My debate with Neil Cavuto regarding California Public Sector Union Pensions

[stevenleser]

The people of San Diego and San Jose just passed a ballot initiative that denies new employees pensions and makes current public workers pay more to fund their pensions. Unions for these workers are suing in court to block the initiative.

[Sedona]

1. Steve ROCKS!

Very impressive. You shuT him DOWN

[bahrbearian]

2. so as you give a reply he talks over you.

" I'll let you answer as soon as I'm done talking over you at the end of the segment."

[freshwest]

11. That was so frustrating, like O'Reilly. Figured he was going to cut off Steven's mike next.

[snappyturtle]

3. Great job! I don't know how you did that! It's obvious that

Cavuto doesn't understand what's going on out here
in the real world. His suggestion of workers kicking
in to a 401K is laughable...where's he been? Yeah,
like public workers are over paid and have the funds
to do that....well, you did great...kudos.

Thanks for posting. I have to watch the internet tv
on my computer and since I don't normally ever watch
Faux News I wasn't fast enough in finding a good source.
I wouldn't have known how this came out without you
posting.

[pacalo]

5. OMG, yes -- the 401k's! We've lost a very sizeable portion of ours due to market losses.

And 401k's are the Republicans' preference over social security?! I'm so convinced that those who aren't cut out to be successful leaders are those who gravitate to the Republican party.

[snappyturtle]

8. I hear you! Sad. nt

[pacalo]

4. You did a good job, despite his efforts to prevent you from speaking.

I noticed how quickly he interrupted you to change the subject when you talked about the seniors in Florida worried about having enough money for food.

As for the "What Do You Think?" scrawl at the bottom of the screen, these are the type of people to whom Fixed News is asking that question:







Still, you did an amazing job, Steven!

[freshwest]

12. +1

[Tx4obama]

6. K & R n/t

[Harry Monroe]

7. How you kept your composure and didn't get up and punch that smarmy piece of shit Cavuto in the face

is beyond me!! Great job in keeping it together. This asshole tries to dominate the conversation and constantly interrupts. You're a better man than me, my friend. I would have probably smashed his smug face in.

[a kennedy]

9. I just can not deal with that skinny necked faux man....

but Steve, you ARE the man.....

[libodem]

10. Cool beans

[Jamaal510]

13. Is it me or does Neil look like

he could be Stephen Colbert's twin brother?

[chervilant]

27. It's just you... n/t

[Historic NY]

14. Who would work & give up 20-25yrs of risking their lives w/o a pension ...

serving people who care less about them.

[SunSeeker]

15. Awesome job, Steve!

Thanks so much for bringing up the scandalous fact that California, as the nation's 3rd largest oil producer, does not charge a single penny in extraction fees from big oil. And in 2010 big oil (funded by Chevron in particular) passed that heinous prop. 26 that made it virtually impossible to get such a fee by requiring a 2/3 vote for any new fees, just like we have a 2/3 vote requirement for tax increases. That is why CA is in the mess it is in. The State and Cities are starved for revenue and are taking it out of the hides of their middle class workers.

Cavuto is such a douche-bag. I would not have been able to keep my cool like you did. But I'm glad you did, because you were able to belt out all those obvious fixes the MSM never talks about, like lifting the cap on Social Security taxes (i.e. make the rich pay the same percentage as the poor!!!!).

But when you said that ALL Americans should have a pension, you almost made Cavuto's head explode. I never hear talking heads in the MSM say that all Americans should have a livable pension like many public workers have. You really are a rare gem. Keep up the great work.

[Cobalt Violet]

25. makes me wonder....

Once there is no more to extract from the middle class workers whose hyde will they then turn to? There is little if anything left to extract from the working poor so they can't turn there.

[SunSeeker]

39. Dunno. Maybe they'll make the poor give up a kidney?

[stevenleser]

16. You guys are all really awesome. Thank you for the nice comments AND the help preparing

Several DUers really helped me prep for this appearance. I love you guys. Thanks so much!

[AsahinaKimi]

18. awesome job!

Omedetou! Congratulations!

[Grassy Knoll]

17. Get Real, Cavuto Holds a wet paper bag argument......

To a real conversation, It's fox noise, They are programed to hate
Intelligent thinking, And Bonus's are handed out accordingly. Roger Ales
Gets off on cheap talk, like the rags you read waiting to buy your groceries.

[hfojvt]

19. well you are very brave, walking into the lion's den

I would not want to see, or hear, myself on TV. There are videos of me on youtube that I have not had the courage to watch.

I would have liked to hear more facts. How much do these workers get paid? What is the deal on their pensions? How many people are collecting pensions? Why are pension expenses taking so much of the budget?

The answers you seemed to offer - higher taxes (and you did not stress WHO would pay the higher taxes - people like Cavuto, not people like me) and taking away sports.

I think he came out ahead there, since you did not finish with who would be paying the higher taxes and how a rich sports team owner benefits from huge public subsidies (and tax breaks). It also seemed like you were talking over him.

I work for a city myself, and the pay and benefits are pretty good. I am not sure if the pension is worth the paper it is printed on, although some parts of it certainly do not seem fair (to me). Take my ex-boss (please). He worked for about ten years and retired. He only paid in to the pension for 9 years (because the first year was pension free after that a required 4% contribution is taken out of your pay). My ten year anniversary is this August. Because I opted to buy back that first year, I have paid in to the pension for ten years. If I am lucky I can retire in another five years at a much reduced pension.

It seems to me that he is getting better benefits than I am without having to pay in as much. How is that fair? Further, he gets another benefit as well in that if his spouse outlives him, she gets some retirement pay as well, although she paid nothing in.

I tend to like 401k's because a) they are better than nothing and b) they are portable. I do think there needs to be a non-market option for the 401K, like t-bills or even CDs, and I did not see such an option when I had a 401K. But now CD rates are brutally low anyway.

[Ellipsis]

20. "oy vey"... hhaaaaaahaa

At first I thought you were nuts to go on... not anymore.


Great job.

[dahouse]

21. great job

Great beat down ! Cavuto could not even put a full sentence together. No no no no no no no no no no no no no....... everyone should have a pension plan. It used to be the case ! It should be the case.

[Scuba]

22. Good job Steve! Pretty obvious Cavuto had nothing and had to keep interrupting you....

... to avoid you eating his lunch. Great smackdown. Thanks for standing up!!

[stlsaxman]

23. "... rather than hurt people? Sure!" Bravo Steve!

well done leaving Cavorto shaking his head in disbelief at the audacity of putting human beings before tax cuts and corporate welfare.

ps- nice touch not arguing with Neils statement "I'm fat".

[Cobalt Violet]

24. Excellent!

I loved it. I can't stand that idiot. He's just spewing the same old tire right wing think tank talking points.

[chervilant]

26. Cavuto

is such an ass. Where are all the decent journalists? (Certainly, not on FAUX...)

[Whisp]

28. good work, Steven. thankyou. n/t

[cap]

29. Don't forget to point out

Union health care supports the private health care industry. Doctors and hospitals just love people who carry good health insurance. My former MIL, a retired nurse, actually had to stop doctors from ordering unnecessary tests and procedures because she had federal BCBS, the cream of the cream of health insurance. When coupled with retired military insurance and Medicare, she knew people had a tendency to milk the system.

You yank out union health benefits, there goes the health industry. Oops, bey old Neil didn't mean to hurt those people.

Pensions have meant that people aren't moving back in with their kids. Ask Neil what he thinks of laws on the books in states like PA that require children to support their parents. All the boomers are saying that they will work till they drop. Who's going to hire them? Just saw the old ladies at a family restaurant fired and two young girls take their place. We certainly don't want age discrimination laws, do we?

Working until you drop is a fine thought, but how are you going to do that with all the ailments of old age? My mom tried to go back to work as a data entry clerk after she had a heart attack. She lasted one day and then quit because it was beyond her.

[Dustlawyer]

30. Apply Steve's argument to Neil's being fat.

Neil could exercise, eat less, he does not have to accept being fat! But, the big lazy bastard would not do it. He would rather everyone else to be fat to solve his problem. Neil is not upset in the least that retirees, who worked hard their whole lives (Repugs are big on others working hard), have to eat cat food to survive. It is too easy to just say, so what. Why do they attack people who no longer believe in American exceptionalism? It gets hard to say with a straight face that America is #1 when retires are forced to decide b/w Medicine, food, or electricity. Steve is basically saying, why do we just accept this? Why not look at other things to solve our problems?

[MindMover]

31. When you have right to work laws which basically make us....

wage slaves and unions which have been trying to set a livable wage from the beginning...

we will always have these issues.....therefore these nonsensical arguments, where cavuto is say cut, cut, the pensions, and you say cut, cut the stadium....

Priorities are not the same....one is profit driven, the other is worker driven....

[hamsterjill]

32. Good job!

It always amazes me that Fox invites guests on their shows only to scream and yell at them so that no one can get a word in edgewise. Cavuto keeps promising to let Steve talk, but never does without interrupting and talking over him.

Obviously, Fox doesn't don't want anyone else to be able to have their say. That element is crystal clear to any reasonably intelligent person. Amazes me that there are actually people who still watch Fox News and think it's good reporting!

[SkyDaddy7]

33. STOP GOING ON FOX "NEWS", PLEASE!!!

One does NOTHING in terms of enlightening or changing minds by going on FOX "News"...All you do is give credit to the false idea that FOX is actually a real media organization & not what it really is a Conservative political propaganda TOOL!

Sorry, but I wish folks would stop helping FOX "News" by showing up on the show just to get played.

[Starry Messenger]

34. Nice job.

Kind of amazing, I've seen people here at DU argue Neil's side. I don't know if they are really RW moles, or if there is just this pervasive apathy of "Oh well, life sucks now, might as well get used to it". I don't know if this link is too chunky for future appearances you might make--I found it too late yesterday for it to be useful, but just in case: http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12107/new_study_shows_public_workers_and_unions_did_not_cause_state_budget_crises/

[HopeHoops]

35. Why would you ever agree to talk to that hinter-region underwear stain?

[Son of Gob]

36. The Raw Story has an article about this!

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/08/cavuto-cut-union-pensions-because-they-dont-need-chateaubriand-steak-every-night/

Cavuto: Cut union pensions because they don’t need ‘Chateaubriand’ steak every night

On Thursday, Cavuto told Democrats for Progress columnist Steven Leser that “you’ve got to target what right now is the biggest and most ballooning part of public costs across the country and that tends to be pensions, benefits.”


“I think it’s wrong to scapegoat the unions over this,” Leser noted. “There’s all kinds of other things that we could be looking at to raise money without attacking middle class workers, people who risk their lives for us — you know, police officers, firefighters.”

“It’s the slippery slope. We’re going to take this benefit away from them and in a couple of years we’re going to take this benefit away from them,” he added.

“Most Americans in the private sector don’t even have these benefits,” Cavuto argued.

“They should have them,” Leser pointed out.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002787622

Good job Steve!

[ihavenobias]

37. K & R n/t

[anon-y-moose]

38. it looks like it's going to come to blows next i'm afraid ..