Okay, that's it. He called Social Security an "entitlement program." I've been paying into SS for

[Dawggie]

40 years... and it's an entitlement program???

FUCK YOU, BUSH!!!!

[liberalmuse]

1. "Entitlement"???

Git a rope!

[SharonAnn]

18. There's reason they want to "fix" this hypothetical, future "problem".

They're afraid they'll have to pay the money back! Seriously! And, they're afraid they'll have to pay their fair share of future taxes instead of having the U. S. Government funded partially by excess social Security collections every year.

So, two things happen:
1. Excess Social Security contributions are reduced so more money has to be raised from other sources to finance the annual cost of government.
2. Then, later, the borrowed money has to be paid back and so more money has to be raised from other sources to pay back the money that's owed to Social Security retirees.

So, the high-income people are looking ahead at their likely tax obligations in the coming years, when the working people's excess Social Security contributions won't support the government and they're seeing that they will have to pay more taxes. They're looking 10-20 years down the road to be sure to protect themselves.

And, the financiers are looking at the opportunity to "fix" the problem by some combinations of "private" retirement investment program that will allow them to rake in huge fees. Sort of like what they did to Chile, where 50% or more of a worker's contributions went to "management fees" when they privatized their equivalent of Social Security.

Note that they're not concerned about the current problems with Medicare costs at this time, only with hypothetical problems that are 10 years or more down the road.

Should make us all really suspicious.

[Danger Mouse]

2. bush should know all about entitlement...

he's been getting it from poppy his whole life!

[lpbk2713]

11. AWOL Monkey-Boy was born on third base .....

And I'm sure you know the rest of it.

[Occam Bandage]

3. Actually, that's the appropriate term for them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entitlement

[El Pinko]

5. True, it is an entitlement program. And the GOP has deliberately confused the term...

...with "welfare program". Entitlements are NOT welfare.

[Berry Cool]

6. Exactly. It's an "entitlement program" because you are "entitled" to it

because after all, YOU PAID INTO IT.

[TahitiNut]

13. Yep. And here's a news flash: Land ownership is an ENTITLEMENT, too!

Imagine that! :wow:

On the flip side, "Baron" and "Duke" are entitlements. Literally. The whole basis for "royalty" is an entitlement.

What's the most pervasive entitlement scheme in the country??? Corporate stock ownership.

Imagine that.

[mac2]

4. Bush has been what they call a "blood sucker: off the public

No ono has profited more on public service than the bunch in office today.

[earth mom]

7. Doncha know that ONLY the moneyed elite are entitled to anything & everything?

The rest of us can go fuck off! :grr:

[Virginia Dare]

8. This reminds me of an incident I had with my cousin..

some years back, (he's an upper-middle class repub). He was on an alcohol fueled rant against social security one day, and I reminded him that our grandmother survived on social security up until her death, because you weren't writing her any checks were you, bub?

[Tiberius]

9. Ooooooh

Harsh!

[Virginia Dare]

10. Well, it did shut him up for a few minutes....

on edit:

this is the Irish side of my family, so that's saying something..;-)

[truedelphi]

12. The young Repug mafia that hangs out at the local coffee shop

Was on a rant about Soc Security.

They asked me my views, and I pointed out that I didn't care what happened to it, as long as I got the 8 to 15% I'd been paying into it back BEFORE it wa privatized.

They were shocked. They really didn't know that workers pay into Soc Security!

[KoKo]

14. Obama doesn't like those "SS" Folks, either, though. They are Greedy Boomers!

[donkeyotay]

15. Alan "Mr. Bubbles" Greenspan raised the withholding rates - aka INCREASED TAXES

to create a surplus for when the boomers retired. What was left of that surplus was what Gore wanted to put in a lock box. King George, the unitary executive, decided to give it to his GOP defense-contractor cronies instead... cuz they were ENTITLED to it.

[Kansas Wyatt]

16. Because he wants to spend all payroll taxes like income tax.

His tax cuts for the Wealthy Elite, are covered by spending payroll taxes instead of their missing income taxes. He clearly sees that payroll taxes are actually income taxes, instead of payments into a trust fund.

So now he thinks Social Security is a burdensome entitlement program, rather than an actual trust fund that people have paid into over the years.

These crooks and con-artists will spin anything to justify their greed.

[Cleita]

17. It's retirement insurance plain and simple and should not

be referred to as anything else because that would be inaccurate. You pay into your premium through your life and when you retire you collect, just like life insurance where your beneficiaries collect when you die. If you should die before retirement age, you forfeit the premium just like you do with life insurance when you stop paying.

[ileus]

19. I don't pay into it....