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McCain Says Social Security Is ‘A Disgrace’ |
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Struggling homeowners will need Social Security and Medicare now more than ever, according to a new study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). Due to the collapse of the housing market, the vast majority of Americans have accumulated little or no wealth—and so will be almost completely reliant on Social Security and Medicare to support them in their retirement years.
Given how many more of us will be dependent upon these key family programs, it’s too bad that just this week Sen. John McCain called Social Security a “disgrace.” He seems to think it’s a disgrace taxpayers fund Social Security (but apparently it’s OK we taxpayers endlessly fund the Iraq war…).
Here’s what McCain told a town hall in Denver on Monday:
Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that’s a disgrace. It’s an absolute disgrace and it’s got to be fixed.
As Josh Marshall at TPM notes:
It’s really a disgrace? That’s how the system was designed to operate. And it’s served as financial bedrock of retirement security in this country for going on a century.
The MoJo blog points out:
McCain’s Bush-echoing attack on Social Security isn’t just radical. It also contradicts his campaign’s stated position. McCain’s website says he supports “supplementing the current Social Security system with personal accounts.”
Further, when McCain trashed Social Security, it wasn’t a slip of the tongue. He repeated the statement again today on CNN. Economist Jared Bernstein at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) told MoJo blog he was shocked by McCain’s statement:
That is truly an amazing quote. It’s like he’s saying, “I just found out that taxes come from people…that’s a disgrace.” It betrays a really quite scary lack of knowledge about basic government….
Looks like McCain is moving full steam toward embracing Bush’s failed attempt to privatize Social Security, the nation’s most successful safety net. In 2005, when Bush was pushing to privatize Social Security, we talked with workers whose companies had reneged on pension promises, or who had minimal or no pension coverage through their workplace. Workers like Joan King, a retired schoolteacher in Orlando, Fla., who relied on Social Security to get by. After 35 years in the classroom, King would have seen a 40 percent benefit cut under Bush’s plan—and she had no idea how she’d get by.
Three years later, millions of homeowners have lost their savings, hundreds more corporations have backed out of their pension promises and far fewer companies are offering the kind of defined-benefit pension plans that helped minimize the number of U.S. seniors living in poverty. In short, a whole lot more people now will need Social Security.
But McCain doesn’t have to worry. As a U.S. senator, he’ll get a pension check for life, thanks to U.S. taxpayers.
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McCain calls Social Security a “disgrace” because he doesn’t want it, he doesn’t need it, and it doesn’t matter to him that only the wealthy will survive if Social Security is eliminated; you and I know that is exactly what will happen. What else do Americans have when they are no longer able to work, and savings are meager because it is difficult to save when the COST of EVERYTHING is so high (health care, food, gas, housing,…) Effective pension plans are being eliminated. Yet, McCain doesn’t seem to mind at all that most of our taxpayer money goes to fund never ending wars, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, while the people here at home sink further and further into economic ruin. McCain is an old man with nothing to lose. He just doesn’t get it; he just doesn’t care.
I agree almost entirely with union friend. Right on!
My one caveat is that McCain DOES get it! He is a mouthpiece for the corptocracy that is running America today.
Here is the problem in a nutshell. The villain – it seems - is a Mr. Dover. He represents the Bush Administration and corporate America. When Ben (that’s his first name) walks through the hallowed halls of Congress, both appointed and elected officials respond to the call: Ladies and gentlemen…Ben Dover!
There are a seemingly endless number of examples to cite, but for now let’s focus on the FISA debacle.
Telecommunications companies spied on U.S. citizens. It was illegal for them to do so. The excuse they offered is that they were pressured by the Bush Administration to conduct illegal domestic surveillance.
Geraldine’s excuse used to be “The devil made me do it”. That alibi was far more plausible than what telecommunication conglomerates offered-up
Congressional recipients of the ongoing generosity of those companies wanted to forgive them. “It was a one-time occurrence”, they squeal. “They promise to abide by the law in the future. It would be unfair to hold them responsible today for the crimes .they committed yesterday.”
Poor innocent AT&T. Boohoo for pitiable Verizon.
Innocent? Pitiable? Hardly! Those (and other) corporations have for many years engaged in covert operations here in the U.S. and abroad. Their clandestine activities even involved conspiring to topple democratically-elected foreign leaders. Those “coups” more often that not resulted in bloodshed. Working class people were massacred, sometimes by the tens of thousands! Not all that surprisingly, those neoliberal-directed juntas had the (secret) blessings of our government.
The afore mentioned Ben is busy strolling through the halls of Congress. And he is having his way with a plethora of political panderers.
Both the House and the Senate passed the phony FISA bill..
Now Bush wants to expand his illegal snooping. And get this: He wants the blessings of lawmakers! Old Ben is toting Bush’s bag, and Members of Congress are lining up to receive what he has to offer.
If things keep going like they’ve been going it won’t be too many more years before we’ll be saluting a flag festooned with corporate logos.
“My country tis of thee -
land of corptocracy…”
McCain seems to be pitting younger Americans against older Americans, on the issue of Social Security.
Maybe he believes that he can carve off a slice of the youth vote– who are conviced that Social Security won’t be there for them–by promoting private individual accounts.
FIRST:The mayor of The City of New York recently asserted on CNBC that “the wealth of young people is being transfered to seniors.” He was of course referring to the social programs each generation of workers have supported since
the late thirties.
There is a definite well constructed effort to pit the young against seniors. And, given the tentative
nature of employment today, it is no wonder
we are moving toward a society of ‘Me, Myself and I’
SECOND: We in labor must simply stop endorsing candidates unconditionally. Mr. Obama must see our vote as conditional. We must be willing to teach the Democrats a lesson even if in the teaching we ourselves take a hit. If we takethe practical route, the route we have been taking, we will sacrifce the future for a few present-day crumbs. In that course, no one will respect us!
And our tenure on Earth, that which we value,
will draw to a protracted and agonizing end.
Finally, we have got to stop looking so damn cheerful!