Senior Citizens – the last frontier of rampant robbery.

So Simpson is like the class clown who distracts everyone else from what is really going on in the class?

“It’s not just because clowns like Simpson have such contempt for seniors. It’s because the commission is really little more than a mechanism to hide another huge transfer of wealth.”

“A society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable”

…which Mahatma Gandhi said included animals*.

Utah Phillips’ mother was an organizer for the CIO. She kept a scrapbook of her “heroes” that little Utah could take to school and share with his friends, what we call “Show and Tell” now. The scrapbook was mostly clippings about bank robbers, whom she called “class heroes.” Utah said “…[A]t the time I didn’t understand what she meant. I do now.”

Where and who are our “class heroes?”

With the increasing number of petitions going to the WH I’m getting to the point that in the space for comments I’m just gonna write “Fuck you, Obama.”

Okay. Signed, sealed, delivered. I’m yours.
It feels so good to take even a little tiny action.

Older women, like me, vote. Ninety years ago women were “given” the right to vote and most of them have done it religiously. This commission and Simpson will bring out about 99% of us “wrinklies” and Obama will not be their choice. Democrats have screwed up again.

No, more like the clown who speaks the truth when nobody else will — at least about the true intent of the Catfood Commission.

As to the sexist/ageist junk, well it’s just part of the package.

The expression of blatantly wrong, and blatantly prejudiced, comments by Simpson leaves no basis for considering his position to be either rational or in the interest of the public. His removal should be immediate. It’s actually a better position to be in, for the country, that instead of hiding behind a bipartisan masque, the right’s position is so clarified.

PS I told the Prez he should not continue on the path he is on. I told him his reputation is in serious trouble and we are not getting the change we voted for. He needs to put his good listening ears on. Like, yesterday!

I like the tone of Nadler’s letter. It’s also important not to lose sight of the larger point:

But it’s not just Simpson. Rather, Simpson’s comments reflect the far deeper conflicts and illegitimacy of the commission itself.

Yup. The members of this commission are despicable creatures on any number of levels.

How many zeroes were after the “$1″ on the check you sent him with your message? If it didn’t have enough, your message won’t be heard.

You DIDN’T send him a check? Oh my.

I got nuttin’, honey. If I had a job, I couldn’t hang out here and spread my cheer. That should be worth something, shouldn’t it? If I worked full time, I wouldn’t have had the energy to get up @ 4:30 am to talk about Change at PUAC.

MOD: I’m confused. When I try to submit to the petition, I’m sent to the ActBlue donation page. Must one donate to ActBlue in order to sign the petition?

LOL! How sadly true.

When you click on “Submit Form” it adds your name and comments to the petition then goes to the donation page. You’re not required to donate.

Too bad Simpson’s not black; he’d be gone, like, yesterday.

I say fire Jerold Nadler.

Nadler’s statement that “SS can pay 100% of benefits through 2037″ is beyond deception.

We might not like to hear it, but Alan Simpson tells the truth.

I’ve seen that comment before. Please explain. Pretend I’m four years old.

We cannot trust the integrity of any product or recommendations of the Commission as long as former Senator Simpson is the Chairman

Actually we can’t trust the integrity of this commission no matter what. Its whole membership and mission are a fraud. This is the problem that I have with politicians like Nadler. The commission was toxic from the get go, from its very premise. Yet it is only now that Nadler speaks out and only with regard to Simpson. The whole enterprise is illegitimate and always has been.

and I told him despite the dismissive reassurances coming from the rarefied confines of the WH Executive Offices, that a whole bunch of us were out here actually paying attention and would hold him and only him accountable

Van Jones, Shirley Sherrod, for starters.

The man needs to get out more. And, we thought George lived in a bubble.

I’ll leave this here even though I posted it elsewhere…

I think everyone here at FDL has made reasonable and impassioned arguments against Alan the Wanker, the Catfood Commissh, and Orahmba as King Hairball man. The intelligence and overall viewpoints of the posts and comments here clearly reflect the situation front and center as ‘Orahmba’s Death Panels’…there simply is no other way to say it!

The more looming and pressing question of the day and the hour as this scenario drags on, is what the hell can we do about it? We must collectively find a potent methodology in which we can stop these asshats and their incessant march to grind us into compost for their political victory gardens!

HOW?

Someone make suggestions please…I am devoid of any ideas that does not involve kicking their butts to the curb….

I am thinking about how Obama is able to remain silent and not reassure those who would fear being affected by his ‘modifications’ to Social Security.

Actually, no, Simpson does NOT tell the truth on this. Unless you also believe that the US Government should default on Treasury Bonds instead of actually paying back to Social Security the money that has been used to “pay” for two wars/occupations and the Bush (and Reagan) Tax cuts.

People have been paying in to Social Security roughly double the needed amount since 1983 in order to build up the surplus that these asshats want to keep from redeeming. The steps that Simpson and others want more than anythings will lead to the destruction of Social Security (they have to cut benefits in order to avoid having to cut benefits)

It would be more effective if Simpson were fired [Edited by Moderator. Let's not go there, even as a joke].

Okay. Thanks.

The federal government creates Dollars. Social Security liabilities are paid out in Dollars. How can the federal government not make good on its liabilities?

It has a legal requirement to make good on the Treasuries held by the trust, and it can do so. I’m not seeing where the crisis is.

Furthermore, we ought to be lowering the retirement age, not raising it.

Simpson’s not enough. Let’s fire the whole damn commission like Teddy P suggests. At the very least, full disclosure of every minute of deliberation, every witness’s testimony needs to be aired to the public. Now. Let’s get this whole rotten, stinking mess fully disclosed so that these recommendations (which will be severely tilted against the middle and working class, I have no doubt)stand no chance of being passed by the post-election lame duck Congress. If we wait until the Friday evening news dump when they want to release it will be too late because the vote will more than likely be the next week after. We need time to get organized to say HELL NO loud enough and long enough for it to matter.

Generally, you would think that if the current crop of politicos were in their right minds, the last thing they would do is to blatantly pick a fight with this particular subject…it has often been characterized as the ‘third rail’ in politic speak…

but they are seemingly not only unafraid but very belligerent about this and a multitude of other fights they have initiated. I think there is not only the crass attitude of ‘fuck you’ from these asshats, but also that macho bravado of ‘whatcha gonna do about it’…so far they are right! Sadly!

The U.S. public has been conditioned to adapt rather than resist. They aren’t lemmings they’re frogs in the simmering pot.

Signed the petition. My comment? “Jane Hamsher speaks for me.”

If that is truly the case…and sometimes I suspect it is…then the boiling is deserved! It would prove wise for every citizen to remember that this country was borne out of dissent and rebellion to free us of our oppressors.

How the hell else should we label these ruling elites?

Is there any possibility here that the reason Obama is silent is he is horse trading this with keeping the tax cuts for the middle class and eliminating the tax cuts on the rich? If so, he should know by now it doesn’t work.

Something would be missing here if you were not able to post as much as you do.

That’s a good point. Maybe they think those treasury notes are just funny money, you know things we paid for that really don’t count.

the fab William Greider

http://www.labornotes.org/2010/08/social-security-bipartisan-fervor-whack-old-folks

and today’s Tea Party “patriots” would have been Tories supporting King George.

He does get out. He just primarily surrounds himself with GWB’s base unless there is a photo op with working people.

RED INK FOR A REASON
The origins of the feds’ red ink are not a mystery, though. Deficits have soared because of tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, fighting two wars on borrowed money, the deep recession that has savaged tax revenue, and the long-term consequences of trade deficits and deindustrialization.

But taking on those issues would require politicians to challenge the most powerful interests. That’s why they think it’s easier to whack old people, and hope future retirees who are the real victims won’t notice.

If political elites get away with raising the retirement age or cutting benefits some other way, it would represent a historic bait-and-switch swindle.

For the last generation, everyone has paid higher payroll taxes to prepare for when the baby boomers retire. Now we are told the country can’t afford it. In fact, if modest adjustments are made any time in the next 30 years, the system will be sound for the next 75 years.

Here’s what happened to your paycheck deductions. The federal government has borrowed trillions from the Social Security Trust Fund and spent it on other things (like wars and tax cuts). Some right-wingers claim the Social Security surpluses no longer exist, but that’s not true.

That would ‘fit’ the internecine ‘class war’ theory of what is going on. That would grab Libertarian-Independents and Republicans in the upper middle class and satisfy the revenge fantasies of the rich, and it would screw everyone else.

But I am trying to understand the cruelty of what President Obama is doing. By making those who are ‘afraid of his ‘modifications’ which he has declined to define for those concerned, those who are afraid and uncertain are left to wait in the cruel silence of his unresponsiveness. That’s reminiscent of Reagan’s FU to the traffic controllers in 1980 when he simply fired them all. Trying to appear tough, these men merely achieve brief acts of cruel indifference.

Moral of this story:dont count on the government for your golden years or
healthcare.nadler is the worst culprit when it comes to pillaging the
social security funds to finance all kinds of things the gov. has no
buisiness in and then pretend we can still fund SS with IOU’s.The surplus
is nothing but a bunch of IOU’s not worth the paper they are printed on.

I suppose if Obama and his Republican allies do smash the last vestiges of FDR’s New Deal the public will just have to wait for outside liberation. The public seems incapable of change from within.

Nathan,

I step out to try to explain nonsense, to make sense of something that doesn’t make sense. It is tricky, and honestly, I cannot know why the President seeks to not only alienate, but harm the citizens that elected him.

However, Class Warfare, seems to fit. But even so, it is not a good answer because SS taxes are mostly applied to the lower strata of incomes. Perhaps if the trust fund can be raided, the Bush tax cuts can stay? (conjecture)

Corporate Welfare seems another repeat theme, but …. it is tenuous to suggest that the unemployed will send more dollars to wall street firms to shore up their retirement prospects.

Maybe effing with people is it’s own reward? Some people are like that. They listen to radio programs I cannot abide.

==============
Where is my third party candidate?

Has FDL gone full retard yet? Have we moved outside the two party system? I don’t think so. I’m not voting for Obama or Allyson Schwartz again, I can tell you that. May never cast a D or R vote ever again. But it sure feels pointless to vote….

Felt like voting for the current FISA Liar at least would get Bush out. but now…. not so much enthusiasm. So, I’ll project my malaise out to the rest of the country and I feel a prediction coming on.

**Turnout this fall will be very low. **

I know, not very helpful, but that’s all I got.

cjc

good kill all the politicians pensions,executive,congressional,and judicial…no tit sukkin for them ,that includes ENDLESS HEALTHCARE for all their families Mr.Cheney

Signed the petition and said:

If “entitlements” are the only thing that’s “on the table” with this Catfood Commission, don’t you think it might be wise to warn non-seniors that Mom and Dad, Grama and Grampa may be headed for their doorsteps?

For all you Nadlerites: Where do our SS taxes go? Into public programs and US Treasures.

While the public sector spends and spends, the private sector shrinks.

At some point, the public and private sectors will be stuffed with bonds and with no money to buy more. America will be broke. Busted.

And that is what Alan Simpson is trying to tell us.

Doesn’t that assume that he is actually against the top tax cuts?

Signed, with thanks. Nadler’s letter was spot on, although I find
Simpson’s swipe at Dean Baker no less offensive than that at OWL.

I do worry that despite calls for the commission’s dismantling, Simpson will be made the sacrificial lamb, and the warped mission of the commission will persist beyond his announcement that he’s returning to Wyoming to spend more time with his dentures.

Van Jones: black, gone
Desiree Rogers: black, gone
Shirley Sherrod: black, gone

This Administration doesn’t bother to ask questions when the people under fire are black people.

The federal government creates Dollars. Social Security liabilities are paid out in Dollars. How can the federal government not make good on its liabilities?

It has a legal requirement to make good on the Treasuries held by the trust, and it can do so. I’m not seeing where the crisis is.

Also Jeremiah Wright, trashed for expedience.

Signed with the comment below:

The condescension emanating from this administration and the committees and officers it has appointed coupled with the disgraceful misrepresentation of facts and dishonest pursuit of agendas contrary to the health and welfare of the people of this country is an absolute travesty. This government is conspiring to rob the elderly of their social security money while funneling over a trillion dollars to counter-productive occupations, out of control “defense” spending, and monumental “gifts” to Wall Street.
Don’t call this voting, tax-paying, law-abiding, productive, young citizen cynical, retarded, on drugs, or ready to suck on the government “tit,” call me outraged and ready to work tirelessly to get you and your cabal out of office and as far away from the public trust as possible.

It’s always easier for the Obama crowd to kick hippies and seniors than take on hedge fund wankers, arms dealers, health inc. and Wall Street. What’s amazing is how our supposedly better educated and informed comrades on the “left” go along with it.

While the public sector spends and spends, the private sector shrinks.

Depends on what you’re spending the money on, doesn’t it? If you’re vaporizing it, along with human beings in occupied territories, I think your argument stands, but if you’re investing it in infrastructure, or education, or an incentive to work (think secure retirement), it’s another story.

Mr. Simpson is trying to sell us snake oil.

Like all conservatives, you’re not a very good one.

Wealth is created, not a zero sum game (Entrepreneur System). Otherwise you believe it is a pie to be divided at some other pie-eaters expense (Socialist System).

You can’t have it both ways, but at least you’re consistent in trying to do so.

The Commission is a fundamentally immoral and corrupt undertaking, and that is why it should be shut down. It’s not just because clowns like Simpson have such contempt for seniors. It’s because the commission is really little more than a mechanism to hide another huge transfer of wealth.

It’s a collaboration between corporate America, the executive branch and congress to create a body that will do something no politician wants to take responsibility for: cut Social Security benefits and drive seniors into poverty so that hedge fund billionaires like Pete Peterson won’t have to pay their taxes.

What Jane said. 300 million times over.