Sanders Bids for Older Voters Emphasizing Social Security Plan

[Uncle Joe]

Bernie Sanders is counting on young voters turning out to win next Monday’s Iowa caucuses. But by putting an emphasis on his plans for Social Security, the Vermont Senator isn’t ceding older Democrats to Hillary Clinton.

(snip)

While Clinton insists she’s no less committed to protecting the retirement and disability insurance program, Sanders is making the case that there’s a difference between the two of them for voters worried about their Social Security benefits

(snip)

Sanders wants to keep the cap on taxable income for Social Security at the current $118,500 a year for those earning up to $250,000 annually, and apply the levy on all earnings above that amount. It would mean the top wage earners would pay more to extend the solvency of the program and expand benefits by $1,300 a year for people making less than $16,000, he said.

(snip)

After the forum, Aldrich said she’s backing Sanders because she trusts him more than Clinton to deliver.

“He is such a compassionate man,” Aldrich said.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sanders-bids-older-voters-emphasizing-200616570.html;_ylt=AwrC2Q46e61W.QUAPPHQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBydWNmY2MwBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwM0BHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--

[bigtree]

1. O'Malley's Social Security plan is bold, progressive

Last edited Sun Jan 31, 2016, 12:39 AM - Edit history (1)

Martin O'Malley ?@MartinOMalley 4h4 hours ago
We need to expand Social Security benefits to provide a foundation for a more secure retirement. Read my op-ed: http://omly.us/expand-social

Martin O’Malley has set a national goal of increasing the number of Americans with adequate retirement savings by 50 percent within two terms in office: https://martinomalley.com/policy/expanding-social-security/

Martin O’Malley Proposes ‘Immediate’ Boosts To Social Security Benefits, Plus Other Expansion
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/08/21/3693794/omalley-social-security-plan/

O’Malley lays out seven ways he would “expand and protect” Social Security benefits for both current and future retirees.

Among them are “immediate” boosts to monthly benefits for current retirees; increasing benefits for minimum-wage and lower- and middle-income workers; and increasing the minimum benefits people can have. Those proposal come on the heels of a recent AARP survey, which saw 61 percent of adults saying the average monthly payment of $1,332 is too low.

His plan also pledges to reject a number of conservative ideas proposed for Social Security, including efforts to privatize the program and raise the retirement age. In addition, the plan supports requiring businesses with more than 10 employees to make it possible for those employees to make automatic contributions to their own retirement funds.

To pay for these expansions, O’Malley’s plan advocates lifting the cap on the payroll tax for workers earning more than $250,000, among other things. That proposal is essentially one that makes rich people pay more taxes — right now, individual income over $117,000 per year is not taxed by Social Security. That idea has a good deal of support among progressives, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who is also seeking the Democratic nomination for president, and has a similarly progressive social security expansion plan.

Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and enacting comprehensive immigration reform would also help pay for the expansion, O’Malley’s plan argues, because taxes from higher income and documented workers would go into the Social Security fund.

[malokvale77]

2. His fight for expanding SS is near the top of my list...

for why I support him.

I retired a month ago today (still waiting for my first SS check). I will have $703 a month to live on. That is from collecting on my ex. My own would be $375.

If Hillary or a Republican win the WH, millions of us will die from hunger and/or homelessness.

Go Bernie.