Social Security Round-up for 2/25
The latest stories and commentary in the battle to save America’s most successful government program.
I’m writing a series of posts as a blogging fellow for the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, a coalition of more than 270 national and state organizations.
(Sorry I missed this for the last few days, was taken out of commission by the flu… These are a little behind, but I’ll get caught up over the next few days…)
*Show Me Progress:: Women and Social Security: a few facts:
Do you have a mother?
Is she over 65?
How is she set financially?
How would she fare if she was entirely on her own?
Now answer that question and take her Social Security out of the equation. How would she fare if she was entirely on her own?
You may not realize it, but Social Security is the single most effective program to keep women out of poverty in their retirement years that the nation has ever created.
Here are some facts about women and Social Security that you may not know, but should…
*Daily Kos: The folly of raising the Social Security retirement age:
One of the most frustrating things about both the catfood commission’s work and the ongoing discussions about “fixing” Social Security is that it seems to be happening in a vacuum in which the economic reality of recessions is not recognized at all. Which is kind of ironic, considering where we’re at right now.
*Daily Kos: Reid spokesperson: Cut waste and excess, don't 'undermine Social Security':
Sen. Richard Shelby’s brilliant plan to keep raising the retirement age until after everyone is dead was included in the list of proposals highlighted, along with Sen. Rand Paul’s promise to put Social Security “on the chopping block,” and Reps. Paul Ryan’s and Eric Cantor’s “roadmap” to privatization.
So far, Reid has been steadfast in standing against any kind of cut to Social Security. Where there’s a question in Senate leadership is with Sen. Dick Durbin, a member of the Simpson-Bowles commission who supported its recommendations (though they were unofficial), and who is generally regarded as a close ally of President Obama. We’ve seen a White House that is keeping changes to Social Security on the table, without ruling out much beyond privatization.
Meanwhile, in the House, Steny Hoyer and John Boehner sat down in their ergonomic office chairs and agreed that everyone can work until they’re 70. Reid is going to have his work cut out for him.
*Is Social Security Really in Danger? – Rancho Bernardo, CA Patch:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, once said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” He challenged fear because the right wing was busy spreading it during the early 1930s debate for the enactment of Social Security. They spread fear that Social Security was a socialist scheme or worse yet a communist plot. Sound familiar? Roosevelt knew then that fear could wreck his effort to enact Social Security, and so he spoke directly to the people of how they should respond to the unfounded fear being spread. Congress and the people overcame the preaching of fear and Social Security was enacted and signed into law by President Roosevelt in 1935.
Will we overcome today’s fears and press on as was successfully done in the 1930s? Or will we give in to fear and throw out the program that has worked so well throughout all these years? Just as was in the case in the 1930s, it will be a tough struggle regardless of the outcome.
I predict most of us will place our faith in the Social Security Trust Fund and its very reliable history and reject the Wall Street attempt to raid the trust fund knowing its many hits and misses over the years. Retirees who rely on personal savings have recently felt the brunt of Wall Street crashes and are well aware that even with their stock market losses, their Social Security and Medicare benefits were left fully intact. That’s something we should all keep in mind as the debate heats up in the new congress.
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