Dems - absolutely no compromising on SS!!!!

[DebinTx]

Give them an inch and the neocons will take a mile and toss any negotiated terms out the window. If they have the gall to lock dems out of committee meetings, they'll have no problem screwing us on the details (just remember, war in Iraq was suppose to be a last resort, yeah riiiiiiight!).


"DEALING WITH THE DEVIL. Josh Marshall hints that some dastardly Democrat is contemplating a deal with Lindsey Graham wherein "current payroll tax revenues are left in place for now and private accounts are funded in whole or in part from new payroll tax revenues generated by raising or even lifting the payroll tax cap." This is a moderately bad idea on policy terms, and a simply terrible political idea.

Most crucially, the House Republican leadership has already ruled it out. Thus, the only possible effect of brokering a compromise of this sort with moderate Senate Republicans would be to create a conference committee in which whatever concessions the GOP makes to turncoat Democrats will be purged from the bill. Then, having already conceded the high ground on the need to "do something" and on the point that the "something" ought to involve private accounts, turncoat Democrats will be forced to argue that the only problem with the conference report on the phase-out is that it doesn't raise taxes. This will, at best, transform a political winner for the Democrats into a political loser and, at worst, lead to the passage of a bad phase-out bill.

Democrats are winning this fight, and should accept nothing less than surrender. Once the GOP has given up on phasing out the plan, we can either start a serious conversation about finding a balanced approach to Social Security reform, or else move on to addressing more pressing fiscal issues. Until then, trying to compromise with a party that knows no procedural or ethical restraints on its conduct and that's led by a president who's apparently hell-bent on destroying Social Security is a losing deal."

--Matthew Yglesias

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2005/02/index.html#005548

[whistle]

1. Sure, the republicans want to destroy social security completely

...and default on the treasury notes that are owed to the social security trust fund.

[StephanieMarie]

2. Raise the minimum wage to $7.50 an hour then index it

this shores up SS for 75 years AND helps the working poor!

[politicaholic]

3. I don't think they want to end SS, just privatize it.

Really shows how the neo-cons feel about the citizens. They feel that some Americans don't deserve to have a guaranteed limited retirement fund because they can't afford the fees associated with brokerage fund managers.

Once again, the rich get the upper hand here. Do you see a trend?

[BillZBubb]

4. Absolutely NO DEALS!!!!!

Like you said, this could be a smashing victory for the Democrats if they don't splinter and accept some face saving Repug "compromise."

Democrats should say plainly and consistently, that when given the opportunity, they will make certain that Social Security remains a reliable, safe, and guaranteed program without risky changes. They should never let the Repugs draw them into suggesting changes.

Just say NO to the bastards. (When the Repugs did that to a GOOD idea--Clinton's health care policy--they took over the government. They never offered any changes and it didn't hurt them one bit).