HEADLINE: President, GOP leaders in secret talks on deficit deal

[Bluebear]

Shhh, it's a secret!

==
Detroit Free Press - ‎14 minutes ago‎

WASHINGTON -- In secretive endgame negotiations, President Barack Obama and House Republican leaders reached anew on Thursday for an elusive grand bargain deal to cut deficits by $4 trillion or more and prevent a threatened Aug. 2 government default, officials said.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said his rank and file generally stood ready to compromise in order to reach an agreement as a way of "getting our economy going again and growing jobs." Obama, in a newspaper opinion piece, said the talks provided an "opportunity to do something big and meaningful."

http://www.freep.com/article/20110722/NEWS07/107220335/President-GOP-leaders-secret-talks-deficit-deal

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. But, but... I was told all day

that this would never evah happen!

[indurancevile]

2. secret budget negotiations = repugnant to the democratic ideal

[bvar22]

25. If THIS guy were President, there wouldn't BE any "secret negotiations"!

Does anybody remember THIS guy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5t8GdxFYBU

[locahungaria]

29. You know, he looks vaguely familiar, but it's kind of hard to place him.

I'm scratchin' my head now, trying to remember where I've seen him........

[ClarkUSA]

3. What contrived MSM whore nonsense. They've been talking for months and now it's a "secret"?

Reporters will go to any lengths to get people to read the same ol' story, which boils down to one fact: no one knows what the final bill will look like because it's still being negotiated.

[MannyGoldstein]

10. Do you believe that Obama will cut Social Security? Nt

[ClarkUSA]

11. I have told you many times before: Pres. Obama has said he wants to cut costs & fraud NOT benefits.

[metalbot]

12. If that were feasible, why hasn't it been done?

Who would object to it? Unless the base premise is "give it less money, and the costs will go down, because if they don't, they'll run out of money"?

[MannyGoldstein]

13. So you don't think he'll cut Social Security?

I 'll assume that's your answer.

[ClarkUSA]

17. Wrong. Pres. Obama wants to cut costs NOT benefits, so I expect him to do that.

[edhopper]

20. What cost are there to SS

except benefits?
It's not Medicare. the operating margins are very small.
Explain what costs to SS he will cut.

[ClarkUSA]

21. Read the facts about why President Obama wants to cut costs of Medicare and SS --->

A SUMMARY OF THE 2011 ANNUAL REPORTS
Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees


A MESSAGE TO THE PUBLIC:

Each year the Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds report on the current and projected financial status of the two programs. This message summarizes our 2011 Annual Reports.

The financial conditions of the Social Security and Medicare programs remain challenging. Projected long-run program costs for both Medicare and Social Security are not sustainable under currently scheduled financing, and will require legislative modifications if disruptive consequences for beneficiaries and taxpayers are to be avoided.

The long-run financial challenges facing Social Security and Medicare should be addressed soon... Both Social Security and Medicare, the two largest federal programs, face substantial cost growth in the upcoming decades due to factors that include population aging as well as the growth in expenditures per beneficiary. Through the mid-2030s, due to the large baby-boom generation entering retirement and lower-birth-rate generations entering employment, population aging is the largest single factor contributing to cost growth in the two programs. Thereafter, the continued rapid growth in health care cost per beneficiary becomes the larger factor.

Social Security

Social Security expenditures exceeded the program’s non-interest income in 2010 for the first time since 1983... After 2014, cash deficits are expected to grow rapidly as the number of beneficiaries continues to grow at a substantially faster rate than the number of covered workers...After 2022, trust fund assets will be redeemed in amounts that exceed interest earnings until trust fund reserves are exhausted in 2036, one year earlier than was projected last year... the Disability Insurance (DI) program satisfies neither the long-range nor short-range tests for financial adequacy. DI costs have exceeded non-interest income since 2005 and trust fund exhaustion is projected for 2018; thus changes to improve the financial status of the DI program are needed soon.

Read more FACTS: http://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/index.html

As for exactly what cost cuts will be made, why do you think I would know, given there is no final plan, much less agreement in Congress right now?

[jtown1123]

23. Umm Wow. NO SS is in surplus & costs are less than 1% of its operating budget.

It is separately funded. If there is a shortfall, it affects the program and nothing else...

[edhopper]

35. It clearly states

the costs ARE the benefits.

[jtown1123]

22. There is very little fraud in SS and no waste. Administrative costs are less than 1%

So what is left to cut? BENEFITS. Benefits that are already paid for by working Americans. That is theft.

[bvar22]

27. Obama does NOT need a "deal" to cut fraud and waste.

Fraud & Waste are already ILLEGAL.
All he has to do is tell Holder to "Go Get the Criminals!"
That is ALL.
He doesn't have to give ANYTHING to the Republicans.

[RandySF]

4. Maybe, maybe not

I'm not going to react when a source besides the Associated Press reports it.

[Bluebear]

5. You're not going to react when another source reports it?

OK...

[RandySF]

6. Correction: UNLESS

[Bluebear]

7. Ah OK

[democrank]

8. What a joke.

Boehner and his rank and file stand "ready to compromise." Right. And war is peace.

[Bluebear]

9. They GENERALLY stand ready to compromise!

Translation: not at all!

[blkmusclmachine]

14. Transparency you can believe in

n/t

[gratuitous]

15. Now, now, let's all withhold our analysis and criticism

Once the fait is accompli, then you can ineffectively wail and gnash your teeth. A coterie of folks stands ready to tell you it's your own goddam fault for not speaking up sooner, and this secret deal worked out with the Republicans in Congress was the best and only deal that could have been made, and shut up you dirty fucking hippie you.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

[Raksha]

19. +1000

[Ignis]

24. +1. Sounds like you've been to this dance before.

[QC]

30. It's a very old and familiar dance, after all. n/t

[JoePhilly]

28. No no ... let's soil our pants!!!!!

[Forkboy]

34. Something you do often?

[QC]

16. The Detroit Free press never really loved Him!

:cry:

[Hand_With_Eyes]

18. Worlds worst negotiator is at it again

God help us

[spanone]

26. it's. not. true.

[Ignis]

31. These secret talks are all part of The New Transparency.

Interestingly, it looks a lot like The Old Transparency that we voted against in 2008.

[bvar22]

32. More "change".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5t8GdxFYBU




Who will STAND and FIGHT for THIS American Majority?
You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.

[DFab420]

33. Don't we know they've been talking for weeks?

Just because they meet and the press isn't there doesn't mean it's a fucking secret meeting..

[woo me with science]

36. K&R