Funny how the "family values" party chooses not to value families dependent on compensations that are essentially money they paid out during their working lives.
Why don't conservatives see the harm that their lawmakers will do to their futures?
Be assured, I wouldn't trust the Republicans to protect Medicare and Social Security as far as I could throw a piano.
That said, let's stop using the misnomer "entitlements." Social security is an EARNED BENEFIT. Frankly, it should be an "entitlement" that everyone is entitled to. But it isn't. It's available to those of us who paid into it and to certain of our dependents.
Meanwhile in France, people are protesting across the country against a proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. The US could use some protests around this but Republican voters watch Fox News instead of reading Robert Reich, so they have no idea what is going to happen.
reading this rundown of the rethuglicans' desire to punish poor people for being poor is like reading the intro to a horror movie on netflix. the reason people in amerikkka are poor or barely scraping by is because the rich are grossly underpaying them, denying them basic human rights (like paid family leave, health insurance, etc.) and abusing them daily (forcing them to work overtime, sexual harassment, structural and personal racism, terminating them without cause or warning, etc)
The fact that Social Security benefits are taxed shows how little the Republicans understand how modest the benefit is and how far it will not go to cover expenses for people who paid into it along with other taxes throughout their working years. There are more medically necessary items that are 'over the counter' now, too ; Some of them expensive and also taxed. For example, I have severe dry eye also known as Melbonian Gland Dysfunction, which requires antiseptic cleansing pads that are sold in 50 packs at $25 per box plus tax. I need 2 boxes per month, also sterile eye drops at $24 per box for a month's supply ; also taxed and not covered by insurance. There is a procedure called 'Blephex' where the eyes are flushed which allows me to be infection free for a year. It costs $1200 and is not covered. It would be good to know who decides the insurance codes that allow a medicine or procedure to be covered by insurance. When I have an eye infection that is not covered or treated with antibiotics, a cyst forms which must be removed surgically ; that is covered, prevention is not. Anti biotics are covered but anyone who knows medicine will tell you that repeated use of broad spectrum antibiotics can cause problems with the GI tract and immunity. I had 4 treatments in 2022 with a broad spectrum antibiotic named Cephalexin. I'm sure that I am not the only person who has a similar story, whether it's the same condition or another one. Sorry for this long post, but I have wanted to tell about this for awhile.
Democrats will be and look like fools if they bargain with the likes of McCarthy and his phonies if they move one nano second in negotiating the Debt Ceiling. There’s an easy answer to financial help that may be needed and assistance for Americans: tax the rich!
Has there suddenly been a huge demand for employees aged 55-70? Because if there has, then maybe I could understand a tiny piece of the logic behind raising the retirement age. However, I suspect that things are the same as they were when the Great Recession (caused by the financial services geniuses) destroyed my business and no one wanted to hire an old guy like me. I’m guessing that in a future Republican paradise, people aged 55-70 will try to survive on dog food and living in tents until they can hopefully reach a magic retirement age and begin receiving an income. As it is now, those people ages 55-62/65 are in the greatest financial jeopardy because the costs of insurance and the lack of employment opportunity make their existence very fragile. Thank goodness for Obamacare, at least. But I’m just a socialist, I guess.
All we ever get from republicans are "Chicken Little" lies. Social Security is a "budget" item because conservatives wanted to "borrow" money from it (without every paying it back) rather than raising taxes on the wealthy to fund the government. Employers hate it because of they're greed and "self-made" lies. SOCIAL SECURITY is the most successful anti-poverty program in the history of the world. If it were funded as it was designed (by a small payroll deduction from employees and a small tax on employers) there would never be any danger of this great program going bankrupt. It has a $2 trillion trust fund). SOCIAL SECURITY is one of the most important contributors to America's healthy consumer economy. I provides retirees with money to spend on food, clothing, and housing, and helps reduce inequality in America.
I feel like I'm working for corporations again. Holding my job/paycheck as ransom. Now these bastards are holding my SS/Medicare as ransom.
Every damn time the GOP has any power, I have to worry if I'll be able to pay my bills, including medical bills that Medicare won't cover because the GOP doesn't think I'm worthy of having dental care.
The GOP can rescind the trump tax scam. They can look to cut their own taxpayer funded entitlements. Lets start with their pensions. They can fund their own damn retirement. No taxpayer funded healthcare. No taxpayer funded goodies. They can take a salary cut too.
If I’m Biden, I say to McCarthy that I’m ready to negotiate, everything’s on the table — on one simple condition: that he make a public statement, speaking for his whole caucus, that Republicans care about the level of the nation’s debt ONLY when a Democrat’s in the White House, and Democrats control Congress, and they don’t care about debt in the least when they’re in control, especially when they’re enacting unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.
If he says no, I point to the door and say that we have nothing further to discuss, BUT do I tell him that, like a small petulant, willful child whose first lesson from his or her parents needs to be that the more he demands and the more he cries, the less he’s going to get, every time Republicans demand that Social Security, Medicare and other popular programs of great value to the public be cut, I will propose raising their funding.
Guess whose vision of the future of government will play better. There’s no way you’re going to win a Dutch auction, Kev.
Social Security is paid by people while working. Republicans are not doing any favour to them . In UK and Canada Health care is paid by the government. Why cannot America provide this facility to Americans. GOP leaders are hypocrit. Publicly they say something different when they negotiate with the president their agenda is altogether different .
If Joe Biden doesn't do something to get those fascists locked up I will stop voting
I'm sick of the game playing in Congress that's making it nearly impossible to get anything done.
The Fascists are overly anxious to cause us without enough dough to live on to just shrivel up and croak or take shelter under tarps. Their words alone will give the weakest and poorest of us to die of heart attacks or strokes while they and Tucker Carlson applaud madly while wearing their AR-15 lapel pins.
Meanwhile The King of American Greed and Fascism is promising more violence if everyone doesn't vote for him. Why is he still walking free?
I really wish swearing was allowed in our comments because the real majority of Americans surely need to let loose with our verbal ammunition.
Keep dragging your feet, Mr. Biden, and you'll find yourself losing the next election. How about turning it over to Adam Schiff?
The Bigger Picture is ......this is Not just a Republican Thing because Democrats often act like it is out of their hands. This is a Corporate Thing! Everything from Social Security to Medicare to Health Insurance,is Corporations & The Ruling class WANT TO PRIVATIZE all of it for more Profits . We are watching the disintegration of the Public Common Good! Although we pay into this separate from a government budget this is just another grab of enslaving people! Inequality is killing us all
While we're on the topic of honesty, isn't it past time that we change the name of the DOD back to the Department of War, or even the Department of Attack, since, historically, we have initiated the conflicts?
Funny how the "family values" party chooses not to value families dependent on compensations that are essentially money they paid out during their working lives.
Why don't conservatives see the harm that their lawmakers will do to their futures?
Be assured, I wouldn't trust the Republicans to protect Medicare and Social Security as far as I could throw a piano.
That said, let's stop using the misnomer "entitlements." Social security is an EARNED BENEFIT. Frankly, it should be an "entitlement" that everyone is entitled to. But it isn't. It's available to those of us who paid into it and to certain of our dependents.
Meanwhile in France, people are protesting across the country against a proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. The US could use some protests around this but Republican voters watch Fox News instead of reading Robert Reich, so they have no idea what is going to happen.
Reason #1: He and his colleagues took an oath to defend the Constitution from foreign and domestic enemies and then became the domestic enemies.
Do we really need other reasons to not believe anything they say?
reading this rundown of the rethuglicans' desire to punish poor people for being poor is like reading the intro to a horror movie on netflix. the reason people in amerikkka are poor or barely scraping by is because the rich are grossly underpaying them, denying them basic human rights (like paid family leave, health insurance, etc.) and abusing them daily (forcing them to work overtime, sexual harassment, structural and personal racism, terminating them without cause or warning, etc)
NOTE: edited to correct a typo. ugh.
The fact that Social Security benefits are taxed shows how little the Republicans understand how modest the benefit is and how far it will not go to cover expenses for people who paid into it along with other taxes throughout their working years. There are more medically necessary items that are 'over the counter' now, too ; Some of them expensive and also taxed. For example, I have severe dry eye also known as Melbonian Gland Dysfunction, which requires antiseptic cleansing pads that are sold in 50 packs at $25 per box plus tax. I need 2 boxes per month, also sterile eye drops at $24 per box for a month's supply ; also taxed and not covered by insurance. There is a procedure called 'Blephex' where the eyes are flushed which allows me to be infection free for a year. It costs $1200 and is not covered. It would be good to know who decides the insurance codes that allow a medicine or procedure to be covered by insurance. When I have an eye infection that is not covered or treated with antibiotics, a cyst forms which must be removed surgically ; that is covered, prevention is not. Anti biotics are covered but anyone who knows medicine will tell you that repeated use of broad spectrum antibiotics can cause problems with the GI tract and immunity. I had 4 treatments in 2022 with a broad spectrum antibiotic named Cephalexin. I'm sure that I am not the only person who has a similar story, whether it's the same condition or another one. Sorry for this long post, but I have wanted to tell about this for awhile.
Democrats will be and look like fools if they bargain with the likes of McCarthy and his phonies if they move one nano second in negotiating the Debt Ceiling. There’s an easy answer to financial help that may be needed and assistance for Americans: tax the rich!
Has there suddenly been a huge demand for employees aged 55-70? Because if there has, then maybe I could understand a tiny piece of the logic behind raising the retirement age. However, I suspect that things are the same as they were when the Great Recession (caused by the financial services geniuses) destroyed my business and no one wanted to hire an old guy like me. I’m guessing that in a future Republican paradise, people aged 55-70 will try to survive on dog food and living in tents until they can hopefully reach a magic retirement age and begin receiving an income. As it is now, those people ages 55-62/65 are in the greatest financial jeopardy because the costs of insurance and the lack of employment opportunity make their existence very fragile. Thank goodness for Obamacare, at least. But I’m just a socialist, I guess.
All we ever get from republicans are "Chicken Little" lies. Social Security is a "budget" item because conservatives wanted to "borrow" money from it (without every paying it back) rather than raising taxes on the wealthy to fund the government. Employers hate it because of they're greed and "self-made" lies. SOCIAL SECURITY is the most successful anti-poverty program in the history of the world. If it were funded as it was designed (by a small payroll deduction from employees and a small tax on employers) there would never be any danger of this great program going bankrupt. It has a $2 trillion trust fund). SOCIAL SECURITY is one of the most important contributors to America's healthy consumer economy. I provides retirees with money to spend on food, clothing, and housing, and helps reduce inequality in America.
I feel like I'm working for corporations again. Holding my job/paycheck as ransom. Now these bastards are holding my SS/Medicare as ransom.
Every damn time the GOP has any power, I have to worry if I'll be able to pay my bills, including medical bills that Medicare won't cover because the GOP doesn't think I'm worthy of having dental care.
The GOP can rescind the trump tax scam. They can look to cut their own taxpayer funded entitlements. Lets start with their pensions. They can fund their own damn retirement. No taxpayer funded healthcare. No taxpayer funded goodies. They can take a salary cut too.
I don't think clowns make $174,000 a year.
If I’m Biden, I say to McCarthy that I’m ready to negotiate, everything’s on the table — on one simple condition: that he make a public statement, speaking for his whole caucus, that Republicans care about the level of the nation’s debt ONLY when a Democrat’s in the White House, and Democrats control Congress, and they don’t care about debt in the least when they’re in control, especially when they’re enacting unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.
If he says no, I point to the door and say that we have nothing further to discuss, BUT do I tell him that, like a small petulant, willful child whose first lesson from his or her parents needs to be that the more he demands and the more he cries, the less he’s going to get, every time Republicans demand that Social Security, Medicare and other popular programs of great value to the public be cut, I will propose raising their funding.
Guess whose vision of the future of government will play better. There’s no way you’re going to win a Dutch auction, Kev.
Social Security is paid by people while working. Republicans are not doing any favour to them . In UK and Canada Health care is paid by the government. Why cannot America provide this facility to Americans. GOP leaders are hypocrit. Publicly they say something different when they negotiate with the president their agenda is altogether different .
If Joe Biden doesn't do something to get those fascists locked up I will stop voting
I'm sick of the game playing in Congress that's making it nearly impossible to get anything done.
The Fascists are overly anxious to cause us without enough dough to live on to just shrivel up and croak or take shelter under tarps. Their words alone will give the weakest and poorest of us to die of heart attacks or strokes while they and Tucker Carlson applaud madly while wearing their AR-15 lapel pins.
Meanwhile The King of American Greed and Fascism is promising more violence if everyone doesn't vote for him. Why is he still walking free?
I really wish swearing was allowed in our comments because the real majority of Americans surely need to let loose with our verbal ammunition.
Keep dragging your feet, Mr. Biden, and you'll find yourself losing the next election. How about turning it over to Adam Schiff?
The Cancer in our Government is metastasizing!
The Bigger Picture is ......this is Not just a Republican Thing because Democrats often act like it is out of their hands. This is a Corporate Thing! Everything from Social Security to Medicare to Health Insurance,is Corporations & The Ruling class WANT TO PRIVATIZE all of it for more Profits . We are watching the disintegration of the Public Common Good! Although we pay into this separate from a government budget this is just another grab of enslaving people! Inequality is killing us all
While we're on the topic of honesty, isn't it past time that we change the name of the DOD back to the Department of War, or even the Department of Attack, since, historically, we have initiated the conflicts?