Privatizing Social Security Unlikely To Appear In GOP Campaign Mailers

Because they are going to pretend they never said it and the Dems are too half-assed to make them eat their own words. Plus, the Republicrats probably FAVOR the idea of privatizing Social Security, and we certainly wouldn't want to offend them b/c, you know, otherwise they might refuse to vote with the Party on crucial procedural votes. Like Casey Stengel said about the Mets: Doesn't anybody here know how to play this game?

Here's how it will likely play out (not this year, but someday):

The Republicans will once again get control of the Senate, the House, and the White House. After a lengthy PR campaign, they'll pass S/S privatization with overwhelming public support. They'll ultimately be thrown out office for ruining the economy, and the Democrats will take over.

Retirement savings will vanish and seniors will be left starving, freezing and homeless. The Democrats will get the blame.

Well, why not push privatization again? It worked so well for them in 2005. They almost got to a hearing!

Actually, it's true: If you want to seriously tackle the deficit, you're going to have to talk about cutting entitlements.

According to Peter G. Peterson's book, Running on Empty, if the Social Security COLAs were indexed to inflation instead of wage increases, that would solve half of Social Security's solvency issues. However, as the COLAs wouldn't be as large, we could depend on a chorus of Democrats who would decry the 'slashing of seniors' income" (note, I am a registered Democrat).

Another thing that could be done that would gore the ox of many Republicans would be means testing. If you earn over, say, 70K a year, you won't get Social Security.

I think President Obama should bring out some Ross Perot-style charts and show the American people where their money is going. I think a lot of people would respect not being pandered to. Let the Republicans demagogue all they want. Obama has already proven he's the adult in the room.

They will wait until they're back in the majority or control the White House to start doing that.

Right now, they're all up in the old folks faces with how they, the rethugs, are the keeper of the golden years dream. You know, what with the dems wanting those "death panels" and all.

If the Orange Wonder puts his paws on my social security, he better be prepared to lose them.

Please, please let them campaign on something like this. After alot of older folks have lost part or most of their retirement investments, pensions in the big wall street fake out of 2008-09, please now let them tell the old folks their social security will now be gambled away in the great wall street casino. Please!

"This is the Republican version of the movie 'Groundhog Day,' but instead of waking up to the same day over and over, Americans are waking up to the same radical proposals from the GOP..."

As opposed to the Democratic Party's moderate and sane proposals on health care? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

The Bushco White House strategically created the economic meltdown after their massive wealth redistribution (ie. multi-trillion $ tax cuts, trillion $ wars and Medicare drug plan tailored for big pharma, and the multi-trillion $ bank and AIG bailouts). As Grover Norquist was fond of saying, "I don't want to do away with the federal government, I just want to shrink it to a size I can drown in the bathtub." That is precisely what they have done. By bankrupting the federal government, and redistributing the US treasury to the richest 1%, they have effectively neutered the government. The Supremes have hammered the last nail into the coffin of democracy by giving those 1 percenters the unmitigated right to spend as much as they want, to say whatever will scare the hell out of the average American TV junky into voting against their own interests.

Obama, of course, stepped directly into the leg trap left for him and now they have him hanging upside down, unable to effectively address any of the massive problems left behind. We don't need more Democrats, we need smarter ones. Perhaps we need a miracle.