Raise the income cap on taxable wages. All salaries up to and including the level of pay for the President should be subject to FICA. If you make more than the President, you’re on your own — you don’t need Social Security.
Quit Lying About Social Security’s Health … On a recent episode of "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarbarough and guest Peggy Noonan, columnist for the Wall Street Journal, both insisted that any work to reduce the deficit must begin with cutting Social Security benefits. It was a lie. Social Security has no effect whatever on the federal deficit. They also insisted that as an "entitlement" Social Security faced bankruptcy. Another lie. Social Security is fiscally sound until about 2037. By lifting the income cap from the current $106,000 level it will be fiscally secure until past 2070. The practice of lying about Social Security has become epidemic among "conservatives." It needs to stop. Along with the issue of civil discourse when we disagree, honesty is desperately needed as a part of the conversation, too. Social Security has out-performed every private sector retirement program in our country except the "golden parachutes" of the uber-wealthy. It has never missed a payment and won’t, unless the extremists in our government insist on shutting down the government as a part of their political tantrum. Conservatives need to find a different dead horse to beat on. And they need to stop lying about Social Security. JOHN SHIPLEY Albuquerque
By calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme, McCain appears to be aligning himself with other radical conservatives who have long sought to gut or privatize the popular public program. Last year, former House Majority Leader and FreedomWorks chairman Dick Armey called Social Security a “pay-as-you-go Ponzi scheme“; a month later, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) also compared the program to a Ponzi scheme. And Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) campaigned by making the same comparison in his television commercials.
All of these radical conservatives are wrong to make such a comparison between a criminal enterprise and one of America’s most successful social programs. A Ponzi scheme involves fraudulently manipulating investors’ money without being able to pay them back; meanwhile, Social Security is a program that has successfully managed Americans’ money since its inception and has guaranteed them safe retirements.
A number of the big business interests standing with Walker are beneficiaries of his administration’s tax giveaways. But the greatest ally to Walker is the dirty energy company Koch Industries. In response to the growing protests in Madison, Koch fronts are busing in Tea Party protesters to support Walker and his union-busting campaign.
Wisconsin’s Democratic state senators went into hiding to deprive the Republican majority of the quorum they need to pass Walker’s agenda. The Senate majority leader, Scott Fitzgerald — who happens to be the brother of the Assembly speaker, Jeff Fitzgerald — believes the governor is absolutely right about the need for draconian measures to cut spending in this crisis. So he’s been sending state troopers out to look for the missing Democrats.
The troopers are under the direction of the new chief of the state patrol, Stephen Fitzgerald. He is the 68-year-old father of Jeff and Scott and was appointed to the $105,678 post this month by Governor Walker.
The Radical Right has controlled the subject of government since Nixon / Agnew, the thuggish father of the Big Lie. The Left has seen the lowest lows under Raygun and Duhbya and the highest highs (still low) under Clinton and Obama, but we all talk about whatever the Right thinks we should. We need to tune them out the way we do any crazy on the street (or shout them down – they grant us no courtesies). They are the tail that wags the dog. They dominate because we let them. The ultimate weakness of the Left is tolerance, something the Right cares not a whit about.
Take five steps back and consider the nature of the political conversation in our nation’s capital. You would never know that it’s taking place at a moment when unemployment is still at 9 percent, when wages for so many people are stagnating at best and when the United States faces unprecedented challenges to its economic dominance.
No, Washington is acting as if the only real problem the United States confronts is the budget deficit; the only test of leadership is whether the president is willing to make big cuts in programs that protect the elderly; and the largest threat to our prosperity comes from public employees.
Take five more steps back and you realize how successful the Tea Party has been. No matter how much liberals may poke fun at them, Tea Party partisans can claim victory in fundamentally altering the country’s dialogue.
It is hard to believe one year ago today we went to Guatemala. It was a great trip with many highlights, most dramatic of which was seeing – and photographing! – the resplendent quetzal. The following link is to my abridged journal with photos.
Eight friends traveled for 12 days in Guatemala at the end of February and beginning of March, 2010. Our trip was organized and lead by Dr David Mehlman, ornithologist & friend, with the help of Bitty Ramirez-Portilla and Miguel Marin, among other local guides and hosts. Our primary motivation was, ostensibly, birding plus visiting some Mayan ruins.
Whoa. Add this to the queue afterThe Butterfly Effect (which it shares much with) and Franklyn. I almost turned this off in the first half hour, but I think it was worth sticking with. Quite a cast of supporting players.
There are a few big things that happen in the movie that don’t seem relevant to the main direction of the film. At least one of those things leaves the world worse-off if undone, although that may be part of the point / problem with fixing things.
Both Darko and The Butterfly Effect surprise me in how far their protagonists are willing to go to fix things – to save their love interests, actually. It’s a strange kind of unsung heroism – no one will know the sacrifice. Which makes me think of re-reading A Prayer for Owen Meany.
"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams
By calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme, McCain appears to be aligning himself with other radical conservatives who have long sought to gut or privatize the popular public program. Last year, former House Majority Leader and FreedomWorks chairman Dick Armey called Social Security a “pay-as-you-go Ponzi scheme“; a month later, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) also compared the program to a Ponzi scheme. And Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) campaigned by making the same comparison in his television commercials.
