Best Analysis Of The Soc Sec Feeding Frenzy Yet !!!

[WillyT]

Is Obama On The Brink Of Cutting Social Security? The Dangerous Game Over The Debt Ceiling
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
Posted on July 7, 2011, Printed on July 7, 2011

<snip>

So they floated a trial balloon, a time-honored Washington tradition this White House has always been especially fond of. A senior official whispers anonymously into the ear of a prominent Beltway reporter, the White House denies the story, and that sends the pundits into a frenzied discussion of What It All Means. Such leaks are always done in the service of influencing the public debate, and the question is what the ultimate goal of the administration is with this latest one.

There are three ways of looking at the game. The most cynical is that Obama genuinely wants to make deep cuts to Social Security and Medicare and is laying the groundwork for blaming a move he knows will outrage his base and cause a revolt in the Congressional Democratic caucus on Republican intransigence. There is little evidence in Obama's public statements to support the idea that he has a heartfelt desire to do that -- beyond, perhaps, minor tweaks to shore up their long-term solvency -- but some disheartened progressives are nonetheless convinced that's the case.

Occam's Razor suggests that Obama, surrounded by genuine deficit hawks, is indeed willing to tolerate some cuts in the programs most important to Democrats in order to head off the potentially catastrophic consequences of a default going into the 2012 election season, and thinks that offering some incremental “entitlement reform,” long a top goal of conservatives, is a necessary concession to break the deadlock. The administration may also genuinely believe that making modest adjustments in the programs now would help head off deeper cuts later.

<snip>

More: http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/151561

Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet. He is the author of The 15 Biggest Lies About the Economy: And Everything else the Right Doesn't Want You to Know About Taxes, Jobs and Corporate America.

:kick:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. If Obama doesn't cut elsewhere, and cuts essential things like Medicare and SS

He will be a one-term president. Guaranteed.

[OnyxCollie]

13. If Obama cuts essential things like Medicare and SS

Nader was RIGHT!

:rofl:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

14. Nader is a piece of shit who put GW Bush in office and created this whole disaster nt

[OnyxCollie]

15. And all the Democrats were powerless to stop it.

Ralph Nader is the most powerful man in the universe!

:rofl:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

16. It doesn't take the most powerful man to shift an already tight race

That's why Nader is a piece of shit.

Gee, I sure hope you understand that now.

[JTFrog]

17. +1 n/t

[OnyxCollie]

18. It doesn't take the most powerful man

to get the Democrats to sit on their hands for the past ten years.

All they need is a scapegoat for identity voters like yourself to accept as a valid excuse.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

21. Scapegoat? I suppose you say the same thing about Repukes? Are they scapegoats too? nt

[OnyxCollie]

23. No, they are the co-conspirators.

Have you always been this dense, or is it the result of alcoholism?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

25. The co-conspirators of Nader? nt

[deaniac21]

26. You do see the light.

:toast:

[tabasco]

27. +2

I suppose this is how you rec an individual post.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. The way it went last night

was a classic trial balloon... it was DENIED within half an hour... so it tells me they started getting calls and reactions like THIS FAST.

[WillyT]

3. Yep...

:hi:

:kick:

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Watch what happens tomorrow

news dump friday, on this issue... I won't be here to watch with you.

And see you Monday at the latest.

[Mojorabbit]

5. I agree

and I think it was a big mistake.I can see campaign commercials saying he was willing to cut SS and Medicare. If I was Romney I would swear to keep those programs intact and go after Obama on it. It would sway a lot of undecided voters that lean conservative but are not batshit crazy like the teabag faction. Polls show the populace do not want any cuts so it is the epitome of stupidity to have this meme out there pre election. AARP sent a memo out today. A ton of low info seniors got it. I bet it has already damaged him for the upcoming elections.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Since they don't have him "on the record..."

the dustoff will be less effective as an add.

[Big Blue Marble]

8. Do not be too sure.

My concern is that this seriously damages the Dem's brand and their chance to recover the House next year.

[Mojorabbit]

12. All they would have to do is plaster the headlines

yesterday and today in the the leading papers. It would make a very effective ad.

[sad sally]

7. Too bad the balloon floating doesn't include some draconian cuts

to military spending - like promptly ending not extending the nation-building wars the US is engaged in.

[Octafish]

11. Odd how often that is missed in discussing the future.

War has become the background music of life and we're supposed to accept it, if not take it for granted.

[bbgrunt]

9. sorry, I've seen this before in both the health care

and budget negotiations. My capacity for a generous interpretation has been reached.

[FormerDittoHead]

19. Same here. Different subject, same tactic, results will not surprise me.

The only thing that ices me is that the only tax increase they're going to get will UNDOUBTEDLY hurt the working class more than the rich.

Give up SS / Medicare benefits in exchange for working people to pay higher taxes? (fees / etc)

If he lowers entitlements, but if the *RICH* don't pay MORE taxes that make up that difference, FUCK YOU OBAMA.

At THAT point there is NO FUCKING DIFFERENCE.

[Lucinda]

10. It is a crappy way to conduct business, but they do it all the time.

And it stresses people out. There has to be a better way.

[peace4ever]

20. This story validates the effectiveness of having a genuine reaction to these 'trial balloons'

Keep up the great work all you wonderful DUers who are paying attention :toast:

[WillyT]

22. Kick !!!

:kick:

[dflprincess]

24. Really? They needed a trial balloon to see if people would care about cuts to Social Security &

Medicare? And the way to deal with the deficit is to cut a program that doesn't contribute to the debt?

I'm not buying it.

I don't trust what Obama will do to those programs if he is reelected and doesn't have to worry about what we think.