

Our Generation

Authored by Andrew Biggs, a former principal deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and edited by Our Generation Executive Director, MacMillin Slobodien, the study examines the historical role of SSDI, which has morphed from a program for permanently disabled workers with a substantial work history who were over the age of 50, to a rapidly growing program covering increasing numbers of marginally disabled workers.

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/08/4705982/our-generation-releases-report.html

 

Chicago Tribune (IL)

When to take Social Security benefits

Jill Schlesinger

8-8-12

First things first: to qualify for retirement benefits, you need to have worked at least 10 years. You can check out where you stand with Social Security's easy-to-use online benefits statement at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/mystatement, which is what you used to receive in the mail. (For those over 60, you should still be receiving paper statements via "snail mail.") The statement shows your annual earnings history, which is actually a helpful stroll down your employment history lane.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-08-08/business/sns-201208081830--tms--retiresmctnrs-a20120808-20120808_1_full-retirement-age-social-security-benefits-retirement-benefits

 

News Day (NY)

Ask the Expert: Social Security options

Lynn Brenner

8-9-12

I'm 67 years old, divorced and collecting on my ex-husband's Social Security record. I plan to wait until 70 to collect on my own benefits. My 64-year-old married sister wants to do this, too, but we're not sure if the rules for married and divorced people are different. Her husband is 65 and collecting Social Security.

When she's 66, her own Social Security benefit will be greater than her spousal benefit. Even so, at 66 she wants to apply only for her spousal benefit and let her own keep growing. Then at 70, she wants to switch from the spousal benefit to start collecting her own. Can she do this?

Yes — but only if she waits until she's 66 to apply for Social Security.

http://www.newsday.com/columnists/other-columnists/ask-the-expert-social-security-options-1.3893044

 

 

Politics

 

Politico (NAT)

The disappearing undecided voter

Reid J. Epstein

“Here’s the advantage we have: You look at the attitudes of those undecided and they are not undecided on Barack Obama,” Newhouse said. “They’ve decided on Barack Obama. They’re not voting for Barack Obama. These are not voters who are open to Barack Obama. The only candidate they’re still trying to figure out is Mitt Romney. There is opportunity for movement on those voters, getting them out to vote and defining who Mitt Romney is.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79504.html?hp=t1_3

 

The Hill (DC)

Romney reaches halfway point toward $800M fundraising goal

Justin Sink

8-9-12

Mitt Romney has reached the halfway mark in filling his $800 million campaign war chest, a leading fundraiser for the campaign said on Thursday.

Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets, said the campaign's joint committee had raised nearly $400 million, which was about half of its goal.

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/242941-romney-halfway-to-800-million-fundraising-goal

 

National Journal (NAT)

August Unlikely To Unlock Farm-Bill Stalemate

Ben Terris

8-9-12

The problem with moving legislation ahead of an election is that everybody thinks they are going to win.

Take the farm bill. Usually a relatively bipartisan affair, the reauthorization of a five-year, $500 billion bill to help provide a safety net for the nation’s food producers and provide funding for food stamps and conservation programs, has been mired in politics.

http://nationaljournal.com/member/congress/august-unlikely-to-unlock-farm-bill-stalemate-20120809

 

Washington Post (NAT)

Romney on not releasing more tax returns: ‘I’m not a business’

Aaron Blake

8-9-12

The man who once said “corporations are people” apparently doesn’t believe the inverse.

When pressed on why he’s not releasing more tax returns in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Mitt Romney justified it by saying: “I’m not a business.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/romney-on-not-releasing-more-tax-returns-im-not-a-business/2012/08/09/18e2d062-e225-11e1-98e7-89d659f9c106_blog.html

 

New York Times (NAT)

Young in G.O.P. Erase the Lines on Social Issues

Susan Saulny

8-8-12

“When it comes to what you do in your bedroom, or where you go to church, or where you want to put a tattoo, we just couldn’t care less,” Mr. Hoagland said at a meeting last month of young Republicans in Charlotte.

And some social conservatives say they are deliberately playing down their own views on issues as a tactical move to attract more young voters to the Republican Party.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/09/us/politics/young-republicans-erase-lines-on-social-issues.html?ref=politics