Solution For Great Recession / Double Social Security Benefits

SOLUTION FOR GREAT RECESSION / DOUBLE SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS

Seniors take note and unite ~ here's the solution for the current Great Recession and it makes total sense. Double the current Social Security payment and make it a true National Retirement Plan. This would not only financially bolster the 75% of Retirees whose main source of income is an average benefit of $1,072 a month but would instantly increase consumer spending and GNP: Allen L Roland

Here's an issue that all seniors can unite around and should become an instant campaign issue. The Social Security Administration said last Friday that inflation has been too low since the last increase in 2009 and has decided to not award its annual Social Security cost of living increase in 2011 ~ the second straight year this has happened since these adjustments were first adopted in 1975.

Here's the big picture ~ while Congress spends 12 billion dollars a month on our two ongoing illegal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan as well as bailing out Wall Street to the tune of over a trillion dollars ~ 58.7 million retirees and beneficaries on Social Security benefits are asked to survive and thrive on an everage benefit of $1,072 a month.

The Obama administration has promised a one time $250 dollars to Social Security recipients as an election year carrot or pacifier but, of course, the proposal failed in the senate when a dozen Democrats joined Republicans to block it.

There is something very very wrong with this picture and Steven Hill, Truthout nailed it in his must read article of October 13, DON'T CUT SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS, DOUBLE IT ~ where Hill correctly writes " a collapsed housing and stock market, combined with increased inequality even before the Great Recession, have drastically reduced Americans' personal savings. In short, the "retirement stool" no longer is stable and secure, and suddenly Social Security, which always has been viewed as a supplement to private savings, is the only leg left for hundreds of millions of Americans ... Studies show that people in the bottom two income quartiles depend on Social Security for 84 percent of their retirement income, and even the second-richest quartile depends on Social Security for 55 percent of its retirement income. Only the richest 25 percent of Americans don't rely heavily on Social Security."

Hill correctly identifies the real Problem ~ " But the real problem with Social Security is not, as its critics say, that it is underfunded. Contrary to gloomy predictions, the program is on solid financial footing, with the Congressional Budget Office projecting that Social Security can pay all scheduled benefits out of its own tax revenue stream through at least 2037... The bigger problem is that Social Security's payout is so meager, which is problematic since it has been thrust into this new role as a de facto national retirement plan. Currently, it replaces only about 33 to 40 percent of a worker's average wage from the year prior to retirement (compared to Germany, where it replaces 70 percent). That is simply not enough money to live on when it is your primary - perhaps your only - source of retirement income... "

Here's Hill's logical solution to the problem ~ " Doubling Social Security's individual payout would cost about $650 billion annually for the 51 million Americans who receive benefits. Here are some ways to pay for it. First, lift Social Security's payroll cap that favors the wealthy. Currently, Social Security only taxes wages up to $106,800 a year, and any income earned above that is not taxed. The net result is that poor, middle-class and even moderately upper middle-class Americans are taxed 12.4 percent (split between employee and employer) on 100 percent of their income, but the wealthy pay a much lower percentage. Millionaire bankers effectively pay a paltry 1.2 percent.... Making all income levels pay the same percentage - that's how Medicare works - is popular with Americans and would raise about $377 billion. Second, with all Americans receiving Social Security Plus, employer-based pensions would be redundant, so businesses no longer would need the substantial federal deductions they currently receive for providing employees' retirement plans. These deductions total a whopping $126 billion annually.Those two alone would provide three-fourths of the revenue needed to double Social Security's payout. Other possible revenue streams exist " See full article ~ http://www.truth-out.org/dont-cut-social-security-double-it64139

So there you have it ~ a rational common sense approach to not only jump start the economy but to relieve the stress of million of seniors who are existing on the very edge of poverty.

As Hill concludes ~ " In short, Social Security Plus would provide a stable, secure retirement for every American and contribute greatly toward a solid foundation from which to build a strong and vibrant 21st century US economy."

It's time for seniors to stop accepting $250 dollar bribes and demand a true National Retirement Plan built on a realistically funded Social Security investment which will not only financially sustain our retirees but will represent a true bottom up investment in our future versus our currently failed top down approach to economic recovery.

Seniors unite ! This is our campaign issue for this election as well as 2012.

Allen L Roland

ONLY THE TRUTH IS REVOLUTIONARY

Obama Recession / No End In Sight

OBAMA RECESSION / NO END IN SIGHT

This is definitely now Obama's great Recession and his top down decision to bail out Wall Street , at the expense of Main Street, has left millions of Americans in an economic free fall with no real end in sight: Allen L Roland

AP reveals that the top-earning 20 percent of Americans ~ those making more than $100,000 each year ~ received 49.4 percent of all income generated in the U.S., compared with the 3.4 percent earned by those below the poverty line, according to newly released census figures. That ratio of 14.5-to-1 was an increase from 13.6 in 2008 and nearly double a low of 7.69 in 1968.

Off The Charts' Chuck Marr puts the income gap in even starker terms: "This great income shift means the average middle-income American family had about $9,000 less after-tax income in 2007, and an average household in the top 1 percent had $741,000 more, than they would have had if the 1979 income distribution had remained ... Each year the average millionaire gets about $125,000 from the Bush tax cuts, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Now seems to be a good time to say enough is enough. "

The international Gini index, found U.S. income inequality at its highest level since the Census Bureau began tracking household income in 1967. The U.S. also has the greatest disparity among Western industrialized nations ~ but the Mainstream Press continues to ignore this great Obama Recession in this mid-term election year.

Here's a typical letter I received after my post of 9/26 ~ LIVING ON THE EDGE OF POVERTY. http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/living-on-edge-of-poverty.html

Dear Allen,
Arizona is the second poorest state in the nation, but also the second most expensive for health care. I am hoping I can apply for the government "pre-existing" insurance pool in November. My company ended group coverage last April ~ couldn't afford the 1500.00 per month per employee premiums anymore...luckily I have no health problems, just can't get coverage because I've had 2 small basal cell carcinomas on my face and have arthritis. Don't even take any prescriptions! Unbelievable !
My sister in NJ and her teenage son are now homeless. She lost her job due to health problems ~ has to call in sick quite a bit but is not bad enough to get disability. All the shelters and programs Salvation Army, churches, etc. there are full. My brother told me there are tent cities springing up in several locations.
If Republicans get back majorities, well, I look for unemployment to double, foreclosures to escalate, and millions to be hitting the streets, especially seniors. Welcome to America, a third world country. There's nothing to be hopeful about anymore.
Sylvia

So what's really going on as America sinks deeper and deeper into a major Depression ?

A new paradigm has arrived in politics and it doesn't matter who wins the next elections ~ it's no longer Democrats versus Republicans ~ it's you and I against the Corporations and , unfortunately, President Obama answers to Wall Street and the Corpocracy ~ and obviously not to Main Street.

Shamus Cooke has written an excellent must read article on ICH ~ HOW CORPORATIONS OWN CONGRESS ~ where he explains how corporate money flows from party to party, so that the same goals are achieved: higher profits for corporations.

But here's an excerpt from another excellent artricle on the very same subject ~ " For a long time, American politics has been defined by a Left/Right dynamic. It was Liberals versus Conservatives on a variety of issues. Pro-Life versus Pro-Choice, Tax Cuts vs. More Spending, Pro-War vs Peaceniks, Environmental Protections vs. Economic Growth, Pro-Union vs. Union-Free, Gay Marriage vs. Family Values, School Choice vs. Public Schools, Regulation vs. Free Markets....The new dynamic, however, has moved past the old Left Right paradigm. We now live in an era defined by increasing Corporate influence and authority over the individual. These two “interest groups” ~ I can barely suppress snorting derisively over that phrase ~ have been on a headlong collision course for decades, which came to a head with the financial collapse and bailouts. Where there is massive concentrations of wealth and influence, there will be abuse of power. The Individual has been supplanted in the political process nearly entirely by corporate money, legislative influence, campaign contributions, even free speech rights. .... This may not be a brilliant insight, but it is surely an overlooked one. It is now an Individual vs. Corporate debate ~ and the Humans are losing. " http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/09/you-vs-corporations/

On top of all this ~ we have the absurdity of a panel of economists declaring this month that the Recession came to an end in July of 2009 and then we have the equally out-of-touch and wishful thinking VP Joe Biden prophetically saying about the mid-term elections ~ " If we allow this to be a referendum on whether people are happy where they are now, we'll lose."

Is the Obama Administration aware that less than 35% of the American public feel that the Federal Stimulus helped the economy ? ( Rasmussen Polls )

So the recession technically ended for corporations last year because they got bailed out by Washington, outsourced their labor needs and taxes, cut back their expenses and employees and improved their profit margins ~ but that was just a sign in a black tunnel for millions of Americans who are falling headlong into poverty and have lost the debate with Corporations for an effective voice in the political process.

Welcome to America ~ a third world country, as Sylvia says, "There's nothing to be hopeful for anymore... "

That is unless Americans find their voice, take to the streets and demand their place at the political table.

Allen L Roland

http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/obama-recession-no-end-in-sight.html

This weblog is sustained through donations from people like yourself. Please send check or Money Order to Allen L. Roland, PO Box 1221, Sonoma,CA 95476 Also accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover .

Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on http://www.conscioustalk.net/

ONLY THE TRUTH IS REVOLUTIONARY

Living On The Edge Of Poverty

LIVING ON THE EDGE OF POVERTY

















Poverty in the U.S. today has many faces. For a homeless man on the streets of Los Angeles, it means not knowing where he will spend the night or where his next meal will come from. For a child in rural Alabama, it means going without breakfast and wearing tattered hand-me-down clothes. For millions of seniors, living from one social security check to the next, it means living on the edge of poverty.

In 2009, 4 million people fell into poverty which brings the total to over 43 million. Nearly 44 million Americans ~ one in seven ~ lived last year in homes in which the income was below the poverty level ~ and it's getting worse: Allen L Roland

Living on the edge of poverty is a far to common experience, particularly for seniors . In 2010, many seniors, including myself, are fed up with an Obama administration who evidently still feels that a top-down stimulus for Wall Street will eventually reach a down and out Main Street.

Geographically, southern and rural states tended to have the most poverty, with Mississippi faring the worst with 23.1 percent of people in poverty, with New Hampshire having only 7.8 percent.

Make no mistake about it , the current creeping so called economic recovery has been articifially induced by bailout funds while, in reality, we have been experiencing a full blown depression which will become obvious to all after the mid-term elections.

25.5 percent of consumers ~ nearly 43.4 million people ~ now have a credit score of 599 or below, marking them as poor risks for lenders. It’s unlikely they will be able to get credit cards, auto loans or mortgages under the tighter lending standards banks now use, according to AP.

As Christine Vestal writes in ICH ~ " More than 15 million Americans are unemployed, homelessness has increased by 50 percent in some cities, and 38 million people are receiving food stamps, more than at any time in the program’s almost 50-year history.. According to Richard Bavier, a former analyst for the federal Office of Management and Budget, already available data about employment rates, wages and food stamp enrollment suggest that an additional 5.7 million people were officially poor in 2009. That would bring the total number of people with incomes below the federal poverty threshold to more than 45 million. The poverty rate, Bavier expects, will hit 15 percent ~ up from 13.2 percent in 2008, when the Great Recession first started to take its toll."

Living on the edge of poverty numbs the spirit and replaces hope with fear ~ for millions of Americans are either living pay check to pay check or Social Security payment to Social security payment and an accident or major illness would take them over the edge into destitution.

This is Main Street reality and what politician is concerned about this and taking action ? Very few for Big money runs this country and Obama answers to them ~ not Main Street.

Allen L Roland

This weblog is sustained through donations from people like yourself. Please send check or Money Order to Allen L. Roland, PO Box 1221, Sonoma,CA 95476 Also accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover .

Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on http://www.conscioustalk.net/

ONLY THE TRUTH IS REVOLUTIONARY

Michelle Antoinette Obama / Let Them Eat Cake

A tone deaf Obama Administration has not only redecorated the Oval Office during a deepening recession but Michelle Obama's recent spending spree in Spain leaves her wide open for rightful ridicule and parody: Allen L Roland

Let them eat cake ~ the origins of many English phrases are unknown. Nevertheless, many people would say that they know the source of this one. It is widely attributed to Marie-Antoinette (1755-93), the Queen consort of Louis XVI. She is supposed to have said this when she was told that the French populace had no bread to eat.

In that regard, here is a satirical thank you note from Michelle Obama to the American taxpayer ~ courtesy of Patriot Post Humor.
http://media.patriotpost.us/humor/2010-09-07.html

Dear America,

" For only the second time in my adult life, I am not ashamed of my country.
I want to thank the hard working American people for paying $242,000 (plus a few hundred thou in additional expenses) for my vacation in Spain. My daughter Sasha, several long-time family friends, my personal staff and various guests had a wonderful time. Honestly, you just haven't lived until you have stayed in a $2,500.00 per night suite at a 5-Star luxury hotel. We only booked 70 rooms for our friends, staff and family. Thank you also for the use of Air Force 2 and the 70 Secret Service personnel who tagged along to be sure we were safe and cared for at all times ~ with our 13-vehicle convoy.
Air Force 2 only used 47,500 gallons of jet fuel for this trip and carbon emissions were a mere 1,031 tons of CO2. It costs only $11,500 per hour to operate Air Force 2 and each additional plane for the other members of our party group. These are only rough estimates, but they are close (who's counting?). That's quite a carbon footprint as my good friend Al Gore would say, so we must ask the American citizens to drive smaller, more fuel efficient cars and drive less too, so we can lessen our combined carbon footprint.
I know times are hard and millions of you are struggling to put food on the table and trying to make ends meet. I do appreciate your sacrifice and do hope you find work soon. I was really exhausted after Barack took our family on a luxury vacation in Maine a few weeks ago. I just had to get away for a few days. Will write more from Martha's Vineyard where we will spend our sixth vacation this year with more of our family and friends. "
With Gratitude,
Michelle Obama

It was Theodore Roethke who once wrote ~
" In a dark time, the eye begins to see "

Allen L Roland
http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/michelle-antoinette-obama-let-them-eat.html

This weblog is sustained through donations from people like yourself. Please send check or Money Order to Allen L. Roland, PO Box 1221, Sonoma,CA 95476 Also accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover .

Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

ONLY THE TRUTH IS REVOLUTIONARY