Dems slam Ryan over Social Security privatization

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-EXCITE

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats are eagerly renewing their fight against privatizing Social Security now that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has picked Paul Ryan as his running mate. It was a fight that didn't go well for the GOP when President George W. Bush pushed the idea in 2005.

In his 2010 "Road Map for America's Future," the Wisconsin congressman proposed a plan to allow younger workers to divert more than one-third of their Social Security taxes into personal accounts that they would own and could will to their heirs.

Ryan wrote that the accounts would provide workers an opportunity "to build a significant nest egg for retirement that far exceeds what the current program can provide." Workers 55 and older would stay in the current system.

Romney hasn't embraced the proposal and Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, didn't include it in either of the federal budgets passed by House Republicans the past two years. But now that Ryan is running for vice president, Democrats hope to capitalize on the issue.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120819/DA0OJ67O1.html

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In this Aug. 16, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney points to a white board as he talks about Medicare during a news conference at Spartanburg International Airport in Greer, S.C. Democrats are eagerly renewing their fight against privatizing Social Security now that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has picked Paul Ryan as his running mate. It was a fight that didnít go well for the GOP back when former President George W. Bush pushed the idea in 2005. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

[SoapBox]

1. This is easy to hit back on...

Dems just need a simple chart and ad, to tell Americans how much was lost in the market during the down turn(s).

"...America? Are you willing to let Wall Street Bankers get rich off of your money, while you go broke?"

Image should show CEO "types" toasting with Champagne...AND...the Mittens and Bain Banksters with all the money in their hands.

[elbloggoZY27]

2. Not Again

The only problem with Medicare and Social Security is the GOP and their allies. The real problem is that these Entitlement Programs have been politicized and need to be run by people with no strings attached like puppets. That's the situation now. Washington is pulling the strings.

There is no real leadership in these Agencies nor does anybody really care about what Washington does.


In plain talk keep your hands off the two most successful Entitlement Programs ever. Also, if you really hate the Government Healthcare Plans then just opt out.

[PSPS]

4. Reel in the GOP talking points, there.

I'm sure you mean well but:

"Entitlement Program" is code for "paying (black) people to do nothing." Social Security is a pension insurance program into which you pay premiums your entire working life.

Except for the Bush political appointees, there's no problem at all with the leadership of these agencies.

And "just opt out" is privatization's nose under the tent. Any health insurance program, whether it's Medicare or any true health insurance program, is based on "pooled risk." People can't "opt out" because that diminishes the pool and, by its very nature, will cause the risk of the remaining pool to skyrocket, making it unsustainable. That's why today's private health insurance in the US is a joke. It refuses to cover anyone who might make a claim and a lot of young, healthier people "opt out" of buying insurance at all. In order for health insurance to work properly, it must adhere to the "pooled risk" model with the largest pool possible. Medicare for everyone is the best way to do this (the US stands alone in the developed world by not having such national coverage. Even Iraq has national health care.) The AHA does a lot to reel in the defects in what we have now. Its "compulsory insurance" is one way to enlarge the risk pool and probably the best that could have been done so far with the anti-American element we have in congress.

[cr8tvlde]

3. Millions of Boomers already lost up to half their 401Ks

that's one helluva "tax" that was then "given back", i.e. the "stimulis" to those who took it in the first place.

Real estate values, ditto. The values run up was during the same time. In both cases it was what we used to call unearned equity, but people counted on it, got loans based on it, and made significant life plans such as retirement, on it.

Those experiences are way to fresh in the public minds as many pre-Boomers or Gen-Xers or whatever watched their inheritances melt away.