Tres Sec Snow (lies &) Says U.S. Social Security Needs to Be Changed

[papau]

Now both Snow and Greenspan are on board for the plan to "save" Social Security and Medicare by "allowing participants/retirees to make other arrangements for their old age". The compassionate conservative in action as Snow also tells us the lack of jobs is because we are not retraining fast enough for those fast food service jobs ("All over America, jobs are going begging because prospective employees lack the requisite skills.")......sigh ......


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=578&e=8&u=/nm/20040920/pl_nm/economy_snow_socialsecurity_dc

Snow Says U.S. Social Security Needs to Be Changed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow on Monday agreed with recent calls to reform Social Security and Medicare but offered no new proposals to keep the income and heath insurance programs for the elderly solvent. <snip>

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan last month issued one of his sharpest warnings yet (As HE Lied) that the programs face a severe long-term financial crunch and need reform (beyond that provided by NAT'L HEALTH for Medicare and no change needed for SS beyond wage base expansion, or retirement age from Reagan 67 to age 70 in 2052)).

In his remarks Monday, Snow said the Bush administration "remains dedicated to working with members of Congress to take the steps needed to secure the long-term strength of these vital programs. These programs should be seen as a shared responsibility, not a political or partisan opportunity," ....Democrats have tried to make the fate of Social Security an issue in the upcoming election. The program faces an influx of Baby Boom generation retirees in coming years even as the number of workers paying into the system drops.

Current government projections have it going bankrupt in 2042, without changes. Medicare faces a similar problem, but because of rising heath costs, its bankruptcy date is 2019. (I like how this is Ignoring the latest CBO estimate that says no change needed for Soc Security until 2052)<snip>

[cthrumatrix]

1. this is the plan....change soc security --- tell all seniors

[classof56]

5. My spouse and I (both seniors) are very aware of this proposal

And I'm scared to death at what it means. Bush said in his "acceptance speech", "many of our most fundamental systems--the tax code, health coverage, pension plans, worker training, were created for the world of yesterday, not tomorrow. We will transform these systems." And guess what he means? Doing away with social security, Medicare, income tax (replacing it with a national sales tax) and endangering state pension funds (one of my sources of income, along with social security). I'd have more from investments, but darn if that market crash a couple years ago didn't pretty well wipe out my IRA, invested in mutual funds.

So now we're faced with our main sources of income going bye-bye, our barely affordable health insurance snatched away (we're already looking at that 17% increase in Medicare premiums next year), and I'm wondering what on earth we will do when that happens. We have adequate life insurance, though, and have covered our burial expenses, trying not to lessen the burden on our children when we're gone, so I put forward to my spouse the idea of a suicide pact. He's more in favor of armed revolution, if it comes to that. There are those trying to get the word out to seniors about what's going on, e.g. Alliance for Retired Americans, which has lots of union members. Let's hope the uproar will be such that Bush's plan for the "future" will be stopped dead in its tracks.

Better still

BUSH MUST GO!!!

[Inland]

2. 2052, and that's conservative, and even then

SS pays 70-75% of current benefits. I have yet to see a "solution" that is a better result than the disaster! I would rather see benefits slashed in forty years than Bush bankrupt the system earlier by letting people keep their SS contributions in a harebrained privatization scheme.

[havocmom]

3. Of course a bush* appointee thinks it needs to be changed

As it is now, private corporations have to rely on con games to get elders to give them $$ cuz they can't just take it from Social Security directly.

Privatize it so a massive amount of 'fees' will go to private brokerages for the efforts they make 'investing' it in private corporations. Suuure, that'll help. Those private corporations are about out of schemes to swindle small investors in the open market. They need fresh blood to drink and that SS Trust Fund, to say nothing of future payroll taxes, sure looks like a tempting victim.

And gee, I'll bet any bushco changes in Social Security would contain all sorts of ways for employers to NOT pay into the system.

Why don't they just come out of the closet and admit that they are returning to a feudal system and anybody who doesn't like it can go off and starve?

[mtnester]

4. Too many people cannot even pay their phone bill....and we are gonna what?

ask them to voluntarily deduct a portion of every check to a savings account and NEVER touch it? Right...

Hey, look over there...pigs are flying!

[papau]

6. You would not want to retain a "progressive" SS that hurt our rich friends

now, would you.

The final benefit factor of 15% so low that the tax on the wages at the top is an over charge of the richer so as to help the poorer.

Which is why explanding the wage base is so bad an idea in the Bush/GOP world.

We must protect the rich!

:-)

[antigop]

7. papau, have you seen any studies?

Would expanding the wage base "fix" the problem?

I'd like to see some numbers on this.

It galls me that they are screaming the "sky is falling" when we know Social Security is in OK shape for the next 40 years or so.

[papau]

10. I see studies - and do studies! - The easiest to get from the net are the

Social Security Administration's Actuaries Report that is the basis for the Social Security Trustee's report.

Enjoy!

:toast:

:party:

:-)

http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/tr04summary.pdf
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/index.html
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/trsummary.html

Bush's contribution to the game is a stochastic model that says enen if your best guess is that we are good to 2052, you MIGHT run out by 2035 - or then again never have a problem!
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/TR04/VI_stochastic.html

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/TR

For the current and past Social Security Trustees Reports, see http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/TR/; for Medicare Trustees Reports, see http://cms.hhs.gov/publications/trusteesreport/default.asp.

In addition, a summary of the latest reports for both programs is available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/TRSUM/trsummary.html.
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/research_subject.html

Please select from the following subject areas (these are url links on the web page):

Assumptions
Data Sets, Linkages, Quality, and Evaluation
Demographic Characteristics
Disability (DI and SSI)
Disability Insurance (see Disability (DI and SSI))
Earnings (see Socioeconomic Characteristics)
Economic Assumptions (see Assumptions)
Economic Status
Economics of Social Security
Employee Benefits
Geographic Information
Health Status and Health Insurance
Hospital Insurance, Part A (see Medicare (Hospital Insurance, Part A))
Individual Accounts (see Reform of Social Security)
International Programs
Measurement Methodology
Medicare (Hospital Insurance, Part A)
Methods
Modeling (Simulation)
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (see Retirement (includes OASI))
Pensions (see Retirement (includes OASI))
Policy Analysis
Privatization (see Reform of Social Security)
Reform of Social Security
Retirement (includes OASI)
Saving
Social Security Programs
Socioeconomic Characteristics
Supplemental Security Income (see also Disability (DI and SSI))
Survivors (see Retirement (includes OASI))
Taxes
Trust Funds
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/

[TrogL]

8. So they're admitting the ponzi scheme is about to collapse

[papau]

11. Nope - they assert that so as to shift cost from rich to middle-class.

But then Bush always asserts - and our media accepts it as true and says "what would Kerry do that would be different" - skipping right by the question of "Does anything REALLY need to be done!

[mbperrin]

9. How about they repay the $3 trillion they've "borrowed" from SS

starting with Reagan?

This is the highest paid, best-educated generation in history, and we have paid in more than any previous generation. So much more that the $3 trillion (yes, trillion!) SURPLUS was just too tempting for pols! So they took it and left us with an IOU.

PAY IT BACK AND NOW!

[jwirr]

14. Unfortunately

when they pay it back they have worked the tax system around so that it will be the middle class and poor who have to pay it.

[Green Lantern]

12. Just another damn

SNOW job.

Hey-ya think if they really did the lock box, stopped borrowing SS funds and writing worthless IOU's, taxed corps fairly, quit the corporate pig trough, etc etc that things would be different?

If it wasn't for the SS funds, I am not sure how Bushwa could continue to fund his wars of expansion.

[rfkrocks]

13. Yellow snow

the plan has been to destroy the "new deal" from day one of the kingship-just getting us used to the slave state where we work for Halliburton, Enron and get no pensions and no social security-America is in the hands of right wing zealots who wish to turn us into drones who service their rich lifestyle-more crap from the GOP-I hope there is no second installment of this rethug horror story