No, Senator, the REAL problem is that elected Democrats are complicit in the continued plundering of

[Faryn Balyncd]

...the Social Security Trust Fund to finance General Fund deficits caused by simultaneous wars and unsustainable, historically low income tax rates for the uberlords.



Your analysis is a betrayal of every American who has put in a lifetime of sweat and blood faithfully paying Social Security and Medicare taxes.



Not only that, it will give the GOP a "two-fer":

- - - (1) the destruction of the social compact programs Republicans hate

- - - (2) by DEMOCRATS, who the GOP will (successfully) blame when the voters finally realize how they have been screwed.




http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1704282&mesg_id=1704282

[midnight]

1. It's a bipartisan effort.... An ALEC method of operation.

[Faryn Balyncd]

3. Yep...& (again) Republicans will get the RESULTS they want... & Democrats will (again) get the BLAME

Isn't bipartisanship great?




:hi:

[blm]

2. Kerry is not for cuts, he's for changing some of the STRUCTURAL aspects, something you'd know if you

bothered to know his actual position which advocates NO spending cuts, and eliminates Bush's tax cuts for wealthy.

>>>>
A Democratic source told The Huffington Post that Kerry "made it into the discussion" of who should serve on the committee by delivering "some powerful speeches" to the rest of the caucus. The speeches, the source added, were in defense of Democratic Party priorities, focusing on the need to protect entitlement programs and Kerry's desire to strongly push back against (what the source referred to as) "the right-wing agenda."
>>>>


What we have going on here at DU is a comprehension problem based on low information.

[Faryn Balyncd]

4. He will have a hard time getting revenue increases past a united Republican front...

....especially with Baucus as one of OUR appointees.

[blm]

5. That doesn't change the fact that some on DU, including your OP, are smearing him falsely on this

issue, based on pisspoor analysis of two sentences and willful ignorance of his actual position.

[Faryn Balyncd]

6. Many of us, including myself, worked our asses off for John Kerry in 2004. Responding to accurate

....quotes by pointing out vital truths is not "smearing".


Here is a link to the entire Meet the Press transcript:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44050464/ns/meet_the_press-transcripts/

And here is Kerry portraying the "structural debt of Social Security" as one of the only 3 items he lists as the "real problem":

"And the real problem for our country is not the short-term debt. We can deal with that. It's the long-term debt. It's the structural debt of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid measured against the demographics of our nation. That, then juxtaposed to the lack of jobs and job creation and growth. That's our problem, structural. And what we need is a Washington that stops this bickering, that gets rid of these hard positions that I noticed even in Speaker Boehner's comments about the downgrade, politicizing it in the sense that, you know, sort of blaming it on the Democrats and the lack of decision. Barack Obama put a $4.7 trillion deal on the table. Three times he was refused that deal because there were some people in the Republican Party, and Mitch McConnell even admitted this, who wanted to default."

It is unfortunate to see one of our best Senators repeating a false right wing meme. As Barney Frank pointed out to NPR's right wing mole Steve Inskeep (before being abruptly cut off by Inskeep, who insisted "entitlements" are "the largest" causes of the deficit), Social Security is self-funded, and DEFENSE is the biggest cause of deficits, and is bigger than Medicare.

Social Securityhas a $2.3 trillion surplus it has loaned the Treasury in the form of Treasury bonds, which have allowed unprecedented income tax cuts for the wealthy in the face of simultaneous wars. This surplus is sufficient to TOTALLY fund SS through 2037 without ANY changes. Solvency beyond 2037 (by which time many in the baby boom will have died) can easily be met by very minor changes, such as adjusting the payroll tax cap upwards with inflation.


It is also unfortunate to see one of our best Senators who is now to represent our interests on a panel with 6 Republicans, literally seconds after using right wing language to misidentify the fiscal problem, advocate more compromise, and then to portray positively a presidential proposal which included gutting Social Security with cuts via fraudulent re-rigging of CPI/COLA calculations (statistics that were already rigged after the Boskin Commission, and which have ALREADY given us our "no inflation" no COLA for at least 2 years.

[blm]

8. You completely ignore Kerry's position that entitlements are to be PROTECTED by Dems and not cut.

Your analysis is based on a narrow interpretation of a few sentences.

[Faryn Balyncd]

9. The problem with your statement is that he is DEFENDING a proposal to SLASH Soc Sec benefits by

accounting trickery. That is, by, among other things, slashing future benefits for ALL Social Security beneficiaries (both present and future beneficiaries) without "cuts" - - - by again rigging the CPI/COLA calculations using chained CPI, resulting in future lowering of the "no inflation"/ no COLA for at least 2 years that we now have, post Boskin Commission.


Saying that Social Security should be protected while simultaneously supporting slashing those benefits through financial shenanigans designed to obscure the real cuts they produce is NOT the way to defend American workers against the Republicans.


On the contrary, it is exactly the way to ensure that an empowered Catfood II Commission will be equally as anti-American as Catfood I (if not worse).

[blm]

11. The problem with your analysis is that it is WRONG.

You can keep pretending Kerry is the bad guy because you WANT to push that narrative but, it has no basis in reality.

[Faryn Balyncd]

12. He is one of our best Senators. Yet his mis-characterization of SS as one of the 3 programs that...

...are "our real problem" - - - when the actualproblem is that the right wing does not want to repay the $2.3 trillion in Treasury bonds that will allow Social Security to be completely funded with no changes until 2037 - - - is a false affirmation of the major right wing meme.

The reason the right wing is pushing this false meme that "Social Security is the problem" is that they do not want to repay these bonds because that would means increasing income taxes, cutting defense spending, borrowing more from others, or some combination of the above.

The fact is, without borrowing the payroll taxes in the SS Trust Fund, the uberlords would never have been able to have income tax rates for the very wealthy cut to unsustainable, historically low levels even while conducting simultaneous wars.




That is the real issue.

I am NOT pretending Kerry is "a bad guy". He is one of our best. Yet it is NOT a good thing for him to use false right wing memes to mischaracterize the fiscal situation, nor is it good for him to support slashing SS so that right wing purposes (diverting payroll taxes to subsidize endeavors that are the responsibility of income taxes) may continue.

This is not the stance top take going into the Deficit Super Committee.

This good Senator needs to hear from us, because we cannot afford to continue to be plundered.

[blm]

13. He DOESN'T support slashing Social Security. Your conclusion is wrong.

.

[Faryn Balyncd]

14. Mischaracterizing "structural debt of SS" as 1 of the 3 components of "our real problem" (when SS

...is fully self-funded until 2037), and speaking positively of a presidential proposal to for $4.7 trillion in cuts (including a "no cuts" cut to Social Security via the accounting shenanigans of further rigging of the already rigged CPI/COLA calculation methods by using a NON-apples-to-apples "chained CPI") is a problem.


And these are NOT positions that will result in a good outcome from the Deficit Super Committee.


Sen Kerry is a good Senator, one who I worked hundreds of hours to elect in 2004, but his statement on Meet the Press was not a position that will result in a good outcome.


He needs to hear from us. And he needs to defend Social SEcurity from further plundering, and expose the real real fiscal problems: defense spending far above income tax receipts, while income taxes for the very wealthy have been cut to unsustainable, historically low levels.





:hi:

[blm]

25. Let's see how concerned you are with truth....and responsible examinations of a lawmaker's position

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x603711

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x603711

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x603711

[Faryn Balyncd]

26. There is a problem reconciling contradictions in recent statements:

Senator Kerry has made some excellent statements regarding general principles, such as the following:

"“Under no circumstances should benefits be cut to try to balance the budget"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=741843&mesg_id=741843


The problem which needs addressing is that he not only re-enforced a false right wing meme on Sunday's Meet the Press by mischaracterizing "structural debt in Social Security" as one of three named items constituting "our real problem", but then spoke positively of a presidential offer to cut $4.7 trillion, including but not limited to a "no cut" cut by use of accounting trickery, that is cutting benefits to all beneficiaries (present and future) by means of further rigging of the already rigged CPI/COLA calculations.

It does little good, and is misleading at best, for a Senator to claim her will not support the cutting of benefits, when, at the same time, he does not mention that he supports cutting future COLA adjustments. And it is more than misleading when these "more accurate measures of inflation" is a fraudulent, NON-apples-to-apples "chained CPI" whose real purpose even Republicans have, in unguarded moments, admitted is to reduce benefits.





By the way, what was the purpose of posting 3 links to the same video in your last post?





:hi:

[EFerrari]

7. The structure of Social Security does not contribute to short or long term debt.

He is mistaken.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

20. He's trapped into their framing of the debate!

Why the fuck is he even talking about entitlements? Why concede that ground unnecessarily? Why isn't he bringing up the elephant in the room? Let's talk MIC/Defense and the Bush/Obama tax cuts, and then we can discuss some "restructuring" of Medicare/Social Security.

I'm sick of Democrats conceding the framing of the entire debate!

[blm]

22. You haven't BOTHERED to go beyond the misleading post to get the facts straight.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x603711

Try showing up in threads that clearly state the truth.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

24. You haven't BOTHERED to read my post. n/t

[stranger81]

30. Definitely a comprehension problem here,

but its root is wishful thinking, not low information.

[Faryn Balyncd]

10. Here are Senator Kerry's CONTACT NUMBERS:

http://kerry.senate.gov/contact/


Boston
One Bowdoin Square
Tenth Floor
Boston, MA 02114
[phone]

Fall River
222 Milliken Place
Suite 312
Fall River, MA 02721
[phone]

Springfield
Springfield Federal Building
1550 Main Street
Suite 304
Springfield, MA 01103-1427
[phone]

Washington D.C.
218 Russell Bldg.
Second Floor
Washington D.C. 20510
[phone]



I was unable to reach a human in the Washington office (only answering machines), but spoke with a very personable aide in the Boston office.

[Initech]

15. Ending the bush tax cuts and making the uber rich pay will end this.

There's so much unrest going on right now because the uber rich are hoarding trillions and pay nothing!!

[Liberalynn]

17. Agreed

[mmonk]

16. We shouldn't be playing in the Republican playground on their terms

right now. These aren't the deficit drivers currently. The deficit drivers are the tax cuts, unfunded wars, and the current economic downturn. Attacking these social nets will not add anything positive to this country, not reduce deficits it didn't cause, and will add harm to both people and the economy.

[NNN0LHI]

18. We are discovering that the workers who build our imported stuff don't contribute to SS and Medicare

It was a hard lesson wasn't it?

Shouldn't have been so hard to figure out but for too many it was.

Don

[Faryn Balyncd]

27. correct

[Fantastic Anarchist]

29. Good point.

The greed of the multinationals has made it almost impossible to sustain our own society here. Now they want the poor and middle class to carry the burden for their greed. And Democrats fall for their framing of the debate, including the head honcho, Obama.

It's fucking sickening.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

19. We need a REAL Labor Party in this country ...

Not these crime syndicates known as the Democratic and Republican parties.

I didn't expect this from Kerry.

Signed,

Fully Disgusted

[Raksha]

23. That's for damn sure...if it isn't already too late.

Re "We need a REAL Labor Party in this country ..."

[Raine]

21. EXACTLY on point ... K&R nt

:kick: :thumbsup:

[autorank]

28. k*r You know I'm interested!!!

The Social Security surpluses are gobbled up by the general in return for IOU from the US Treasury.
With out that money, the wars and other give aways to The Money Party would not be possible

Shame on everyone who allows this.

Thanks, Al Gore, for identifying this in 2000 and trying to stop the theft.

[woo me with science]

31. Once again, you nail it. K&R nt