Hands Off Social Security

The draft proposal released as a surprise yesterday by the two chairmen of President Obama's fiscal commission is conceived and written in panic. It is a profoundly ideological set of policy prescriptions. The co-authors are counting on national alarm over the current budget deficit to make extreme proposals seem reasonable. It is an outrageous, misleading document, unsupported by evidence.

More »»

The co-chairs of the "Deficit Commission" released their recommendations yesterday. Basically they said that to cut the deficit we need to give a huge tax cut to the rich by cutting top tax rates from the current 35% down to 23%. more »

More »»

Social Security supporters announced today that over 100 members of Congress are signing a letter to President Obama demanding that the Deficit Commission keep its hands off Social Security. They say that if the deficit commission tries to cut the program they say it will not make it through Congress. more »

More »»

If back-channel sources are correct, the White House deficit commission is finalizing a deal that would increase Social Security benefits slightly for low-income recipients while cutting them for everyone else. The Commissioners apparently believe that putting this "progressive" gloss on a package of unneeded cuts would allow them to move forward with their predetermined anti-Social Security agenda.

This new proposal would pit middle-class seniors against the elderly poor, forcing them to compete for a stripped-down pool of dollars. The end result would be the one that many Commission members have pursued for years: to cut the most stable and successful program in the Federal government's history. more »

More »»

Hundreds of thousands of Americans have now called for Senator Alan Simpson, co-chair of the White House deficit commission, to step down – after he insulted the head of the Older Women’s League, Ashley Carson, by implying that her dedication to protecting retirees was not “hone more »

More »»