2 Stunning Photos of Senator Daniel Inouye’s Casket Lying in State
[Image: Joshua Roberts/Reuters]
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It took only two days into the latest self-inflicted congressional crisis before Republicans on Capitol Hill resuscitated their zombie-like “grand bargain” scheme. Since their plan to defund Obamacare hasn’t worked and the government shut down because of it, the GOP has now pivoted to the next best thing on their ideological wish list, benefit cuts for millions of middle-class Americans who depend on Social Security and Medicare.
Max Richtman, President of the National Committee, wrote a Huffington Post article yesterday concerning the Chained CPI and the GOP.
Five years ago, when Sen. Barack Obama was running for president, he’d occasionally be confronted with the media’s all-purpose stumper for liberals. What, a host or moderator would ask, would you do to tackle entitlements? Obama would say whatever he needed to say.
“We’re going to have to take on entitlements and I think we’ve got to do it quickly,” he promised in his second debate with Sen. John McCain. “We’re going to have a lot of work to do, so I can’t guarantee that we’re going to do it in the next two years, but I’d like to do it in my first term as president.”
One way was using the Chained CPI which some in Washington are still promoting.
One of the ugliest tropes in American politics is to say “Social Security is going broke.” Although there are structural funding problems with the system, to say that the nation’s most successful annuity program is going bust is a lie. It can be fixed and only politics blocks a reasonable remedy.
But that didn’t stop dozens of Fox News outlets from proclaiming otherwise. They got their facts wrong and wanted to scare people without providing context.
Fox anchors read this statement: “The Social Security Board of Trustees said [in] its 2017 annual report that 2022 will make the first time in more than 40 years that Social Security pays out more in benefits than it takes in. And so deficits are going to continue to be depleted out of the roughly $3 trillion in asset reserves.”
Two parts of this report are false. 1) The Social Security trust fund will not be depleted in 2022. 2) The trust fund will remain solvent until 2034, not 2022. This is not my math, it’s what the latest Social Security Trustees annual report states.
via Forbes.
Related Reading:
No Cause for Alarm from Social Security
Trustees Report.
- The 2018 Social Security Trustees Report confirms that the program’s trust fund is still very much intact, with $2.89 trillion in assets – or $44 billion more than last year.
Misleading Media Headlines on Social Security &
Medicare Finances.
- The truth is that Social Security and Medicare are not in crisis, going broke, heading toward the skids, or facing insolvency. The Trustees reports indicated none of these things.
One of the ugliest tropes in American politics is to say “Social Security is going broke.” Although there are structural funding problems with the system, to say that the nation’s most successful annuity program is going bust is a lie. It can be fixed and only politics blocks a reasonable remedy.
But that didn’t stop dozens of Fox News outlets from proclaiming otherwise. They got their facts wrong and wanted to scare people without providing context.
Fox anchors read this statement: “The Social Security Board of Trustees said [in] its 2017 annual report that 2022 will make the first time in more than 40 years that Social Security pays out more in benefits than it takes in. And so deficits are going to continue to be depleted out of the roughly $3 trillion in asset reserves.”
Two parts of this report are false. 1) The Social Security trust fund will not be depleted in 2022. 2) The trust fund will remain solvent until 2034, not 2022. This is not my math, it’s what the latest Social Security Trustees annual report states.
via Forbes.
Related Reading:
Misleading Media Headlines on Social Security & Medicare Finances.
- The truth is that Social Security and Medicare are not in crisis, going broke, heading toward the skids, or facing insolvency. The Trustees reports indicated none of these things.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is proposing a $250 monthly cap on the amount patients with chronic and serious medical problems would have to pay out of pocket for prescription drugs as a way to reduce the effect of skyrocketing drug prices on consumers.
via Washington Post.
As bad as things get for Republicans – with women, with minorities, with youths – there’s always been one group they can count on: the old. But now one Democratic pollster sees evidence that even seniors are starting to turn on the GOP.
New York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait is usually a judicious and perceptive analyst of the intersection between politics and economics. So it’s disappointing to see him blindly falling in step with a conservative attack on Social Security.
But, in what may be an example of political prescience — or, at the very least, reason for political relief — given Monday’s stock market swoon, they’ve been mysteriously silent about one issue that many conservatives support: privatization.
via Bloomberg.
Related Reading:
- What If Your Social Security Was Riding the Wall Street Roller Coaster too?
- No doubt, conservatives will remind us that over the long-term the market has been good to us. Maybe so, but as previous market collapses have shown, retirees don’t have the benefit of the long-term to rebuild savings now lost.
News for Today!
POLITICS
Dems Ask Boehner To Cancel Recess For Unemployment Vote. – HUFFINGTON POST. Democrats want House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to cancel an upcoming recess so lawmakers can restore unemployment insurance to more than a million workers whose benefits stopped in December.
DEBT/DEFICIT/BUDGET
House Passes $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill. – HUFFINGTON POST. The Republican-led House has approved a massive $1.1 trillion bill financing government agencies this year.
SOCIAL SECURITY
REPORT: Weekday Broadcast And Cable Evening News’ Social Security Debate. – MEDIA MATTERS. In the second half of 2013, weekday broadcast and cable evening news discussed Social Security in a largely negative light by repeatedly insisting that the program is insolvent, must be cut, or poses a risk to long-term fiscal security.
MEDICARE
Sen. Wyden unveils Medicare reform bill. – USA TODAY. Sen. Ron Wyden unveiled on Wednesday a proposal to revamp Medicare to focus care on the chronically ill and to rein in the program’s cost.
Congress Is Poised To Change Medicare Payment Policy. What Does That Mean For Patients And Doctors? – KAISER HEALTH NEWS. After years of legislative wrangling and last-minute patches, expectations are high among physician groups, lawmakers and Medicare beneficiaries that Congress could act this year to permanently replace the current Medicare physician payment formula.
HEALTHCARE
State Snapshots Of Obamacare Enrollment Numbers. – KAISER HEALTH NEWS. Enrollment in the health law’s marketplaces surged in December, and the administration’s report on the numbers made headlines on Monday — but the national story isn’t the whole story.
BLOGS
Meet the people who are so rich they`ve already paid their 2014 Social Security tax. – AMERICA BLOG. So you know that there are lots of kinds of taxes, right? And that in addition to the other taxes on income — federal income tax, state income tax — there’s also a Social Security tax and a Medicare tax, also on income, or more precisely, on wages.
Reforms proposed for chronically ill in Medicare. – THE HILL. A bipartisan group of lawmakers is proposing a series of reforms to improve how Medicare treats its sickest and most expensive patients.
On this date in 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the #ADA into law — making it easier for older Americans and others with #disabilities to get around at home, participate in their communities, and go to work. #ADA31