It appears the leaked offer may have put a nail in chained CPI's coffin.

[ProSense]

Until now, a lot of people didn't understand its impact. It has been exposed as a benefit cut (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022034756).

Even Boehner was afraid to put it to a vote, likely because he didn't want to take ownership of it.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/20/1172424/-Boehner-Plan-B-does-not-include-chained-CPI-Take-it-off-the-table

No one wants it. Social Security can be strengthened by lifting the cap.

[The Magistrate]

1. Hopefully, Ma'am

I would like to think we are so good it was planned that way....

[a geek named Bob]

3. At this point, I'm thinking that

our president maker a 9p Go Master look like a drunken frat boy on Seconal.

He think President Obama's going for the whole board.

[xtraxritical]

23. I'm convinced that President Obama knew that Boehner could not sell the offer to the Congress

so he put a little cut to "entitlements" in there to make the RepubliCONs look even more intransigent and garnering them the "blame" for the fiscal cliff.

[a geek named Bob]

24. Like I said...

I am NEVER playing power, chess, or GO against President Obama.

The contrast between President Obama and Shrub the younger is stunning.

[PragmaticLiberal]

34. I considered this possibility as well.

Hopefully, that was the case.

[Skraxx]

52. Yes, Obama Is That Good. Some Groups and Types of People Are COMPLETELY PREDICTABLE

You can predict how they will react with almost near certainty. This in turn makes them very easy to manipulate.

I think we just witnessed a master manipulation.

[elleng]

2. Methinks that someone's playing chess.

[liberalmuse]

12. My Experience?

Just when I start to get down on President Obama, not understanding what he is doing, he comes through. Every single time! Let's be honest, as much as we loved Pres. Bill Clinton, he kinda screwed us royally on a few things (NAFTA, Glass/Stegall, Welfare reform, etc.) It's unfortunate that President Obama, a truly great President, is the one who is expected to clean up all the shit dropped on us since Reagan.

[elleng]

15. With you, muse.

Very unhappy about trashing President Obama gets at DU, and never hugely supportive of President Clinton; he has done very well since the end of his tenure, however.

Thanks

[leftyohiolib]

37. Bill Clinton, he kinda screwed us royally - let us mot forget then 1996 telecom bill that

privatized the air waves

[elleng]

49. Right, and a few other things.

Won't name, don't want to give DUers more excuses to 'ignore' me.

[JHB]

25. Then someone needs to tell Nancy Pelosi to not consider it "strengthening" SS

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022042171

[Poll_Blind]

4. What nail? President's spokesman said earlier today the deal was still Boehner's to accept.

Period.

PB

[Tarheel_Dem]

7. But the president & the "president's spokesman" know that Boehner can't accept it.

[bread_and_roses]

50. He opened a door that should have remained closed - and for no good reason

He "put SS on the table." It was supposed to be OFF the table.

And - he's gotten major pushback, including from the AFL-CIO and every other organization I can think of - I know my mailbox was overflowing with petitions, calls to contact the WH/Congress from every list I'm on - and that's a lot of lists.

[marew]

60. Obama DID open the door! Unfrigging believable! N/T

[Liberalynn]

58. Exactly

they raised the possiblity on MSNBC Last Word that if they could get a coalition of PUKES loyal to Boner and enough DEMS to go along with PRES plan it could still pass. Boner only said no because he had to try it his way first.

I won't be happy till we know The PRES plan is off the table as well to and we start from scratch with no SS on the table at all as was promised.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

5. If this is "chess", I don't think it's right for the administration to have scared seniors with it

Contrary to those who want to praise the president for his super-duper tricky negotiation skills, I don't think the President did senior citizens any good by letting them believe for several news cycles that this chained CPI was going to go through.

[elleng]

16. I'm a senior.

We can take it.

[bluemarkers]

40. I was hoping it would turn out this way

but he sure scared the c r a p out of me. (but my hubby just got laid off, so I'm no edge anyway)

[MissMarple]

42. We can take it, there is no other honorable choice.

Good for you, ellen! I think it's all a bluff by the goppers. They have nothing but a bluff and a prayer to Mammon.

[OldDem2012]

46. Bingo! We're veterans, we've been through a lot of political wars over the years. nt.

[forestpath]

51. I feel the same way. I think it's just a matter of time before Obama succeeds in cutting SS.

[marew]

59. Exactly!

It it for sure and always off the table? Has that been promised?

[AndyA]

6. Or, perhaps Congress can pay back the money they've looted from SS over the years

At one point, I heard it was over $2.5 Trillion. That might help for a while.

Before any benefits are touched, everything that has been taken out to balance the budget, fund wars, or whatever should be put back. It's a slap in the face of every American citizen to not do that first!

[rhett o rick]

27. We need a war tax. A tax to pay for Bush's war. They have to be paid for some day.

Those of us that let it happen are responsible. Dont leave it for future generations.

In fact if we instituted a special tax to pay for the current wars, I think they would end a lot sooner.

[groundloop]

35. Ya' know, that's not such a bad idea...

That would be upfront and honest, letting people know what their money is going for. PLUS, once the war was paid off the war tax would go away.

[rhett o rick]

55. LOL. Very good. "Once the war tax is paid off the war tax will go away". Perfect. nm

[MissMarple]

43. Brilliant!

[OldDem2012]

48. Let's just tax the decision-makers and arms producers who get us into a war because....

...the rest of us either don't know exactly what we're being brainwashed to do, or don't have the political power to stop it.

In addition to taxing the decision-makers and the arms producers, I would also pass a law requiring the decision-makers who get us into a war to have to spend a year on the front lines. That might make our "leaders" a lot more reluctant to jump into something in which they have a lot of financial and personal skin in the game.

[rhett o rick]

56. I thought about that but decided that the idiot Americans that allowed

their government to go to war to enrich the arms dealers are responsible and should pay. Maybe the next time some idiot politician tries to lie them (us) into a war, we will object a little stronger.

[ms liberty]

36. Yeah...no one ever talks about that...

That was the whole point of us having a surplus, was to pay back SS. Al Gore wanted to put it in a lock box so we' d have it when we needed it. The GOP laughed at the analogy and screwed us out of it with tax cuts and wars of choice. I think we need to be talking about it.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. "No one wants it." That's what I've been saying.

There is bipartisan dislike among voters on anything which resembles a cut to SS benifits.

Hopefully by raising our voices this can be killed before it's ever fully formed.

[starroute]

9. More people need to know it's also a backdoor tax increase

It would also be applied to the annual adjustment in tax brackets, meaning that more people would get kicked into higher brackets even if their income is barely keeping pace with inflation.

Tell that to the tea partiers and maybe they'll start to understand.

[limpyhobbler]

10. yep

we haven't heard as much about this bit but it is also significant

[liberalmuse]

11. How hard is it? Leave SS the F*ck Alone!

Good Lord.

[Cosmocat]

22. Absofuckinglutely

Benefit cuts increase as you get older.

What is fucking wrong with these people?

[yardwork]

13. Good.

[alcibiades_mystery]

14. Chained CPI for Social Security is terrible policy

I'm so glad that this got out there, and that it will be very difficult for anybody of any party to vote for it after the offer leak.



(Job well done, ProSense!).

[socialist_n_TN]

17. He might have been "playing nine deminisional chess", but.......

the outrage shown by people about the trial balloon had to have helped.

[freshwest]

54. Leaks like that one are meant to cause an uproar. *cough, cough*

[Whisp]

18. the Jane Hamshers here there and everywhere will be thoroughly pissed

that seniors won't be eating obama brand cat food.

yes, they will be angry about this. he's supposed to be evil to the core.

[Left Coast2020]

19. I'm fairly confident that the President and WH staff have received an earfull today.

Likey every phone call has been "keep your %$#@* hands off SS. Or something to that effect.

[Curmudgeoness]

28. They did from me.

I sent an email and made a phone call. I said that to even think that a Democratic president would be involved in weakening a successful safety net disgusts me. I also said that President Obama should get in front of the people of this country and draw a line in the sand saying that there will be no changes under his presidency, period.

[sabrina 1]

20. Better tell that to Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, they don't seem to have

gotten the message. See here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022042171#post4

[Coyotl]

21. Get rid of the cap, NO CAP. Do the math, FCS!

Make the Rs vote up or down on it!

[neverforget]

26. Lift the cap!

Screw the Chained CPI

[drm604]

29. He brought it up. Everyone learned what it is. Now they all hate it and reject it.

Democrats hate it because it's a bad idea. Republicans hate it because it's Obama's idea.

So now the Republicans can't propose it. He's taken it away from them.

[Little Star]

30. Gawd, I hope your right. k&r

[Honeycombe8]

31. We do NOT need to touch Social Security at this time at all! It's not part of the budget problem!

It's solvent!!!!

This is simply a Republican demand.

[Ineeda]

32. Yes! Great news. Raise the cap.

I've often wondered why there has been so little discussion about such a common sense solution, both in the media and by politicians. But raising the cap will raise taxes on the $107K to $250K range, which was promised not to happen. I wonder if I should start yelling about that broken promise now. Nah -- too early.

Thanks ProSense. I've always appreciated your posts.

[groundloop]

38. Personally I think anyone making over $107K could afford it

I hit that cap one time and thought I was hot shit 'cause I had an extra 7% on my paychecks. Honestly it wouldn't have mattered had they continued taking that out.

But, hey, if nothing else eliminate the cap for people making over $250K.

[Hydra]

33. Let's hope the outrage works

It stopped even Bush when he tried for privatization.

And as much as I intensely do not like Boehner, he knows a pile of nuclear waste when he sees one- he wants the President to take full ownership of it.

[BainsBane]

39. Why should there be a cap at all?

I've never understood that.

[Cleita]

45. It should actually be in reverse. Poor people at or near the poverty level shouldn't

have to pay. Okay just so the billionaires don't whine, give them that deduction before we start collecting FICA.

[forestpath]

53. +1

[MannyGoldstein]

41. Let us pray. nt

[Whisp]

47. or as some say: let us prey, on Obama's integrity. n/t

[Cleita]

44. Let's keep our fingers crossed. This would be devastating to seniors if passed. n/t

[Scurrilous]

57. K & R