Chained CPI would take food out of seniors’ mouths

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin heard from Iowa seniors about their opposition to chained CPI at a townhall event yesterday. For those who aren’t familiar, the report explains chained CPI as “a less generous way of calculating Social Security cost-of-living increases that assumes seniors will change their buying habits as certain items become more expensive.” The problem, of course, is that Social Security benefits are hardly generous for many seniors and the assumption discounts the notion that they’re already buying the cheapest items they can find.

"Compared with the current model, advocacy group Social Security Works has said that a person who began drawing Social Security at the age of 62 would be receiving 7.32 percent less in benefits per year by the age of 88 under chained CPI,” the report goes on.

Pres. Obama has signalled that he would be open to chained CPI, despite the fact that much of the left is opposed to the idea. Obama originally conceived of it as part of a “grand bargain” with Republicans. He’s since stopped talking about it, but the fact that he hasn’t ruled it out in the future is extremely disturbing.

"I’m sorry to say that the president of my own party has advocated this and he’s wrong," Harkin told seniors at the town hall. "I’m so tired of people saying we’ve got to cut Social Security. I thought, we got to come back and say something, no, you’ve got to increase Social Security."

And then we get the instructive moment:

Many attendees also spoke out against the plan, but one woman, Sheryl Tenicat, became emotional as she begged for Social Security not to be cut.

“I have $624 a month, that’s what I’m living on,” Tenicat explained. “Ninety-nine [dollars] of that goes to Medicare Part D and B. After I get my check, in two weeks, it’s gone. I have nothing. I live with what I eat here. And I just do not want my cost of living cut because I’ve paid in since I was 16 to the government. I’m looking for work in my retirement years so that I can exist. I do own my house, but I don’t know how long that will go because I have property taxes to pay.”

Tenicat added that her car had broken down and she now had to take the bus to the retirement center to receive her free meals.

“There is no way for me to eat less,” she said.

There is no more money in many seniors’ budgets to cut. They can’t decrease spending as costs rise, because they’re already paying rock bottom now.

The fact is that cutting Social Security is a scam to avoid rasing taxes on those that can afford it. Social Security adds nothing to the deficit, so cutting benefits to pay down deficits is actually a transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top. If the president agrees to chained CPI, it’ll be a deep betrayal of Democratic values and it will literally put people like Sheryl Tenicat out on the street — the very situation that Social Security was designed to prevent.

The stupidest argument you’ll read today

Politico: [The Obama budget] centerpiece is a highly controversial plan to trim Social Security cost-of-living increases — a move one longtime Obama adviser called a “goodwill gesture” to Republicans and liberals decry as a shocking departure from Obama’s 2012 campaign rhetoric, a betrayal that warrants retribution.

[…]

That liberal anger — boiling to a level not seen since the fractious debate over health care reform — serves a tactical purpose for Obama. Taking a page from Bill Clinton’s 1990s playbook, Obama is courting public confrontation with his party’s powerful liberal wing to prove he’s willing to flout party orthodoxy in hopes of reviving the ever-elusive “grand bargain” to set the country on a sustainable fiscal path.

[…]

“We’re not going to have the White House forever, folks. If he doesn’t do this, Paul Ryan is going to do it for us in a few years,” said a longtime Obama aide, referring to the 2012 Republican vice presidential candidate who proposed a sweeping overhaul of Medicare that would replace some benefits with vouchers.

Yes, we should rush to hold Republican policy positions because Republicans will eventually take back the White House. By this logic, we should be banning abortion and same-sex marriage, pitching poor families off cliffs, making practicing Islam illegal, instituting the death penalty for undocumented immigrants, and launching an immediate attack on Iran, North Korea and — oh, I don’t know — Canada or someplace. After all, Republicans will just do all this crazy-assed, stupid shit eventually, so it makes absolutely no sense not to go ahead and get it over with now. Let’s just go ahead and privatize Medicare and sell off National Parks, while we’re at it. I mean, it only stands to reason…

I realize that this is just spin. But it’s the most idiotic spin I’ve seen in a good, long time — at least, from a Democrat.

And that it’s so hard to spin tells you all you need to know about how lousy the underlying policy is.

Hell freezes over: Grover Norquist to the left of Obama on chained CPI

Huffington Post: Members of Congress who have pledged never to raise taxes will be breaking their promise if they support changing how the government measures inflation for Social Security and tax purposes.

President Barack Obama unveiled a budget proposal on Wednesday morning that would switch tax brackets and Social Security cost-of-living adjustments, which are indexed for inflation, from the current version of the Consumer Price Index to a “chained CPI,” which says inflation rises more slowly. The change would reduce future benefit increases and push more taxpayers into higher brackets, a phenomenon known as “bracket creep.”

Americans for Tax Reform, the advocacy group that asks lawmakers to sign a formal “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” said Tuesday that chained CPI violates the pledge.

“Chained CPI as a stand-alone measure (that is, not paired with tax relief of equal or greater size) is a tax increase and a Taxpayer Protection Pledge violation,” the group said in a blog post.

OK, so Grover’s not exactly turning all liberal and he’s not really going left. “Chained CPI is a very large tax hike over time,” Norquist tweeted. “Hence Democrat interest in same.”

But the effect is the same. If Norquist didn’t mean to run to Obama’s left, it doesn’t mean he didn’t wind up there regardless. Norquist has lost some influence post-2012, but he still has influence and there are still a lot of Republicans who’ll march to his beat. Once again, we see a conservative bailing out liberals by rejecting Obama’s Social Security sell out.

Keep it up, guys. We’re counting on you to protect Social Security — because we sure as hell can’t count on the White House.

[photo by Gage Skidmore]

Will Obama sell out on entitlements?

National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare:

Preserving Social Security and Medicare is not a partisan issue and we’ll call out any politician who’s wrong on these issues, regardless of their party. Means Testing and the Chained CPI will hurt America’s seniors yet President Obama and some Democrats in Congress are using them as a bargaining chip to lure Republicans to the budget table.

That’s simply wrong.

The GOP Social Security Raid

While everyone's attention is still focused on the killings in Newton, Republicans and the White House are reportedly nearing a deal on the fiscal cliff. The problem: it's a crappy deal in which the side with all the leverage gives up far too much.

Ezra Klein:

All at once, a “fiscal cliff” deal seems to be coming together. Speaker John Boehner’s latest offer doesn’t go quite far enough for the White House to agree, but it goes far enough that many think they can see the agreement taking shape.

Boehner offered to let tax rates rise for income over $1 million. The White House wanted to let tax rates rise for income over $250,000. The compromise will likely be somewhere in between. More revenue will come from limiting deductions, likely using some variant of the White House’s oft-proposed, oft-rejected idea for limiting itemized deductions to 28 percent. The total revenue raised by the two policies will likely be a bit north of $1 trillion. Congress will get instructions to use this new baseline to embark on tax reform next year. Importantly, if tax reform never happens, the revenue will already be locked in.

On the spending side, the Democrats’ headline concession will be accepting chained-CPI, which is to say, accepting a cut to Social Security benefits. Beyond that, the negotiators will agree to targets for spending cuts. Expect the final number here, too, to be in the neighborhood of $1 trillion, but also expect it to lack many specifics. Whether the cuts come from Medicare or Medicaid, whether they include raising the Medicare age, and many of the other contentious issues in the talks will be left up to Congress.

And it's the chained-CPI that's the problem. What is it? The short answer is that it's a complicated piece of economic mumbo-jumbo that justifies cutting Social Security benefits by 5% immediately and more as time goes on. The longer answer is here.

Stories to Watch: 9/16/11

It's been freakin' cold around here. Well, cool anyway. By spring, I'm sure I'll consider the low 60s to be just like summer. Now here's the news...


Texas schools are quietly abandoning abstinence-only sex ed. Mostly because it's been such a failure. Not good news for Rick Perry, who's currently playing the super-Christian for the fact-free base.


Matt Yglesias points out that the math in Social Security privatization schemes doesn't work.


Krugman weighs in on the "cheers for dead patients" moment at the CNN GOP debate.


The US Supreme Court halts the Texas execution of Duane Buck, who was put on death row after "jurors were told he posed a greater danger to public safety because he is black." Rick Perry refused to intervene, because it's hard to set records for executions when you're all worried about justice and racism.


David Brooks wrote something stupid again. John Boehner was a liar again. Liz Cheney made a ridiculous claim again.


Congressional approvals hit an all time low in a NYT/CBS poll. A Bloomberg poll finds that people blame Republicans.


Finally, a measure of how credible people think Republicans are; the more GOP candidates talk about how much they disbelieve in anthropogenic global warming, the more the public believes in it.

Related articles

• Poll Shows How Republicans View Controversial Perry Criticism (huffingtonpost.com)
• Rick Perry's 'Ponzi scheme' problem: new evidence it's real - Christian Science Monitor (news.google.com)
• Rick Perry's Views Supported By Republicans, Not So Much By Independents (outsidethebeltway.com)
• Rick Perry Hung Out With Trump, Pageant Queens At NYC Fashion Show (businessinsider.com)

News Roundup for 9/16/11

Rupert Murdoch

-Headline of the Day-
"News Corp. Ex-Employee Said Contacted in U.S."

Crikey! Things may get very bad for a certain Australian gazillionaire very quickly -- or, as they say down under, "Rupert Murdoch could find himself in a tin of Alice's biscuits right spot Roger Winkly." Something like that anyway.

It seems the feds would like to have a word with "a former [News Corp.] employee of a U.S. unit who claims knowledge of illegal activity at the company." The said former employee, one Robert Emmel, a former account director at News America Marketing In-Store LLC, has firsthand knowledge of "hacking and possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act."

A News Corp. spokesperson is blowing this off as trivial, but keep in mind that distortion is what News Corp. employees do. (Bloomberg)


-Mad Tea Party-
The Tea Party came to shake this up in Washington!


Click to embiggen

Boy, did they ever... (McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"Perry's Problem: Move To The Right On Social Security, Move To The Bottom In The General Election."

Rick Perry's numbers have been dropping like a stone since his Social Security views started getting coverage.

Seems people like socialism a lot more than Republicans think. (Talking Points Memo)

Stories to Watch: 9/12/11

Another short one. I don't know if we've got a 9/11 hangover or what, but it seems relatively quiet out there. Now here's the news...


A CNN poll finds that Republican voters believe that Rick Perry is the most "electable" candidate in the GOP field. Seemingly in response, Perry goes out of his way to try to prove them wrong.


The GOP doesn't like Obama's jobs plan much -- mostly because it's Obama's jobs plan -- but when it comes to alternatives, they show up emptyhanded.


Donald Rumsfeld seems to be laboring under the delusion that anyone gives a crap what he thinks anymore.


Rick Perry, member of the elite.


Another GOP debate tonight. I'll be too busy avoiding it to watch.


Rep. Paul Ryan's avoidance of the voters is becoming a PR problem for him.


Finally, soak the rich!

Related articles

• Rick Perry would destroy Social Security; Social Security will destroy Rick Perry (thehill.com)
• Widow Confronts Rumsfeld Over Iraq War Lies (usapartisan.com)
• Bachmann Preparing To Hit Perry On Social Security (outsidethebeltway.com)

News Roundup for 9/7/11

Paul Ryan's constituent services department

-Headline of the Day-
"12 kicked out, 3 arrested at Paul Ryan Town Hall."

A PR exercise in Milwaukee went off the rails this week, when democracy broke out at a Paul Ryan "town hall." I put "town hall" in quotes, because this was that one thing were he charged a cover charge to keep protesters out. An actual town hall meeting is where people show up and ask questions or make statements. Rayn's "town hall" a fundraiser he decided to call a "town hall."

Anyway, it didn't work. People paid their $15 cover for the chance to yell at Congressman Ryan for trying to steal their Medicare and Social Security money to pay for tax cuts for the rich and famous. According to the report, "When turning his town halls into PPV events didn't keep the protesters away, Rep. Ryan did the next best thing. He kicked them out, and in some cases, they were arrested. These people paid money to ask Paul Ryan a question, but when the Congressman didn't like their questions, he had them kicked out."

So a word to the wise, if you're at a Paul Ryan event and you have a question other than, "Why are you so awesome?" you might want to keep it to yourself. Asking Paul Ryan uncomfortable questions is apparently illegal these days. (Teamster Nation, with video)


-Impeccable logic-
OK, so it's not politics. But it may be the most disturbing and effective pickup line in history.


Click to embiggen

I rest my case. (Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal)


-Bonus HotD-
"G.O.P. Legislators Balk at a Call to Tie Storm Aid to Budget Cuts."

Eric Cantor is quickly finding himself alone on the "Disaster Victims are Welfare Queens" side of the argument. (New York Times)

News Roundup for 8/29/11

Texas Governor Rick Perry

-Headline of the Day-
"Rick Perry: Social Security Is, In Fact, A Ponzi Scheme."

"Sometimes campaign spin works to distance a candidate from his controversial past statements," writes TPM's Evan McMorris-Santoro. "And sometimes the candidate comes back and makes a hash of all the work his staff has done for him."

Guess which one this story is about? That's candidate extracts foot from mouth, only to immediately jam it back in there. See, Rick Perry continues to try to have his cake and eat it too, with alternating attacks and defenses of Social Security. First it was unconstitutional, then it wasn't, now it's a scam. Tomorrow, it probably won't be. It all depends on who he's talking to, I guess. And if he remembers which stance he's supposed to be taking.

"It is a Ponzi scheme for these young people," he told an audience in Iowa, "The idea that they're working and paying into Social Security today, that the current program is going to be there for them, is a lie. It is a monstrous lie on this generation, and we can't do that to them."

Does that argument sound familiar? It should; every rightwing nut has been making that argument since SS began in 1935. For the record, exactly zero of them have been right. But hey, what's a perfect historical record mean to a Republican?

Not a lot, that's what. (Talking Points Memo)


-Hurricane Dimwit-
Can we start calling Republicans soft on national defense now?


Click to embiggen

Because they are. (McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"Is Rick Perry dumb?"

Yes. Next question, please. (Politico)

News Roundup for 8/18/11

Texas Governor Rick Perry

-Headline of the Day-
"Rick Perry Can't Defend His Claim That Social Security Is Unconstitutional Because He's 'Got A Big Mouthful.'"

Mouthful of what? If you guess BS, you're only half right. His mouth was also full of what he called "pop ups" -- despite the fact that the restaurant he was campaigning at was called "Popovers on the Square."

At the New Hampshire stop, Perry learned that the state isn't much like Texas and, if you say something insane, they're not going to let it slide. Despite having claimed in the past that Social Security is unconstitutional, Perry's trying to have it both ways by pretending to be committed to protecting it -- at least, for the generation currently collecting.

Anyway, protesters in New Hampshire weren't buying it and asked him to explain his interesting constitutional theory. it was at this point that Perry displayed his astounding rhetorical skills; "I don't think I..." he said. "I'm sorry, you must have..."

Cleared that right up, huh? Having reached the limit of his ability to string words together, Perry "stuffed a generous piece of popover in his mouth." Why lookie there! I'd surely love to answer you folks' question, but I went and jammed my skull plum full of puff pastries. Reckon I'll have to get back to you on that. Y'all have a good day and cowboy boots sixshooter horseshoes yeehaw!

Perry then rushed out, impressing onlookers with his Three Stooges imitation as he "tripped over one of the women standing at his side pressing him on Social Security."

This is what passes for presidential timber on the right these days. (ThinkProgress)


-Cartoon time with Mark Fiore-
Hey kids, it's a big scary world with lots of bad things happening and the press will cover it all -- after the elections!


Click for animation

Wait, did Sarah Palin sneeze? Stop the presses! (MarkFiore.com)


-Bonus HotD-
"Bachmann: The American People Are Concerned About 'The Rise Of The Soviet Union.'"

Oh for fuck's sake... (Right Wing Watch)

Stories to Watch: 7/7/11

Barely slept again last night. Not sure what the deal is. Maybe I need a new mattress. In any case, I am wiped out. Now here's the news...


Senate Democrats aren't happy to learn that the White House is open to cuts in Social Security. Neither are House Democrats.


GOP Rep. Paul Broun discovers a new way to be insane.


A Rupert Murdoch publication gets what it deserves.


The Treasury is considering options to avoid default if Republicans decide to charge off a cliff.


Just a reminder: big banks have no clue what the hell they're doing and don't give a bowl of warm crap about you. My advice; move your money to a credit union.


Orrin Hatch's plan to shrink the deficit? Soak the poor. This marks a new low.


Finally and relatedly; what happens when the poor get health insurance? Only good things.

Related articles

• Rep. Paul Broun Compares Liberals To Al Qaeda At Cobb County Independence Day Celebration (alan.com)
• News of the World: 7/7 victim's father blasts "nasty" Rupert Murdoch (mirror.co.uk)
• MormonMoron Values According to Orrin Hatch.... (tagg-lines.com)
• Orrin Hatch - clown (atung.net)