2006 Issue to kick Repug ass: Social Security cutbacks

[zulchzulu]

If there was ever ANOTHER issue to kick Repug ass, it's this. The other issue (besides the War) is the Medicare reform fiasco.

Snip:
"The Bush administration has signaled that it will propose changing the formula that sets initial Social Security benefit levels, cutting promised benefits by nearly a third in the coming decades, according to several Republicans close to the White House."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45726-2005Jan3.html?nav=rss_politics

[Warpy]

1. Everybody under 35 hates social security

and most people misunderstand the program, period. They think it's an investment, that they're not going to get back what they put in. They don't realize it's insurance, and that what they're paying is insurance that their mother in law won't have to move in with them.

Most of these clowns have never seen a real bear market. All they know is slow, steady gains punctuated by the occasional rise or fall. They think they'll retire with more money than they started with, something that anyone who has ever indexed market returns to inflation knows is simply not true, even if you have a golden touch when it comes to picking stocks.

The rich have always despised social security, so it's going to be an uphill battle against the selfish rich and the uneducated young.

[Dr.Phool]

2. They don't realize

That over 30% of SS recipients are under retirement age. It is a safety net. For a lot of working age people, it's the difference of living in an apartment or being disabled and living under a bridge.

I don't know how much more of this compassionate conservativism I can handle.

[chi_girl_88]

3. I agree completely

Can't remember if it was here on DU or on another board, but someone suggested a series of ads like the AOL "free virus protection" ads running now.

From a 50-something woman:
"I want to have to decide between eating supper and taking my heart medication, because I won't be able to afford both when I retire on the reduced benefits caused by younger generations pulling their money out of the Social Security system."

From a 30-something couple:
"I want our parents to have to move in with us because they can't afford their property taxes and prescription drug costs, just when our kids are entering college."

From a 20-something:
"I want to see my entire 'personal savings account' wiped out the next time the stock market tanks, and have to start all over again from scratch."

[zulchzulu]

4. Good ideas!

One thing that needs to be done is to begin TV ad campaigns like these ideas preemptively and before the 2006 election season.