CPI myths unchained

[damnedifIknow]

"Myth 5: It’s not needed to preserve Social Security. In 2010, Social Security began to spend more than it takes in. By 2033, retiring Boomers will exhaust Social Security’s trust fund. Over the next two decades, the number of people over the age of 65 will increase 77 perce nt, while those of working age —25 to 64 — will increase just 7 percent. Simply put: these programs will not be available for future generations without changes. Some of those changes will involve new revenue, but not all of them. Chained CPI would save the Social Security Trust Fund enough money to close nearly 20 percent of the program’s 75-year shortfall.

Democrats rightfully mock climate change deniers as being blind to science and data. Chained CPI is science and data, too. It took guts for the president to include the CPI adjustment in his budget. Now the Washington noise machine is in full swing. Don’t let the myths defeat the truth: it’s the right economic policy and the right thing to do to help preserve Social Security."

"Jonathan Cowan is President and Gabe Horwitz is Director of the Economic Program at Third Way, a moderate Washington, D.C. think tank."



http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/cpi-myths-unchained-89957_Page2.html

[damnedifIknow]

1. I don't know

but it's a different take on the budget I guess. I don't know anything about Jonathan Cowan so......

[NYC_SKP]

2. Oh, bullshit. Raise the cap already.

Tax the rich a little to make up the difference.

It's so obvious a solution that it hurts my brain that it's never mentioned.

[FLyellowdog]

3. Precisely. nt

[DrDan]

4. so - just give everyone a little less . . . and little less . . . and a little less . . .

and all will be well with Social Security.

As opposed to raising the cap and giving appropiate COLA to recipients.

[Flying Squirrel]

5. unrec n/t

[aandegoons]

6. False dichotomy with a little straw fellow tossed in for good measure.

No one is saying it won't help especially in the rather stupid and simplistic terms the idiot put in his article. It will help on the back of the near poor and the middle class. It will also cause a huge loss in purchasing power of seniors as the near poor and middle class search for ever cheaper alternatives. American jobs will suffer, American revenue will suffer, and Democrats will lose any chance of getting votes of those who pay attention or those over 50.

There are much better ways to fix Social Security shortfalls in the future. More American jobs for one, Stricter laws on tax avoidance, encouraging new American involvement in green energies, with many many others.

It is sad but third rail is becoming a joke. They do themselves no favor by posting such fallacies and ignorance in an effort to push a huge short term win for their overlords the rich.

[damnedifIknow]

9. Yeah

I'm just looking for some sort of reasoning. I can't wrap my mind around this yet and need more time to digest.

[LiberalFighter]

7. Thumbs down to Third Ways!!

It ain't no moderate organization. They are to the right of moderate.

[damnedifIknow]

11. They don't sound right to the moderate to me

"Our mission is to advance moderate policy and political ideas. Our agenda includes: a series of grand economic bargains, a new approach to the climate crisis, progress on social issues like immigration reform, marriage for gay couples, tighter gun safety laws, and a credible alternative to neoconservative security policy."

http://www.thirdway.org/about_us


Then again as I noted earlier I don't know much about them but I see nothing wrong with this statement.

[NYC_SKP]

13. "grand economic bargains"? It's a fucking scam. Allow me to explain:

They throw out these bits of bait to the left as if they were a big deal:

immigration reform, marriage for gay couples, tighter gun safety laws...

They ARE a big deal, but they are free and they are the right thing to do.

In exchange for these, we enter into "grand economic bargains" that help the rich keep getting richer.

It's a fucking scam, they're wolves in sheeps' clothing, and they need to be called on their bullshit and taken OUT.

"grand economic bargains"....

Yeah, real grand.

[Life Long Dem]

8. Implementing "Chained CPI" Can Reduce the Deficit

"Simpson-Bowles Commission, finds that implementing “chained CPI” could save $390 billion over the next decade and reduce the deficit by more than $1 trillion in the decade after that."

http://www.fixthedebt.org/blog/implementing-chained-cpi-can-reduce-the-deficit_1#.UWgw6MqBqSo

[HERVEPA]

10. Way to quote a right wing source

[Progressive dog]

12. Myth 6) Chained CPI is science and data

There are multiple measures of inflation, multiple CPI's. All of them cannot be correct.

The existing CPI (CPI-W) measures inflation based on spending for a market basket which includes Medical care. Since seniors spend more on medical care than any other group, the medical care in the market basket understates the actual inflation of costs to seniors.
The chained CPI adds insult to injury, by assuming that sources of calories, sources of protein, clothing,transportation etc. are equivalent if increased prices on one item have caused less use of that item. So if beans are substituted for hot dogs, then we could have deflation in the cost of protein, even though the substitution was made because the increased price of hot dogs could not be afforded.

The chained CPI is not scientific, it is not intended to actually measure inflation, it is intended to reduce the number that the government uses for inflation. The chained CPI is dishonest.

[Ford_Prefect]

15. Talk about cooking the books...

[steve2470]

14. unrec nt