| Author | Message | ||
     Dave Moderator Username: Dave Post Number: 5144 Registered: 4-1998  |
Biden's son is in the military. It's a fair question, IMHO. It raises important, if uncomfortable, questions about wealth and power, marketing and poverty. | ||
| cjc Citizen Username: Cjc Post Number: 3073 Registered: 8-2003 |
Marketing? | ||
| mwoodwalk Citizen Username: Mwoodwalk Post Number: 301 Registered: 9-2001 |
That's not a substantive response Fuhrman. And if you can't stand and applaud, at a minimum, the vote in Iraq this past Sunday, then you've truly got a screw loose. Dave, what questions does it raise, exactly? Are you suggesting that neither the president nor congress can send our troops into combat unless they have children in the military? That's not only impractiable, its nonsensical. | ||
| sbenois Citizen Username: Sbenois Post Number: 13088 Registered: 10-2001  |
Now let's go to the pundits and see their reactions to the speech...  | ||
| cjc Citizen Username: Cjc Post Number: 3074 Registered: 8-2003 |
Harry Reid is talking about a bad job market. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=9&u=/nm/20050202/ts_nm/eco nomy_employment_dc And then he spoke about the 'guaranteed benefit' of Social Security. As it stands now, he can't guarantee the benefit he's talking about. Neither can the OMB, the CBO, or the GAO. What a crock. They're counting on the generation that will get shafted with Social Security not voting, and the parents of these kids to go along with shafting them. Why does Nancy Pelosi always look surprised? | ||
| sbenois Citizen Username: Sbenois Post Number: 13089 Registered: 10-2001 |
Pelosi is a moron. | ||
| mwoodwalk Citizen Username: Mwoodwalk Post Number: 302 Registered: 9-2001 |
Amen Sbenois. If she is the best the dems have to offer in the House, then there are REAL problems for the donkey party. Jeez, couldn't they have let Boxer give the response, at least then it would have been lively, attention getting and well-delivered. | ||
| cjc Citizen Username: Cjc Post Number: 3075 Registered: 8-2003 |
Why didn't the Democrats offer any broad ideas on how to make Social Security solvent long-term? | ||
| Dave Moderator Username: Dave Post Number: 5146 Registered: 4-1998 |
Pelosi is so depressing and robotic. She should resign. | ||
| sbenois Citizen Username: Sbenois Post Number: 13090 Registered: 10-2001 |
I took about 75 pictures of Pelosi while she was speaking. She hardly moves her lips. She's a horrible speaker. Just atrocious. | ||
| Dave Moderator Username: Dave Post Number: 5147 Registered: 4-1998 |
Democratic broad ideas on SS: Commit funds to secure Medicare & Soc. Sec. “absolutely”. 15% government investment in equities; no privatization. No privatization; government invests in market. —Sen. Jon Corzine | ||
| sbenois Citizen Username: Sbenois Post Number: 13091 Registered: 10-2001 |
Cjc, may I offer you an answer? Thankey. Because the Democrats haven't got a F***ing clue Which brings me to the most Presidential man in the entire country. The guy who should have been giving the speech tonight...  | ||
| cjc Citizen Username: Cjc Post Number: 3076 Registered: 8-2003 |
Government gets to directly manipulate the markets via massive trading of securities, and then when people die government keeps it? If there's a problem with a company like Enron or something, Rubin calls Treasury and asks for a little help so that government investments can pull out and the private sector can swallow Enron's fall. Greenspan poured cold water on Clinton's idea of direct government investment back when Clinton thought about using the higher returns of the market with those very kinds of concerns. I fear that if government keeps those investment returns in a trust fund, we'll find it's just a bunch of IOUs like today's system. "Committing funds" to Medicare and Social Security -- just say tax hike. Repeatedly hiking taxes with no alteration of benefits leading to a state like Germany which just hit record unemployment of 12.1% today due to the weight of their entitlements. | ||
| sbenois Citizen Username: Sbenois Post Number: 13092 Registered: 10-2001 |
Sorry Dave, but I'm with Bush on this one. I give him credit - mucho credit - for taking this on. Social Security is a big problem. It's a disaster in waiting for people who are paying SS tax today knowing that they're not going to see it later. For all the talk we hear from the Democrats about preparing for the future - in the areas of energy, the environment, etc. it's disingenuous for them to avoid dealing with this long term problem for the sake of their political expediency. This political issue has one aspect that others don't have: mathematical certainty. | ||
| Dave Moderator Username: Dave Post Number: 5149 Registered: 4-1998 |
Personal savings accounts will undermine Social Security's long-standing role as a provider of stable guaranteed retirement benefits. There's nothing else to understand. Either it's stable and guaranteed or not. Be a Democrat just for one day. You are registered, so try it. | ||
| sbenois Citizen Username: Sbenois Post Number: 13093 Registered: 10-2001 |
Mathematics will do far more to undermine Social Security's long-standing role as a provider of stable guaranteed retirement benefits. And math does not discriminate between Democrats, Republicans, Liberals or Conservatives. | ||
| Dave Moderator Username: Dave Post Number: 5151 Registered: 4-1998 |
I'm glad you've figured out a mathematical way to determine market swings. Please call my broker immediately.  | ||
| sbenois Citizen Username: Sbenois Post Number: 13094 Registered: 10-2001 |
The mathematics has nothing to do with the markets. It has everything to do with the number of people paying in vs. the number of people being paid. Do you not agree with the notion that the population of the US is aging, bringing the median along with it? Do you disagree that a worker making 50k per year, being taxed at SS rates, would do better by investing that money in 30 year T-bonds (for stability?)), than by putting it into SS and praying that enough kids will be around in 30 years to cover the money they've put in? Or are you interested in closing the ever widening gap of this Ponzi-scheme by opening our borders to increase the workforce exponentially? In 1994( I believe) Madame Hillary was charged with fixing Health Care because it was projected to be out of control by the end of the 90s. Why are the Democrats afraid of dealing with this long -term issue? Bush is right. | ||
| Dave Moderator Username: Dave Post Number: 5154 Registered: 4-1998 |
It's all about markets. In a 10-15 year period markets have upswings and downturns. Leaving retirees to the whims of chance is wrong. Everyone deserves equal footing in retirement based on their investment during their years of work. SS started out as a Ponzi scheme so I have no trouble continuing it as such. | ||
| Paul Surovell Supporter Username: Paulsurovell Post Number: 225 Registered: 2-2003 |
The President is lying about Social Security to scare the American people so they will support his agenda to privatize social insurance, just as he lied about WMDs to scare the American people into supporting the conquest of Iraq so he could pivatize the Iraqi oil industry. It's all about greed and privatization. Social Security is not in crisis. If nothing were done, current payments and Treasury bonds owned by the Social Security system will pay 100% of all promised benefits for the next 47 years. At that point -- the year 2052 -- all Social Security Treasury bonds will have been redeemed, but Social Security payroll taxes will still cover 81% of promised benefits. There are several simple ways to guarantee 100% coverage for the next 100 years: (1) Rescind 1/4 of Bush's tax cut for the wealthy and transfer the moneys to a Social Security fund. (2) Rescind the tax cut only on those earning $500,000 or more. (3) Remove the income cap on Social Security taxes, currently $88,000. The fact that Bush conceals these options from the public is sufficient proof that he is distorting, misleading and sadly -- lying -- to the American people -- again. |
