Friday, October 18, 2013

"Entitlements" At Risk From Radical Conservatives (Republicans)

Cut Social Security? When it has its own revenue stream and does not contribute to the national debt? That is just plain ignorance, stupidity and gall. It sounds like a step in the direction of dismantling Social Security. Apparently the party of "every man for himself" wants to get their hands on both the $2.5 trillion Social Security Trust Fund and the administrative fees financial service companies would demand if Social Security was privatized. And what percentage of their income do the 1% contribute to Social Security? At most, $14,099 a year (12.4% of $113,700) out of how ever many millions of dollars of income they have.

And what effect would cutting benefits have? Since benefits are paid out of Social Security's own revenue stream (payroll taxes) assisted perhaps by money from the Social Security Trust Fund, there would be absolutely no effect on the nation's deficits and debt (unless you are miscounting deficits by including Social Security surpluses or deficits which only affect the Trust Fund itself).

The Affordable Care Act is a capitulation giving in to Republican demands (a Democrat super-majority in the Senate in 2009 and 2010 is a myth). So now they think it won't work? Even though it is a Republican plan? Progressives and sane people would have preferred a single-payer government run plan which would have kept health care costs low and administrative fees negligible while guaranteeing access for all Americans. We are the richest nation in the world, yet our health care system costs twice as much and is less accessible than that of all other Western industrialized nations. But hey, we are exceptional.

http://taxes.about.com/od/payroll/a/Social-Security-Taxes.htm

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