The shutdown did not have to happen but the Republicans had promised the Koch Brothers funded groups that they would do it on the eve of Obama’s re-election. Failing to raise the debt ceiling has never been seriously been considered until now, with the crazy Tea Party idiots. The debt ceiling was raised 18 times during the Reagan presidency. Both the shutdown and the debt ceiling are man-made crises and the Democrats should not have to compromise over things that should not have been done in the first place. Obama has actually compromised way further than he should have. The continuing CR was written at an amount way less than his original 2014 budget and much closer the the low figures included in the crappy Paul Ryan budget which tries to do everything it can to hurt the poor, children, seniors and the middle-class. This is the same budget that he ran on in the 2012 election and he was rejected. Some of the Tea Party, led by the craziest idiot in the Republican Party, giving Texas a worse-than-before reputation, TED Cruz, still wants to get ObamaCare repealed (the law of the land). Most normally cruel and uncaring Republicans are trying to go after old folks. They want to gut the “entitlements”, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid. With half a brain, they would realize that their voting constituency is made up of old, angry, white guys (the same people who desperately need SS and MC). Bad idea,guys! These are not entitlements. People pay in to get these programs to help them when they retire. Social Security is an independent, self-funded program. It is not welfare. The workers and their employers paid for all of it (I contributed to the SS fund for over 35 years and money belongs to us seniors).The current fund has over $2.8 trillion surplus and is good, as is, for approximately 25 years and then it would still be able to pay roughly 75% of benefits beyond that time. The Republican’s god, Ronald Reagan, said that “Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit”. It should be discussed as a separate measure later on. Obama needs to get Chained CPI out of his budget and out of the discussions now. He ran on a liberal platform and talks the talk but he now sound like a moderate Republican and has offered up Chained CPI on Social Security. Today’s already meager COLA is, for most seniors, insufficient to keep up with costs. Chained CPI cuts the COLA starting now and keeps cutting. As my children and grandchildren reach the retirement age, they will not have enough money to live on. I have a pension and a 401-K, which I have turned into an annuity and I am very healthy. Future generations will not have these things and can only hope they will remain healthy. Obama and Republicans need to think about these things before they start hanging future seniors out to dry. The most popular and my favorite way to fix SS is raising or eliminating the income CAP from $113,700. Let millionaires and billionaires pay the same rate of SS as the rest of us. Most of Medicare’s beneficiaries are getting by on less than $22,500—and 27% of the average SS check goes towards Parts B and D cost-sharing and other out-of- pocket health care costs—seniors cannot shoulder a SS cut (Chained CPI) AND increased out-of-pocket healthcare costs. For Medicare cost reductions, we need to reduce prescription drug costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices like the VA (saving approx. 48% on costs) and Medicaid. Republicans say “NO”. This shows that the Republicans are not really worried about cost savings in Medicare, but rather making sure their Drug Companies buddies are able to profit. Republicans should not be holding the nation hostage because they didn’t get their way. If they want o get their way, they should have ran on decent policies and won the last election. They lost!!! The people in this country need to be getting ready for the holidays and feeling happiness and love. A new Republican-made crisis every 6 weeks is not on anybody’s Christmas list.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 03:25:14 +0000
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