SENIORS, VETS UNITE / OBAMA IS PUSHING US OVER THE CLIFF

Seniors and vets, it's happening before our very eyes ~ President Obama, not Paul Ryan, is pushing our highly dependable Social Security benefits program over the cliff while playing politics with the Republicans and over the wishes of 87% of those over 50 years of age who oppose any cuts to social security benefits: Allen L Roland

"Social Security...is not a dole or a device for giving everybody something for nothing. True Social Security must consist of rights which are earned rights ~ guaranteed by the law of the land." Harry S. Truman, August 13, 1945

Voters should know that Social Security is not an entitlement but rather a system of wage replacement insurance, which we, as workers, pay for in payroll taxes throughout our working lives. The system provides benefits when workers stop receiving wages due to retirement, disability or premature death. And voters should also know that Social Security is solid and dependable; it hasn't missed a payment in 77 years, is currently running a surplus of $2.7 trillion, and is solvent for the next quarter century. In an economy that continues to be sluggish, with unemployment unacceptably high, Social Security is the solution, not the problem ~ and it must now be strengthened, if not increased, and most certainly not undermined by millionaire politicians who answer to the financial elite and ignore the public.

Social Security is built to last and here's a short 4 minute video that demonstrates that reality. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHAcy4SNVbo

As Thom Hartman correctly wrote in his blog on Monday ~ There is nothing Grand about Obama's grand social security bargain ~ " Despite the fact that Americans want Medicare and Social Security protected, President Obama has once again included cuts to the vital programs as part of his new budget proposal. As he's done previously, the President has offered up a change to cost of living increases - called the chained CPI - which reduces benefits paid to seniors, veterans, and the disabled… A new report from AlterNet highlights several facts that the President should consider before asking the poor to bear the brunt of more budget cuts. According to the report, half of American workers are "not at all confident" that they will be financially stable in their retirement, and only 57% have managed to save $25,000 or less."

Call the White House right now and tell President Obama: No cuts to Social Security benefits.

So what does CPI stand for and what's the bottom line on this latest Obama betrayal ?

CPI stands for consumer price index, a formula that looks at how the prices of stuff we need (food, for example) change over time. It's used to make cost-of-living adjustments in programs such as Social Security, veterans benefits and food stamps.

The chained CPI is a twist on that: It measures living costs differently because it assumes that when prices for one thing go up, people sometimes settle for cheaper substitutes (if beef prices go up, for example, they'll buy more chicken and less beef).

The Bottom line is  Cost-of-living adjustments would be lower with the chained CPI than with the plain old CPI. So depending on which formula is used, the amount of your Social Security payments could negatively change over time.

As Richard Eskow explains in Common Dreams ~ "What makes the chained CPI particularly unkind is the fact that millions of Americans have already had their Social Security benefits cut.  Benefits are determined based on a person’s lifetime earnings, so any significant loss in income now results in a benefit cut later. (More details here.)

Long-term unemployment is a benefit cut. A stagnating wage is a benefit cut. Wealth inequity is a benefit cut.

How many more cuts can the American people stand? A Deep Cut

How big is the President’s chained-CPI cut? For someone who retires at 65, it would be:

a 3.7 percent cut at age 75;
a 6.5 percent cut at age 85;
and a 9.2 percent cut at 95.

What about the dollar cost of the President’s cut? For the average earner, cumulative benefits would be cut by:

$4,631 – more than three months of benefits ~ by age 75;
$13,910 – nearly a year of benefits ~ by age 85;
and $28,004 – more than a year and a half of benefits ~ by age 95.

Unless the President’s budget excludes the chained CPI from IRS calculation, it would also lead to tax increases for all income except that in the highest tax bracket. So his Social Security cut would also be a middle-class tax hike."

Read full article ~ http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/04/08?nocache=1

It should be obvious that the formula for calculating Social Security's COLA's should realistically reflect the actual increases in beneficiaries' living expenses over time. The chained CPI fails that test because it assumes that when one particular product becomes more expensive, consumers can simply substitute a cheaper one. But the cost of health care, especially medication, is a major expense for seniors and it's not accounted for.

George Carlin knew the big picture on who really owns America ~ that education sucks as well as the mass media and that eventually they would come after our social security ~ three minute video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpcd0woY2KY

The movement that all Americans should get behind now is the Move to Amend Movement that states " We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling and other related cases, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights." https://movetoamend.org/

Before President Obama’s second term began, the World Socialist Web Site warned that Obama was preparing an unprecedented attack on the bedrock social programs. On the day of Obama’s second inaugural address, the WSWS warned, “It is already clear that the second term will mark an intensification of the right-wing policies of the first. The byword in domestic policy is austerity, targeting the core programs remaining from the 1930s and 1960s ~ Social Security and Medicare… The actions of the Obama administration in its second term are a confirmation of what was already clear from the first term: that the political system in the United States, whether headed by a Democrat or a Republican, is impervious to the needs and interests of the vast majority of the population, the working class. It is a system completely subordinate to the demands of the corporate and financial elite." See report http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/04/08/pers-a08.html

The future is here, people ~ and there is no change without action. The survival of our Republic is at stake. It's We the people, not we the corporations.

Allen L Roland

http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/seniors-vets-unite-obama-is-pushing-us.html

Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private Skype 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 web log and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

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

Seniors Unite Against Simpson And Obama

SENIORS UNITE AGAINST SIMPSON AND OBAMA

















Obama appointed co-chairman of the budget deflcit commission, Alan Simpson, recently offended all seniors by calling them 'lesser people in society' and in the process infuriated a voting block that all but insures an Obama one term presidency: Allen L Roland

The fact that President Obama picked Alan Simpson as co-chairman of the budget deficit commission is a tip off that Obama has already written off not only the progressives but also seniors ~ which will come back to haunt him in 2012.

Simpson has called seniors “greedy geezers;” described lower-income Americans as “lesser people in society;” and complained that he is frustrated hearing from retirees who “live in gated communities and drive their Lexus to the Perkins restaurant to get the AARP discount "

Well, Mr Simpson ~ I happen to be a proud senior who is still working, making a difference, not living in a gated community or driving a Lexus and if it wasn't for social security ~ I, like millions of Americans, would fall below the poverty line. For your information ~ the average beneficiary receives only $13,900 a year and has not received a cost of living increase for two years.

You're a crusty, entitled and mean 79 year old geezer, Mr Simpson ~ and it's pretty obvious why Obama chose you to chair his bipartisan commission on reducing the federal deficits ~ so he could eventually cut social security benefits.

Simpson recently compared Social Security to "a milk cow with 310 million tits" ~ so his job essentially is to fire the opening administration salvo against Social Security.

William Greider, The Nation nailed it when he recently wrote ~ " Simpson should have been turned out to pasture years ago but Obama made him co-chair of the President's bipartisan commission on reducing the federal deficits....Every savvy player in the Capital knows what the president has in mind ~ whack Social Security benefits to lure Republicans into a grand deal on raising taxes. As I have written more than once, when Washington talks up bipartisan compromise it usually means the people are about to get screwed.

That train is rolling down the tracks now, but don't expect major media coverage to alert the populace. The prestige newspapers are on board for this deal and Obama's commission won't reveal its recommendations until right after the election. Too late for folks to make a stink."
http://www.thenation.com/article/154187/alan-simpson-senator-guttermouth-spews-again

Greider offers an excellent suggestion for Senator Guttermouth ~ " In the interest of fairness, for instance, why not cut Simpson's government pension benefits as much or more than they intend to cut Social Security benefits. After all, he can afford it. And Simpson likes to talk about his new knee ~ recently replaced with a $70,000 operation. Did he pay for his new knee or did the taxpayers? It would be fun to find out."

Simpson is obviously uninformed about Social Security, ideologically biased, and unfit for this position. Seniors rightly see Obama's Deficit Commission stacked with people hostile to Social Security and intent on cutting it ~ despite the fact that social security does not contribute to the deficit.

However, it's not too late to make a stink so sign this petition and send it to all your senior friends and let's stop that train before it leaves the station.
http://action.ourfuture.org/action/sacksimpson

By the way, if Pew’s latest numbers are even halfway accurate, they should frighten Obama and the Democrats. Their surveys show voters 65 and over, who gave Democrats a 50 percent to 39 percent edge on the generic ballot in November 2006, giving Republicans a 51 percent to 43 percent edge now. If that reversal holds, Democrats could be ruing the "year of the angry white senior” at the polling place, not just the town hall.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/09/angry-white-seniors-and-2010.html

Allen L Roland
http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/seniors-unite-against-simpson-and-obama.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