Bush Remains Eager to Cut Entitlement Spending (after midterm elections)

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: President Remains Eager to Cut Entitlement Spending
By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 11, 2006; Page A07

The Bush administration has begun sounding out lawmakers and other key figures about mounting a new bipartisan effort to rein in the costs of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security after the midterm elections, according to officials in the administration and on Capitol Hill.

No specific plan has been advanced, and administration officials are proceeding gingerly given the political debacle that beset the White House last year when President Bush promoted a plan to create private accounts in the Social Security program. But they have been sending strong signals in recent weeks that they want to try something again after the elections in November.

The new Treasury secretary, former Goldman Sachs chief Henry M. Paulson Jr., has made it clear that a major reason he took the job is to tackle the rising cost of government health and Social Security spending, which he described last week as "the biggest economic issue facing our country."

In his first major policy address since being sworn in July 10, Paulson noted that he has been told by many in Washington that "reform of entitlement programs is just too difficult to achieve" and that politicians will "demagogue" the issue. He said he believes that "when there is a big problem that needs fixing, you should run toward it."

Bush, for his part, appears fixated on the issue, even as he is focused on securing new immigration legislation and preoccupied by several world crises. Despite being forced to shelve his Social Security plan -- which included establishing private investment accounts and reducing guaranteed benefits down the road -- Bush regularly mentions his desire to tackle the issue again....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/10/AR2006081001508.html

[Trillo]

1. Eager Beaver Bush ready to step in and

screw something else up. Maybe God spoke to him through surround sound hidden speakers in his office, once again.

[saigon68]

19. His attitude is Fuck those Retards

Let them sort paper clips


</sarcasm>

[indepat]

20. Tens of millions of RW supporters are likely to get a King George

royal fu*king": unfortunately, the rest will also be swept up and away.

[shanti]

66. nope

he doesn't want to simply screw something else up, he wants to screw US. you can almost see him cackling and rubbing his hands together!

[Wapsie B]

2. Amazing but not suprising.

As maddening as it is to see social programs attacked while corporate welfare continues unabated, this is no different than in korporate amerika. Cost-cutting in the halls of business seldom cut to the heart of the matter. Pet projects are spared. Upper-echelon positions even though some may be unneeded are totally unscathed.

[barb162]

52. He'll be working really hard at this the next two years

We'll be kissing all the great social programs goodbye if he get his way

[Wapsie B]

53. Yes, the New Deal is the enemy of the right.

Thing is we're already pouring massive amounts of cash into the sacred cows of the gop. Squeezing social programs dry will only give them a limited amount of $$$ to funnel elsewhere. They're also working to render the mortgage deduction useless to many middle-income taxpayers, in effect raising taxes without saying they're rasing taxes. This is the same crap they pulled during Ronnie's term when they took away the deduction for personal interest. Just think how much the ability to deduct interest on credit card debt, signature loans, car loans and the like would be worth today.

[Imagevision]

61. After Mid term elections, Bush won't be doing jack-shit!!!

Repukes won't have the deciding power.

[shanti]

67. oh yeah

this is when it's going to get REALLY ugly. :( he has nothing to lose.

[Faux pas]

3. I can't think of ONE thing that boosh had done for the betterment

of society, or even mankind. Has he done anything good for anyone who isn't a millionaire? I'm sick and tired of being sick of him and his whole regime.

[w4rma]

4. They are going to cut social security after November if they retain enough

power to do so. They would do it now, but they would suffer at the polls too much right before an election.

[RC]

5. They wanna rein in government spending?

Then stop the senseless wars. Health care, medicare and Medicaid, etc. is pocket change in comparison.

[sandnsea]

6. Kill the last vestiges of FDR

Primary purpose of this administration, the fat cats will be sorely disappointed if they don't manage to dry up every last social program in the country. At least the ones that are still under direct government regulation anyway.

[oasis]

7. Bush has to permit his "Ownership Society" crew to steal what remains of

the U.S. treasury.:puke:

[MaraJade]

55. And they will do just that

when they get their hands on the Social Security Trust Fund. The billions there will disappear in
a storm of "churning" and "fees" by the Wall Street Brokerage houses assigned as handlers.

Then the repukes will say the system itself failed.

[shanti]

69. churning...

yes, the sharks will feed if this goes thru. however, we won't let it.

[badgervan]

8. Dem Majorities Might Have Something To Say

Let's see what the media does with this. I know that if I were a dem running for anything, I would be singing loudly and constantly about this, right after my pointing out that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 - no matter what the Great Decider says. And says. And says.....

[bluestateguy]

9. A second term president in his last 2 years in office?

Please.

By this time next year, Bush will just be a figurehead, someone who just throws out the baseball on Opening Day of Major League Baseball, and lights the Christmas Tree on the National Mall.

[Lasher]

10. Just like clockwork

Some things are quite easy to predict. If we don't get a majority in the Senate or the House this year, it's buh bye to Social Security and Medicare. This issue alone should win us victory, if properly presented to voters.

[Supersedeas]

18. And the Corp Press will be mum until after the sElection results

[teryang]

11. Medicare for people on SSI over 65 is being cut off already

It's already started.

[Joe Bacon]

12. Gee, where are the churches?

You mean the Megachurches where the preachers eat chateaubriand and drive Rolls Royces aren't doing anything to help the poor?

Im shocked, I tell you, just shocked :sarcasm:

[RedEarth]

13. Starve the beast..........

then kill it........the republican way.

[Mountainman]

14. How does social security become an entitlement?

It is money collected from workers and their employers. It is not government money given out as an entitlement. It is our money already.

[Lasher]

42. It becomes an entitlement because that sounds dirty.

Eewww, entitlement! This is a product of the Republican noise machine. They have repeated the 'entitlement' label over and over and over in an unfavorable context until people have bought into the concept that this is something contemptible.

An entitlement, however, is something to which we are entitled. A worker's paycheck and a stock investor's dividend payment are forms of entitlements.

I was going to list Darth Cheney's deferred compensation from Halliburton as an example of an entitlement, but I don't think he is legitimately entitled to it. He certainly deserves that much less than we deserve Social Security as we know it today.

[toopers]

46. All money the government collects is our money . . .

it becomes an entitlement when you think you deserve the money that was taken from someone else.

[Mountainman]

48. That sounds a little to libertarian to me. Nobody thinks they are

entitled to money taken from someone else but the republicans now in power who have drained the treasury and pocketed it, like the corporate interests that support the government now in power. The oil interests, the pharmaceutical companies, media conglomerates, investment companies, all Republicans who have put this administration in place for the one and only purpose to enrich themselves. All the while we make sure some homeless hungry person doesn't get any money from someone else to buy a little food or shelter.

It always makes me laugh when a right winger talks about a citizen getting a little welfare payment or some food stamps while Halliburton has make billions ripping all of us off with it's no bid contracts and over billing for what it does and the courts let them have the money anyway. Cheney has made millions for himself from taxes we have paid in and we get pissed if a single mother gets WIC or something. Were is the outrage? Here we are fighting among ourselves for pennies while billions get wasted in Iraq every week. The right wing working class slobs have been lulled into ignorance and ambivalence about what is going on right under their noses with phrases like Islamic fascists and terrorist and 9/11. All the while they get upset over a social program that is there to help them out also should the need arise. What fools they are.

[MysteryToMyself]

59. The government doesn't do a lot of useful things for their pay

Many people end up on the streets if they miss 3 house payments. Many are just a few paychecks away from needing welfare.

That is the problem with the DINOs and republicans. They are so afraid that someone won't work, when they set around all the time. They are the biggest welfare recipitents in the world. I guarantee that a woman with kids on welfare works harder than they do. They set up there passing laws and destroying our programs and take trips and money from lobbyists all the while receving pay from workers.

They get this nice padded retirement with insurance paid, while they do nothing to control the greed that is so prevalent.

And they keep the muslims mad at us, putting us in danger.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

15. Buried on page 7, terror plots sell papers but this destroys many lives.

Food, utilities or medicines pick one, your can't have it all for working class in the new neo-con American nightmare.

[thefuzz811]

16. Remember when the Repukes started a smear campaign...

about Kerry. They said the first thing he would do is raise taxes and cut entitlement programs. Bush has is doing one of those. He is also giving tax cuts to the wealthiest, while us in the middle deal with the crap he started. We are the bodies that they are stepping on to get to the top. We are the people that have to pay $3.00 and ^ for gas. We are the people that have deal with the massive spending that they are racking up.

[PATRICK]

17. This is not bluff

or stupidity(hurting their chances) if they EXPECT to "win" in November. That is not the kind of statement you bluff with as it hurts the outcome you pretend. That is the kind of bragging slip by one supremely confident on continuing.

Not amazing anymore. Revealing. They expect this election to go their way but they couldn't care less how the Congress gets mauled in the process. They only depend upon it to be weak and GOP in the majority.

[MysteryToMyself]

22. Paulson is very wealthy and came from Goldman Sachs

To dismantle Social Security is the most unethical idea they have came up with yet. When Bush kept saying he was going to fix SS, most thought he was really going to make it more sound. The corporate media never showed him saying how he would fix it. He has lost popularity every since he went on TV with his "fix" which is really a dismantling of Social Security. The real goal is to gradually hand our retirement over to Wall Street.

In 1983 Greenspan said we needed to pay in extra to pay for the extra baby boomers and so we have. That is the surplus Social Security that they keep borrowing and spending. We also let them take college away from the survivor benefits that comes with Social Security. They also changed full retirement age from 65 to 67. That is being done gradually. A 65 year old has to work until about 65 and 9 months to reach full retirement age. That is gradually being increased until 67 will be the full retirement age. All this was done so the boomers wouldn't be a burden on the younger workers.

[Patchuli]

39. All these thanks for the $ boomers!

Now gettouttahere? Fuck that...we paid in in record amounts!

Let's sing it loud and proud! THE REPUBLICANS WANT TO STEAL AMERICANS' SOCIAL SECURITY FROM THEM!!!!That'll 'help 'em out' at the polls!

[leQ]

40. i agree with you. these people are too confident that they're gonna win

i've always said, what good is democracy unless you have clean and fair elections?

[loudsue]

62. When you own the voting machines, you can plan on a LOT of things

to do after the mid-term elections. But if you let them be known BEFORE the election, then stealing the election would be harder to do -- too many people would realize that ownership of the voting machines is what gives the republicans their "mandate".

:kick::kick::kick:

[ReadTomPaine]

21. Another good item for Dems to be bringing up around election time.

They make great Democratic headlines fresh every day in DC. Too bad no one will deliver them.

[Ilsa]

23. I hope they try it.

I hope the word gets out about how bad and stingy it's going to be, and I hope the AARP and every veterans group and every senior American citizens takes up a pitchfork and torch and goes down to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

[PA Democrat]

24. The definition of arrogance

Bush couldn't sell his plan to destroy Social Security when he had decent poll numbers. After months of his putrid appearances before preselected friendly audiences, a large majority of Americans still opposed Bush's plans to privatize Social Security.

And that was BEFORE the evidence of how he fucked up the response to Katrina and before the tide of opinion had turned against his Iraq debacle.

For Bush to still want to pursue this, despite public opinion is a sign of just how delusional the boy emperor has become.

[grytpype]

25. WP: President Remains Eager to Cut Entitlement Spending

Great article on the Repug's continuing quest to slash Social Security and Medicare while cutting taxes for the super-rich.

Dems have to campaign on saving Social Security from the Repugs. I don't know why we're not hearing more about it!!!!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/10/AR2006081001508.html?referrer=email

President Remains Eager to Cut Entitlement Spending

By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 11, 2006; Page A07

The Bush administration has begun sounding out lawmakers and other key figures about mounting a new bipartisan effort to rein in the costs of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security after the midterm elections, according to officials in the administration and on Capitol Hill.

No specific plan has been advanced, and administration officials are proceeding gingerly given the political debacle that beset the White House last year when President Bush promoted a plan to create private accounts in the Social Security program. But they have been sending strong signals in recent weeks that they want to try something again after the elections in November.

...

Bush, for his part, appears fixated on the issue, even as he is focused on securing new immigration legislation and preoccupied by several world crises. Despite being forced to shelve his Social Security plan -- which included establishing private investment accounts and reducing guaranteed benefits down the road -- Bush regularly mentions his desire to tackle the issue again.

...

Fulfilling this pledge is a tall order and, even in the view of some of Bush's strongest supporters, beyond the capacity of a politically weakened administration facing the prospect of serious losses in the fall elections. Democrats appear eager to use the issue as a political cudgel for the time being; Paulson's comments triggered a new round of accusations that Bush plans to "privatize" Social Security.

...

The whole article is a great read...

[AX10]

26. AX10 is eager to strip Bush of his paycheck.

He doesn't deserve to be paid.

[bronxiteforever]

27. And We are eager to repeal the tax cuts of the rich-

you want us to suffer while you get a free ride-to all rich GOPers-time to pay up the free ride is OVER!

[boobooday]

28. We need to reclaim/reframe the word "entitlement"

Since corporations and the rich are the biggest beneficiaries of current policies, I would say they are the ones receiving entitlements.

[LincolnMcGrath]

31. Bingo

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[54anickel]

34. Maybe you should repost and ask the mods to delete this one. If

you can't just edit and backspace through ALL those "carriage returns". ;-)

[MysteryToMyself]

35. Houston

We have a problem with the size of the post above. :wow: :hi:

Good post, though.

[creeksneakers2]

30. The Republicans know what's coming

America won't be able to pay off massive debts, fund the baby boom retirement, keep taxes low on the rich , build the science fiction style strike anything on the planet almost instantly military that the Republicans want, and pay for eternal war all at the same time. Something has to go. The Republicans are trying to make sure the baby boom retirement is jettisoned before the public realizes they have a choice.

[Monkeyman]

32. You forgot won't let you forget Veterans

[MysteryToMyself]

38. Yes, don't forget the veterans!

:patriot:

[yorkiemommie1]

33. this jerk is determined

this is disdain for the less than wealthy is ingrained in the chimp:

One of his profs at Harvard had this assessment of him:


Bush once sneered at Tsurumi for showing the film "The Grapes of Wrath," based on John Steinbeck's novel of the Depression. "We were in a discussion of the New Deal, and he called Franklin Roosevelt's policies 'socialism.' He denounced labor unions, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Medicare, Social Security, you name it. He denounced the civil rights movement as socialism. To him, socialism and communism were the same thing. And when challenged to explain his prejudice, he could not defend his argument, either ideologically, polemically or academically."

http://www.freddevan.com/blog/archives/00004071.html

[Name removed]

36. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MysteryToMyself]

37. Hey Dubya!

Remember all the money you have taken from the Social Security TRUST fund? Well, it won't be long before we will be needing that money. Have you straighten out your finances so you can pay it back?

I know you need to use it to pay the government expenses because you gave all those tax cuts to the rich. But we are getting a little tired of your rich friends riding around town in their mercedes while they are using our savings to pay the bills.

What do ya think, Dubya? You gonna have that money?

[Lasher]

44. That will be the next president's problem.

Just like getting us out of the mess in Iraq.

[MysteryToMyself]

57. Social Security is the only government program that is not in debt

In fact, we are paying in a huge surplus. That surplus is being paid in to take care of having so many baby boomers retiring in the future. Bushites are spending it as fast as we put it in. That surplus money they take is backed by US bonds. We even get interest on the money the government borrows.

The only problem Social Security has is the Bushites don't want to pay back the surplus when the time comes when it is needed. That is so unethical. Bush says our bonds are worthless pieces of paper. That is untrue. If they are worthless, then so are our 401k bonds. It is true they can't be sold on the open market, but that is to protect our surplus. The government can "borrow" the money to pay the bonds back. They do it for everything else.

They want to change the way the cost of living is figured at a time when the buying power of the dollar is down 60% and promising to go down more.

[daleo]

41. It would free up more money for war

And tax cuts to the super rich.

[Vinca]

43. Why doesn't this asshole just round up all the old and poor people

and shove them out to sea on icebergs? Oh . . . yeah . . . no icebergs. Bad idea.

[humbled_opinion]

45. Its not in the stars

Democrat contolled House and Senate will not allow it. In addition Brush better start getting his defense ducks in a row. 03 NOV we start naming names.

[newspeak]

47. let's face it

we are tapped and * and his goons are coming after the elderly, the poor, the young. His corporate buddies have fed at the trough for over five damn years, and he's destroying what's left of our infrastructure, so he can sell it off to not only his buddies, but any country that wants a piece of the pie. You let me know, if you think this crew of pirates have our interest at heart. Oh excuse me, I'm insulting pirates, at least they got to vote for their captain and got to take him or her down if she wasn't a good leader. They've put our money into bogus programs, like Star Wars, while some of our military offices can't even afford paper. Two trillion missing from the Pentagon? Billions missing from Iraq? We are being enronized--there is no more accounting, they're just raiding as fast as they can!!!!!!

[MysteryToMyself]

49. Privatization is already in a proposed budget

The Lieberman type Democrats plan to work with the Bushites on Social Security. Cutting the benefits is a sad idea, considering the buying power of the dollar is now worth 60 cents.

When our Democrats work with the Bushites, the middle class loses.

Watch for them to try to change the way Social Security will adjust for inflation.

Here is an interesting article in Thomas Paine about Privatization.


http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/08/10/back_from_the_dead_privatization.php

Excerpt

Back From The Dead: Privatization
Roger Hickey and Jeff Cruz
August 10, 2006

In a June 27 speech at the Manhattan Institute think tank, Bush promised to reintroduce privatization, saying, “If we can't get it done this year, I'm going to try next year. And if we can't get it done next year, I'm going to try the year after that because it is the right thing to do.”
He has backed up his words with actions, such as sending to Congress a budget request for $721 billion over the next 10 years to begin private accounts (unintentionally demonstrating the tremendous costs, estimated at $2 trillion in total, to our government to privatize the system).

[zann725]

50. What Chimpy REALLY wants to do with SS is begin cutting benefits, no doubt

He's already looted the lock-box.

And twice in last year Medicare monthly payments deducted from SS checks has increased...decreasing SS total payments to "entitled" We-the-People.

Plus, they'll increase deductibles for doctor visits, and increase drug costs on Part D.

I've been denied "adequate" care on numerous occasions by Medicare physicians, facilities in the last few months. On one occasion, I was put inside a "closed" MRI WITHOUT proper ear protection. SEVERE migraines, ear aches...and ear sensitivity resulted. I subsequently showed a marked loss in hearing in at least one ear, and some in other. I'm sensitive to certain decibles of noises now, and voices, and sounds. I always had PERFECT hearing. But "Medicare" doctors wrote it up as "my natural aging" process, or "neurologically based." Bull! It happened withint 24 hours of SUBstandard protecton while in a powerful MRI testing device.

And on at least 3 other occasions, I was denied xrays when I fell (due to my illness). And once recently, I was denied "resolution" to diagnose possible MS in lower lumbar. They insisted on doing the test "without resolution"...which even the facility admitted would "show nothing.

I was also denied an MRI when I badly "sprained" my left ankle foot recently. As I have Severe Osteoporsis, and since the foot was so swollen and blue, it merited an MRI. But the doctor/"system" ONLY approved an xray...as you may know...most often "misses" hairline or smaller fractures.

Overall, I find that the bulk of the Medicare-approved physicians I've seen "take" Medicare because Medicare "pays quicker" than most private health plans these days. And Medicare payment is certain. That's EXACTLY, smirkingly what the Ear Doctor told me recently when he tested my ears, and reported them as normal (despite irregularities shown in the tests). In fact, he bragged that his ENTIRE business was Medicare now, due to their quickness in paying. So he (and other Medicare docs) will be "talking to the hand that pays them more and more"...thereby FALSELY diminishing Medicare patients' REAL needs for future treatment, and thereby FALSELY cutting Medicare costs...at the physical expense, and endangering the health and well-being of Medicare patients.

Hello, Dr. Goerbel! Goodbye Democracy. FDR must be rolling-over about now.

[Cha]

51. So bush can have more money to

throw away in Iraq and "entitled" is right because we pay into those programs.

That little monkey better not mess with my Social Security and those of millions of Americans.

[MaraJade]

54. Corporate welfare, however,

will continue in the form of massive tax breaks (that generate no jobs); the awarding of over-blown government contracts a la Halliburton, the sell-off and outsourcing of government services to
"friends of W" , and the repeal of taxes on the rich.

All of this balanced upon the backs of the poor and elderly.

[Roland99]

56. Seems it would be easier to stop wasting trillions on illegal wars

and in giveaways to fat-cat donors and the corporations they run.

[lovuian]

58. The more Bush talks about taking away Social Security the

more republicans won't vote... and the lower his polls

Keep it up George Keep it up!!!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

60. "Let them eat cake", says Chimpy

[Ken Burch]

63. And if Lieberman gets reelected, he'll vote for every cut.

As will the rest of the DLC. Unless we remind them that this party doesn't gain anything by distancing itself from the poor.

[CornField]

64. Too bad my plan is to have the House busy with impeachment

I don't think they'll have time to deal with Bush's No Compassion Left Behind strategy.

[shanti]

65. the piece de resistance

of his pResidency. he's probably been itching to do this. it won't matter who wins or loses the midterms, he will do it anyway.

[antiblazer]

68. Use Repukes' tactics against them

Bush will steal your medicare! Repukes will steal your social security! It's time to use their fear mongering against the Repukes.

[aaronbees]

70. Key phrase: "after the elections"

But the Democrats have to hit this issue of "entitlement spending" now and hard; this is a real issue to millions of Americans, and it's not just a pocketbook issues ... it's also an emotional issue. Let's see if the Dems have the balls to face it honestly and show exactly what the Republican vultures intend to do in Congress.

Never thought I'd see the day where essential social safety nets would be gutted like this; fuck that, yes I did, but I'm amazed at the gall and arrogance graverobbers like Paulson show .... "the biggest economic issue facing our country"? That is a sick joke.

Your future, my future, are just an "entitlement" to BushCo capitalism. It's really that simple.