We're told we can't "afford" full Social Security benefits, even though closing corporate tax-haven

[midnight]

loopholes would pay for Obama's "chained CPI" benefit cut more than 10 times over!

Abusive offshore tax havens cost the US $150 billion in lost tax revenue every year (via FACT Coalition). That's $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years.

The "chained CPI" cut, proposed by President Obama and supported by Republicans, is projected to "save" a total of $122 billion to $130 billion over the same time period by denying benefits to seniors and disabled people.

It's true. "Serious" politicians and pundits are demanding that ordinary people sacrifice earned benefits, while at the same time allowing corporations to avoid more than ten times as much in taxes.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Believe-It-or-Not---13-M-by-Richard--RJ-Esko-130629-758.html

[Egalitarian Thug]

1. Sorry. We're too busy recapping what's on TV and calling each other names

to deal with unimportant crap like this.
& R

[alc]

2. SS isn't welfare

It's not a program that takes what is needed each year from the general budget. It is (supposed to be) a self-sufficient program. Taking money from other places to put into it changes the whole idea behind SS and gives opponents an argument that it isn't sustainable and needs to be scrapped (or integrated with welfare programs).

It needs fixes, but it needs to be fixed in a self-sustainable way, not in offsets to "unrelated" financial books. Soon as it's tied to the general budget books it's a much easier target for cuts and subject to any across-the-board cuts. And it's whole premise is no longer valid (independant books, self-sustaining, people get back what they pay in).

[MotherPetrie]

3. Obama wants to chain CPI no matter what. He'd want to chain it if the deficit turned into a

multi-billion surplus overnight.

[DirkGently]

4. Why the hell IS that?

It's not like it's even a valuable political trading chip with Republicans. He's not getting anything for embracing it.

Doesn't make any sense, unless Obama literally does not understand SS, or does not want to.

[HiPointDem]

5. +

[socialist_n_TN]

6. Austerity is unneccessary....

We're not broke and "belt tightening" by the programs that benefit the working class and the poor are also unnecessary. It's never been a matter of the amount of wealth, it's always about the way the wealth is distributed. And of course, the WILL of the people to militantly DEMAND that the wealth be distributed to the ones in need.

[Mnemosyne]

7. K&r nt