General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Rather than dancing with those that "brung" him, Obama eyes making a deal with the Devil [View all]Samantha
(9,314 posts)Last edited Sat Apr 13, 2013, 11:53 PM - Edit history (2)
The only thing I can say is that I regard any comments made by Gingrich in retrospect is suspect! I do believe that President Clinton has a lot of influence on President Obama. It seems logical to me that reading your link and looking at how things have played out, it does suggest some Clinton fingerprints. I had checked up on Bowles a few years ago and found the Clinton connection and wondered if Clinton had suggested to Obama Bowles would be a great choice for an "independent" commission to form recommendations.
I do agree with you totally ... looks like a pattern.
Also wanted to let you know Lawrence O'Donnell had an excellent segment this evening on the history of Social Security. He mentioned that a Democratic President had reformed Social Security in prior times -- Jimmy Carter did. Here is a link to an interesting article along with a quoted Editor's Note:
http://socialsecurityperspectives.blogspot.com/2011/05/president-8-jimmy-carter-1977-1981.html
"Editor's Note
President Carter faced one of the most difficult scenarios in recent American history in stagflation, or the combination of high-unemployment and high inflation that had no historical precedent before the 1970s. His efforts to reform Social Security were constrained by these massive, short-term shocks, that proved that the system as it was was not invulnerable to economic conditions. In many ways, this period demonstrated that larger-scale reform would be required to increase Social Security solvency in light of not only the long-term population shift, but also the possiblity of economic fluctuations."
Sam
PS That term "stagflation" is very suggestive. We do have high unemployment now, and while some say inflation is low, it is not low in areas not computed in the current CPI. These areas are areas of high senior spending such as health care and other volatile areas such as the cost of food and energy. We need to give some thought as to whether or not seniors are caught up in "stagflation" and truly do need that CPI-E.