Tag Archives: extension

R.I.P. Social Security

05 Tuesday Jul 2011

Posted by in Congress, Democrats, Obama, Social Security

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FDR didn’t foresee what would become of his party:

“We put those payroll contributions there so as to give the contributors a legal, moral, and political right to collect their pensions and their unemployment benefits. With those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program.'”

Which is what’s happening now. Social Security is being de-funded:

“Despite warnings it will undermine Social Security, House Democratic leaders are lining up behind a White House proposal to extend a payroll-tax cut beyond this year.

Reps. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and John Larson (D-Conn.) both announced Friday that they’ll throw their weight behind the extended payroll-tax holiday, which President Obama and some leading Senate Democrats are prescribing as an economic stimulant.

[…]

A number of liberal Democrats had fought the initial tax cut, noting that the payroll tax is the sole funding stream for Social Security, which is already paying out more than it’s taking in. Behind Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), the lawmakers are now continuing that campaign in the face of a proposed extension.

Earlier this month, Doggett, Ted Deutch (Fla.) and Mark Critz (Pa.) urged their Democratic colleagues to oppose any additional payroll-tax breaks. The lawmakers warned that such measures threaten Social Security’s ability to pay future benefits and defy the initial design of the program.”

But there’s no sense in just eliminating part of the funding mechanism for Social Security. If you’re gonna do it, might as well do it right:

“The existing tax holiday applies only to workers, but Obama has also floated the idea of extending it to employers as well.”

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Democrats Losing the Message Battle—As Usual

14 Tuesday Sep 2010

Posted by in Congress, Democrats, economy, Politics, Republicans, Taxes

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This is why Democrats consistently lose the message battle—theirs is not cohesive and it’s too convoluted and complex for non-political junkies to understand. One “senior House leadership aide” tells Talking Points Memo that there won’t be a vote on extension of the Bush tax cuts, another says there may be a vote after all. Make up your mind.

After John Boehner’s alleged “misstep” on Sunday when he said he would vote for an extension that didn’t include those making over $250,000 a year “if that were the only option” it would appear that Democrats have an opportunity to make Boehner put his money where his mouth is, so to speak.

Not so simple when one of those “senior House leadership aides” says Democrats don’t want to “force his hand” by scheduling a vote on the extension, they just want to use it as a campaign issue. Dumb de dumb dumb.

“You don’t need a vote in the House to say the party is blocking tax relief for the middle class – you can just point and say, ‘Look! Senate Republicans blocked it,'” the aide said. “If Republicans killed a tax cut, that could be potentially game changing for Democrats in both chambers.”

Wrong. Here’s where Democrats get too cute by half and get too far into the political weeds with their message. The average voter who doesn’t follow this stuff every day doesn’t know and doesn’t care about how the Bush tax cuts were written by Republicans with an expiration date, and that if they are allowed to expire it will actually be Republicans who have raised taxes.

The average voter doesn’t get, and doesn’t care about, all the intricacies of who did what and why. They don’t know and don’t care about parliamentary procedures and filibusters. They know this—Democrats are in charge of both Houses. If nothing gets passed, taxes go up on everybody. Therefore, Democrats raised their taxes. Nobody wants taxes raised, so throw the bums out, which is the simple to understand Republican message.

If Democrats would use their head, and if they really wanted to take advantage of the apparent “rift” between Boehner and McConnell on this issue (I say apparent because it’s not really a rift, it’s a kabuki dance designed to set a trap which Democrats are stepping into) they would introduce a simple piece of legislation in both Houses. The Bush rates remain in effect for people making under $250,000 and go up for those making over that amount. Make Republicans go on the record as being in favor of tax cuts for rich people, a simple message that everyone can grasp.

KISS. And for once, get everybody on the same page. Please.

One Vote

01 Thursday Jul 2010

Posted by in Congress, Democrats, economy, Politics, Republicans, Unemployment

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One vote. That’s all more than 2 million Americans needed to have their unemployment benefits extended. One vote.  That’s all that was needed to prevent the unprecedented action by Congress of failing to extend benefits when unemployment is anywhere near our current rate of 9.7%, the previous high being 7.2% in 1983. One vote

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had the votes of 57 Democrats, counting his own. He even had the votes of 2 Republicans, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. And in the post-January 20, 2009 climate of Washington, D.C. that is a major accomplishment. He needed one vote to get the sixty necessary to break the filibuster and pass the extension before the Senate recessed until July 12. One vote.

Unfortunately, not only for Senator Reid but more importantly for those 2+ million Americans, that one vote was, and is, in the possession of possibly the biggest damn fool ever to occupy space in the Senate chamber, Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

Nelson’s reasons for his opposition:

“Tough choices are possible and necessary to not add to the deficit,” Nelson said. “Some also say we need more emergency spending now to keep the recovery going. But in my view it could jeopardize the recovery and would add to our already enormous deficit, likely to be around $1.4 trillion for the second year in a row…. Congress should provide additional unemployment benefits but not as a bailout to the states that worsens the deficit and passes the bills onto our children.”

Do you know who’s making tough choices, you idiot? The long-term unemployed who now have to spend July 4th weekend wondering how, or if, they’ll be able to keep their house, or pay the rent, or keep the lights on. They’re not worried about passing bills on to their children; they’re worried about being able to feed their children.

Lucy and the Football—Again

26 Saturday Jun 2010

Posted by in Congress, Democrats, economy, Politics, Republicans

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I don’t like to get my blood pressure up this early on a Saturday morning, but this latest action by the Senate in killing the extension of unemployment benefits really pisses me off. And every time one of these lying, elitist assholes opens their mouths it pisses me off that much more.

Like Olympia Snowe, who sent a letter to Harry Reid “urging” him to bring a stand-alone extension of unemployment benefits to the floor of the Senate next week. Nowhere in the letter did she say she would vote for it. That’s because she won’t. And neither would the other Republicans and that idiot Nelson. Snowe is just playing Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown—again. Reid should tell her to take a flying f*****g leap.

When are Snowe, Nelson, and the rest of the obstructionists going to compromise on something. Ever? The bill was watered down to accommodate them–just like the stimulus, health care, and everything else—and they still voted against it. Everything but the $33 billion for unemployment extension was offset, just like they wanted. Still they voted no.

This just in, you morons. People who get unemployment checks don’t put them in the bank. They spend every dime of it on rent, or the mortgage, or food, or clothes. It’s called economic stimulus, dipshits. Get a clue.

Then there’s Diane Feinstein who, even though she voted for the extension, gives ammunition to the obstructionists when she continues to say stupid-ass things like this:

“We have 99 weeks of unemployment insurance now. The question comes, how long do you continue that before people just don’t go back to work at all?” she said…“And there isn’t a lot of documentation on this. Last night for the first time I had somebody from a company tell me they’ve offered jobs to individuals and they said well, ‘I want to not come back to work until my unemployment insurance runs out.’ So we need to start looking at these things. And, we need to start paying for it.”

Bullshit. Nobody’s getting rich off unemployment, Di. The average check for one of Feinstein’s constituents in California is $450 a week. In San Francisco, where Feinstein and her rich hubby live, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $1709 a month. Which leaves $91 a month for things like food, electricity, water—minor things like that.

And forgive me but “somebody” from some unnamed company who says that “they’ve” offered jobs to people who would rather stay on unemployment is bullshit too. The unemployment rate in California is 12.4%, there are 6 people for every job opening. People want to work, there just aren’t any jobs to be had. But when you’re sitting on top of a cool 40 mil, like the Feinsteins are, you have no idea what life is like in the real world where the peasants live.

I won’t even get into Nelson. The man is just a hopeless, clueless idiot with a terminal case of HUHAD (head up his ass disease). Why he doesn’t just switch parties and be done with it, I don’t know.

[End of rant]